What is wrong with SOZO?

[pablogt]

Hi all.

Last November 4th I ordered and paid via Paypal a Superlead Vingage set from Sozo. One week later they shipped the order stating that they had run out of .022's and that they would ship them later, when they had the batch in by November 18th.

When I received the parcel, not only the 022's were missing, but all rest of them except for 3 caps (1/.0022 and 2/.1). I emailed them and John Gaynor apologized for the mistake and said they would put those too with the missing 022's.

That was the last communication I had from them. I sent them 4 emails and left 2 voice messages in their answering machine asking for the order status and they answered none of them.

When I tried to get my money back from Paypal, it turned out that there is a limit of 45 days beyond which Paypal will not intervene in a transaction that went wrong.

So, it looks that, for the first time in 16 years, I'm going to lose my money in an internet purchase.

Does anyone know if there is something wrong with Sozo? Have they gone through some natural disaster of personal loss or any other thing that made them unwillingly mistreat their customer like this?

Pablo

[Colossal]

Pablo,

I haven't ordered anything from them recently as I stocked up with my last order but I believe the first of these odd delays occurred after the tsunami in Japan and some guessed that their supply chain was disrupted. It did take a while to ship my orders but John and Lisa both communicated well to me through the process and I did receive my order in full. Sorry to hear that you are having issues. I would say hang in there as I believe John has integrity. Perhaps your email was culled by a spam filter? Just guessing.

[M Fowler]

I just ordered from them this week so I'll see what I get or don't receive.

Mark

[kbperry810]

I recently had problems with a Sozo order too... emailed, called, left voicemails, never got a reply. Then eventually just out of the blue the package arrives with the caps I had ordered -though they were just all flopping around freely in a zip lock back (were not packaged at all, and I was not very happy about that...).

I've been using Sozo standards for a long time now, and this was actually my first time ordering the vintage blues - I was rather disapointed with how the transaction was handled. ...but I suppose some benefit of the doubt should also be contemplated considering the holiday season over which this all went down.

Of course I also realize they have much bigger and better customers to serve than myself

[M Fowler]

Might not work but if they #uck with me I'm going to light a fire under their a$$ until my paid for items arrive. Bombard the inbox, make the calls or whatever it takes.

But of course all that is premature since I just ordered

Mark

[pablogt]

Two more caps just arrived in ziplock bag. Six to go. I should have posted before. Maybe if I post 3 more times I'll get them all

Pablo

[Colossal]

the package arrives with the caps I had ordered -though they were just all flopping around freely in a zip lock back (were not packaged at all, and I was not very happy about that...).

Yeah, that is the typical mode of delivery; the Ziploc bag. I'm a little picky about that too and a pet peeve of mine is that the leads get bent. Those caps do sound good though but I would prefer that each is treated with the respect that reflects the price they are commanding. I don't mean this in a snobbish way, just a personal observation and preference. I'm happy to pay top dollar for good parts, just don't treat them like a 1/4W Xicon bulk resistor. John and Lisa have been good to me however and I wish them well.

[joCCe]

Same story here.

I ordered caps a month ago and I've sent them a couple of emails asking when to expect the caps. No reply so far. If they had sent me an email explaining that it would take 2-3 months, that would be fine. When they respond with silence it's not.


Joakim

[Structo]

Man, that is sad.

Seems to be going around too.

Snake Oil strings

Farndurk pedals

Faustine amps
http://www.faustineamps.com/


Probably some I'm missing.

I think many times the bottom line is these people are terrible at running a business.

I personally have a problem with someone that is glad to take your money but not communicate well after the sale and you are left wondering if it is a simple error or something more sinister.

If Sozo is having a problem with their manufacturer then they should put something on their front page about that and what is going on instead of leaving the customer in a lurch.
Because many times it is a customers amp that is waiting for these caps and if you can't tell your customer when the caps will be available that is just bad business.

Edit:
It does say this in small print at the bottom of the screen but it is so vague it could mean anything.
Please allow several weeks for delivery with regular ground shipping and current demand.

Good luck guys, I hope you get your caps soon.

P.S.
I also agree if you are paying a premium for these caps that they should be better packaged than simply thrown into a ziplock baggie.

[diagrammatiks]

you think he hand rolls his own ziplock bags?

funny...when someone claims to have created a capacitor and that they are hand made ...

you'd think that would imply they made their own dielectric as well.

definitely no mention of sourcing film from japan.

and why japan? there are plenty of good ole american companies still producing film.

[pablogt]

I just received a mail from Sozo. The 022's (the 6 remaining caps in my order) will not be ready until end of February. They offered switching to standard or blue caps if I did not want to wait. I'll wait and use the ton of TAD mustards I have in the meantime.

As Joakim said, an estimation is all I wanted, not silence. I hope I don't have to go through this escalation of email/voice messages/forum posting again.

Pablo

[rdjones]

This is exactly how Dumble achieved legendary status.
"Don't call us, we'll call you."

The laws of supply and demand dictate that as long as the product is desirable, the price will remain high until the supply exceeds the demand.
It's possible some of the waiting game is calculated to maintain demand.

They might be better off using a middleman to deal with the headaches, but that would cut into the profit margin.
And don't think that the bulk users are more important, they are getting some discount and it's the individual word-of-mouth that carries more weight about the quality and elusiveness.

Has anyone measured the values for tolerance ?

rd

[LeftyStrat]

Has anyone measured the values for tolerance ?

rd

Yeah, around 10%. And I'm pretty sure if you stuck "Sozo" on a Mallory 150, no one would know the difference. I dare anyone to tell the difference in a true double blind test.

[billyz]

Try the Jupiter vintage caps.

http://jupitercondenser.com/Musician-Se ... itors.html

Sound good and they deliver on time.

[Roe]

just got an email from lisa, saying the 100uf cap will be some time before its ready