Wiardgroup

That was a brilliant and informative post.
I have never had awful experiences like the ones you tell of. Yikes!! 
I've only ordered modules from Wiard, Blacet, and Metalbox, and my 
transactions have all been excellent. Of the three Grant's service and 
business style has proven to be my favorite.
I have a tendency to jump in when I see tension develop, then try to 
tickle it away. This is not always productive. Apologies to Grant if I 
was being an Aunt Doris. I agree that it is much better to have a forum 
be a forum and not a tickle-me-elmo doll. I'm thankful to have the the 
benefit of this board's collective experience and knowledge.

Lemonade, anyone?

D'oh!



drmabuce wrote:

> Hi Wiardos,
>
> I really agonized about posting anything on this issue. It's a very
> delicate subject and there's no way for anyone to take a position on
> it without stomping someone's toe. But I decided that the season was
> ripe for controversy…
>
> Saggitarius season that is.....
>
> Some of our most celebrated toe-stompers are natives of the Archer:
> Frank Zappa, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Jimi Hendrix, Woody Allen ,
> Richard Pryor (RIP) and our own Professor Grant Richter on Wednesday,
> 14 December.
> Controversy makes me uncomfortable (I'm NOT a saggitarian) as it
> does many folks. And the anonymity of the web does indeed engender
> some especially mean-spirited discourse. To this, there has been (as
> could be expected) a backlash in which we are encouraged to follow my
> Aunt Doris' advice that if you don't have something nice to say, don't
> say anything at all. I honestly do agree that it's a good idea to
> think twice (even thrice) before exploring the negative aspects of a
> subject publicly but …..
> The debate among conflicting ideas is the (IMHO) the best reason to
> have a forum and if we devolve into a uniformly positive pep club for
> every aspect of analog synthesis then Mike might as well just put a
> static tribute site to modulars and save us all this typing.
>
> Before I begin I want to sate for the record that I miss John
> `Konkuro' Mitchell and invoke his ghost in this venture…
>
> Grant just came right out and said it. There are differences
> among the `manufacturers' of modern analog modulars . Some of these
> differences are significant and qualitative. This principle is often
> rejoined with the `to each his own' bromide, I believe this is mostly
> due to the fact that there is no meaningful response to it. So I'm
> going to forge ahead with my 2-cents anyway.
> In the interest of fairness, I'm going to refrain from naming
> names but all of these accounts are based on my own real-life experiences.
>
> I have ordered modules from `Maker-A'. Maker-A's terms were
> that I would pay half of the purchase cost on order and remit the
> balance on receipt. I received exactly what I ordered within a week
> of the advertised lead time of 6 weeks, and paid Maker-A promptly
> thereafter.
>
> I once ordered a module from Maker-Z. Maker-Z's terms were
> virtually identical to Maker-A's. I did not get my module on time.
> After 8 weeks I sent a polite email request for an expected ship
> date. I got a terse response with a date 4-weeks hence in response.
> After 5 weeks had passed I sent another identical email request for
> an updated expected ship date. I received no response. After another
> week I started calling the maker by phone and leaving messages. I want
> to stress at this point in the story that I am a DIYer and as a
> result, I am unusually well acquainted with the problems of a cottage
> industry electronics business. ie: supplier indifference, PCB
> manufacturing errors etc. The phone messages I was leaving were not
> angry rants , threats or even passive aggressive whining. I expressed
> my acquaintance with the vagaries of the industry and politely
> requested a factual explanation for the delay with assurances that I
> was not mad. On the fourth call I did finally get through to Maker-Z
> who told me that he was on another call and asked to call me back. I
> never got a call back. Now I was mad. After another two weeks I sent
> an email canceling my order and requested a refund of my deposit. I
> got another terse email apologizing for the failure to return my call,
> another delivery date, (two weeks hence-the total is up to 15 weeks
> now) and a statement that it was `policy' not to issue refunds in
> cases of late delivery. In response I sent a registered letter citing
> the sections of the UCC (3&7 btw) that cover nonperformance in an
> interstate commercial transaction and repeated my demand for a
> refund.7 days after that letter was received by the maker, the module
> showed up at my house. I emailed maker-Z to acknowledge the safe
> arrival of the package and stated that I considered our transaction
> complete. I added that I would never contemplate the purchase of
> anything from him again. He sent me a long email chiding me for not
> understanding and that I was small-minded in dealing with his work as
> a mere business transaction and that I did not understand that he was
> an artisan making a handmade artifact , a custom Maserati , so to
> speak and that things like commerce and schedules were irrelevant in
> this realm. I did not respond.
> I'm looking at this lofty artifact as I type this message. It
> is in no way superior to Maker-A's module. It is no way superior to
> modules that I own that were produced in a factory and sold from
> distributor stock. It is in no way distinguished from the modules that
> were delivered on time with no prompting or aggravation from me. This
> ephemeral quality of `artisan-origin' is nothing more than an excuse
> for a bad production plan and furthermore, this module cost me more
> than it's worth in time and aggravation if I value my efforts at
> minimum wage.
>
> Now let's move on to Maker-X. Maker-X took an order from me 14
> months ago. He asked for the full price in advance and explained that
> this was required to finance the material purchases. It was in a sense
> a `subscription'. If enough buyers could not be found, we agreed that
> my payment would be returned. The lead time was estimated "at least 8
> weeks" . For the record, I fully expected to wait three times that
> long. A long and colorful string of private and public explanations
> for the delay is all I have so far. In response to my complaints, he
> recommended that I could sell my `future-module' to other customers
> who were more content to wait. This is within spitting-distance of
> trading on analog module futures!
>
> Ok, folks. I realize that this how the cookie crumbles and I'm
> intimately aware that these makers are building these modules in
> whatever scant time they can scavenge from their survival gigs. I
> don't even mind lead-times measured in years…hell!! I've been working
> on one of my own electroniums since February of 2003.
>
> But one fact emerges in my view with stark clarity. Some
> analog makers are doing speculative, subscription-based, ventures and
> others manufacture products that they build and send to you. It's bad
> business to consider the two, equivalent.
>
> There is a Dilbert strip in which Dilbert finds the perfect
> chair for his living room on the floor of a furniture store. When he
> is at the checkout register with his credit card still in his hand .
> The salesgirl is ringing up the purchase and eyeing him suspiciously.
> He asks `the forbidden question'….he asks if he is buying the chair
> that he just sat in. The salesgirl screams in agony and shouts words
> to the effect of " Why is it taking you customers so long to realize
> that we don't sell chairs here! We sell the warm feeling that someday
> , maybe, a chair will be delivered to you . We sell the satisfaction
> of knowing that you have purchased a chair"…. something like that….
>
> MY point is that , makers who publish defined lead times and
> demonstrate proof that those lead-times were published in good faith
> deserve to be distinguished from those who don't . Some `companies'
> that advertise commercial modules today wouldn't even qualify for an
> AH `good-trader' rating .
>
> Specific to Wiard, Grant has always delivered my orders
> within a few days of his promised ship date. In all fairness, Doepfer
> and Blacet have performed even better. And when any of these makers
> anticipated any delay, their efforts to notify me and negotiate terms
> were almost embarrassingly diligent.
>
> I realize that my Aunt Doris will disapprove of my expressing
> this opinion but I think Grant has earned a squirt of righteous
> indignation in this matter. Grants warnings may be a little sour it's
> true, but there are some REAL lemons out there that I have tasted with
> my own mouth calling them 'sour' is simply telling the truth.
>
> I take no issue with folks who wade into these treacherous
> waters and choose to navigate them without complaint. More power to
> them! The one point I make is that the community is badly served by
> discourse that maintains a pretense that all makers out there perform
> at comparable, or even acceptable, levels of competence.
>
> It think Grant simply got tired of hearing it and based on my
> own experiences I, for one, think he is one of the top-shelf makers
> who has earned a morsel of a snit about this.
>
> -doc
>
>
>
>
>
>
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