I literally JUST received an email.

Hi David, I'm sorry there is no stock currently for Europe. You can still join the Design Challenges, you would just need to obtain your own Avnet MT3620 kit.

What is the point to send promotional emails to get free kits and join contests when it is too late for both?

I received the first email about all this today and the free kits are long gone ( I see discussions started in July) and even if I purchase a kit now and it is delivered immediately, I still cannot ping for 14 days the servers and probably even get started for the few days remaining.

I'm double disappointed, because I wanted to test the Azure IoT for long time and this would be a great opportunity If I had received any notification moths ago when it started.

I have purchased development boards from Farnell, so I have account there, and I receive regularly emails from Hackster.io and today's email is the first one that I get for this:

"LAST CHANCE TO GET A FREE AZURE SPHERE!" Well, it seems there was not any chance for some time and there was not sent on time.

At least stop sending these emails, because it is very frustrating and annoying now, like "You missed a great opportunity, deal with it!"

This will leave some negative emotions when thinking about the companies involved in all this.

Not good...

What is the point to send promotional emails to get free kits and join contests when it is too late for both?

I received the first email about all this today and the free kits are long gone ( I see discussions started in July) and even if I purchase a kit now and it is delivered immediately, I still cannot ping for 14 days the servers and probably even get started for the few days remaining.

I'm double disappointed, because I wanted to test the Azure IoT for long time and this would be a great opportunity If I had received any notification moths ago when it started.

I have purchased development boards from Farnell, so I have account there, and I receive regularly emails from Hackster.io and today's email is the first one that I get for this:

"LAST CHANCE TO GET A FREE AZURE SPHERE!" Well, it seems there was not any chance for some time and there was not sent on time.

At least stop sending these emails, because it is very frustrating and annoying now, like "You missed a great opportunity, deal with it!"

This will leave some negative emotions when thinking about the companies involved in all this.

Not good...

There are other good opportunities on this site. Browse and then you can decide. Not everyone can do everything, so there is quite a variety here.

Some e-mails also go out to several countries - so while you might not be able to get one for free, many in the Asia Pacific region (and some others) still can. Some of the requirements have been relaxed slightly to accommodate late-comers. There were earlier e-mails and banners across the site as well - if you didn't notice it after it's been running for over 70-days already in Europe by now.

- Gough

1) It is very easy to send emails these days with specific content according to the area, and many companies do exactly that, so this is not an excuse

2) Even if I can pay for the kit, it is too late for everyone to participate in the contest as I mentioned.

3) There might be a email I missed during my holiday in June/July, but it is strange how there were no other emails and notifications until the email that was too late.

Anyway, the point was that promotional email could be a bit more a bit more adequate and  flexible, in order to have positive and not negative effect.

milen  wrote:

 

1) It is very easy to send emails these days with specific content according to the area, and many companies do exactly that, so this is not an excuse

2) Even if I can pay for the kit, it is too late for everyone to participate in the contest as I mentioned.

3) There might be a email I missed during my holiday in June/July, but it is strange how there were no other emails and notifications until the email that was too late.

 

Anyway, the point was that promotional email could be a bit more a bit more adequate and  flexible, in order to have positive and not negative effect.

#2 is not true. They extended the deadline for 15 consecutive days to end of contest which is Oct 27... Sorry if others jumped in and got a board before you did.

When I received the email ( may be Sep 24) , the information about the contest was something like it ends on Sep 27, I did not get any information that it was extended. I do not know how did you get this information. It seems they are sending only emails about things you cannot do, and not about opportunities. That's a pity. Anyways, I will not follow anymore discussions here - I need some positive emotions too with other projects Thanks for help and good luck with the contest.