[needlz]

Reference Audio Mods www.referenceaudiomods.com should be taken out of business. I was shipped the wrong values of parts I ordered as well as shipped old, used rca jacks missing grounding lugs and covered with solder instead of new ones. I was told that I would be shipped replacements months ago and nothing has come. Email and phone calls are no longer being returned. I only lost 30-40 bucks on this but it still sucks all around. If you can find parts elsewhere, I would definitely do so.

[maxwalrath]

Hey man!!! stop spamming us. You have a gripe, provide some details/proof. People will read it, don't start 10 threads for no reason!

[needlz]

Sorry bro... I just deleted my duplicate posts. I was pretty pissed and didn't want anyone else to fall into the same trap. I wasn't so much pissed about the 40 bucks as the 2 months I sat like an idiot waiting for the right parts to arrive.

[jackman]

I agree.  Where is the proof?  It's easy to throw this stuff out there and sling mud but you need some proof.  Also, what is your real name?  Any legitimate person would post their real name.

Jack Giuffre

[needlz]

Heheheee... sure. What would you like as proof? My name is Erik and I got scammed by referenceaudiomods. The $ value wasn't enough for me to waste my credit card company's time with a complaint but they wasted enough of my time to merit a nastygram in my favorite audio forum. Nuff said.

[tkp]

Heheheee... sure. What would you like as proof? My name is Erik and I got scammed by referenceaudiomods. The $ value wasn't enough for me to waste my credit card company's time with a complaint but they wasted enough of my time to merit a nastygram in my favorite audio forum. Nuff said.

The $ value is not large in this case but the reputation of a company is at steak here, and this is big to me.  If there is no proof then the effect will work in reverse.  In another word, you will loose your credibility at AC.

IMHO, Since you started this, you might want to consider finishing it the right way.

[MaxCast]

copy of emails??

[rosconey]

hmmmm-wtf would some one bitch over a 40$ fuck over if it wasnt true if he was a liar he would have made it to a bigger $$figure imho.

might be a personality conflict type of thingy a bad email that got out of control and avalanched into a fuck him and his 40 $

what kind of proof can he give that cant be faked anyway

[ooheadsoo]

I'd lean towards rosconey & needlz on this one.  There's nothing needlz can't fake anyway.  It's word vs. word unless it goes to court over $40.

[tkp]

IMHO, needlz does not need to prove any thing to any one and on the same token he should not expect any one to believe any thing he said when he acused  referenceaudiomods of wrong doing without any proof.  

As a neutral party, I will say that if some one acuses me of wrong doing, I do hope that individual has some kinda proof.  I strongly believe you are innocent until proven guilty and not the other way around.

[brj]

Be aware that this site has a "no dirty laundry" policy.  For reference, see FAQ #9.

[Lost81]

I had nothing but good experience with Reference Audio Mods.

Not challenging the veracity of needlz's post, just posting my personal experience with RAM.

The items I ordered were Rubycon ZL and ZA capacitors for my Mensa Art DIO. $62.30 total.


Cheers,
-Lost81

[needlz]

And just so this doesn't go any further, I appologize for airing my anger here. Losing $40 bucks is not the issue here... Christ, I lose $35 at least 4 times a week in parking tickets. I am pissed that a supposedly reputable company sent me the incorrect parts and strung me along for weeks. I was nothing but nice and offered to pay for reshipment and offered to pay shipment back on the wrong valued parts (as well as the old rca jacks they sent me). Good, reliable, and friendly parts resellers are a dime a dozen online and these guys have not done good business with me. Once again I appologize for airing this here and I will not continue on it.

cheers.

[Lost81]

...sent me the incorrect parts and strung me along for weeks. I was nothing but nice and offered to pay for reshipment and offered to pay shipment back ...

I hear you, bro...
I have been tearing my hair out over a pair of expensive brakes I purchased on eBay for my mountain bike project. The dude claimed to be selling for a "friend." It arrived with missing parts, and wrong parts. He even suggested that I go source the missing parts in a hardware store. Yeah, right... You can waltz into Home Depot, Orchard Supply, Lowes' or Ace's Hardware and ask them if they carry titanium bolts and washers. I don't think so. And so I took up his offer to return the items to him for a refund. Guess what? The return address he provided is non-deliverable. And so we have about $200 in high-end mountain biking parts floating in the US Postal system somewhere. Hopefully, the postmaster will have the packaged routed back to the sender (me) and I can sell it for a loss.

ARGH!  

Anyone in Salt Lake City willing to accept payment to kneecap a scammer for me?

Man, in hindsight, I should have paid retail for these.
What a colossal waste of time.


-Lost81

[StevenACNJ]

Over the years I have ordered several times from RAM & never had any problems.

I hope they make it right for you.

[Tonto Yoder]

Does anyone remember an online site where customers could post feedback about various audio retailers??  Theoretically, that would be a good place to have posted this matter.  It was arranged so that all feedback about "Reference Audio Mods" could be read in one link (somewhat like the feedback at eBay).  Unfortunately, people tended to post more negative comments rather than positive: I posted my bad experiences with Sunshine Stereo in Florida, but discovered that there were NO comments for Upscale Audio (Kevin Deal) with whom I've had nothing but good transactions.

[flintstone]

Just shows that anyone can have a problem, My dealings with (Upscale Audio (Kevin Deal) left a very bad impression of him as a rude person which of course reflected to me (my opinion) only a desire to avoid his company...which I have and always will.

That said, I have read many good things regarding him and his company..

Dave

[Tonto Yoder]

Dave,
sorry your experiences weren't as good as mine.  I've also heard similar stories about Upscale from others, so I'll not suggest he's perfect.
It would be nice if there was a convenient site where everyone would register one's opinions, so that a prospective customer could get some input.  It certainly wouldn't be perfect, but might be better than nothing.

A person could search AC and gather opinions on "Sound by Singer" for instance, but some centralized site might be very useful (though not exactly practicable).

[Sound]

What constitutes airing dirty laundry?  what constitutes evaluation? Who get’s to define either?  This forum is full of comparisons /opinions--buy this, try this, do this etc..  Inherent in any opinion is the secondary message to not buy or do what the other products or choices were.  To attempt to define a person voicing their opinion as airing dirty laundry is to say that everyone who shares a negative opinion is doing just that, when in fact every evaluative decision contains this secondary implication.

Then there is the argument that needlz expressed a statement not an opinion. But it is simply his experience of the purchase which,  in his opinion, was not satisfactory.  And that is what he is stating. His experience and his opinion of the company.

So, what we ave now is the marginalization of a voice. I for one appreciate the information needlz gives.  Do I accept it as TRUTH.  For him yes, for me not fully.  It simply becomes part of information collection.  Which is what many here do I assume. Review opinions to find greater bearing on our own.  To marginalize /control/oppress others opinions would skew the whole forum. If this occurs in the forum, we must not, now make conclusions on the information because the pool of information is incomplete.  It's the old adage:  If you ask in the Thursday meeting if this day is good for everyone meet your information will be incorrect because in fact those people who Thursday's meeting is not good for would not be in the meeting.

Now one might say, "How will we keep the forum from being saturated by people throwing negative reviews and slander all over the place?" Well arguably, again, this is being done from the reverse perspective daily.  
Allowing all perspectives is a must, otherwise,  what we have is censorship.

 To follow that idea to it’s conclusion is to have manufacturers on the thread simply be editors of the posts to take out any negative comment on their product or threaten slander and sue if any derogative comment was made. Then, what we would have is just a large scale advertisement disguised as a forum.

All this--in my opionon of course.

[Bill Baker]

Does anyone remember an online site where customers could post feedback about various audio retailers??

 Actually there use to be a forum on the Asylum where you could voice your dealings with both individual sellers or dealers. It turned out to be nothing but a slam fest.  I think this is a bad idea. The problem with such a forum or thread is that we would only hear about the few complaints and not about the many perfect transactions of any given person/business.  Hey, Mistakes happen. But it is how the "defendant" handles it that affects the reputation. There are the exceptions where there are constant complaints about a particular seller/company.
  I think we can all agree that any given person or company is going to make a mistake from time to time and if not handled in the exact manner in which the customer expects, bad publicity is all that comes out of it.
 I have no problem admiting that there has been a time or two when a consumer did not like my policies or I missed an email, or never returned a phone call. It does happen but not always for the reasons the other party assumes.
 Luckly, I have not had many problems over the years but if one does creap up, I do try to handle it on a professional, or even personal level.

  Maybe in needlz case, it just got out of hand. I can understand the "airing" as we all need to do so once in a while. My personal/business transactions (as few as they are) with RAM have been very good. We obviously don't know the content of the emails and/or phone calls between needlz and RAM so I do not think any judgement can be made for either side at this time as we have heard only one side of the story but can only assume that a company would want to make right on something of this nature, especially on a $40 bill?

 No sides being taken here and only hope it works out for both parties involved.