What's up with Ampwares?

[eugenedunn]

Hey Jeff (Mr. BFPR)......nah..... I ain't ready to pull it yet..... I am a pretty patient guy, in general. However, I can't help but wonder what's going on. I know they acknowledged my order because of the one email I received back on April 22nd. It could be that they are backordered from Weber VST!!!

I could see how they don't wanna say they are backordered from Weber, because what's to keep people from ordering directly from Weber VST? I just didn't this time, because I thought it would be a time savings and it was a couple of bucks cheaper.

As a sidebar, I wonder how your new Neo speaker sounds?

[txjeff]

Well, new speaker is not in yet since I'm still tubeless to do the full test we discussed (old tubes/old speaker;new tubes/old speaker; old tubes/new speaker, etc). So, as with you, I'm playing the patience game waiting to see if my coworker today remembers the tubes. If not, I'll start round 2 with ordering tubes from either Shane or one of the other recommended sites.

[eugenedunn]

Oh yeah, Jeff..... I went to see Shane at Tube Sonic Friday. He mentioned that you had left him a message (some guy from Texas....)

I got a pair of NOS Sylvania 6V6GT's from him as spares for my amps. I also tried out some of those really fancypants Brimar 6V6's..... As it turns out, the Sylvania's sounded nicer (punchier and fuller low-end).... but still not as sweet as the UOS RCA's that I have in there now. Many folks seem to rave about those Brimars, but I guess to each his own....

Geno

[chet]

I ordered some grillcloth from them about eight years ago and got it OK.

Now I'd order from Torres Engineering. They'll answer your phone call and give you the scoop- at least they did when I called them.

[chet]

Originally Posted by eugenedunn

Hey this is turning out to be an interesting thread.....

I did have a good experience with Torres years ago when I bought a bias pot kit from him.... timely delivery and decent instructions on installation..... cheap too. So I thought what the heck.... try it out again.... We'll see if they deliver early next week.

It's funny though, there's another thread going on right now where someone was having trouble getting through to Weber VST..... but if you read the thread, you'll see that Ted Weber actually posted on that very thread and comes clean with a decent reason for the lack of communication. NOW THAT'S COOL!

Geno

I only emailed Torres about a week ago.... I did get a response that said they would ship sometime last week... but nothing's shown up yet.

I am not nervous yet.... just surprised that they wouldn't tell me it was backordered.....

You haven't tried to call them? I haven't had any problems getting through yet.

[eugenedunn]

Hey Chet;

Yeah, so I called them shortly before they closed and some guy said he couldn't check my order status because the "warehouse guys" had left. But he took my contact information, details on what I ordered, confirmation number and said he'd get back to me..... 2 days later.... still no word from Torres Engineering. The guy was very apologetic on the phone, but still no follow-through.

But a most interesting thing happened yesterday.... Ted Weber must've been reading this thread and he actually wrote a personal message to me. I won't elaborate, but suffice to say, what a stand-up, ethical guy he is.... I have to say that he really does stand behind his product and although it is tough to run your own business, he tries hard to combine fiscal responsibility to his company and caring for his customers personally.

[txjeff]

Ordered a couple of tubes from Hoffman. Let's start the clock ticking - May 8th, 2 pm. Not sure why they say "Priority Mail" and then "It doesn't offer tracking." ?? Never heard of that. If I send something priority mail, at usps.com, I get free delivery confirmation, with tracking. ??

[4 Strings]

Originally Posted by eugenedunn

Hey Chet;

Yeah, so I called them shortly before they closed and some guy said he couldn't check my order status because the "warehouse guys" had left. But he took my contact information, details on what I ordered, confirmation number and said he'd get back to me..... 2 days later.... still no word from Torres Engineering. The guy was very apologetic on the phone, but still no follow-through.

But a most interesting thing happened yesterday.... Ted Weber must've been reading this thread and he actually wrote a personal message to me. I won't elaborate, but suffice to say, what a stand-up, ethical guy he is.... I have to say that he really does stand behind his product and although it is tough to run your own business, he tries hard to combine fiscal responsibility to his company and caring for his customers personally.

Ted and his fellow Webers are just great to deal with. I've lost count on how many times I have harassed them changing my original order, asking stupid quiestions, changing my order back again et.c. And still they just keep on being patient, nice and customer friendly!

Last time I ordered a bunch of speakers from them one of the speakers wasn't working properly. So I emailed them and expected to receive an answer in a week or so. An hour and a half later I checked my e-mail and there was a reply saying that they'd send me a peplacement speaker right away. I could hardly believe it!

It is easy to whine about the companies such as ampwares and others which just cannot seem to behave properly. I do it all the time just to give vent to my anger, and I believe they should have every bit of it.

But the ones who actually behave well, and especially those who offer more than they have to, deserve all the respect they can get! They are among the few who have understood that when dealing with people (i.e. customers), what goes around comes around and chasing quick nickles at the expense of customer support and a friendly attitude or snapping at the hand that actually feeds you ain't gonna make you rich in the long run.

[txjeff]

Originally Posted by 4 Strings

It is easy to whine about the companies such as ampwares and others which just cannot seem to behave properly. I do it all the time just to give vent to my anger, and I believe they should have every bit of it.

But the ones who actually behave well, and especially those who offer more than they have to, deserve all the respect they can get! They are among the few who have understood that when dealing with people (i.e. customers), what goes around comes around and chasing quick nickles at the expense of customer support and a friendly attitude or snapping at the hand that actually feeds you ain't gonna make you rich in the long run.

Well said!

[eugenedunn]

Yeah, so I called them shortly before they closed and some guy said he couldn't check my order status because the "warehouse guys" had left. But he took my contact information, details on what I ordered, confirmation number and said he'd get back to me..... 2 days later.... still no word from Torres Engineering. The guy was very apologetic on the phone, but still no follow-through.

But a most interesting thing happened yesterday.... Ted Weber must've been reading this thread and he actually wrote a personal message to me. I won't elaborate, but suffice to say, what a stand-up, ethical guy he is.... I have to say that he really does stand behind his product and although it is tough to run your own business, he tries hard to combine fiscal responsibility to his company and caring for his customers personally.

Well here it is, Saturday morning and STILL NO WORD from Torres Engineering!!!! I will try again and call them......I can't believe they could be backordered over 3 weeks on these Copper Caps.... and they say they ship Priority Mail. Even Ted Weber was surprised at the delay because he told me they send T.E. lots of the Caps. Hmmmm.

[txjeff]

Originally Posted by txjeff

Ordered a couple of tubes from Hoffman. Let's start the clock ticking - May 8th, 2 pm. Not sure why they say "Priority Mail" and then "It doesn't offer tracking." ?? Never heard of that. If I send something priority mail, at usps.com, I get free delivery confirmation, with tracking. ??

Tubes arrived May 12th - 4 days! There you have it. Yaye Hoffman!
Although, they are EH tubes, which are not as highly touted as some of the high dollar ones.

[eugenedunn]

Geez.......I've been pretty patient and polite with Torres Engineering but Monday, I actually talked to their Senior Amp Tech, and after checking into my order....... well, here's the recap that I ended up writing to them because of my dissatisfaction. Now it's been almost a month this thing has dragged on... sorry for the long post.

From your email response yesterday, it is evident this message was not presented to management. Please forward my concerns to Cameron Mcleod, your Senior Amp Tech. He told me on the phone he would take care of my problems.

I have been a satisfied customer of yours in the past, but feel compelled to write you a message regarding my recent order# XX757

I feel I have had less than satisfactory customer service from your organization. I originally decided to order from you since you were in California and I thought that I would receive my order in less time and more cheaply than ordering directly from Weber VST. I was disappointed in the poor responses from your shipping department.

My order was confirmed and funds sent on April 17th, 2008 via PayPal. When I did not receive word of backorder or difficulties in filling my order, I wrote an email to your customer service address on April 21. Promptly on April 22, I did receive an email from Agnes stating that you were expecting shipment of Copper Caps that week, and that you would expect to ship out later that week.

I received nothing that week or the next. I emailed again on April 27th. No reply from your shipping department. I emailed again on May 2. No reply again.

I finally called and your store staff said that they could access computer records in the shipping department, but they took my contact information and order number and said someone would get back to me. I received no follow up again.

I called on Saturday May 10 and your store staff member said I had to call on Monday. I called Monday May 12th, and finally talked to Cameron Mcleod, your Senior Tech, and he had to research my order and call me back. When he did call me back, there seemed to be a lot of confusion about my order of the Weber WZ68 Copper Cap. Your staff seemed to want to give me a WZ34.... that's not what I ordered. I think they may have been confused that your website lists the WZ68 as a "dual GZ34". Gee, I lost more faith in your credibility there.

Cameron calls me back and informs me that the WZ68 is in stock and he'll send it right away. I can't believe that my order is held up because of the confusion in your shipping department. I asked for FED EX delivery since it seems obvious that your Priority Mail service is less than adequate. I'm really not sure if he'll comply with that.

A last disappointing issue is that the WY3GT Copper Cap I also ordered is out of stock! This is used as a direct replacement for a very common tube rectifier type, the 5Y3GT! Why you couldn't have my order filled with this item when I ordered back on April 17th is puzzling. Now I will be waiting additional time. It is almost going to be a month waiting for these items.

I feel for all my trouble in trying to contact you and your lack of response, I should be entitled to some kind of good faith compensation for this transaction. I am going to make a simple request: please send me a Weber WZ34 free of charge. You seem to have those in stock, I heard from Cameron. They aren't that expensive, and it would go a long ways towards making amends for this horrible buying experience I've had.

Thank you for your attention, to what I believe is a chance for you to improve your customer service and reputation.

Regards,
Gene

[mikethebike500]

I have used Hoffman parts supplier before....and even weber for chassi stuff with good success and response.....sooo..yes...I heard the same complaints about ampwares...that sucks

[txjeff]

27 days later, and Ampware tubes show up! Even though I cancelled the payment 2 weeks ago. Jeez! "Return...to sender. Address is known!"

[getbent]

Not a surprise. I didn't look, but I'll bet at the top of the thread someone said that they would be unresponsive, it would take a long time, but you would get your stuff. Your experience is the ampwares experience... except for all the credit card stuff you did...

none of this is a surprise... this kind of thread has run many times on this forum and others.

[txjeff]

Originally Posted by getbent

Not a surprise. I didn't look, but I'll bet at the top of the thread someone said that they would be unresponsive, it would take a long time, but you would get your stuff. Your experience is the ampwares experience... except for all the credit card stuff you did...

none of this is a surprise... this kind of thread has run many times on this forum and others.

All this merchant needs to do, if he KNOWS that he will be late on his orders, is warn the prospective buyer BEFORE the buyer starts filling out the order form that, "Notice: All orders from this site will take 4 - 6 weeks for the order to arrive." At least that way, if you were in need of parts more quickly you could bail and go to another site.

I also found it humorous that the guy puts a tracking number on the box but doesn't email it to the customer.

Regardless, doesn't bother me to reiterate what a bad merchant this is and that it's best for readers to go with a different source and avoid the hassles.

[eugenedunn]

Wow guys and gals,

I just have to post this.... after over a month and a half of trying to get my order filled from Torres Eng. on a couple of Weber Copper Caps.... I have given up. Mr Torres himself practically hung up on me as I calmly confirmed I wanted my Paypal account credited. I can't believe when I asked him that it would take over a month and a half just to get an order for those Copper Caps in. He insists that it was because Weber VST couldn't fill his orders.... you decide.

I'm not even confident that he'll credit my account properly, since their records have been in question almost since the beginning of this whole affair that started on April 17th. I guess caveat emptor

[tazzboy]

I would have gotten the Weber Copper Caps through Ted Weber.

[petebradt]

Why not just use a tube rectifier?

[txjeff]

He probably wasn't getting the parts from Weber for the same reason you didn't get them Geno; delinquency!

[getbent]

Originally Posted by eugenedunn

Wow guys and gals,

I just have to post this.... after over a month and a half of trying to get my order filled from Torres Eng. on a couple of Weber Copper Caps.... I have given up. Mr Torres himself practically hung up on me as I calmly confirmed I wanted my Paypal account credited. I can't believe when I asked him that it would take over a month and a half just to get an order for those Copper Caps in. He insists that it was because Weber VST couldn't fill his orders.... you decide.

I'm not even confident that he'll credit my account properly, since their records have been in question almost since the beginning of this whole affair that started on April 17th. I guess caveat emptor

Rule #1. Search here and ask here before you buy stuff. There are like 10K of us buying and selling and building and trading stuff. Most people are cool and amazing and straight shooters... the people who struggle buy and then come and ask... Ask first!

Sorry to hear that they were nasty. It is just bad behavior.

[eugenedunn]

Thanks Getbent.......

I'm moving on. But IF anyone asks on the Forum..... I guess I'll be someone that answers helpfully......

[getbent]

eugenedunn,

You bet! I value being treated well very, very highly. and I value good to great products very highly and I disdain crummy service and arrogance and nastiness. All we have is our experience and perspective and the responsibility to be honest and straight with what we report. You and Jeff have done a tremendous service with this thread by revisiting it....

I've taken heat several times for offering my experience and perspective... I did not mind it because if I can help someone avoid a bad deal where a musician gets hosed by a bidnessman... I'm there.

I hate that they are jerking you around, I won't be shopping there. (but then again Tremo educated me on this top in like 1997! on the old alt.amps newsgroup.)