[ryan00davis]

I will say that with my amp, when he said it was ready to ship, it shipped. He has never intentionally mislead me in any way. He said my amp would ship about a month after I ordered it, and that was accurate. I was in the UK, when it became available, and he was even willing to ship it to my hotel over there. I wish he had told me, but I did never ask if the dac was in stock when I ordered it.

In my experience so far, patience with email is required, I would say that he responds to 75% of my emails within 3-4 days of my sending them. I think the most frustrating part is the lack of commitment on his part, most of his emails just stated that it's not ready yet, the last email was the first time that he said it would be at least another month.

The amp is great, and if it fits your needs, it may be worth the wait. Think of his difficulty as something which inflates the value of the used amps, so you can always sell it and get most or all of your money back. I've contemplated canceling my dac and selling off the amp on here (vs trying to return it to him) so I could buy an ibasso, or something else with a built in dac, as I really want this for use at a desk with a computer.

 

[Anaxilus]

Tbh, no offense intended.  Most of us don't care.  Most of us waited for the same Arrow longer than you will ever know.  Most of us have waited for products even longer than the Arrow took.  Robert is for real and so is the Arrow.  If it was a scam it would be all over the forums.  Most of us are also annoyed that the same threads keep popping up because people don't bother to search the forum for pre-existing threads that answer their questions that have been asked a million times already.  I also don't agree w/ your Aston Martin level of CS expectations from a boutique company.  Usually it goes the other direction.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/461344/oh-where-oh-where-has-my-slim-arrow-gone-oh-where-oh-where-can-it-be

 

[MorbidToaster]

No offense, but some people don't care how long YOU waited. Everyone has different expectations going into a purchase like this. I don't think anybody thinks it's a scam, but no one, absolutely no one likes having money tied up for longer than it has to be, especially when you're not sure the status of your order.
 
The only thing that I personally have to complain about is emails. I've sent a total of 4 over the course of a long period of time (2 back when the 3G was being released), and 2 recently before my 3G purchase. Only 1 of which was responded to. The reason I don't already own an Arrow is because when I asked a few questions before the purchase way back when, I got no response. 25% isn't that great.
 
There's obviously some people that care, or they wouldn't post their negative experiences in a thread like this, and it would just die.
 
EDIT: All of my emails were at least a week apart.
 
Quote:

Tbh, no offense intended.  Most of us don't care.  Most of us waited for the same Arrow longer than you will ever know.  Most of us have waited for products even longer than the Arrow took.  Robert is for real and so is the Arrow.  If it was a scam it would be all over the forums.  Most of us are also annoyed that the same threads keep popping up because people don't bother to search the forum for pre-existing threads that answer their questions that have been asked a million times already.  I also don't agree w/ your Aston Martin level of CS expectations from a boutique company.  Usually it goes the other direction.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/461344/oh-where-oh-where-has-my-slim-arrow-gone-oh-where-oh-where-can-it-be

 

 

[MorbidToaster]

I'm not saying it's a bad investment, or that Rob is a bad guy by any means. I just feel he is a little scattered and lets some people fall through the cracks, that's all.
 
Quote:

I will say that with my amp, when he said it was ready to ship, it shipped. He has never intentionally mislead me in any way. He said my amp would ship about a month after I ordered it, and that was accurate. I was in the UK, when it became available, and he was even willing to ship it to my hotel over there. I wish he had told me, but I did never ask if the dac was in stock when I ordered it.

In my experience so far, patience with email is required, I would say that he responds to 75% of my emails within 3-4 days of my sending them. I think the most frustrating part is the lack of commitment on his part, most of his emails just stated that it's not ready yet, the last email was the first time that he said it would be at least another month.

The amp is great, and if it fits your needs, it may be worth the wait. Think of his difficulty as something which inflates the value of the used amps, so you can always sell it and get most or all of your money back. I've contemplated canceling my dac and selling off the amp on here (vs trying to return it to him) so I could buy an ibasso, or something else with a built in dac, as I really want this for use at a desk with a computer.

 

 

[estreeter]

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the sooner these guys put someone between themselves and the public, the better. How many of us get to chat with the product development guys at Apple ? Anyone with a half-decent website and a few clues would be able to set up an interface where Ray/Jan/Robert/whoever could update the status of each order - I've seen half-arsed attempts at this, but they looked very static and often sat on the site, unchanged, for months. Having coded automated email and text alerts that are fired off when the status of a 'job' changes, I know how basic this is.
 
Which would you prefer - that your amp builder was hunched over a workbench building quality product or hunched over a laptop answering countless emails ? I realise that they are enthusiasts and may enjoy shooting the breeze with the odd customer over the phone, and thats laudable, but at the end of the day what matters is that paying customers get the product they pay for, on time. Everything else is secondary.
 
Say what you will about iBasso, they know how to run a business. You order an amp, pay for it, and its on your desk in less than a week - at least that was my experience.

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

Well said Estreeter.
Well read 'em and weep boys!
I had ordered my amp exactly two weeks ago
He had notified me that he shipped it exactly 7 days ago
My arrow just arrived today. That's right boys and girls, two weeks total.
 
About 9 months ago, I had looked into a company that I know that does a VERY special type of anodizing. he had sent me two case "blanks" featureless aluminum Arrow cases, unfortunately they only do batches and batches are a little costly and Robert is busy making amps and cannot afford to have 50+ cases in the mail for 2weeks- 1month.
I wonder if I buy some cases from him if I could have them done myself...... it would certainly give him a leg up on the competition. I'll zip him an email....

 

[MorbidToaster]

Ordered mine yesterday, shipped today. So excited.
 
Quote:

Well said Estreeter.
Well read 'em and weep boys!
I had ordered my amp exactly two weeks ago
He had notified me that he shipped it exactly 7 days ago
My arrow just arrived today. Thats right boys and girls, two weeks total.

 

 

[Blasto_Brandino]

Just wondering, have you looked into the Dacport?
Quote:

I will say that with my amp, when he said it was ready to ship, it shipped. He has never intentionally mislead me in any way. He said my amp would ship about a month after I ordered it, and that was accurate. I was in the UK, when it became available, and he was even willing to ship it to my hotel over there. I wish he had told me, but I did never ask if the dac was in stock when I ordered it.

In my experience so far, patience with email is required, I would say that he responds to 75% of my emails within 3-4 days of my sending them. I think the most frustrating part is the lack of commitment on his part, most of his emails just stated that it's not ready yet, the last email was the first time that he said it would be at least another month.

The amp is great, and if it fits your needs, it may be worth the wait. Think of his difficulty as something which inflates the value of the used amps, so you can always sell it and get most or all of your money back. I've contemplated canceling my dac and selling off the amp on here (vs trying to return it to him) so I could buy an ibasso, or something else with a built in dac, as I really want this for use at a desk with a computer.

 

 

[ryan00davis]

I hadn't seen that, but that seems a bit pricey for my current needs.