[DaMnEd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by helicopter34234 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does anyone know of a good ebay seller to buy a stock Zero from? The point of paying someone to modify your Zero is to save time and money, not waste both, therefore I am going to start with stock and modify the thing myself if need be.

wsz0304 seams like a nice vendor, a member here on Head-fi here had a problem with the shipping (banged up two units) and wsz0304 promptly sent new ones.

I purchased mine directly from Worldwide Chinese Headphone Amplifier Dealer they do sell on ebay also, but it's cheaper to buy directly, no problems and they are Head-Fi sponsors now.

-----

Yep, Lawrence seams to frak things up most times than not, the last units at least, I avoided him exactly because of issues such as yours, and would not recommend him to anyone. Most mods are easy enough, just plug and play.. no reason to deal with him, to anyone buying a zero, just save yourself the trouble and do the opamp mods your self, the opa627 is not even what most of us use now days, just go for the audio-GD offerings.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

I don't blame you one bit helicopter.......I'd be just as put out as you are.

I hope LC does step up and take care of you (by replacing your fried ear buds too).

I think it's time the orders stopped flowing to LC until he can demonstrate he's actually sending out good quality gear again that isn't missing the correct components (LT1364's not in the H/Amp), they are installed properly (too many 627AU's in backwards of late) and most important of all, the amp is safe for the headphones connected to it....

No excuse IMO for letting this amp past QC let alone shipping it to a customer.

Good luck Copter, I think you deserve better than what your getting.

Peete.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaMnEd /img/forum/go_quote.gif wsz0304 seams like a nice vendor, a member here on Head-fi here had a problem with the shipping (banged up two units) and wsz0304 promptly sent new ones. I purchased mine directly from Worldwide Chinese Headphone Amplifier Dealer they do sell on ebay also, but it's cheaper to buy directly, no problems and they are Head-Fi sponsors now. ----- Yep, Lawrence seams to frak this up most times than not, the last units at least, I avoided him exactly because of issues such as your own, and would not recommend him to anyone. Most mods are easy enough, just plug and play.. no reason to deal with him, to anyone buying a zero, just save yourself the trouble and do the opamp mods your self, the opa627 is not even what most of us use now days, just go for the audio-GD offerings.

I think this vendor should be the defacto recommendation from here on in.

LC has blown it with this latest travesty, Head Fi deal or no...

I'm going to post a message in the Zero thread warning all that LC is no longer trustworthy as a source of functional, safe Zero's regardless of the deal offered.

Peete.

 

[Currawong]

I'm pretty sure that whatever is wrong has something to do with other than opamps. This is the unfortunate side of small Chinese electronics manufacturers -- when their equipment becomes popular their quality control can drop dramatically. I wouldn't be surprised if something was crossed on one of the boards. I vaguely recall someone taking apart their Zero and finding some bad soldering underneath.

I don't know if anyone from the company that makes it speaks English but I'm tempted to alert them to this and encourage them to lift their game.

 

[HeatFan12]

Quote:

wsz0304 seams like a nice vendor, a member here on Head-fi here had a problem with the shipping (banged up two units) and wsz0304 promptly sent new ones.

I purchased mine from wsz... and it was a great transaction from beginning to end. Always answered all my questions and followed up on the progress. Great seller...

-----

 

[linuxworks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeatFan12 /img/forum/go_quote.gif I purchased mine from wsz... and it was a great transaction from beginning to end. Always answered all my questions and followed up on the progress. Great seller...

I also bought from wsz. this unit, which I don't think too many people talk about:

that mocha thing on the left - that's the DAC I bought from wsz.

at first, he sent the old version to me. I emailed him to let him know and he resent the correct package on his own dime. he has not asked for the old package back (if he does ask, I will send it).

so, while the first shipment was incorrect, the 2nd one was right. and I wasn't bothered with return shipping on something that wasn't my fault.

more vendors need to do their QC right the first time. or, when they don't, they need to step up, offer fast customer problem resolution and try to fix the problem later on their own time.

especially when it comes very long distance. especially that! units that leave that are wrong or broken just should be at zero tolerance, really.

 

[nor_spoon]

Scary stuff. Hope it turns out good for you in the end.

 

[helicopter34234]

Quote:

Dear Sir , I am sorry to hear that new. It was tested and ran in for one day before shipping out. Highly probably something happen during transportation. Can you ship back the headphone amp board and let me investigate the possible cause? Thank you very much ! Best regards, Lawrence

This is what I sent back to him

Quote:

Do you always test and run in your devices for a day before shipping? I am shipping it back today, I would like to ask for a full refund of the $200 but I also think you should reimburse me $50 for my headphones that were damaged as well as $18 shipping back to you. I do not believe that something happened in transport to cause this, the package looked perfectly fine from the outside and I opened the case and removed the boards and looked at them for any signs of damage or for chips put in incorrectly and found nothing. The postal service would have had to drop the box from ten feet or so to cause such damages and the shipping box, the Zero case, and all of the components inside looked free of damage. I believe that it is much more likely that you messed up when you were modifying the device and never tested it (even though you claimed to have). I want to let you know that I have fully and honestly represented my situation to other members at the Head-Fi.org: Headphones, iPod earphones, portable audio, MP3 players, high-end audio forum in the thread http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/my-...-senns-374621/ and they are quite alarmed. You can read my account of what happened and dispute anything that you think isn't factual. I know that you have received a lot of business through the recommendation of members on this forum to purchase from you and I assure you that this will stop unless you fully take care of this problem. There are other individuals who are selling modified versions of the Zero and these individuals have so far received much praise from the members of the forum in terms of their quality control and costumer service. You on the other hand have a well documented history of quality control goofs such as installing chips backwards and making the individual pay shipping back to China so that you will fix it. No one is going to risk doing business with you again if they think there is a chance your product will destroy their headphones and that you will not take any responsibility for the damages (and even make the individual pay shipping back to China). You still have an opportunity to act in good faith and instill some confidence in the members of the forum that you will take care of any problems that occur in dealing with you. Please let me know what you are going to do.

Yes, my response letter may have been a little harsh. He claims to have tested it before hand and burned it in for a day but this is why I ask "Do you always burn in your equiptment?" Because if he claims to always test equiptment before sending it out then he is certainly lieing because others can attest to chips being put in backwards and their left or right channel not working completely (which would have certainly been picked up on even the most careless preshipment listening inspection). Do you guys think there is any chance the disfunction of the device was caused by damage in shipping? I personally highly doubt it as the box was not damaged at all, the Zero case and all components inside looked fine. I took out all of the boards and they looked fine. It powered up fine, all LEDs were lit. No rattling components. When you are buying something with electronics that were modified by an individual and the device fails catastrophically, the most likely explanation is that he flubbed the mod. Now, I think in good faith he should reimburse me for my damages (headphones and shipping costs). Some of you may argue that he is not legally responsible for such damages and I would agree. But his image is certainly tarnished greatly by this occurance. I mean, I do feel bad, I was not out to ruin some guy's reputation from the start, but I am being completely honest with my situation and how it has unfolded. And if there are other sellers without a history of quality control flubs and as others mentioned clearly demonstrate that they are willing to "fix" the situation even if it is the post offices fault, then we are going to buy from those sellers. Maybe Lawrence doesn't care, maybe he has no intentions of trying to sell more modded Zeros. Well if this is the case then people should know that and be alerted not to buy any of Lawrences shady remaining stock.

 

[oofie810]

Hmmm, I'm curious to see how Lawrence replies to your last email.

 

[helicopter34234]

I just got back from the post office and it was going to cost $40 to ship it back. That is complete crap. Also I couldn't read his handwriting of his address from the original packing slip so I had to come home to email him to get his address. I bet he won't refund me the full $200 I paid because he will claim shipping is non-refundable. That leaves me at $45 he will charge me for shipping and $40 for shipping to him and then $50 headphones damaged puts me at $135 in damages. I am really livid right now.

 

[DaMnEd]

Well, if you paid by credit card you call always try a chargeback to get your $200 back, if it comes to it, hope not!

 

[dcpoor]

so in that email:
-you called him a liar that doesn't really test his products.
-threaten him with a ruined or damaged reputation on head-fi.
-speaking for all of head-fi in saying that he'll get no more business/recommendations from here.

sorry that you've had this problem and your headphones were destroyed, but i think that email could've been worded and handled much better without the threats and condescension. especially before even giving him a chance to repair/replace the unit and make things right.

 

[helicopter34234]

I am filing a complaint with paypal. Does anyone know if paypal will give me my money back. Would I have to pay for the $40 to ship it back?

Quote:

you called him a liar that doesn't really test his products.

It is clear that in the past he has shipped devices that he never tested. If the shoe fits...

Quote:

especially before even giving him a chance to repair/replace the unit and make things right.

Sending the unit back (on my own dime), waiting another month to get it back is not making things right.

 

[accurate_dB]

Its always difficult in situation like this to make the best of it.

I send my regards, cause I actually had something intentionally broken
on my stuff when I went to the Carson, CA Denon repair center to get the center channel repaired (AVR-1506). They intentionally broke my headphone jack.

I informed Denon customer service about this and they pretty much blew me off.

 

[linuxworks]

you MAY have to pay to get paypal to help ;( ;(

I went thru this but on a cheaper level.

I bought 2 remote cords (for my camera) from ebay/china. from *supposedly* 2 diff sellers, mind you! and bought days apart.

a few weeks go by and I get 2 pkgs on the same day, both with identical handwriting (I can't read chinese but I can certainly see that the writing is identical) and both in the same style of pkg.

I have various issues with the cables and try to get a refund (they were poorly designed and unfit for intended use).

the thing is - it would cost MORE to ship these back than to just re-ship me good ones or just refund me.

I took good photos of my problems with the cables and only 1 seller replied back. strange - again, was it 1 or 2 sellers? I could not quite tell.

even stranger, one seller ignored the ebay/paypal investigation and I 'won' that dispute by default. the other one 'answered' and demanded I send the bad cord back. I told both ebay and that seller that it was not cost effective for me to return it to them when I already took a photo of the fault and it was plain for all to see.

since I refused to spend time and money returning the bad cord, I 'lost' by default. no way to appeal ebay, either ;(

lesson: use STRONG caution dealing with ebay/china sellers. it can be expensive if you have a DOA item and (cough) it happens at a non-zero rate. ;(