If you have ordered an 18 watt kit

[inventorydude]

How long did it take to get it to you?

[neiloler]

It took about 4 weeks. Why?

[tubetwang]

4 weeks?

That is 3 weeks too many!

Speed is of the essence here...

[unchained]

Aren't there a few too many variables for your question? I.E. vendor, shipping distance, which model, etc....

[inventorydude]

it's been 27 days since I placed my order? seems like way to long for something that cost as much as is does? especially when you pay $21 in shipping to Central Illinois from the Coast? I'd like to hear from the vendors out there, what the normal shipping promises are?

[tubetwang]

I suggest you e-mail your vendor and ask...huh... The when question???

I had to cancel orders from a few vendors in the past...too many excuses...not enough action...

By the time got back me Paypal...had lost 7$.

Canadian dollar at 1.06$...hum...time to save and give EL34 a ring-a-ding...

I like Hoffman...fastest delivery East of Peco...and a fellow surf slinger.

I say drop the duds.

Repeat after me!
Greg Koch for President!!

[inventorydude]

the "when" email questions gets me nothing but "it shipped yesterday" answers. we'll see what happens?

I guess I expected too much from an 18 watt.com member?

In hindsight: the cheapest, newest guy isn't usually the best.

[BBQLS1]

I ordered a kit from brown note and it was pretty quick. I've ordered parts/transformers from him and it might have been two weeks at most.

[loyjdockery]

Hey guys, he's talking about me. I've been late on the shipping.

I'm okay with you guys knowing that, since it is the plain and simple truth. I have been selling kits and getting them out late. Many of these problems are due to one person that I've tried to hire on to help me out. I ask him to ship it, and he doesn't. Stuff like that. It's apparent to me that the current system is not working.

Here's what I'm going to do. Either I'm going to farm it off to someone who is better (and faster) than my current guy, or do it myself from now on. Either way, it WILL get faster.

Oh yeah, and I apologize Tubetwang for not refunding you completely. If you had said something to me I would've still refunded. For all others, I was late enough on tubetwang's shipment that he cancelled and I had to refund (he was the only refund I've had to do so far).

I'm truly sorry for all the bad service. I don't want to quit, because I think I have something good if I get this shipping problem down. I do understand if you do not order from me because of this.

Thanks,

Loy

[briane]

If 4 weeks is 3 too many, then maybe you just need to buy a used amp locally. Remember that even once you receive the kit, you need to assemble, debug, voice, cabinetize, and drool over the new amp before its even ready to leave the house.

Most of the kits I have ordered were in the 6 weeks to 4 months wait, depending on rarity and quality of component. Thats why now (after a few amps) I like to pull my own parts.

I suspect you may be sacrificing quality for timeline. anyways just my opinion.

good luck though. I would highly suggest a brownnote as per quality, but you may need to get some firm numbers on timelines if the wait is just too much.

remember good things come to those who wait.

[zaphod_phil]

I guess I expected too much from an 18 watt.com member? In hindsight: the cheapest, newest guy isn't usually the best.

Well, I see a simple trade-off there. You want fast delivery, you pay more and buy from one of the bigger and more established pro outfits. Or you pay less to a student, who does this as a sideline, and accept slower delivery in exchange for saving money. Doesn't sound too unfair to me. However, both ways, if they're active on 18watt.com, that effectively makes them accountable in a fairly public way. So you're on a safe bet, and have great prospects for a successful build.

... you need to assemble, debug, voice, cabinetize, and drool over the new amp before its even ready to leave the house.

Go easy on the drooling. Saliva conducts electricity. 350VDC yikes!

[loyjdockery]

I originally wanted the shipping to be quick, but have had a difficult time doing so. There's many different components that need to be chosen, in stock, and shipped out. Sometimes I make mistakes while designing a chassis file and that causes delivery of the chassis to take a long time. I actually just started it all from a couple thousand in financial aid money, and thought it would be fun to just have started a small, successful company. Plus, I wanted to design a website (notice it's all .php pages on my website, I was interested in PHP at the time). It's now growing more than I ever expected it too. My business is having growing pains, so it is true to think of me as the new guy with a 3-4 week wait. With that in mind, I'm still being unfair to the customer with these delayed deliveries and am working a solution to this problem.

[tubetwang]

I've never bought a kit.

I've built my first amps from scratch with leftovers from my days building hi-fi tube rigs. But got tired of drilling chassis.

Parts (chassis, etc) get delivered to my door in a week or less.

After a while you get to know the quick dudes, if i may say.

But that is just me...i don't like to wait. Getting old and, time is no longer on my side...roll:

I have'nt lost a dime with Loy...he was fair and refunded me Paypal when asked to.

[chrismathewsjr]

I also ordered from Loy, and while it took six weeks for me to get the final part, he was completely nice, respectful and explained his troubles and withstood my barrage of questioning.

[Edit:] It's probably good that I waited, anyways, 'cause I had started a P1-Ex variant amp and spent a fair amount of time trouble shooting that.

[redmax61]

I'm sure I'm not the only one who ever got speedy service from Loy, although like ZP says, his fair prices and level of customer service are definitely worth it. This sounds like something that Loy is trying to fix.

I personally would not hesitate to do business with him, nor would I hesitate to send a friend to him.

[theundeadelvis]

I have now ordered a couple kits from Loy, and I have to say he has been great. There have been a couple hiccups, which is to be expected of any new business (especially when the person is in school too!), and Loy has always corrected them. Heck, heck I just got charged twice and sent the wrong speaker by Mojo today, so it happens. I've discovered if you in a hurry or excited and ready to get started, things will go wrong. It's probably a Murphy's Law.

[KrazyKabs]

Hey, I've got an idea...

Order a tweed Deluxe from Mission then

Order a D-Lite from Brown Note then

Order an 18 watt from GDS because they're a really good kit then

Order another version of your 18 watt from Dockery (TMB if your GDS is trem or vice-versa) then

Order a Princeton chassis from Marsh then

Order a turret board for your Princeton from Turretboards then

Build them all as fast as you can then

Celebrate New Year's then

Take inventory of what you need for parts to finish up then

Call Mojo, CE, AES, that other guy we can't talk about here and anyone else I've left out then

Flee the country before your credit card company starts calling you all day and all night looking for their money!

As long as you have plenty of amps to build it doesn't matter when they show up. I celebrate Christmas three times a week all year, that's about how often USPS, UPS and FedEx leave packages outside my door!

[travis4prez]

Many of these problems are due to one person that I've tried to hire on to help me out. I ask him to ship it, and he doesn't. Stuff like that. It's apparent to me that the current system is not working.

I see what you mean. You asked this guy a simple question for me. Does the 5E3 PT have a 6.3V center tap? and its been nearly 24 hours without a response.

I'm a big fan of world class customer service. I expect the people that work for me to provide our customers with that kind of service at every opportunity. That much delay is not acceptable. At a minimum, this guy should let you know that he is working on the issue and when he will have the answer for you. But I also know the situation you're in. The guy you have just ain't working out but you really need someone there, so its tough.

If he ever responds let me know. This amp has been dead for a month now and a few more days won't hurt it. Until then I'll just have to stick to my 18 watter (obligatory 18 watt content).

[candh]

Hey guys, he's talking about me. I've been late on the shipping.

I'm okay with you guys knowing that, since it is the plain and simple truth. I have been selling kits and getting them out late. Many of these problems are due to one person that I've tried to hire on to help me out. I ask him to ship it, and he doesn't. Stuff like that. It's apparent to me that the current system is not working.

Here's what I'm going to do. Either I'm going to farm it off to someone who is better (and faster) than my current guy, or do it myself from now on. Either way, it WILL get faster.

Oh yeah, and I apologize Tubetwang for not refunding you completely. If you had said something to me I would've still refunded. For all others, I was late enough on tubetwang's shipment that he cancelled and I had to refund (he was the only refund I've had to do so far).

I'm truly sorry for all the bad service. I don't want to quit, because I think I have something good if I get this shipping problem down. I do understand if you do not order from me because of this.

Thanks,

Loy

Loy,

Hang in there young fella. There are only lessons in life and this is a good one. I like the fact you are explaining yourself and working to remedy the situation. In my experience wait times of 6 to 8 weeks or longer are not uncommon. That's not to say I'm content with it.

Give people the best service you can with honesty and you will prosper. I'd buy from ya just based on the integrity of your post alone. Now, a kit with 100v PT to Japan in less than a month would be impressive. You up for the challenge....lol?

PM me candhh@yahoo.com

Chris

[Rictone]

Inventorydude, I share your pain. I ordered an 18 watt lite kit from brown note that was confirmed on 9-23 and my excitement to receive and build this excellent amp kit has slowly died. For over a week now the status has been " will ship in 2 to 3 days" . It's now November and no kit. My credit card was charged back in September. I ordered the bare bones kit and had planned on ordering the brown note trannies after I received the kit because I didn't want to wait till I had the money saved up for the whole shoot'n match and because I just like receiving things in the mail. It's like Christmas with every package. The more the merrier. I'm confident when I do finally get it it will be everthing I hoped for but until then .......