[TowerTalk] X9 or C31XR

Fri, 09 Apr 1999 19:26:06 PDT

I have an X9 - love it.

EXCEPT: The SWR is screwy - varies with rain I think. And the antenna 
is at 100 feet. Bummer

Three yagis bought from Cushcraft - three screwups. Each yagi had 
either missing parts, wrong parts, or broken parts :(
Read below for problems with dealing with Cushcraft directly.

I DID find some helpful people at Cushcraft, but it still took on 
average 2 weeks to deal with each problem.

Incidently, I drive literally past Cushcraft almost every week - but 
could I stop by and pick up my needed part - no, not allowed :(

My wife is enforcing a NO CUSHCRAFT RULE - she is tired of hearing me 
complain.

Pity, the antennas perform very well,

73

Ted, KR1G 

>From: "Jeffrey R Davis" <jrdavis@crnotes.collins.rockwell.com>
>To: Dick Flanagan <dick@libelle.com>
>CC: Tower-Talk Reflector <towertalk@contesting.com>, K7LXC@aol.com
>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] X9 or C31XR
>Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 14:01:34 -0500
>
>
>
>
>Dick Flanagan wrote:
>
>>[PURELY SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION ALERT]
>
>>The more and more I read about the "new Cushcraft," the more I
>>appreciate what Force 12 has brought to the amateur antenna
>>marketplace.  Thanks, Tom!
>
>>[END PURELY SUBJECTIVE OBSERVATION ALERT]
>
>I'd like to confirm Dick's impressions:
>
>[IRRITATED FORMER CUSTOMER ALERT]
>
>I recently received a Cushcraft 17B2 which had some hidden damage, 
which
>probably occurred in shipping. Namely, the balun case was crunched. 
My plan
>was to order a replacement balun from Cushcraft and add it to the 
damage
>claim to the transport company.
>
>JEFF TRIES TO PLACE AN ORDER OVER THE PHONE
>So I called up Cushcraft and waded through about 7 layers of menus, 
only to
>be told that I didn't have the option of giving my order to a human 
being
>person, only to either leave a voice mail or place the order via the 
web
>site. By the way, the message went further to explain that their 
"goal" was
>to respond to voice mails within 3 days. Some goal.
>
>JEFF TRIES TO PLACE AN ORDER OVER THE WEB
>So I dutifully went to the web site to try to place the order. I 
don't know
>whether the problem was my system or theirs, but I kept getting error
>messages trying to order the balun using the web site. I gave up 
after
>three tries and decided to call again, but take a different path 
through
>the menu system.
>
>JEFF TRIES TO FIND A HUMAN BEING TO TALK TO
>What I did was follow the warranty path - after all, it was a brand 
new
>antenna and had a broken piece when I opened the box. I don't know 
for sure
>that it was damaged in shipping - maybe it came from the factory that 
way.
>But my real motive was to speak with a live human being who could 
help me
>place an order.
>
>JEFF THINKS CUSHCRAFT IS A GREAT COMPANY
>So I get through the 7 menu layers and behold, a human answers the 
phone -
>a human who wanted to be very helpful. After explaining the 
situation, he
>offered that they would do a warrantly replacement. I'm thinking 
"what a
>great company, they really stand for making sure I end up with a good
>product, even if it wasn't necessarily their fault".
>
>JEFF DISCOVERS HE IS NOT CONSIDERED TRUSTWORTHY
>Unfortunately for my perceptions, the helpful person at the other end 
soon
>realized that I was talking about the balun, which costs all of $60. 
Now to
>get warranty replacement, I would have to send the damaged balun in 
first;
>only then would they ship a replacement. I explained that I had a 
whole
>tower project schedule I was trying to manage, and didn't want to 
have to
>the whole project waiting for a two way exchange. I asked if I could 
give
>them a credit card number for the balun if they didn't trust me and 
credit
>the card when the damaged balun arrived. The helpful person at the 
other
>end explained that, unfortunately, this would require an "executive
>decision" and that he would get back to me.
>
>JEFF IS DISILLUSIONED
>The now sheepish helpful person who called me back had to explain 
that the
>"executive" he spoke to not only wouldn't accept my credit card, he
>wouldn't even treat it as a warranty. No big deal, I wasn't expecting
>warranty in the first place, but so much for my perception of a 
"great
>company".
>
>DISILLUSIONED, UNTRUSTED JEFF FINALLY PLACES AN ORDER WITH A HUMAN 
BEING
>Fortunately, the helpful person WAS empowered enough to take my 
credit card
>number for a replacement balun order!
>
>Regards,
>
>Jeff - N0DY
>
>
>
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