The Right PCB House

In article <e9a7b4f4-fd70-44c1-aa47-72686bab2fd7
@l42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, gnuarm@gmail.com says...
> On Jun 29, 4:21 pm, Mark Borgerson <mborger...@comcast.net> wrote:
> > In article <tYCdnXlXl47nkMPVnZ2dnUVZ_sudn...@posted.localnet>,
> > robertb...@localnet.com says...
> >
> > Don't mix up ExpressPCB and PCB Express.  The latter is a division of
> > Sunstone, which builds boards in Mulino, Oregon.  Sunstone gives me good
> > boards and I live close enough that the free UPS ground shipping gets me
> > boards the day after shipment.  Sunstone also has their own free PCB
> > suite,  PCB123.
> >  http://www.pcb123.com/
> >
> > I now order all my PCBs from Sunstone, so I'm a biased reporter.    I've
> > been a fan of theirs since their  customer service techs helped me
> > through some problems with an older, low-cost layout suite.   They're
> > still helping me through some problems with bigger 4-layers boards
> > since I've converted to PADS.
> >
> > Mark Borgerson
> 
> You must get much better service than I did.  I had Sunstone build two
> boards for me.  The first was the production board which was ordered
> in six panels of 22 each.  They built seven panels to cover any losses
> and still could only deliver 116 boards.  That's a loss rate of 25%!
> 
> I also asked them to build the test fixture for this board.  By the
> time the test fixture was away to them it had turned into the long
> pole in the tent schedule-wise.  I gave them my info and they accepted
> the order.  A week later when I was expecting the order to be
> delivered, I contacted them for a tracking number.  I was told that
> the order had been put on hold waiting for a credit card number and
> when the number didn't come it was ***canceled***.  It seems that they
> lost the CC number and NO ONE contacted me about it!  So then I had to
> wait ***ANOTHER*** week.  Oddly enough, they lost my CC number a
> second time which again bit me in the butt... I got the test fixture
> panels ok, but I still needed another panel of the production board.
> 
> They had apologized for the shortage and offered me the choice of
> deducting the shortage from my bill or building another panel.  I
> waited until testing of the protos was complete and asked for the
> replacement panel to make up the shortage which was needed to complete
> the initial production build.  They accepted that order, but they
> spent an extra day checking the files I had to resend to them and it
> went into production a day late.  Of course they were not willing to
> try to speed up the fabrication to make up for it. 
Was that delay longer than the time you waited for the prototypes
to be tested?

> Finally they were
> supposed to deliver last week on Thursday directly to the assembly
> house.  I contacted Sunstone on Friday to get a tracking number to see
> if the panel had made it ok only to find out that they had built the
> boards, but would not ship them because I was now on credit hold!!!  I
> had received an invoice for the test fixture a week earlier and sent
> off a check which was expected on that Friday.  They couldn't tell me
> if the check had been received or not and they couldn't tell me if the
> boards would ship or not.
> 
> I can honestly say that I have ***never*** worked with a more
> incompetent group of people.  Every time I contacted them I had to
> start over explaining the situation.  The different departments don't
> seem to talk to each other, but rather expect their internal tracking
> system to keep everyone informed.  But I found over and over again
> that no one uses the system properly.  They lost my credit card
> number, not once, but twice.  That has got to make you wonder where it
> went!  But the really bad part of all this was the way that everything
> that happened was as much a surprise to the various contacts there as
> it was to me.  They did not once inform me of anything that was
> happening and when I asked it was like pulling teeth to get accurate
> info from them.
> 
> I will never use Sunstone again and I would not let anyone I liked
> use them either!

Perhaps my experience has been better because I order my boards
through their web site---which has never forgotten or misplaced
my credit card number.  I've never confused the payment issue
by sending them a paper check.   ;-)

Mark Borgerson

On Jul 4, 11:55 am, Mark Borgerson <mborger...@comcast.net> wrote:
> In article <e9a7b4f4-fd70-44c1-aa47-72686bab2fd7
> @l42g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, gnu...@gmail.com says...
>
>
> > They had apologized for the shortage and offered me the choice of
> > deducting the shortage from my bill or building another panel.  I
> > waited until testing of the protos was complete and asked for the
> > replacement panel to make up the shortage which was needed to complete
> > the initial production build.  They accepted that order, but they
> > spent an extra day checking the files I had to resend to them and it
> > went into production a day late.  Of course they were not willing to
> > try to speed up the fabrication to make up for it.
>
> Was that delay longer than the time you waited for the prototypes
> to be tested?

I don't understand the question.


> > Finally they were
> > supposed to deliver last week on Thursday directly to the assembly
> > house.  I contacted Sunstone on Friday to get a tracking number to see
> > if the panel had made it ok only to find out that they had built the
> > boards, but would not ship them because I was now on credit hold!!!  I
> > had received an invoice for the test fixture a week earlier and sent
> > off a check which was expected on that Friday.  They couldn't tell me
> > if the check had been received or not and they couldn't tell me if the
> > boards would ship or not.
>
> > I can honestly say that I have ***never*** worked with a more
> > incompetent group of people.  Every time I contacted them I had to
> > start over explaining the situation.  The different departments don't
> > seem to talk to each other, but rather expect their internal tracking
> > system to keep everyone informed.  But I found over and over again
> > that no one uses the system properly.  They lost my credit card
> > number, not once, but twice.  That has got to make you wonder where it
> > went!  But the really bad part of all this was the way that everything
> > that happened was as much a surprise to the various contacts there as
> > it was to me.  They did not once inform me of anything that was
> > happening and when I asked it was like pulling teeth to get accurate
> > info from them.
>
> > I will never use Sunstone again and I would not let anyone I liked
> > use them either!
>
> Perhaps my experience has been better because I order my boards
> through their web site---which has never forgotten or misplaced
> my credit card number.  I've never confused the payment issue
> by sending them a paper check.   ;-)

Sure, ordering on the web site is a great idea when it works.  I tried
to place the test fixture order online three times and each time the
web site crapped out.

Don't even try to make this look like my fault.  If they can't hold
onto a credit card number long enough to bill it, I am sure not going
to give them any more credit data.  The real problem was the fact that
they can't communicate either internally or externally.  Every time I
called, I had to start over with a new person explaining what I was
doing and who I had spoken to.  When something went wrong, they didn't
communicate internally and no one ever told me about the issues.  I
guess if your order goes well, then you don't see the result of their
poor communications.  But if there is a snag, then it all falls
apart.

Anyone who uses Sunstone for professional work is taking a chance with
their schedule.  I would compare it to those kids who thought it was
perfectly safe to tease the tiger in the zoo.  In 99.9% of the zoos
that would be safe.  But they happened to do it in the one zoo where
the tiger didn't know he couldn't jump a 14 foot wall!  When it went
bad, it went ***really bad***.

Rick

gEDA (http://www.geda.seul.org/) seems to be the best (true) open-source 
package I have used.
Pretty much Linux based though...


"Roger_the_Dodger" <cresswellavenue@talktalk.net> wrote in message 
news:7a629a7a-e1d6-40e7-9408-d74a1f7f6126@56g2000hsm.googlegroups.com...
>I would have just bought my own software.
>
> There is plenty of free stuff and paid for packages.
>
> There is often something on ebay for a few pounds. 

Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> Roger_the_Codger wrote:
>> 
>> I would have just bought my own software.
>> 
>> There is plenty of free stuff and paid for packages.
>> 
>> There is often something on ebay for a few pounds.
> 
> 
> 
>    A few pounds of what?
> 
> 

Sterling grade refined purified silver, M8.

xxx wrote:
> 
> Michael A. Terrell wrote:
> > Roger_the_Codger wrote:
> >>
> >> I would have just bought my own software.
> >>
> >> There is plenty of free stuff and paid for packages.
> >>
> >> There is often something on ebay for a few pounds.
> >
> >
> >
> >    A few pounds of what?
> >
> >
> 
> Sterling grade refined purified silver, M8.


   Isn't that kind of hard to mail?


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