[TowerTalk] Amidon Inc.

Thu May 13 00:12:15 EDT 2004

Chuck,
I had a similiar comment made to me regarding "my relatively small orders"
when I attempted to track an order that had been rejected by myself and
returned to Amidon. In spite of a written notice at the time our corporate
account was opened with Amidon, stating we do not accept or deal with UPS on
packages from the States, Amidon decided to, without any notice, ship our
last order via UPS ground. I was advided that there was a $90.00 CAD package
waiting for clearance at UPS brokerage with a $50.00 clearance fee attached.
Back she went, not gonna play that game. Ms. Yuan was not happy, but I had
the email trail in hand stating the agreed to conditions attached to the
account. Nothing happened for weeks. No response from Amidon on the
re-shipment. Finally, after about a month of waiting I contacted UPS
customer service and was able to track the package right back to the person
who signed for the box when it was returned to their facility about a week
after it was bounced from the Vancouver port of entry. When confronted with
this, the revised explanation was something to the effect that, they had
just a terrible time trying to recover the package from UPS I had
rejected..etc..etc.. I asked her just what the problem was but never did
receive a response. I believe I would still be waiting for the beads had I
not proven to them that their employee had received the merchandise back
into inventory.
I have over the past several months sourced several other companies who I
would recommend. One in particular is Fair-Rite Products Inc. Excellent
packaging and sample kits if your a small business.

Cheers!

Kirb,  VE6IV

-----Original Message-----
From: towertalk-bounces at contesting.com
[mailto:towertalk-bounces at contesting.com]On Behalf Of Chuck Counselman
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 8:42 PM
To: towertalk at contesting.com
Subject: [TowerTalk] Amidon Inc.

I have bought about $2,000 worth of ferrite beads, toroids, cores,
etc. from Amidon (now d/b/a/ Amidon Inc.) within the last few years;
and I have recommended Amidon as a source of ferrite products to many
hams, individually and via four email lists, including this one.

Now I warn _against_ buying from Amidon, because I have had problems
with _three_ of my last seven orders.  These problems began two years
ago, about when Dr. Bob Yuan and his family began running the company.

The first problem occurred in 2002 with an order for ten FT-240-61
toroids, which arrived loose in a hollow cardboard box, with no
packing material.  Since ferrite is brittle, like glass, naturally
half of the toroids had been shattered.  After I complained and
returned the fragments (at my own expense), Amidon replaced the
broken toroids; but Ms. Julie Yuan never stopped _insisting_ to me
that the breakage was entirely the fault of UPS and that Amidon had
properly packed the toroids.  To "prove" her assertion she told me
"We are audited and we are an ISO 9000 company."  (Did she mean 9001?)

I guess she meant that, since I am not audited and I am not an ISO
9000 company, I had to be lying when I said that the toroids had been
shipped loose in a box with no packing material.

The second problem occurred three months ago with an order for 25
"snapit cable beads."  Only 24 pieces arrived, packed egg-crate-style
in four rows of six snapit beads.  There was no 25th piece -- not
anywhere in the package.  When I complained about the shortage, Ms.
Yuan would not send me the missing piece (for which I had paid)
because, she said, their inventory check showed no overage; and "We
are audited and we are an ISO 9000 company."

I guess she meant that, since I am not audited and I am not an ISO
9000 company, I had to be lying when I said that there were only 24
pieces in the box.

The third problem occurred two weeks ago with an order for 25
toroids, Amidon p/n FT-240-43.  Today when I had received nothing, I
telephoned Amidon.  After taking my name, etc., etc., the so-called
customer service rep. said barely intelligibly that Amidon had no
record of any order from me, no way, not _ever_.  I persisted, naming
the person (Ms. Julie Yuan) who had taken my order, repeating the
date, the exact time, and other particulars; and finally she allowed
me to speak with Ms. Yuan.

Ms. Yuan said that she had a "note" showing that she had canceled my
order (and apparently also deleted all records of my existence)
because my credit card was "no good."  That there was any problem
with my credit card was news to me, so I checked with my card-issuing
bank.  My bank claimed (FWIW) that no charge to my credit card had
been denied, and in particular that no attempt by Amidon had been
denied.

After I related this to Ms. Yuan, she changed her story.  Now she
said that I had given her a different credit-card number.  But I had
_emailed_ all my order information, including my credit-card number,
to her; and I had retained a copy of that email message, which now I
read to her.  There was no error in this message; and the credit-card
number was correct.  She did not dispute this, but changed her story
yet again.

Now she said that there had been a problem with my order, so she'd
asked someone to call me; that this person had called me and left a
message; but that I'd never called back.  I told her that I have been
at the tel. no. I'd given her, that day, and every day; that I have
both an answering machine and a Caller-ID box; that both machines
would have logged the call if it had in fact come; that I'd neither
heard nor seen any such call; and that therefore I doubted that it
had occurred.  I asked to speak to the supposed caller; she refused.
I asked when the call had been made; she refused to tell me because,
she said, that was "confidential information" which she could not
disclose.  I asked why, if the telephone call had been made to me as
she claimed, it should be kept secret from me; but she did not
answer.  I asked to speak to Dr. Yuan.  She said that he was not
available.  I asked when he would be available.  She said he would be
"away for four months."  I asked who was in charge while he was away,
and she said that she was.

She added that "Amidon is a big company"; that she "didn't have time
for small orders"; that she is accustomed to dealing with customers
who order "thousands of pieces per month, every month," not
"amateurs" like me (I have ordered $450 worth of ferrite from Amidon
since 1/7/2003.); and she suggested that in the future I should order
ferrite from a distributor closer to me.  End of conversation.

Sorry to rant so long, but I had to share this with my fellow
amateurs to whom it is no longer worth selling.

Tnx es 73 de Chuck W1HIS.
_______________________________________________

See: http://www.mscomputer.com  for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless
Weather Stations", and lot's more.  Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any
questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.

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