Just relating my experience.
I ordered 12 LED footswitches for a run of special edition pedals. Unboxed all 12 pedals worked as expected. Boxed 3 of the 12 were dead. I tracked it down to a continuity problem in the footswitches.
I got asked many questions and even supplies pics and returned the bad footswiches. That was 9/25. Now on 10/8 they have accused me of tampering with the footswitches and will not replace them.
Really, tampering for $25 in footswitches. Cmon. I've got so many other things to worry about. Anyway, caveat emptor! They have lost my business and can't say I've ever been treated that way by any company.
If anyone has questions I have the emails to show it.
-Mike
Wow.
That's really something. One would think that Amplified Parts is smarter.
I couldn't believe it. As a business owner myself, if a custyhaf a problem with $25 in parts, I would just eat the cost to make the customer happy. But, to actually say they tampered with them is ridiculous. I' sure I have well over a thousand dollars in parts within arms reach right now. I've also got a stack of pedals to make, I don't have time for that!
I always thought it was odd that they look exactly like Antique Electronic Supply. Website is identical.
I have yet to find a great source of led footswitches. I have had some flake out on me I will never buy them again.
Quote from: Zigcat on October 08, 2018, 08:48:15 PM
I always thought it was odd that they look exactly like Antique Electronic Supply. Website is identical.
I figured Amplified Parts and Antique Electronic Supply are the same company for the reason you mentioned. Is that not correct?
Sorry you had such a bad time with them. Guess I should find another source for tube sockets and such.
Amplified Parts, CE Distribution and Antique Electronic Supply customer services all share this address; 6221 S Maple Ave, Tempe, AZ 85283
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/customer-service
https://www.cedist.com/customer-service
https://www.tubesandmore.com/customer-service
dave
Quote from: davent on October 08, 2018, 11:41:29 PM
Amplified Parts, CE Distribution and Antique Electronic Supply customer services all share this address; 6221 S Maple Ave, Tempe, AZ 85283
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/customer-service
https://www.cedist.com/customer-service
https://www.tubesandmore.com/customer-service
dave
Thank you for doing the research on this! I wonder what the advantage of three, identical companies is?
CE Dist is the commercial/wholesale part of the business. You need to apply for an account, show that you are in the business to be able to buy there.
Quote from: Ekimneets on October 08, 2018, 07:41:50 PM
... As a business owner myself, if a custyhaf a problem with $25 in parts, I would just eat the cost to make the customer happy....
Exactly. My first real job was at the local McDonald's Beverage and Emporium.
If a customer came up to the counter and was not happy with
the quality of their order ( for example: soggy fries ), we just simply :
a. shouted "well, la dee fricken' doo da! I dew declare! y'all is sayin' wat?"
b. e = mc
2 c. sorry, i don't speak engrish, but i can slinky my way 'cross the dance floor ...
d. a + b = c
e. the correct answer is: none of the above
f. stairway to heaven < highway to hell
g. clapton is GOD > DOG si notpalc
Today's quiz is brought to you by Happy Cat Pedals.
We build 'em cuz we like fuzzy McFuzzBalls. ( clean up! aisle 2! )
"We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ...
You're such a Lovely Audience, We'd Love to Take U Home ..."
Quote from: stringsthings on October 09, 2018, 03:08:57 AM
Quote from: Ekimneets on October 08, 2018, 07:41:50 PM
... As a business owner myself, if a custyhaf a problem with $25 in parts, I would just eat the cost to make the customer happy....
Exactly. My first real job was at the local McDonald's Beverage and Emporium.
If a customer came up to the counter and was not happy with
the quality of their order ( for example: soggy fries ), we just simply :
a. shouted "well, la dee fricken' doo da! I dew declare! y'all is sayin' wat?"
b. e = mc2
c. sorry, i don't speak engrish, but i can slinky my way 'cross the dance floor ...
d. a + b = c
e. the correct answer is: none of the above
f. stairway to heaven < highway to hell
g. clapton is GOD > DOG si notpalc
Today's quiz is brought to you by Happy Cat Pedals.
We build 'em cuz we like fuzzy McFuzzBalls. ( clean up! aisle 2! )
"We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ...
You're such a Lovely Audience, We'd Love to Take U Home ..."
This is exactly what I was going to say, but you beat me to it.
CE distribution charged my credit card for shipping at the end of the year a few years back for previously placed orders stating "I was undercharged for shipping". It wasn't worth the hassle to battle it but I haven't ordered from them again or their other sister companies.
I've had really good experiences with CE in the past but I'm dealing with them as we speak regarding a poor quality/damaged set of faceplates for a JTM45 I'm building for s customer. They shipped out the replacements today but informed me I need to send back the damaged plates. Seems a bit ridiculous to send something back that belongs in the garbage. I guess only time will tell if they accuse me of tampering. ::)
Just don't be surprised. To immediately accuse of tampering just sort of weird. After they asked for the defective footswitches. I was asked why I had disassembled the footswitches, why the lugs were not in perfect shape and why I cut the LED leads. I tried to explain that if you don't put the nut back on those switches they just naturally come apart, that I had a daughter board on the lugs and it's a waste of time to try to desolder 9 lugs and that to fit that big of a footswitch in a 1590b is because you have to make room. I didn't know there were going to be forensics done.
I even sent them pictures of the other builds to try and explain.
That was when They said I tampered with them and was trying to fraud them. I'm not even mad, I'm still in shock. I think I'm gonna fraud McDonalds out of some fries tomorrow.
I'm an anarchist!
-M
That's crazy that they came at you with accusations. Luckily I noticed the damage on the faceplates before installing them so they show no signs of use. I read their Return policy and unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to pay to ship them back though which is lame. They also reserve the right to charge a restocking fee if it's not returned promptly. I don't think this will keep me from ordering there but I will definitely limit my purchases to items of known quality just to avoid the hassle. Then again, their steep shipping rates are probably offsetting any money I'm saving on parts so maybe it's time to re-evaluate things.
Quote from: davent on October 08, 2018, 11:41:29 PM
Amplified Parts, CE Distribution and Antique Electronic Supply customer services all share this address; 6221 S Maple Ave, Tempe, AZ 85283
https://www.amplifiedparts.com/customer-service
https://www.cedist.com/customer-service
https://www.tubesandmore.com/customer-service
dave
Interestingly, they also have their hands in at least one other site:
https://www.jensentone.com/ (https://www.jensentone.com/)
(bottom of page says, "Copyright ® 2018 CE Distribution. All rights reserved.")
Ok.
So, I just went to the mailbox and there are the the three LED footswitches I had to pay full price for AND there was another package with three more that Indid not order or pay for.
Do I:
1. Take that as a mea culpa and keep them?
Or
2. Send them back?
Or
3. Or contact them?
In the spirit of the times, VOTE!
-m
Keep them and be done with it.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Ekimneets on October 13, 2018, 12:45:36 AM
Ok.
So, I just went to the mailbox and there are the the three LED footswitches I had to pay full price for AND there was another package with three more that Indid not order or pay for.
Do I:
1. Take that as a mea culpa and keep them?
Or
2. Send them back?
Or
3. Or contact them?
In the spirit of the times, VOTE!
-m
Karma is probably real, and I always feel really great when I take the high road after someone else takes the lowest road. I'd say I got them, and they can have them back if they pre pay for shipping like they did for you.
I just let out a guffaw!
Great answer HamSandwich. That made my night.
-M
Looking at those switches on the data sheet it looks like they only have one nut that secures it to the enclosure. I learned the hard way a long time ago that it's a bad idea to not have a backing nut on the inside of the enclosure. If you take away that internal nut, when you tighten the outer nut down, you can pull the switch apart. That could easily account for the failures you were seeing when you boxed it.
Jumping right to accusations of tampering is a bit sad. I would hope that was just the misjudgment of one employee and not representative of the company. I've used CE Distribution a lot and I've only had great experiences so far.
On a different note, I remember the first time I saw those switches I thought they looked kind of neat but then I decided they were maybe a bit on the gimmicky side. Just my opinion. They look like a run of the mill cheap 3PDT at heart. I'd rather go with an Alpha and more traditional LED placement or DPDT/opto or soft touch relay bypass. But that's all just my opinion and speculation. They are pretty cool looking.
Yup, one nut secures it all.
When they accused me of deliberately disassembling one of them (why would I do that to just one and not all) I tried to explain that if you don't replace that one nut they auto-disassemble themselves with gentle motion.
I'm not sure about the failures. I secure those nuts with a wrench with a fair amount of force.
From what I understand, the CSR checked with his supervisor several times throughout the initial contact, the accusations of tampering and then the refusal to replace the switches.
As far as the experience that I had, I am at a loss. All I can say is that I have the e-mail chain to back up what I'm saying. It is hard for me to believe that in these modern days and times. With internet and social media readily available to all, that a company would pull that kind of a stunt when everything is documented is something I don't really understand.
For $25 dollars in parts, they have already received at least that much bad press from this one thread alone. I would estimate much more than that. I could have posted numerous places, but I'm not overly-vindictive.
I've already decided not to use those switches anymore for a number of reasons, not just the bad customer service. I like the soft glow and thats about all. They are a little bigger than the std foot switch especially in the opening. The diffuser (?) actually seats from above through the enclosure wall and then down not the switch, so the opening is quite big.
I also hate the lead placement. The two rigid leads are in the front/back of the switch. I was building in 1590B and it was a fairly tight build for me, not for some of you enclosure ninjas, and in order to fit everything in I had to be really careful and bend those leads off to one side. I'm also sure there is an obvious way to connect them that I just didn't pick up on. Believe it or not I think the best option would have been use male to female breadboard jumpers, but i didn't want that in my build. So I soldered and shrink-wrapped everything.
Mammoth has had some decent footswitches on sale so I bought some of those and I just ordered a couple of soft touch relay bypass from 1776 and I'm going to give them a try.
-M