Hi, I have called, emailed, and faxed Percy Audio multiple times over the past 2 weeks to try to buy some parts. I have had absolutely zero response from them. The email link at the webpage is different than the one on the answering machine when you call and I have tried both as well. Has anybody else had a problem getting a response from them? If anybody out there has had recent success getting through to them can you tell me how you did it? I am very frustrated at this point and what to find another supplier. If anybody knows of a good supplier of parts like those that can be found at Percy Audio I would like to get that information. I feel like I have been ignored but am willing to entertain the Idea that maybe I am not using the proper lines of communication with them although I have read the webpage and tried all of the routes they list there. If this is par for course with this company (i.e. long delays in response) then I can't imagine why anybody would use them other than they have a monopoly on some of the products they carry, but I doubt this. So if anybody can tell me of a better source for parts like Percy Audio carries and has better customer service please let me know. At this oint I am wondering if this Percy Audio is even open anymore.
Thanks for your help.
Jeff
Thanks for your help.
Jeff
I've placed several orders with Micheal Percy over the past year and sometimes the responses take a few days and sometimes he is very responsive (same day). I have not ordered anything from Percy for probably about 8 months or so, but once you pay, delivery is fairly quick.
On the first page of his catalog he mentions that email is preferred over phone.
When ordering, I would send an email with a list of everything that I needed, and he would respond confirming that everything was in stock and provide a total with shipping, then I would paypal-pretty straightforward.
IIRC, he has two different emails; if I can dig them up I will PM you.
EDIT: Sounds like you have already tried both emails......
On the first page of his catalog he mentions that email is preferred over phone.
When ordering, I would send an email with a list of everything that I needed, and he would respond confirming that everything was in stock and provide a total with shipping, then I would paypal-pretty straightforward.
IIRC, he has two different emails; if I can dig them up I will PM you.
EDIT: Sounds like you have already tried both emails......
I have done some hunting around since my post a little while ago
I have done some hunting around since my post a little while ago. It appears that Sonic Craft has many of the parts that Percy Audio carries. The Black Gate selection is about the same if not better. From my brief review of Sonic Crafts prices on Black Gates they appear to be a little less expensive than Percy but I have not actually opened the .pdf catalog of Percy's to review, it is just from my recollection. I also just called Sonic Craft and guess what. They have somebody answering the phone and they are very nice. As a matter of fact they have a tech guy named Jeff who you can call with questions about parts, substitutions, and other help with parts application. Guess what....He answers too and is very friendly and informative. I can't work with a business that doesn't respond to my requsts over 2 weeks. Call it a matter of principal or whatever. Unfortunately Sonic Craft doesn't carry everything Percy does but they appear to have many things Percy has and also many things that Percy doesn't offer. I am going to try Sonic Craft for several items including their BG caps. They really have an awesome collection of films too including the Multicap and more. I still need a supplier for electrolytics other than BG (all Sonic Craft carries is BG) and Silver wire (limited wire at SC but very good selection again).
I really wish that Percy Audio would have contacted me b/c he has some cool stuff.
So any help with a supplier of Nichicon, Elna, and good wire would be appreciated greatly.
Sonic Craft is at www.Soniccraft.com for those of you who are interested and haven't yet heard of them. So far I have had instant response via phone w/ them and very good information from Jeff the tech. I will let you know how the order goes. Although they don't have every single item that Percy carries they have most and even more with comparable if not lower prices. Cool website too that is easy to navigate unlike the .pdf catalog at Percy.
Thanks,
Jeff
I have done some hunting around since my post a little while ago. It appears that Sonic Craft has many of the parts that Percy Audio carries. The Black Gate selection is about the same if not better. From my brief review of Sonic Crafts prices on Black Gates they appear to be a little less expensive than Percy but I have not actually opened the .pdf catalog of Percy's to review, it is just from my recollection. I also just called Sonic Craft and guess what. They have somebody answering the phone and they are very nice. As a matter of fact they have a tech guy named Jeff who you can call with questions about parts, substitutions, and other help with parts application. Guess what....He answers too and is very friendly and informative. I can't work with a business that doesn't respond to my requsts over 2 weeks. Call it a matter of principal or whatever. Unfortunately Sonic Craft doesn't carry everything Percy does but they appear to have many things Percy has and also many things that Percy doesn't offer. I am going to try Sonic Craft for several items including their BG caps. They really have an awesome collection of films too including the Multicap and more. I still need a supplier for electrolytics other than BG (all Sonic Craft carries is BG) and Silver wire (limited wire at SC but very good selection again).
I really wish that Percy Audio would have contacted me b/c he has some cool stuff.
So any help with a supplier of Nichicon, Elna, and good wire would be appreciated greatly.
Sonic Craft is at www.Soniccraft.com for those of you who are interested and haven't yet heard of them. So far I have had instant response via phone w/ them and very good information from Jeff the tech. I will let you know how the order goes. Although they don't have every single item that Percy carries they have most and even more with comparable if not lower prices. Cool website too that is easy to navigate unlike the .pdf catalog at Percy.
Thanks,
Jeff
Re: I have done some hunting around since my post a little while ago
Handmade electronics
https://www.hndme.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp
I haven't ordered anything from these folks, but they seem to have what you are looking for.
jmillerdoc said:
Handmade electronics
https://www.hndme.com/productcart/pc/viewCategories.asp
I haven't ordered anything from these folks, but they seem to have what you are looking for.
I bought stuff from Sonic Craft (including some of their house brand caps) and was very pleased with the entire process. Great website, great prices, and great service. Very easy to deal with from start to finish.
I have also ordered from Handmade with no problems
Here is a place in Canada, but things always arrive within a week to the USA and they have a good selection
http://www.partsconnexion.com/
I use them a lot
Here is a place in Canada, but things always arrive within a week to the USA and they have a good selection
http://www.partsconnexion.com/
I use them a lot
Re: I have done some hunting around since my post a little while ago
Digikey has Elna Silmic II, and Mouser has Nichicon Muse. Otherwise, Handmade or PartsConnexion.
jmillerdoc said:
Digikey has Elna Silmic II, and Mouser has Nichicon Muse. Otherwise, Handmade or PartsConnexion.
Micheal Percy
I've ordered a couple things from Micheal in the past month and received very fast turnaround. As far as can tell, he is still very much in business - I would just send him an email with a list of what you want.
He is usually very prompt in responding, but I think he is a one-man show and takes vacation this time of the year, so you might need to wait a week or so before pushing the panic button.
BTW, I have also dealt with Handmade Electronics and they are very good also - they used to be an excellent source for Kimber PBJ wire. Digikey and Markertek are also good sources for many, many parts.
I've ordered a couple things from Micheal in the past month and received very fast turnaround. As far as can tell, he is still very much in business - I would just send him an email with a list of what you want.
He is usually very prompt in responding, but I think he is a one-man show and takes vacation this time of the year, so you might need to wait a week or so before pushing the panic button.
BTW, I have also dealt with Handmade Electronics and they are very good also - they used to be an excellent source for Kimber PBJ wire. Digikey and Markertek are also good sources for many, many parts.
Finally a Reply!
Michael finally replied to my inquiry. He sent me an invoice for the parts I requested 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately for him I have already ordered and recieved some of the parts from other sources. He apologized for the delay and said "Unfortunately I am unable to turn the email spigot off when my ability to read emails in one day is exceeded".
I may try him again in the future but for now I have already ordered the rest of the parts from all of the resouces recommended by you guys here. I did forward him to the many posts RE: his long delays. Hopefully he will find a solution. It is very difficult to want to go back to Percy Audio after feeling like I was ignored for 2 weeks and I am certain the sentiment exists among many. Fortunately for him he IS so busy in this economy. I kindly replied that I went elsewhere and that I hoped he would be able to somehow work his problem out.
Thanks to all of you I will be starting A super cool project in about 2 weeks when the last of the parts arrive. The Oddblock monoblock amplifiers at www.diyaudioprojects.com I can't wait!
Thanks agian to all of you, you have never failed me!
Sincerely,
Jeff
Lawton, USA
Michael finally replied to my inquiry. He sent me an invoice for the parts I requested 2 weeks ago. Unfortunately for him I have already ordered and recieved some of the parts from other sources. He apologized for the delay and said "Unfortunately I am unable to turn the email spigot off when my ability to read emails in one day is exceeded".
I may try him again in the future but for now I have already ordered the rest of the parts from all of the resouces recommended by you guys here. I did forward him to the many posts RE: his long delays. Hopefully he will find a solution. It is very difficult to want to go back to Percy Audio after feeling like I was ignored for 2 weeks and I am certain the sentiment exists among many. Fortunately for him he IS so busy in this economy. I kindly replied that I went elsewhere and that I hoped he would be able to somehow work his problem out.
Thanks to all of you I will be starting A super cool project in about 2 weeks when the last of the parts arrive. The Oddblock monoblock amplifiers at www.diyaudioprojects.com I can't wait!
Thanks agian to all of you, you have never failed me!
Sincerely,
Jeff
Lawton, USA
I have heard more and more excuses out of people (businesses) as to why they cannot manage to provide standard, reasonable services with timely response. A good example is some problems I have had with the windows on my house. The first excuse was that the manufacturer was having problems meeting quoted response time because business is so slow, and they had to lay people off. Two months later, they still can't provide service because they are extremely busy. Well which is it? Either you are slow, or you are busy. Apparently, both excuses are valid to argue why they can't provide reasonable service. After 11 months, they still cannot build screens for my windows.
I have no tolerance for this philosophy. If you're busy, time to hire. If you're slow, you better work that much harder to hold on to the job you are fortunate to still have. I am in the electrical service/maintenance business (a depressed market), and we serve industrial, commercial, medical, and telecom companies with 24 hr service. Any time night or day, you can get a hold of us (which typically means me, as I am first in the phone call rotation). You are only as good as your last customer perceives you, that's our motto. Being that I am on the phone almost all day long, a number of calls get transferred into voicemail. NEVER will a caller have to wait until the next business day to hear back from me. NEVER. When a hospital calls and has a transfer switch that is down, there are no excuses as to why you can't get there in a few hours. They don't care about your excuse, they want service.
Now I understand that our need to buy some cryo treated tubes is not as critical as servicing a hospital, but the principle is the same. You are in business to make money. You make money by serving happy customers. If you can't manage to keep your customers happy, you are in the wrong business. I certainly don't believe that Percy is overwhelmed with orders for his inventory of higher end specialized products; in a tough economy, the opposite is generally true. I think there are other issues going on, which we will never learn the truth of.
So my advice is to not go back to that company, because they have classified you (either intentionally or unintentionally) as a customer of low priority, acceptable to lose. That was me; and I don't go back to him. He can now serve the other 200 customers adequately because I am not filling up his email box with burdensome requests.
Wow, that was a serious rant, wasn't it? I don't normally get so passionate, but as I said, being in the service business, I have zero tolerance for poor suppliers. I identify the poor suppliers, and choose to do business elsewhere. Let the market play out; weed out the bad apples naturally.
I was expecting the responses of "I get great service out of Percy", so I am simply offsetting it with a different perspective. Let those who get great response continue to use him; those who do not go elsewhere.
I have no tolerance for this philosophy. If you're busy, time to hire. If you're slow, you better work that much harder to hold on to the job you are fortunate to still have. I am in the electrical service/maintenance business (a depressed market), and we serve industrial, commercial, medical, and telecom companies with 24 hr service. Any time night or day, you can get a hold of us (which typically means me, as I am first in the phone call rotation). You are only as good as your last customer perceives you, that's our motto. Being that I am on the phone almost all day long, a number of calls get transferred into voicemail. NEVER will a caller have to wait until the next business day to hear back from me. NEVER. When a hospital calls and has a transfer switch that is down, there are no excuses as to why you can't get there in a few hours. They don't care about your excuse, they want service.
Now I understand that our need to buy some cryo treated tubes is not as critical as servicing a hospital, but the principle is the same. You are in business to make money. You make money by serving happy customers. If you can't manage to keep your customers happy, you are in the wrong business. I certainly don't believe that Percy is overwhelmed with orders for his inventory of higher end specialized products; in a tough economy, the opposite is generally true. I think there are other issues going on, which we will never learn the truth of.
LOL. I don't buy that in the least. One day? Try weeks. I've sent a number of emails to Percy myself, and never got a response back. As a result, I'll never go back. Period. Why? Clearly he cannot manage his business professionally and reliably. You could send me a few hundred emails in a day, and I will respond to each one (even if the response is "sorry, I cannot take your order" or "sorry, I will try to respond in the next few days", whatever). If there is a problem with the amount of storage on my ISP's mail server, I would go with a different provider. Currently, I get 100 GB of storage allocation, and all 100GB could be used for email. Sorry, no excuses that your email box is full. Get with the program. Can't read that many emails in a day? Hire someone to help out. Not enough business to justify hiring another? Then you will by market behavior lose customers until you are left with only that amount that you can handle. And this may be just what Percy wants. Service his top 200 customers, and ignore the rest. I really don't know. But this is the natural response to a business that can't (or won't) provide the overhead to support a customer base.
So my advice is to not go back to that company, because they have classified you (either intentionally or unintentionally) as a customer of low priority, acceptable to lose. That was me; and I don't go back to him. He can now serve the other 200 customers adequately because I am not filling up his email box with burdensome requests.
Wow, that was a serious rant, wasn't it? I don't normally get so passionate, but as I said, being in the service business, I have zero tolerance for poor suppliers. I identify the poor suppliers, and choose to do business elsewhere. Let the market play out; weed out the bad apples naturally.
I was expecting the responses of "I get great service out of Percy", so I am simply offsetting it with a different perspective. Let those who get great response continue to use him; those who do not go elsewhere.
zigzagflux said:
Hi zigzag ,
Yes , I gree with each word you wrote here
It is not a passionate behavior , it is a PROFESSIONAL behavior.
IMHO you are totaly correct .
Regards,
Carlos
Actually, these were my sentiments to the "T" but I thought I would be a little politically corrects, or whatever you want to call it. I didn't reveal everything in my last response. I told him that I might consider comming back if he could assure me that he worked out his problems and there were no risk of me being ignored for 2 weeks. He did not respond back to that comment.
The more I think about it, I really doubt he truly is so busy he cannot return all of his emails. I think he has just enough that he does not care and really has no higher aspirations than to be just slightly below average.
Unless he has a par that I simply cannot get anywhere else (doubtful) I will not go back.
I was so pleasantly suprised by Sonic Craft after being ignored by Mike for 2 weeks that I will call them 1st every time.
The guys at Sonic Craft were super nice and bent over backwards to help me buy a $6 resistor. They even called to follow up after I placed the order and paid for it. There web page isn't some $##*tty .pdf catalog either that probably hasn't been updated in the past year I have looked at it. The most important items I neeeded from Percy were not even available and no attempt to recommend an alternate part was made either. Not the case with Sonic Craft.... I stupidy requested a 100K Mills 5 Watt resistor (not made, only their 12 watt series) and received a personal phone call from Jeff, the tech at Sonic Craft, who asked what I was building, taught me an easy formula to use in the future to figure out dissipation, and recommended I buy the 12 watt one instead.
That is the type of business I want servicing me, Percy can't hold a candle to those guys.
The more I think of his reply and the unlikelyhood of it's truthfulness the more I have become offended by it.
Move over Percy, Sonic Craft just took your spot!
Jeff
The more I think about it, I really doubt he truly is so busy he cannot return all of his emails. I think he has just enough that he does not care and really has no higher aspirations than to be just slightly below average.
Unless he has a par that I simply cannot get anywhere else (doubtful) I will not go back.
I was so pleasantly suprised by Sonic Craft after being ignored by Mike for 2 weeks that I will call them 1st every time.
The guys at Sonic Craft were super nice and bent over backwards to help me buy a $6 resistor. They even called to follow up after I placed the order and paid for it. There web page isn't some $##*tty .pdf catalog either that probably hasn't been updated in the past year I have looked at it. The most important items I neeeded from Percy were not even available and no attempt to recommend an alternate part was made either. Not the case with Sonic Craft.... I stupidy requested a 100K Mills 5 Watt resistor (not made, only their 12 watt series) and received a personal phone call from Jeff, the tech at Sonic Craft, who asked what I was building, taught me an easy formula to use in the future to figure out dissipation, and recommended I buy the 12 watt one instead.
That is the type of business I want servicing me, Percy can't hold a candle to those guys.
The more I think of his reply and the unlikelyhood of it's truthfulness the more I have become offended by it.
Move over Percy, Sonic Craft just took your spot!
Jeff
I've been doing business with Michael Percy for nearly 20yrs and have generally had an extremely quick response, and I have always received great and accurate service from him. He does take vacation around this time of the year, personal emergencies do happen, and not unexpectedly during such times may be slow in responding..
I do think impugning his professionalism is a bit unfair based on a couple of experiences. You don't know any of the circumstances behind this lapse (nor do I) and mistakes do happen. I doubt anyone can maintain a perfect record under all circumstances, and a small operation can be quite easily overwhelmed at times. I have purchased dozens of times from him and never had a single problem.
If you have ever run a small business think of how many times a prospective customer might have taken your valuable time and ultimately didn't buy anything, and realize then that you had no way of discerning the tire kicker from the live prospect, that someone else who might have bought something might have in the mean time slipped away, and finally there are only so many hours in a day.
Attacking someone's reputation online is a serious issue, and you should be absolutely sure that you understand the long term consequences of what you are saying.
Please note I have no affiliation with Percy and have never met him personally, but the positive experiences I and many of my friends have had over the years dealing with Michael Percy compels me to say something.
I do think impugning his professionalism is a bit unfair based on a couple of experiences. You don't know any of the circumstances behind this lapse (nor do I) and mistakes do happen. I doubt anyone can maintain a perfect record under all circumstances, and a small operation can be quite easily overwhelmed at times. I have purchased dozens of times from him and never had a single problem.
If you have ever run a small business think of how many times a prospective customer might have taken your valuable time and ultimately didn't buy anything, and realize then that you had no way of discerning the tire kicker from the live prospect, that someone else who might have bought something might have in the mean time slipped away, and finally there are only so many hours in a day.
Attacking someone's reputation online is a serious issue, and you should be absolutely sure that you understand the long term consequences of what you are saying.
Please note I have no affiliation with Percy and have never met him personally, but the positive experiences I and many of my friends have had over the years dealing with Michael Percy compels me to say something.
In the world of internet people are so used to just press a button, send money and wait for an immediate response.
When something doesn't work as expected they start yelling and complaining, no matter whether it is a big mailorder place or a one man show like Michael Percy.
The place is so small he doesn't even have an online shop... still he obviously carries a lot of things that others don't.
As Kevin said... when you are too impatient go shopping somewhere else, but be careful with throwing dirt on someone's reputation.
When something doesn't work as expected they start yelling and complaining, no matter whether it is a big mailorder place or a one man show like Michael Percy.
The place is so small he doesn't even have an online shop... still he obviously carries a lot of things that others don't.
As Kevin said... when you are too impatient go shopping somewhere else, but be careful with throwing dirt on someone's reputation.
I am essentially a one man show in a small business with 8 full time field service technicians. I fully understand what it means to be a small business, and I have had my share of unexpected emergencies. Still doesn't take weeks for me to get back to a customer. If you can't provide consistent service, you need to rethink your organizational structure. I suspect you are a member of the top 200 customers, Kevin.
I am not, and this wasn't by choice.
I am not, and this wasn't by choice.
The facts are the facts and this is our experience.
What I have said here is exactly what occurred. There are plenty of threads like this on this forum with the exact copmlaints here, just that these were all in past days. I think the earliest I found was in 2002.
There is no dirt throwing, just the facts. I was ignored for 2 weeks. I won't use him again. If you choose to then go ahead. Others should appreciate the warnings, especially if you are looking to Percy to get something quick, you might want at least a back up plan.
What I have said here is exactly what occurred. There are plenty of threads like this on this forum with the exact copmlaints here, just that these were all in past days. I think the earliest I found was in 2002.
There is no dirt throwing, just the facts. I was ignored for 2 weeks. I won't use him again. If you choose to then go ahead. Others should appreciate the warnings, especially if you are looking to Percy to get something quick, you might want at least a back up plan.
I to have bought form Michael and have had no problems for the service I received when the orders were quite small I will continue to buy from him .
Nigel
Nigel
....my questions have been answered......thanks to everyone.
Mike sent me an email last night and responded to my request that he assure me I will not be ignored for 2 weeks again if I try to use him again in the future.
His Quote: "Put 'Urgent - must reply by xxx date' in the subject line next time. I try to skim the most urgent off the email pile first."
For those of you who have had similar experiences as I have, should you want to try to use him in the future you can try the above I guess. Please let us know how it goes.
At the moment all of my needs have been provided for elsewhere but, should the need arise again I may try to send the email as he directed. I am encouraged that he at least will make an attempt to screen his emails now and reconcile the situation. Hopefully everyone out there ordering from him won't start addressing him this way, then we will be back to square one.
I have directed Michael to this post as well. I think it would be good for him to actually see that some of us have been very frustrated w/ him. Change is unlikely to occur unless a problem is actually recognized as a problem. For friends of Bill, maybe he has taken the first step.
Jeff M.
Lawton, USA
Mike sent me an email last night and responded to my request that he assure me I will not be ignored for 2 weeks again if I try to use him again in the future.
His Quote: "Put 'Urgent - must reply by xxx date' in the subject line next time. I try to skim the most urgent off the email pile first."
For those of you who have had similar experiences as I have, should you want to try to use him in the future you can try the above I guess. Please let us know how it goes.
At the moment all of my needs have been provided for elsewhere but, should the need arise again I may try to send the email as he directed. I am encouraged that he at least will make an attempt to screen his emails now and reconcile the situation. Hopefully everyone out there ordering from him won't start addressing him this way, then we will be back to square one.
I have directed Michael to this post as well. I think it would be good for him to actually see that some of us have been very frustrated w/ him. Change is unlikely to occur unless a problem is actually recognized as a problem. For friends of Bill, maybe he has taken the first step.
Jeff M.
Lawton, USA
Well this isn't in regards to Percy. I've had one or two geniunely decent transactions with him but that was some time ago. But regarding Zigzagflux's rant, I am in full agreeance. I really wished more vendors would reexamine the longer term consequences of their lack of service and shape up.
I don't know if this is a general trend in industry or this has always been an issue but I feel that customer service is a relic of a foregone era. now it is all about margins, profitability and what your stock is doing. slash costs to keep profits up even if it means ******* your customers off.
I don't know if this is a general trend in industry or this has always been an issue but I feel that customer service is a relic of a foregone era. now it is all about margins, profitability and what your stock is doing. slash costs to keep profits up even if it means ******* your customers off.
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