I am starting this to get some advice, but i think it may be helpful for other insight.
I bought a cable from DHC during his latest black friday sale. I spoke to him extensively about what I was looking for, he suggested and sent pictures of some cool appointments he has done elsewhere and we agree to do them for my cable. I go premium on almost all the parts as this will be for at least 3 headphones.
The usual 2+ month wait goes by and i eventually get the cable earlier this week. I pop it open and i immediately see issues.
xlr to 6.3mm adapters i purchased are MIA
clips i was supposed to get are MIA
L & R indicators were on the connectors (i asked specifically for no indicators
mini xlr connectors did not have the ribbing design we agreed to.
4 pin xlr had highlighter yellow carbon print on it. (Edit: there was a misunderstanding here that is partialy on me but it is still bot as expected)
So its been one of those days, that is apart of one of those weeks. I step away for the night to cool down and I contact Peter the next day.
I sent an email asking “What is the best way to contact him with some concerns I had.” He immediately realised he forgot the adapter, and asked to send it. On the following email i gave him the list above, acknowledged his previous email about the adapter, and got a response that i am not sure how to respond without sounding like a dick but also not selling myself short. This is a C15 and even with the BF discount its serious change.
The L&R indicators can all be fixed easy or he offered to make both black. Tbh i rather have them off, not a fan of the rubber band looking rings.
The yellow carbon fiber is actually supposed to be gold? Yikes. But Peter said he can change this to black which would be better but i hate that fake carbon fiber. I am going to ask if there is a diffent decorative ring that can be used, if not i guess im stick with fake fiber.
The ribbed design on the mini xlr though… This really gets me as it was a big reason i bought new vs looking used. He sent pics to me suggesting them, i loved it as it was very custom looking. So it comes and nope, not there. Peter said that with the S-mod he couldnt fit it. But FFS he didnt say anything once about it while building the cable, and i probably would have changed my order or just not placed one and went used if i knew.
I am probably going to send it back (on my dime) to have the 4 pin xlr fixed to not be highlighter yellow, but how much should I push on the mini xlr issue? I know asking about it more wont make things magically fit, but I almost want to ask for a refund, especially for the price paid. We did speak about black mini xlrs coming soon, so maybe ask about those again?
Idk, i am still pretty sour here and rather get my money back and wash my hands of it all. Who knows how long itll take Peter to fix these, either.
Just IMO… and this knowing that there’s a shitton of fanboyishm on anything critical of some of the boutique vendors. I made the mistake of criticizing the guy at ZMF of at HiFiGuide years back. A promised 8 to 10 week wait time extended to 18 weeks and no updates. I’d not have had a problem with that had the business practice of ZMF not been a money up front charge. Still people defending the guy.
That said, he’s what I’d do and ultimately you do what feels right to you.
You’re the customer. You are right in the substance of the exchange, not just in the no longer meaning anything customer is always right mantra of days gone by. You have the right to get 100% of what you ordered and he should be jumping through hoops to make it right especially if you’ve got receipts of the conversations. If he doesn’t then that’s a business decision that should be made public in every DHC thread you can share your story on. You shouldn’t have to push a vendor to make things right. Especially one with the profit margins built into the elite cable business. I’d even ask him to send you a return label.
I usually talk to Peter on telegram and he’s pretty responsive on there if you’re looking for another way to get in touch with him but sounds like email is working just fine.
You definitely are owed what was missing so I would try and come to agreement on that first and if one cannot be reached then you should return the cable / ask for a refund. It’s possible if you used PayPal that you won’t be able to get the fees back for using that service.
I actually have a similarly complicated cable order in for a prion 4 so am hoping it goes well or I imagine I’ll be in a similar position in a month or so.
Get exactly what you wanted in your order at no cost to you or get a FULL refund. No restocking fee. The company didn’t fulfill the order properly.
Then make a mental note and consider another vendor for future purchases.
Competition breeds better products. It also should breed better customer service and attention to detail. I would ask myself this question: If they’re this shoddy with order fulfillment, how shoddy is the build of their products?
Shit happens, mistakes are made, it’s always about how they are handled after the fact.
My impression (and it could be completely wrong) of Peter at DHC and for that matter Trevor at Norne, is they still treat the business as a sort of hobby.
They generally do good work, but for example coincidentally all the cables I’ve gotten from either of them have shipped within a day or two of me enquiring when they will be shipped.
In the end it’s your choice on how you proceed, some of these cables aren’t cheap, and you need to be happy with the result.
I’d just remember your dealing with a person, there is no point in getting angry with them. Work through it with him I’d remind him that it was his mistake, and you shouldn’t have to deal with shipping FWIW. And in the end if your not happy with what he’s offering get a refund. And he won’t play ball file a complaint with the CC company or PayPal.
The product is good and looks well built. DHC makes a good product, but it is pricey, really pricey and there is a waiting period to get it. I dont have anything to test it with right now nor do i want to even plug it in in the case it can be claimed as “used.”
This. It is why i took a step away from it, to cool off and not just want to yell. Get some advice and check that I am not over the top or expecting too much outside of the missing pieces.
I think i am also trying to bide time as things like this can always go sour, or end up with no real satisfactory ending, and then back to the drawing board. But of course it is always easier when things work out as planned, but then it would be tooooo easy.
LOL, this has been my experience with DHC, with a couple of different orders. I’m just guessing but I suspect that it’s not that Peter treats this as a hobby, it’s more that he’s a one man shop and is also organizationally challenged, so he generally has more work than he can handle, and doesn’t work in an efficient manner.
I do think that this is a prevalent issue with boutique vendors, and I suppose my expectations have been beaten down over time, such that I’ve come to expect that the product may not be perfect the first time around, but that they’ll fix whatever they screwed up. I know I shouldn’t accept it, but I’m somewhat resigned to the fact that this is the price I pay to get that customized product.
I think of him as somewhat of a mad scientist… definitely required multiple conversations and remote hand holding to get me what I wanted.
I found myself wanting to text him at some point that he’s driving me insane only to remind myself that he’s a vendor and business after all and not a friend. Dealing with these boutique one man shops and talking directly over text really messes with the expectations and behavior imo
fwiw, I had an issue with some of the ~6 in adapters that converted the cable from 3.5mm (for susvara) to 1266tc connectors. I bought them secondhand yet Peter fixed them without any back and forth.
That’s the good. The odd thing was that the issue was one had reversed polarity or something. How would that not be found during testing after manufacturing and before shipping the product to the customer…?
Also I think @Draaly works with Peter a lot and has had custom cables made, etc and has had a great experience with him.
(and prion4 is the best cable I have ever used)
Hopefully you can get this resolved
To add to my previous post, I am sorry this happened, and I would be similarly pissed, especially after a long wait. I hope that he’s able to fix this asap.
The closest I came to this situation was where I was at fault, not him. I ordered a RAD-0 to ZMF no-wired triple threat adapter, which he warned me was probably going to have logistical issues, and he was right, because they stuck into my shoulders. I emailed him back to tell him he was right, and I didn’t ask for anything from him, but he offered to switch them for wired adapters at no charge. I don’t have a relationship with Peter, other than being a customer, but that experience gives me the hope that he will make it right for you, without any more stress.
So I messaged Pete a little over a week ago. I got a response with possible solutions and i emailed him back with the way i wanted to go and asked for other clarifications. No response. I emailed him again a few days ago to confirm if he got my message and to make sure i was on the same level of understanding. No response.
I think ill give it one more week and ill reach out on telegram which seems to be his prefered method of communication. If not i know Peter does this where he ghosts customer comms but i just dont have time for that. Ill have to tackle it another way if it comes to that.
You simply can’t do that to people, just not the way to do business, no matter how good the cable is you’ll never want to recommend anyone there. How much effort can an OOO messge be to set up telling people you’re busy but will eventually get back to them. At least they know you received the message. This isn’t buying a fucking Hart Audio cable! LOL
Don’t see a reason why you should be left hanging and wait. I’d reach out on telegram already if I were you. You deserve timely answers and getting what you paid for (or the money back) and that should include good service to match the premium I’m sure you paid.
I had a similar experience recently when I sent a cable for retermination. I followed Peter’s instructions for payment and shipping (tracked via UPS) and emailed him (replied to his original email) to let him know but no acknowledgement. Then after checking that the cable was delivered, I emailed after a couple days to confirm that it was received but no response. Then I gave it a couple weeks and emailed again to check if it was received and no response again.
At this point, I’m a little worried so I sent an email through his website because that’s where he first responded to me regarding retermination and then finally I get a one line reply sent from his phone saying the cable is safe, which was more than a month ago. I’m not holding my breath but at least I finally got an acknowledgment.
I wouldn’t wait based on my experience. I am guessing he only looks at Customer Service enquiry mailbox and telegram.
I usually email him around 1130 pst when I had bought some stuff from him previously. He was consistently responding to me almost immediately around that time. It’s a stupid work around for the customer to do but hey it might work for you too.
I have a prion4 on order from cyber monday, and sent a message asking about its status weeks ago through the customer service mailbox (the stated preferred way to communicate on the website) with no reply back. I’m not sure there’s a pattern to response or not. I have a lot of patience though, but still, I’m really anxious to get away from the stock susvara cable, that shitty cable is really getting to me lol and 2.7k is a lot to throw into the wind with no communication.
Horrific customer service. I don’t care if he’s a one-man shop and hobbyist who has branched into business. Inexcusable to ghost a customer.
I would demand my money back and find another vendor. I’ll recommend audiophileninja.com. Jeremy is the leader of a two- or three-man company, but he makes great cables at a fair price with incredible service and turnaround time. I bought a balanced cable for HiFiMan headphones from Audiophile Ninja, and it’s great.
I’ve been following along out of curiosity Personally, i don’t own and will probably never own any HP that i would try and fine tune w/ a cable that costs in excess of $500 let alone $1k +++ i just don’t enjoy them enough, nor care enough on their performance to go there.
Having stated this, being in the hole for $2k+, and many weeks/months of wait time, if it were me, i would patiently continue to work with your designer/builder until a satisfactory outcome concludes. When i want/desire something enough to spend that kind of money i bite my tongue and work at a positive conclusion for MYSELF. I’m the one it ultimately matters to. I have done this multiple times dealing with various manufacturers… I have stories… good luck!
Edit to add: YES, there have been times in the past where i had to stop the hemorrhaging of funds and flat out cut my losses, put my tail between my legs, cursed allot, and eventually moved on. Painful lessons to say the least…
The expense, the wait time, the desire to get what you want.
The business practice.
They are separate issue and as much as the hobby clouds our judgement sometimes and makes it so easy to lead with passion I don’t think the wait is the problem. I think anyone committed to the hobby has probably been in the same situation as @Souldriver waiting a long time for something they spent lots of cash on.
The problem is the lack of response, it’s an embarrassingly visible issue and simple to resolve. I mean just in the discussion here a couple of people have remarked on the simple confirmation of receipt of shipment. Or confirmation that the message you’d left, email you’d sent was received.
$2700 for a headphone cable, it’s not acceptable and should not be accepted as a business practice.
I waited a long time my my Omega speakers. Louis took every call, answered every email, and even posted a messages on his website about the wait times. It made it easier for me as a customer to be pissed at the situation but not at him. That’s not the case when you ghost someone. It leaves a very bad impression of you as a person.
Especially given the fact that this is what’s on the website’s banner at the moment. “New flagship Chimera is live! New orders ship in 4-6 weeks…Chat anytime on Telegram @doublehelixcables”
Personally, i don’t own and will probably never own any HP that i would try and fine tune w/ a cable that costs in excess of $500 let alone $1k +++ i just don’t enjoy them enough, nor care enough on their performance to go there.
good luck!