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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Source request and a complaint

1/22/2000 5:04 PM
Mark Hammer	Source request and a complaint So, I am about to make my first e-purchase from Radio Shack/Tech America, and when I get to the last step, I find out that they don't sell to Canada. I phone the 1-800 number in the hopes I can request the parts and TELL them my address and VISA number. Lo and behold, they don't sell to Canada over the phone either. They just don't sell to Canada, period. Radio Shack Canada and Radio Shack/Tech America are two entirely different companies apparently, so I can't order from one through the other. To quote Andy Kaufman, "You stoopeed!! Everybody stoopeed!!". If this is the future, give me the past. Anyways, does somebody know of an outlet where I can get J201's and/or a Holtek HT8955 delay chip? RS/TA has the latter for $5. I know of no outlets in Canada that sell either.

1/22/2000 5:04 PM

Mark Hammer

Source request and a complaint

So, I am about to make my first e-purchase from Radio Shack/Tech America, and when I get to the last step, I find out that they don't sell to Canada. I phone the 1-800 number in the hopes I can request the parts and TELL them my address and VISA number. Lo and behold, they don't sell to Canada over the phone either. They just don't sell to Canada, period. Radio Shack Canada and Radio Shack/Tech America are two entirely different companies apparently, so I can't order from one through the other. To quote Andy Kaufman, "You stoopeed!! Everybody stoopeed!!".

If this is the future, give me the past.

Anyways, does somebody know of an outlet where I can get J201's and/or a Holtek HT8955 delay chip? RS/TA has the latter for $5. I know of no outlets in Canada that sell either.

1/22/2000 5:41 PM
Aron	Check out this great place: http://www.felectronics.com/ The order dept. is in Canada I believe. I ordered J201s and all sorts of other components from them. Aron

1/23/2000 4:37 AM
Frank Clarke	http://www.e-sonic.com/ has the J201, but not the HT8955, and is Canadian.

1/24/2000 2:51 PM
peter	Mark, i was trying to get the Holtek delay chip at one time, in Canada, with no luck. I have found Mouser and Digikey pretty good though-- once I got something I ordered within 24 hours, across the border and all!! Anyway, if I remember correctly, Mouser didn't have the chip but they were willing to get it. many are the frustrations I have had where some company insists you do business with their canadian distributor, which is some tiny branch office with just a salesman (i.e. no tech support) and a calculator which is used to double all the prices!!

1/24/2000 2:51 PM

peter

Mark, i was trying to get the Holtek delay chip
at one time, in Canada, with no luck.
I have found Mouser and Digikey pretty
good though-- once I got something I ordered
within 24 hours, across the border and all!!
Anyway, if I remember correctly, Mouser
didn't have the chip but they were willing
to get it.

many are the frustrations I have had where
some company insists you do business with
their canadian distributor, which is some
tiny branch office with just a salesman
(i.e. no tech support) and a calculator
which is used to double all the prices!!

1/24/2000 3:08 PM
Dean Hazelwanter	I hear you. Went through the same thing looking for the J201s. As others have mentioned, Future carries them so you can likely get them at Active (a division of Future). As a fellow Canuck, the only thing that pisses me off more is the hassles and charges associated with brokerage from some US distributors. DigiKey's setup is ideal for us, with Canadian catalogs and drop shipments from a Canadian address, so no customs/duties/brokerage hassles. Totally hassle-free. I wish Mouser offered the same kind of service, because they carry the Alpha pots and Rean jacks I use. I just went through a major purchase from them, and the grief isn't over yet... Thanks for the 'free trade', Brian! As for the HT8955, I got my first few as samples from Holtek, but that dried up since they're no longer being produced. Since I'd gone through the trouble of doing 2 board layouts for an HT8955 based reverb/delay (the first was unusable due to noise), I put out an SOS for some kind American to sell me some. Tony Guy came to the rescue. If you want to take this offline, send me some email. Tony may be able to help you, and if not, I will. I can also help you with a board layout if you like. This delay/reverb circuit is really impressive, and is worth the effort of putting it together!

1/24/2000 3:08 PM

Dean Hazelwanter

I hear you. Went through the same thing looking for the J201s. As others have mentioned, Future carries them so you can likely get them at Active (a division of Future). As a fellow Canuck, the only thing that pisses me off more is the hassles and charges associated with brokerage from some US distributors. DigiKey's setup is ideal for us, with Canadian catalogs and drop shipments from a Canadian address, so no customs/duties/brokerage hassles. Totally hassle-free. I wish Mouser offered the same kind of service, because they carry the Alpha pots and Rean jacks I use. I just went through a major purchase from them, and the grief isn't over yet... Thanks for the 'free trade', Brian!

As for the HT8955, I got my first few as samples from Holtek, but that dried up since they're no longer being produced. Since I'd gone through the trouble of doing 2 board layouts for an HT8955 based reverb/delay (the first was unusable due to noise), I put out an SOS for some kind American to sell me some. Tony Guy came to the rescue. If you want to take this offline, send me some email. Tony may be able to help you, and if not, I will. I can also help you with a board layout if you like. This delay/reverb circuit is really impressive, and is worth the effort of putting it together!

1/28/2000 5:43 PM

Aaron V.

Canadian Issues

quote:
" DigiKey's setup is ideal for us, with Canadian catalogs and drop shipments from a Canadian address, so no customs/duties/brokerage hassles. Totally hassle-free. I wish Mouser offered the same kind of service, because they carry the Alpha pots and Rean jacks I use."

Email and tell them that! I completely understand the headaches involved.I emailed Mouser's sales dept last month about that - putting it in words they understand - that they are losing most of my business to Digi-Key because of the duty and brokerage hassles.
FWIW, the guy who responded said that he was aware that Digi-Key had the CDN$$ catalog, but didn't realize that duty and brokerage was included.
If everyone were to tell them, perhaps it would make a difference.

Aaron

1/28/2000 6:47 PM
Dean Hazelwanter	I have - politely, passionately and repeatedly. They don't seem to understand how much hassle and additional cost they cause us. In my last order from them, I investigated the best way to have thins shipped to minimize cost and hassles. This turned out to be Express Mail. When I received my order, they had sent the wrong values for some of the pots I had ordered. They sent the replacement parts via Purolator Courier, and I just got an invoice for those no-charge replacement parts for $24.97. I wish that either: 1. Mouser would provide the same kind of hassle free support as DigiKey, OR 2. DigiKey would carry Alpha pots and Rean jacks!!!

1/28/2000 6:47 PM

Dean Hazelwanter

I have - politely, passionately and repeatedly. They don't seem to understand how much hassle and additional cost they cause us. In my last order from them, I investigated the best way to have thins shipped to minimize cost and hassles. This turned out to be Express Mail. When I received my order, they had sent the wrong values for some of the pots I had ordered. They sent the replacement parts *via Purolator Courier*, and I just got an invoice for those *no-charge* replacement parts for $24.97.

I wish that either:
1. Mouser would provide the same kind of hassle free support as DigiKey, OR
2. DigiKey would carry Alpha pots and Rean jacks!!!

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