Urrrgghhh Officially Licensed Circuits

[woolyh]

Ordered a circuit board from them on the 28th October, waited a whole month for it to show up as it's from the States the postage might have been a bit slow, after a month and nothing showing up I email them saying where's it at and they tell me they'll 'look into it tomorrow', tomorrow was ten days ago :

 

Anyone else dealt with them? Seems a bit lame and I had to open a Paypal case against them as the claim date was just about to expire.

[Blakemore Effects]

I remember buying a Chunky Cheese kit once and had a similar experience. Took them forever to ship it, and once they "shipped it" it didn't show up forever, so I don't think they shipped it when they said they did. Also, they didn't give me instructions until I specifically requested them, which isn't a big deal, but it sucked having the kit show up, and then having to wait a few more days for instructions. Once I got everything lined up though, the kit sounded great; it was just a bit of a hassle getting everything in order.

[woolyh]

It's a shame because I really wanted to make the pedal but I had to open the case because if the Paypal claim date expired I doubt I'd ever hear from them again

 

GGG stopped making their Big Cheese boards so it looks like no Cheese for me

 

http://www.generalguitargadgets.com/component/virtuemart/?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=58&category_id=16

[H.R. Shove and Stuff]

I've only heard bad things about OLC, unfortunately

[cryptosonic]

I've emailed them a bunch of times asking about board size and such and they never get back to me. {censored} em.

[NetStar]

Stop buying things from the Internet.

[woolyh]

I give them the money and they send me the item, it sounds so simple

 

Never had a bad experience buying stuff in the spam on here though

[Naterel]

pwned

[mhuxtable]

T1M'd

[lbj273]

I had a big problem with them a few years ago. I ordered a kit to build as my electronics class final and waited over a month and still got nothing. They didn't reply to my emails right away so I started calling, and of course they didn't answer the phone. I left a message once, the other times I just called hoping someone would answer and I let it ring till it went to the machine. Finally I get a nasty email from them and a few days later a refund. I took my business to GGG and never looked back. {censored}ers almost caused me to fail that class

[THAT4301]

Never used them myself but heard bad things on the usual DIY forums

[woolyh]

We need a "Pedal companies with bad reputations" thread or something

 

Got a refund this morning (from the Paypal claim), it took so long between paying and getting the refund I lost 7p on the exchange rate

[SonicVI]

I ordered just a pcb four weeks ago and have nothing yet. I opened a paypal dispute last week, to which they responded, but I haven't gotten the pcb yet. I don't know why I even ordered from them.

[cryptosonic]

Yea it's too bad as I'd really like to build up a chunky cheese

[SonicVI]

Probably better off finding a vero board layout of it.

[melx]

is that a big cheese clone?

 

if so pm me your address and I'll put something in the post for you.

[melx]

actually, I should look to find the thing first but I have a pcb for one somewhere, when I find it you can have it

[XwpisONOMA]

OK, I know this is an old thread, but it seems the right place to post my very bad review of this OLC scam!

 

Back a few years ago I was referred to OLC by Beavis Audio and ordered a TubeCricket (www.olcircuits.com/olc_tubecricket.html).

 

Well 2-3 weeks passed with absolutely no response from him. Then I started emailing, calling, initially polite later threatening I'll take action, etc. About a week later, he finally responded with a one-line non-apologetic email, saying because he had an issue with the website's ordering and couldn't search, if I could send him the PayPal details of my order, like confirmation etc. Then it took him another week to acknowledge that he indeed had received the order and collected the money.

 

Then he gave me an excuse that his shop was behind because of too many orders and that he will personally prepare the kit and send it.

 

Another week, maybe 10 days went by and finally he emailed me saying that because the drilling of the enclosure required "precision measurements" he was delayed, but the kit was there on the bench waiting to be drilled and he was about to mail it shortly.

 

Well you know how the story goes, yet another week went by, and finally I did get (!) the package in the mail.

 

Then I found out that: Many parts were missing (i.e. 386 socket) , or were the wrong values (i.e. resistors and caps), or they were the wrong parts to start with (i.e. wrong potentiometer type). To make things worse, the enclosure was drilled the wrong way. The holes were drilled at the wrong position and some were of the wrong size. In short, there was no way to put that kit together, it was nothing like the schematic/pictures shown on the website. It gets "better" ... He never included the build instructions !!!

 

So for the next 2-3 weeks I engaged in a hellish back and forth email and phone effort to get this mess fixed. What a nightmare that was.

 

In my opinion this guy is either (big time) on drugs or a certified bi-polar personality. I have no bad feelings for him, I mean over the phone he sounded like the average guy, and actually I felt sorry for him , but honestly, he should have offered to take the kit back and refund me the money, or at least partially reimburse me or some other kind of customer friendly gesture. The funny thing is that he believes that he provides "superior/exceptional customer service".

 

At some point (my fault) I kinda mellowed-down and told him that he did not have to send me the missing 386 socket (I had extras) he didn't have to send the correct values of resistors and capacitors, (again I had mine) and finally, (my big mistake) I told him I'd ask for new enclosure if I need it, since I intended to used a different case from an old amp I had which would fit a 10" speaker cabinet I had. So really the missing wrong parts was not that big of a deal, but realistically the usable parts he sent me was about 2/3 of the kit.

 

Finally, he emailed me the build instructions, then he refuted the fact that the enclosure was improperly drilled, then he got mad when I told him that as a paying customer he should not have subjected me to this ordeal, then he disappeared for a while, then he resurfaced, ...apologizing and saying he regretted that outburst, then offered to send me the missing parts, then he kept texting me and calling me usually on Friday's casually asking me how I was doing, how's life, how's work, etc. and finally he disappeared and never heard back from him again.

 

Sorry for my long post, avoid buying from his website it is simply not worth it.

 

PS: By the way do you know how much he charged me for the kit? ...$140 dollars. This is basically what I call insult to injury. Stay away from him, it's just not worth it !!! I am posting his data here below, (you've been warned):

 

--

 

 

Website: www.olcircuits.com

Email: mark@olcircuits.com ; markr04@verizon.net

 

 

EDIT: In response to the admin comment, below, the information I posted is not confidential. The name, address and phone # are all retrievable on the internet or any public record under the Freedom of Information Act. The owner of olcircuits.com is a well know DJ in the Plano, TX area, and his contact info are all over the place for anyone to find.

 

I respect your policies and I am not here to make a big fuss even though you arbitrarily put my post to the chopping block and hacked it as you saw fit. Nevertheless it seems to me you are trying to protect someone who's in the habit of scamming unsuspected, hard working, honest music enthusiasts, who trusted this con-artist with their money.

 

Do as you please, but DO NOT change this edit of mine, others have the right to know.