Welborne Labs Horrible Service

[sbrtoy]

Hey all,

I have placed several orders through Welborne Labs over the past two years, probably bought around $500 worth of their stuff. They have typically been very slow to ship, but I always at least recieved what I ordered and found the quality to be very good.

Back in June I ordered a power supply and matching transformer as well as some other parts through them. I recieved the power supply after waiting around 2 months, but when I asked about the transformer and other parts I was told they would no longer be available. OK, no biggie I thought, so I asked they refund the approximately $130 I had paid for these through paypal.

Well after several months of getting nothing but automated responses saying they were moving, they changed their email address. I have sent two emails to the new address and no response. I am at the point where I assume either they are going to just ignore me until I forget about it, or they are not in business any longer. I fully understand how hard it is for small companies to make things work, but this seems a bit ridiculous.

Anyone else having the same issues with them? Please share, I am curious to see if I will ever see my money back.

[darkmoebius]

Head over to Audio Asylum's General forum and do a search for Welborne. You will find a few long threads with plenty of people in your situation. Quite a few have contacted the BBB, the State's Attorney Office, etc.

Too bad, because I have met Ron W a few times and he is/was a great, honest, guy. Fun to hang out with and listen to music or just talk about anything. Seems that about 1.5-2 years ago, things started to go off the tracks and at this point, it's a wreck.

I have his DRD 300B monoblock amps and they are fantastic. I wanted to upgrade them to Terraplane level, but don't think will be happening now.

[traw]

Back in April I had similar experience but luckily got everything, eventually. The wait and response was horrible. Have a remote attenuator selector kit and other parts, which some were wrong, from them. Will never purchase from them again unless there was some kind of explanation or promise to deliver (basically acknowledging their woes and how addressing).

Why bother to continue if operating like that? Don't take people hostage.

[poldus]

I ordered and paid for a selector board for the remote attenuator before the summer and got no shipping confirmation or any other response from Ron so, after reading many unsatisfied customers´
stories, I cancelled and got a partial refund from PayPal. After the summer I see they´ve changed address and give it a second chance (I needed the selector board badly). This time the service was perfect so I´ve ordered yet another board ( needed two)that seems to be on its way. I´ll confirm when it arrives.

[sbrtoy]

To all who have had similar issues...I forwarded the link to this thread to their new email address and guess what...I finally got a full refund!

As mentioned, the only issue I still have is that the refund did not come with an explanation. I would be worried to order again just for that reason as it is impossible to know if the lack of response is due to the business being unstable. Perhaps now that I have sent the link to this thread Mr. Welborne will respond to set the record straight.

Again, I have had no issues with the quality of their products, but to me in this day and age not responding to emails from customers for months is not acceptable.

[poldus]

The second board has not arrived yet. The first one took just one week. I emailed Ron and have had no response so far. I´ll wait a few more days before notifying PayPal.

[RKH]

Like you, for a few years, I'd successfully order from Wlabs. Then, I had one part of an order, get 'backordered' and I've been waiting for nearly 11 months now. I waited patiently and then called in the BBB early last summer. They did their standard procedures and Wlabs did not reply to their requests. Nor my subsequent e-mails.

If I had the time, I would have gone to their booth at Rockey Mountain Audio Fest to ask for my money back, my completed order, or start picketing in front of the booth. I know my orders are small compared to what might be their bigger customers, but that is no excuse. All my e-mails were polite and respectful.

If anybody has had success, please advise.

Cheers, Ryan

[poldus]

Still waiting.

[jlsem]

If I had the time, I would have gone to their booth at Rockey Mountain Audio Fest to ask for my money back

They were a no-show at RMAF. Which is a shame. I think starting a DIY audio supply may seem like a good idea at first, but in reality should only be undertaken as a sideline. DIY types often tend to be intinerant cheapskates so while there may seem to be a large market out there, the actual user base is limited.

John

[RKH]

Originally posted by jlsem


They were a no-show at RMAF.
John

I guess i saved a weekend and 12 hours in the car. As to the DIY business, they seemed to have made a go of it longer than most. It's unfortunate as you say. I haven't given up that some bits might appear in the mail, but i'm not holding my breath.

Ryan