Elecraft

OT: IDIOM PRESS

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KENT TRIMBLE

OT: IDIOM PRESS

Placed an order with them in October and received an automated
confirmation back.

To date no shipment received. No response to numerous emails and phone
calls.

If someone knows the company's status, please email me directly.

Apologies for the non-Elecraft content.

73,

Kent K9ZTV
[hidden email]
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N0AZZ

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

He is slow and very busy but usually comes through. I have done business
with him for over 7 years same every time.

73,
Fred/N0AZZ

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of KENT TRIMBLE
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 10:32 AM
To: Elecraft
Subject: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS

Placed an order with them in October and received an automated
confirmation back.

To date no shipment received. No response to numerous emails and phone
calls.

If someone knows the company's status, please email me directly.

Apologies for the non-Elecraft content.

73,

Kent K9ZTV
[hidden email]
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Barry

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

Tired direct email, but Nabble giving me a "missing domain" error. Hmm...

Anyway, here's what I tried to send privately:

If you ordered a keyer, consider the Island Keyer II instead. It has more features, memory, and is a fraction of the price. More importantly, service is excellent. I've bought several from him over the years.

I needed some help with a CMOS Superkeyer III about 10 years ago and never got a response to my query. Will never buy from them again. Pathetic customer service!

Barry W2UP

N0AZZ

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

Yes but he has products that no one else has at prices that can't be beat. I
usually catch him on skype is the best way Bob's a goo9d guy and "always"
treated me fair.

Fred/N0AZZ

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Barry
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 6:45 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS

Tired direct email, but Nabble giving me a "missing domain" error. Hmm...

Anyway, here's what I tried to send privately:

If you ordered a keyer, consider the Island Keyer II instead. It has more
features, memory, and is a fraction of the price. More importantly, service
is excellent. I've bought several from him over the years.

I needed some help with a CMOS Superkeyer III about 10 years ago and never
got a response to my query. Will never buy from them again. Pathetic
customer service!

Barry W2UP

--
View this message in context:
http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/OT-IDIOM-PRESS-tp7566674p7566708.html
Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
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N5GE-2

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

In reply to this post by N0AZZ

He is not just slow. He is EXTREMELY slow.

I ordered a Yeasu rotor control interface from him several years ago
and it took months of phone calls and emails to finally get it.

Having said that; The rotor control works very well and has been in
use for at least seven or eight years, with no problems.

Amateur Radio Operator N5GE
ARRL Lifetime Member
QCWA Lifetime Member"

Farmers rotate crops to keep their land strong.
Voters can keep THEIR LAND STRONG by rotating
politicians at the ballot box each term."
-- Otis Mukinfus --
http://www.otismukinfus.com

On Tue, 4 Dec 2012 11:30:56 -0600, "Fred Smith" <[hidden email]>
wrote:

>He is slow and very busy but usually comes through. I have done business
>with him for over 7 years same every time.
>
>73,
>Fred/N0AZZ
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [hidden email]
>[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of KENT TRIMBLE
>Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 10:32 AM
>To: Elecraft
>Subject: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS
>
>Placed an order with them in October and received an automated
>confirmation back.
>
>To date no shipment received. No response to numerous emails and phone
>calls.
>
>If someone knows the company's status, please email me directly.
>
>Apologies for the non-Elecraft content.
>
>73,
>
>Kent K9ZTV
>[hidden email]
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
>______________________________________________________________
>Elecraft mailing list
>Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
>Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
>Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
>This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
>Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html

KENT TRIMBLE

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

Appreciate all the responses, but let's end the thread before we all get
in trouble.

73,

Kent K9ZTV

On 12/5/2012 12:22 PM, someone wrote:
> He is not just slow. He is EXTREMELY slow.
>

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w7aqk

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

In reply to this post by KENT TRIMBLE

Hi All,

What a lot of folks don't realize is that a great many of the amateur radio
suppliers, and especially the QRP type suppliers, are "one man operations"!
As such, they don't have a particularly organized and sophisticated ordering
and shipping process. Accordingly, if you are in a particular hurry, or
need something quickly from one of these very small companies, you should
talk to them personally and make sure you are going to receive your order in
the timeframe you are expecting. There are a thousand reasons why it might
take longer than you expect to fill your order. Most of these little
companies are operating out of their garages, or similarly small space, and
parts coming in versus things going out can be an issue. I'm not making
excuses for bad service, but so many of these operations are reliant on
their receiving the necessary parts, which they really can't control. They
can't afford to maintain large inventories of parts, so a sudden rush of
orders probably means a lag time that would normally be considered
unacceptable.

By all means, you should talk to the supplier personally and find out if
there is going to be a delay of any significance. Most of them will tell
you whether or not they have everything you want in stock. Some of these
folks are doing this "on the side", in addition to their regular job, so
don't be surprised if it takes a little time to fill an order. It may
involve a good bit of personal effort to make sure what they send you is
correct. It's entirely different from being a full blown manufacturing
operation where they have employees specifically responsible for making sure
that everything needed is on the shelf and ready for shipment.

Some QRP suppliers, like Dave Benson and Steve Weber, are good examples of
this. Both of those guys usually "geared up" for a production run of "X"
number of kits. However, if more orders than that came in, they typically
had a hiatus of time in order to re-stock the necessary parts. The NorCal
kits were the same way. They could handle the number of orders they
announced, but if interest exceeded that, well, it was probably going to be
a wait of some time before they could handle the orders received. I don't
know that much about Idiom press (they have been around for a long time),
but I suspect they are in the same category. I'm not sure what they sell is
sufficient to qualify for being a full blown manufacturing operation with a
staff sufficiently large to make sure everything necessary is on the shelf
and ready for shipment.

Bottom line, if you are in a big hurry, call them and talk to them
personally to find out what delay might be in the offing! I know, some of
these operations promise more than they can handle, but most of them, I
think, try to be reasonably forthright in their advertising. In any event,
if time is of the essence, I'd be verifying things them personally.

Most of these small operations are incredibly innovative in what they offer,
so don't expect too much too soon! Even Elecraft started out to be a
somewhat laggard operation, but the quality of their offerings soon made it
possible for them to rise to "big company" reliability. Not every QRP
supplier will achieve that level of success, so you have to be a little
patient. Usually that will be greatly rewarded, but it is a bit
frustrating. If you can't stand to wait a bit, then maybe you should be
looking elsewhere.

I have no clue as to whether Idiom Press meets the criteria I describe
above, but I'd be almost willing to bet that it does. Over the years I've
seen dozens of companies like this with the same "lag time" issue. On top
of that, much of the delay can be because various personal issues arose
which complicated their ability to devote the necessary attention to this
"sideline" business. Hey! That's just part of the mix! I will tell you ,
though, that rarely have I been unhappy in the end. It's just that the
timeframe has been disappointing. Your expectations are not unreasonable,
but the basic fact of life is that you should verify the validity of your
expectations when dealing with any small company. There is just too much
that can interfere with achieving a satisfactory result when you are
patronizing small suppliers. Too many things can go wrong for them to not
hit a bump here or there. Just think about it!

Dave W7AQK

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David Gilbert

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

This may sound harsh but it seems to me that any company (no matter how
small) that is unable to deliver products in a reasonable amount of time
and is unwilling to respond in a reasonable amount of time to emails or
phone calls does not deserve to be in business ... period. In my
opinion they have engaged in commerce under false pretenses. To imply
that customers should simply cut laggard companies some slack puts the
burden here on the wrong side of the transaction ... any company that is
unable to be responsive per commonly accepted criteria should state that
up front before they accept your order.

In the case of Idiom Press, a little searching on eHam.net and various
reflector archives clearly shows that they have roughly a ten year
history of behaving like this. It's the rule, not the occasional "bump".

Dave AB7E

On 12/5/2012 8:16 PM, Dyarnes wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> What a lot of folks don't realize is that a great many of the amateur
> radio suppliers, and especially the QRP type suppliers, are "one man
> operations"! As such, they don't have a particularly organized and
> sophisticated ordering and shipping process. Accordingly, if you are
> in a particular hurry, or need something quickly from one of these
> very small companies, you should talk to them personally and make sure
> you are going to receive your order in the timeframe you are
> expecting. There are a thousand reasons why it might take longer than
> you expect to fill your order. Most of these little companies are
> operating out of their garages, or similarly small space, and parts
> coming in versus things going out can be an issue. I'm not making
> excuses for bad service, but so many of these operations are reliant
> on their receiving the necessary parts, which they really can't
> control. They can't afford to maintain large inventories of parts, so
> a sudden rush of orders probably means a lag time that would normally
> be considered unacceptable.
>
> By all means, you should talk to the supplier personally and find out
> if there is going to be a delay of any significance. Most of them
> will tell you whether or not they have everything you want in stock.
> Some of these folks are doing this "on the side", in addition to their
> regular job, so don't be surprised if it takes a little time to fill
> an order. It may involve a good bit of personal effort to make sure
> what they send you is correct. It's entirely different from being a
> full blown manufacturing operation where they have employees
> specifically responsible for making sure that everything needed is on
> the shelf and ready for shipment.
>
> Some QRP suppliers, like Dave Benson and Steve Weber, are good
> examples of this. Both of those guys usually "geared up" for a
> production run of "X" number of kits. However, if more orders than
> that came in, they typically had a hiatus of time in order to re-stock
> the necessary parts. The NorCal kits were the same way. They could
> handle the number of orders they announced, but if interest exceeded
> that, well, it was probably going to be a wait of some time before
> they could handle the orders received. I don't know that much about
> Idiom press (they have been around for a long time), but I suspect
> they are in the same category. I'm not sure what they sell is
> sufficient to qualify for being a full blown manufacturing operation
> with a staff sufficiently large to make sure everything necessary is
> on the shelf and ready for shipment.
>
> Bottom line, if you are in a big hurry, call them and talk to them
> personally to find out what delay might be in the offing! I know,
> some of these operations promise more than they can handle, but most
> of them, I think, try to be reasonably forthright in their
> advertising. In any event, if time is of the essence, I'd be
> verifying things them personally.
>
> Most of these small operations are incredibly innovative in what they
> offer, so don't expect too much too soon! Even Elecraft started out
> to be a somewhat laggard operation, but the quality of their offerings
> soon made it possible for them to rise to "big company" reliability.
> Not every QRP supplier will achieve that level of success, so you have
> to be a little patient. Usually that will be greatly rewarded, but it
> is a bit frustrating. If you can't stand to wait a bit, then maybe
> you should be looking elsewhere.
>
> I have no clue as to whether Idiom Press meets the criteria I describe
> above, but I'd be almost willing to bet that it does. Over the years
> I've seen dozens of companies like this with the same "lag time"
> issue. On top of that, much of the delay can be because various
> personal issues arose which complicated their ability to devote the
> necessary attention to this "sideline" business. Hey! That's just
> part of the mix! I will tell you , though, that rarely have I been
> unhappy in the end. It's just that the timeframe has been
> disappointing. Your expectations are not unreasonable, but the basic
> fact of life is that you should verify the validity of your
> expectations when dealing with any small company. There is just too
> much that can interfere with achieving a satisfactory result when you
> are patronizing small suppliers. Too many things can go wrong for
> them to not hit a bump here or there. Just think about it!
>
> Dave W7AQK

N0AZZ

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

Which goes to show, people still find his products to be some of the best
and willing to wait. I guess if you want a lesser product go elsewhere or
wait like we did on our Elecraft gear abet a much larger company.

73,
Fred/N0AZZ

-----Original Message-----
From: [hidden email]
[mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of David Gilbert
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 10:55 PM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS

This may sound harsh but it seems to me that any company (no matter how
small) that is unable to deliver products in a reasonable amount of time and
is unwilling to respond in a reasonable amount of time to emails or phone
calls does not deserve to be in business ... period. In my
opinion they have engaged in commerce under false pretenses. To imply
that customers should simply cut laggard companies some slack puts the
burden here on the wrong side of the transaction ... any company that is
unable to be responsive per commonly accepted criteria should state that up
front before they accept your order.

In the case of Idiom Press, a little searching on eHam.net and various
reflector archives clearly shows that they have roughly a ten year history
of behaving like this. It's the rule, not the occasional "bump".

Dave AB7E

On 12/5/2012 8:16 PM, Dyarnes wrote:

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Tom McCulloch

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

In reply to this post by N0AZZ

Before Eric tells us to stop this thread, am I to understand that this
guy has everyone's money while they are awaiting delivery???

Tom
wb2qdg
k2 1103
On 12/5/2012 8:22 AM, Fred Smith wrote:

> Yes but he has products that no one else has at prices that can't be beat. I
> usually catch him on skype is the best way Bob's a goo9d guy and "always"
> treated me fair.
>
> Fred/N0AZZ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [hidden email]
> [mailto:[hidden email]] On Behalf Of Barry
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2012 6:45 AM
> To: [hidden email]
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS
>
> Tired direct email, but Nabble giving me a "missing domain" error. Hmm...
>
> Anyway, here's what I tried to send privately:
>
> If you ordered a keyer, consider the Island Keyer II instead. It has more
> features, memory, and is a fraction of the price. More importantly, service
> is excellent. I've bought several from him over the years.
>
> I needed some help with a CMOS Superkeyer III about 10 years ago and never
> got a response to my query. Will never buy from them again. Pathetic
> customer service!
>
> Barry W2UP
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://elecraft.365791.n2.nabble.com/OT-IDIOM-PRESS-tp7566674p7566708.html
> Sent from the Elecraft mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
>
> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
>

ke9uw

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS

That would be not unlike every magazine publisher in the world...

Chuck, KE9UW
Lionel Trains, TCA, LCCA, LRRC
aka Jack, BMW Motorcycles BMWMOA #224

________________________________________
From: [hidden email] [[hidden email]] on behalf of Tom McCulloch [[hidden email]]
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2012 9:33 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] OT: IDIOM PRESS

Before Eric tells us to stop this thread, am I to understand that this
guy has everyone's money while they are awaiting delivery???

Tom
wb2qdg
k2 1103
On 12/5/2012 8:22 AM, Fred Smith wrote:
> Yes but he has products that no one else has at prices that can't be beat. I
> usually catch him on skype is the best way Bob's a goo9d guy and "always"
> treated me fair.
>
> Fred/N0AZZ
______________________________________________________________
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Chuck, KE9UW

KENT TRIMBLE

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS (THREAD CLOSED)

Boys and Girls . . .

Being the one who simply asked about the company's status which was
answered within minutesoff-reflector as I requested, I CLOSED the thread
yesterday.

No further comments or dissertations required. It had nothing to do
with Elecraft.

73,

Kent K9ZTV

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Eric Swartz - WA6HHQ

Re: OT: IDIOM PRESS (THREAD CLOSED)

Administrator

Agreed - thread officially closed.

Eric
List Moderator ---
www.elecraft.com

On 12/6/2012 8:33 AM, KENT TRIMBLE wrote:

> Boys and Girls . . .
>
> Being the one who simply asked about the company's status which was
> answered within minutesoff-reflector as I requested, I CLOSED the
> thread yesterday.
>
> No further comments or dissertations required. It had nothing to do
> with Elecraft.
>
> 73,
>
> Kent K9ZTV