Is Burgess Believable?

From the Burgess Optical Group (Yahoo):

"The 40mm was sent back to China for a re-work. The original model did not have a wide enough field to suit Bill. He is having them produce a new 40mm with a revised design. They should be coming in shortly according to Bill. I put myself in for a set myself."

After reading yet another "Burgess excuse" I can not help but ponder the following. It seems that each time Bill Burgess slips schedule he needs to "redesign" his optical components. If the problem were with manufacturing, wouldn’t he focus in on the production process? Why did the 1026f lenses have to be "redesigned"? In addition to the lenses, does anyone else find it curious that the focuser units and eyepieces also have to be "redesigned". You can not blame the Chinese if Burgess does not know what he is doing. I will bet that many of the delays relate more to blunders originating in the USA and not China.

I do not know if Mr Burgess is being honest with his customers or not.

However the latest Sky and Telescope hints that his promise of an economical apo might indeed be in the pipeline.

This would indicate however that he himself is neither designing nor "modifying" any of his imported ideas but is relying upon the Chinese manufacturers for optical and mechanical designs. He is likely simply echoing the promises of his overseas suppliers.

The entire incident seems to me to smack of an importer inexperienced in the Chinese way of doing business.

His complete ignorance of emails sent to him also seems to me to be a fatal flaw in his business plans since the internet will play a large part in whether or not he succeeds. Ignoring a query to his own web page (pleasent initial contact) is surely a way to get a great deal of potential clients offside.

The fact that purchasers who actually visited him and recieved "good" goods is no indication of decent business practices. It should not require someone to be in person to check the scope, it should be possible to rely upon him for prompt delivery of quality controlled equipment from a distance without ever seeing him (or his family) in person.

So far I am not sufficiently confident to purchase anything from BO and I suspect many others feel the same.

The fact that a large percentage (anything over 10%) of potential customers feel trepidation over buying from him is quite a bad sign.

JMHO

David