When I was thinking of buying from Doug Oade, I was surprised at the lack o=
f mention of him on this group. He had great reviews on Tapersection where =
they all seemed sure his mods make a great improvement. Since I wanted quie=
t gear for nature recording, I decided to buy from him, and also a friend j=
oined me so we could save on shipping. So I think I should share my feedbac=
k with the forum.
I can't tell you about the gear itself. It seems great. But I have nothing =
to compare it with - no un-modded gear. What I can tell you is about the re=
st of the transaction.
Doug was very responsive and friendly during our mails before I paid. I had=
to have the recorders shipped to Japan. He explained the handling charges =
I had to pay, to pay for his worker to drive to the post office. Then he to=
ld me the USPS charge - $236. That was only for USPS, nothing else. I thoug=
ht it seemed expensive so I checked it on the USPS online calculator on the=
USPS website. I used the packed weights from Amazon.com and it seemed it s=
hould be not more than about $100. I told this to Doug, and he wrote "The o=
n line calculator is rarely correct. Once you get to the Post Office, they =
measure the box, this is what drives up the cost as they go via air, size m=
atters."
When the box arrived, the USPS charge was clearly written on the receipt as=
$95.25. Doug had clearly overcharged me by $140.75. When I mailed him abou=
t it, he immediately became hostile and regretted ever dealing with me. Tha=
t already means that I now presumably have no warranty, seeing as it is onl=
y Doug's personal warranty! As for the overcharge, he admits that he told m=
e it was $236 but it was actually $95.25, but he refuses to return my money=
.
I wrote my experiences on Tapersection, and now have realised many people h=
ave had similar bad experiences with Doug, some much worse. Usually if they=
write about their negative experiences on Tapersection, Doug's fans attack=
them. So that's why I had not noticed before I dealt with him. If I had, I=
would not have. Someone ran a poll on the Tapersection forum "On a scale o=
f 1 to 5, rate your experiences with Doug Oade", and 21/105 voters voted "1=
", the worse rating.
http://taperssection.com/index.php/topic,121128.0.html
I know this is not as interesting as talking about field recordings, but ju=
st though it might be useful for anyone considering to invest money in a ne=
w recorder. Though he might treat you fine, he also might not.
However they are all saying that another man who does mods is Busman. I hav=
e no personal experience with him, but if you are looking for modded gear h=
e might be worth researching.
As a last note, I should point out that modded gear does not keep the warra=
nty from the manufacturer. (This was my one question Doug conveniently left=
unanswered).
Justin
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