As seems fairly typical, my experience is a mixed one. I ordered a fire-wire cable, and got offered a '30% off if you buy at the same time' deal which I took up to also buy some balanced interconnects. During the process I added another 10cm to the fire-wire cable, and got sent an additional Paypal invoice and paid a reasonable additional price - no troubles so far.
The cables arrived in Australia reasonably promptly, along with a scattering of Christian literature. The XLR-XLR balanced cable worked fine - not quite the quality of the Gryphon cable that I was comparing it to, but at 1/3 the price good value I thought. However, the connectors on the fire-wire cable were the 'wrong' way around - a random thing and I should've thought to specify that. However, since I had ordered almost exactly the short length I needed, there was no way to fit the cable without twisting the cable through 180 length-wise. The long and short of it is that by the time I moved the equipment so the cable could connect without twisting (involved turning my DAC upside down) the cable definitely didn't work. What wasn't clear is whether it never worked, or my attempts to connect it (albeit gently) had broken the cable.
So I sent the cable back to Brad, explaining that, and asking him to look into the problem, flip one of the connectors, check that it worked, and then get back to me so we could work out what to do. I made it quite clear that I would accept additional costs for repair and resending if he advised me that I had broken the cable.
This is where everything started going wrong. Endless delays, endless excuses, endless promises. Finally, after six months, I told him I was considering going to the Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services. At this point I got a prompt and lengthy email reply, which I include at the end of this post.
But, cold-hearted b...d that I must be, I continued with my complaint. After a bit of to-and-froing with the FDACS, today I got a letter telling me that they attempted to mediate my complaint, but '...the business has refused to cooperate, and we are unable to assist you further.'
So now I have to decide whether it's possible to continue or cut my losses - my call of course.
My conclusion? If you're lucky enough to get what you ordered, the cables seem quite well-made, quite good quality, and probably value for money. But if anything goes wrong at any stage in the process, wave goodbye to your money. Perhaps this is overly suspicious on my part, but is it a coincidence that service was terrific while it was still possible to complain to PayPal, but disappeared as soon as that date passed?
BRAD'S REPLY:
I am sorry it has come to this too. Now let me give you the explanation you must have and deserve. Being a business man, you know there is a real and true reason why your order has not been completed by now.
So I want to give you the reason, without excuse, for the huge delays - an awful illness in our family. My father has cancer. He is the patriarch of our large and very close knit family. We have been through a lot since you placed your order.
He had 1/3 of his right lung removed, then another spot from the left lung near his heart. He has a tumor on the outside of his right kidney, one on the outside of his bladder, one on a gland on the left side if his throat below his ear, and another one in the left groin area. Nothing showed up on the liver, but they are checking his pancreas further to be sure no cancer is there. The meds they started out prescribing him were supposed to prevent blood flow to the cancer - oral chemotherapy. Side effects are high blood pressure and nosebleeds, and he already gets nosebleeds. He went through his first rounds of intravenous chemo. He had one a week for 6 weeks; with them checking his blood before each treatment. After the 6 weeks they did a P-T scan again to see how the treatments are affecting the tumors. However, he went for an MRI of his head. As he does, he joked and said they want to see if there's anything there. He has been complaining of headaches. Dad has 3 spots on his brain. He went to a consultation and planning appointment with his radiation doctor. Then he had blood work and a follow-up with his oncologist. Then we went back to the radiation center for him to be fitted for a mask that he wears during his treatments. They halted his chemotherapy while they are performing the radiation therapy. As I mentioned his treatments are one every day for two weeks. On Wednesday (Sept 18th) he goes to the oncologist for more blood work, to determine how effective the radiation therapy has been, and if every thing looks good, they hope to start him back on chemotherapy on the 19th. He remains in good spirits through it all, although going into this radiation therapy I have seen him more emotional than I have ever seen him. He is so thankful his family is around him. And we are thankful to be here for him. All along he is fighting pneumonia. He is in good spirits, but that's how he is. He doesn't want anybody worrying about him. He's tolerating it well, and so now this allows me to finally complete your order.
I wanted to explain all this because, first of all, as much as we try to separate our personal lives from our professional lives, it is inevitable that one affects the another.
I want you to know that this is an unusual and untypical circumstance that does not represent how any future orders will go. This is a passing situation. Any following orders will be processed and shipped in a prompt and timely manner.
So in closing I want to thank you for your immense patience, and I am very grateful for your kind understanding.
I also want to beg your forgiveness for me not explaining this to you before now.
Best regards to you and yours,
Brad
P.S. - if you can find it in your heart, and if there is a way, I wish you could withdraw the formal legal complains you have registered