Reissue: F3 and F5 PCB's Group Buy

[Fjd]

Originally Posted by spartiate1952

Fjd, I can just tell you that I sent a mail to Suds last week and he never reply to my mail. My plan was to build a F3 but now, I'm not sure Suds is reliable. So I think I will buy a F5 PCB from Audiosector.
Good Luck!

Still no product, no refund of my money and no additional emails from Suds. It looks like he not an honest seller and absconded with my money. If he comes forward and makes this right, I will update this post, but in the mean time, I suggest you do not buy from Suds.

[zany]

Hi Fjd,

I emailed Suds to test the waters regarding F3 boards... he is still quoting for them and saying he has them available... you haven't updated the status of your situation for a while - if you haven't received your boards and he is not responding to your emails, then his reputation is toast...

cheers.

[spartiate1952]

Zany, Suds could also answer to FJD here...

Regards,

[Fjd]

Originally Posted by zany

Hi Fjd,

I emailed Suds to test the waters regarding F3 boards... he is still quoting for them and saying he has them available... you haven't updated the status of your situation for a while - if you haven't received your boards and he is not responding to your emails, then his reputation is toast...

cheers.

Suds still has NOT responded to my emails and I have NOT received any product from Suds and I have NOT received a refund from Suds. I can only assume that Suds is not an honest person. I just hope that karma catches up to him some day. I'm now somewhat disapointed with the DIY process and haven't pursued any more DIY builds as I'm not sure who I can trust. If you decide to deal with him, I hope you have a better experience than I did. Beware.

[zany]

spartiate, he hasn't replied for 2 months. I was expecting Fjd to respond as he has, and that is why I posted. I also wanted people to beware of this type of issue.

Fjd, don't give up on DIY, it is a fantastic hobby. Although you are disapointed, it is impossible to predict that this can happen as he was providing boards for some time... stick to suppliers with a long history of quality service and this kind of thing should be pretty rare...

[Fjd]

Originally Posted by Fjd

If he comes forward and makes this right, I will update this post, but in the mean time, I suggest you do not buy from Suds.

I indicated that I would update this thread with any new information regarding my F3 PCB order and PSU PCB order that I had paid for on 3/1/2012, but did not receive.

I believe that Suds has attempted to make good on my order, given that today our mail room brought me a package from Suds. I could not find any dates other than a date related to postage for which the postage appears to show a date of 4/15/2013.

Just one error I noticed in the shipment.

Original order:
F3 stereo kit: quantity of 2 kits to build 4 channels ($24 + $24 = $48) USD
PSU PCB: quantity of 2 PSU PCBs ($9 + $9 = $18) USD
Shipping = $34 USD

Items received:
F3 stereo kit: quantity 1 kit to build 2 channels
PSU PCB: quantity of 4 PSU PCBs

Given that I paid $34 USD for international shipping for this order, I guess a person can't have enough PSU PCBs, as trying to exchange the PSU boards for the second pair of F3 boards would cost more in shipping each way than the price of the boards. I may try point-to-point wiring for second build that I had planned or, if reliable from this point forward, may be willing to buy another set of F3 PCBs.

On a side note, I've started collecting parts for a series of tubelab TSE builds (each flavor - 45, 2A3 & 300b) that I'm excited about; however, it looks like I can now take an inventory of parts I've collected to date and figure out what additional parts need to be bought for a F3 build too. Looks like I'm going to be busy....now if I can find where I set down the soldering iron and find the time.

Overall, since none of us really ever truly know what adverse situations or hardships another individual has to deal with in life, rather than "flame" a person or interject a lot of negative opinion or negative speculation, I tried to, and hope my previous posts were interpreted as, just stating the series of events that I encountered for my specific situation.

[zany]

well, that's pretty good news Fjd... what is the quality of the boards like? Pics would be nice too...

[Fjd]

Originally Posted by zany

well, that's pretty good news Fjd... what is the quality of the boards like? Pics would be nice too...

When I get home this evening I'll take a couple of pictures and post. However, I'm not exactly certain of the key aspects in determining quality, but they did survive international shipping.

[Fjd]

Originally Posted by zany

well, that's pretty good news Fjd... what is the quality of the boards like? Pics would be nice too...

Here is the picture of the F3 PCBs and the PSU PCB. Quality seems fine and the PCBs are the same thickness as the F5 PCBs I've purchased through the DIY Audio store.

[zany]

thanks for the pics... look pretty good.