The other part of the mail

Hey Human, Let’s start with some good news: save for a few “Ships November” orders, we’ve officially shipped all Ghost Cases. When we kicked off the Ghost project, we set out to solve the most pervasive problem in clear cases: yellowing. Since launch, our zero-yellowing clear case has been the most successful product we’ve ever released. To say we were unprepared for the volume of orders would be an understatement. For many, we know the wait has been a true test of patience and we can’t thank you enough for bearing with us while we worked through this backlog. With the initial mountain of orders in our rearview, we’ve turned our attention to another unsolved problem in the clear case industry: scratching. The simple truth is that plastic is softer than most objects you come across in your everyday carry (keys, coins, even healthy fingernails). As a result, plastic will inevitably become scratched. Because the Ghost is made in part with transparent plastic, those scratches are more visible than they would be on something opaque, like our Grip Case. Most case companies solve this by hiding behind the veil of a UV-cured “anti-scratch coating”. In truth, because these coatings are still softer than common objects your phone case may come in contact with, the improvement to scratch resistance is only marginal. More importantly: these coatings also tend to yellow over time. Because of this - particularly the reality that they turn yellow - we ruled out these industry-standard coatings as a potential treatment for the Ghost Case. All of this is to say that, much like every clear case you’ve ever owned, your Ghost Case will get scratched. While scratching is an unavoidable aspect of clear cases, we have observed a peculiarly high incidence rate of units arriving with scratches already on the case. It goes without saying that this is unacceptable. As such, we’ve been investigating potential causes over the past couple of weeks. We’ve since completed that investigation and determined that the only way to truly cure scratching-related issues (whether arriving scratched or getting scratched shortly after unboxing) is by increasing the foundational scratch resistance of the case itself. Given the state of industry-standard coatings that turn yellow and our commitment to a zero-yellowing clear case, this is much easier said than done. We have a handful of novel solutions we’re currently exploring, ranging from more exotic resins to chemically inert, non-yellowing anti-scratch coatings that can be applied through some form of vapor deposition. Assuming that at least one of these solutions is viable in mass production, we expect to bring a more scratch resistant version of the Ghost to market by April. While this date is by no means a guarantee, making the Ghost more scratch resistant is the top priority for our engineering & materials teams. For those who have been affected by a case that didn’t meet expectations on scratch resistance: whether that’s because your case arrived scratched or got scratched remarkably fast after delivery, here’s our commitment:

  • Melker24@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Yeah, dbrand fucks. I’ve used them for every device I’ve had in the last few years and they always impress me.

  • jasonbm76@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Makes sense if there was an issue with the previous Ghost as they’d said it won’t ever yellow and maybe they found out that wasn’t accurate so they don’t want those bad cases being used and shown on social media when they yellow. That could cost them more than doing this.

    Still though DBrand are awesome as a company.

  • MultipleFace1@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Just got my ghost case today and it’s awesome. I don’t really care for scratches but another free one is gonna be nice

  • SpideyIRL@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    I mean, is it really unexpected that a company offers to replace defective products? If cases were delivered pre-scratched, it’s only fair that the company would ship them again without the issue.

    • theunquenchedservant@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      The big thing here is that there sending everyone who bought a ghost case a new one. Because it scratching isn’t really a defect to what they claim the case is/can do. When i first got this email I was expecting it to be like “so yea, if you received a case with scratches already on it, send us a picture, and we’ll send you this new one when it’s ready.” not “we’re giving it to everyone who bought one, you don’t need to do shit”

    • LFGear_Official@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      Yeah their mark up price is insane so they need to do as much as they can to retain customers by working on their branding / customer loyalty so a competitor doesn’t swoop in.

  • Mediocre-Gap-1488@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Good to hear. Mine arrived scratched, putting the phone in scratched the hell out of it, and it got even more scratched in my jeans pocket lol. My $18 Spigen case might yellow in a year but it still doesn’t have any. Couldn’t be arsed to return it though, guess I’ll see what the new one looks like next year. 6 month preorder lol.

  • slefallii@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    Kudos to dbrand. Admittedly my phone scratched the inside of the ghost case when I first put it in, but I didn’t think it was that bad.

  • roadblocked@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    They are literally not losing money on these, they could send every customer 5 and they probably are still ahead. I bet dbrand is like 90% profit on every item sold, at least

    • DaVillageLooney@alien.topB
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      10 months ago

      Shipping is extremely expensive ESPECIALLY during peak holiday season. I work in Import/Exports. The cost for them to manufacture these cases is dirt cheap and their markup is insane. But the cost for them to move the materials to the factory’s and then move the completed cases to the states AND THEN ship them to every customers house for free? Yeah, they’re paying out the ass.

  • Tseathly@alien.topB
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    10 months ago

    So is literally everyone getting a free case? Even those who returned theirs?