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#231045 - 19/08/2004 05:12 Anyone heard from PCA?
MHC
journeyman

Registered: 14/02/2002
Posts: 66
I'm waiting for some missing pieces for my tuner kit. Just wondering if anyone knows anything that I don't.

-Christian

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#231046 - 19/08/2004 19:12 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: MHC]
schofiel
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
He is up to his neck in work (in between flying aircraft and doing fun stuff he has to earn a crust), some of which will be of benefit to you all sometime in the future.

Have a little patience, he'll be back in action soon. Which bits are you missing?
_________________________
One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

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#231047 - 25/08/2004 22:40 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: schofiel]
frekin
stranger

Registered: 26/01/2002
Posts: 47
I was so excited last month when I finally got an email from him telling me that my tuner was ready. It's now been more than 30 days since I sent payment via PayPal and I haven't received anything nor received any response to my last email. Should I be worried? Should I cancel the credit transaction or stick it out?

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#231048 - 25/08/2004 23:54 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: frekin]
jimhogan
carpal tunnel

Registered: 06/10/1999
Posts: 2591
Loc: Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
frekin stranger:
Quote:
Should I be worried? Should I cancel the credit transaction or stick it out?


You are new here, looks like. I guess the best advice I could offer would be: Read 50 percent of the posts on the BBS and then take a chill pill.

It pains me to see anyone get stressed out over the fabulous, completely altruistic efforts of value-added heroes such as Patrick.

(OK, I know that "value-added" is a complete farkin cliche. I was just at a loss for more optimal words...)
_________________________
Jim


'Tis the exceptional fellow who lies awake at night thinking of his successes.

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#231049 - 26/08/2004 01:08 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: frekin]
JrFaust
member

Registered: 07/02/2002
Posts: 193
Loc: New Richmond, WI
I was sweatin for a while, found out that he couldn't e-mail me because my ISP was blocking him. Might try a PM or an alt email addy. But don't worry too much he'll make sure you get the tuner.
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Drive fast, Play it loud!!!
20GB Original Blue Lens MKIIa Rio SN 030102760, Blue Buttons.
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#231050 - 26/08/2004 11:03 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: frekin]
Phoenix42
veteran

Registered: 21/03/2002
Posts: 1424
Loc: MA but Irish born
Isn't PCA's running away with people's Paypal an sign of the arrivel of the Four Horsemen?

Don't worry frekin, you've better odds of winning the lottery then of Patrick pulling a fast one. He is probably a little side tracked on building a jet engined toaster or something.

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#231051 - 26/08/2004 19:51 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: frekin]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31583
Loc: Seattle, WA
frekin: Having personally met Patrick, and knowing him from this BBS years prior, I can assure you that he's a trustworthy person. Well, in addition to being one of the coolest and most interesting human beings on the planet. You have nothing to worry about in terms of your money going to waste.

However, you should check to make sure that emails aren't getting lost in transit, for instance, perhaps he has responded to you but they are bouncing for some reason, or you have some kind of spam-filtering in place that is shunting the messages into a "bulk mail" folder that you need to check.
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Tony Fabris

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#231052 - 26/08/2004 20:06 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: tfabris]
frekin
stranger

Registered: 26/01/2002
Posts: 47
I reached the same conclusion about 5 minutes after posting the message, having looked into some older posts. I waited over a year for my number to come up, so I don't think a few more months are going to kill me.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

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#231053 - 26/08/2004 20:36 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: tfabris]
schofiel
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
Naaaahh, he's just working 18 hour days back to back until about the middle of September, and I can authenticate this as I will be putting in at least one of those weeks with him pretty soon. Long live Cola!
_________________________
One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

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#231054 - 26/08/2004 20:39 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: Phoenix42]
schofiel
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
Well, rebuilding a 1958 Jet boat for a boat show taking place this weekend - including re-builing the engine, jet mechanism, reverser, control system, fuel system, hull, and all the rest of the bits to make this thing go....

........WHOOOSH!!!!
_________________________
One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

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#231055 - 27/08/2004 04:16 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: schofiel]
canuckInOR
carpal tunnel

Registered: 13/02/2002
Posts: 3212
Loc: Portland, OR
There better be some pictures posted when all's said and done.

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#231056 - 27/08/2004 04:41 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: schofiel]
MHC
journeyman

Registered: 14/02/2002
Posts: 66
What would really benefit me is a complete tuner kit. I'm sure the man is busy, but I'm a little too busy to have to chase down the missing pieces of my kit. I don't think that he's trying to rip me off, I just think that he's doing a poor job of communicating with his customers.

I'm told by Stuart at Eutronix that 2 blue wires and a 4.7K resistor are missing. He has no extra wire and would have to order a whole spool, which neither of us really has a use for.

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#231057 - 27/08/2004 09:56 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: MHC]
schofiel
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
A 4.7k resistor costs about 2p (less than 1cent) and is available at any moderately well equipped electronics shop. Two pieces of 24 gauge wire (of the type he supplies, which I am actually soldering into a tuner kit as I type) likewise cost about 2p per length. It is typical installation wire, available at any car supplies, or electronics shop. Most places will cut off a bit of wire for you if you ask nicely, otherwise it will cost you about two pounds (about $3 at the most) to buy a small reel.

Aside from the fact that it was not in the kit (which I find unusual given the care that Patrick puts into assembling these kits, as I can attest to having helped him do it), it will cost him a lot of effort, time, and money to send these out to you. The postage and packing alone will be worth about 10 - 20 times more than the materials themselves. It will take a while for them to arrive, and then you will have to post them on to Stu. To me, it sounds eminently more practical, and sensible, to simply buy this stuff locally. Stu is a competent engineer and knows what to get, how come you haven't just told him to buy the bits and get on with the build? If I had received an incomplete kit here to build, I would have simply gone out and bought the bits myself and got on with the job without even thinking about telling the owner! (unless it was the tuner module or a PCB that was missing).

Instead of holding out waiting for Patrick and moaning about it publically, why don't you just get on with it? You have been told here several times that Patrick is trustworthy, and that he is up to his neck in work (not just pleasure), but you still haven't realised that a couple of bits of wire and a resistor are likely to be pretty low down on his list of priorities.....
_________________________
One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

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#231058 - 27/08/2004 09:57 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: canuckInOR]
schofiel
carpal tunnel

Registered: 25/06/1999
Posts: 2993
Loc: Wareham, Dorset, UK
Well, it sure sounded nice over the telephone
_________________________
One of the few remaining Mk1 owners... #00015

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#231059 - 27/08/2004 10:38 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: MHC]
mlord
carpal tunnel

Registered: 29/08/2000
Posts: 14486
Loc: Canada
Resistors are literally a dime a dozen, or maybe a WHOLE DOLLAR nowadays. And Home Depot has the hookup wire by the foot for pennies..

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#231060 - 27/08/2004 10:54 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: MHC]
pca
old hand

Registered: 20/07/1999
Posts: 1102
Loc: UK
hi.

This is first time I've looked at the board in three weeks, and people are talking funny about me! I don't know, go away for a while and civilisation breaks down completely

As Rob said, I've been incredibly busy recently, what with fulfilling some promises I made some time ago and didn't have time to do anything about, working on the design of the memory board some more (it's ready to make some prototypes now, and I have a load of ram chips waiting), dealing with some family issues, and of course rebuilding the jet boat! We got the engine running last night, by the way. Not bad, considering it's an EFI unit, therefore has a wiring harness from hell, and a Ford engine, therefore has an inconsistent wiring harness from hell. I mean, a wire that goes in one end red and comes out the other one black? Don't these people know anything about colour codes? Give me a Honda engine any day, they make some form of sense.

Mind you, it's the most colourful engine you ever saw.

Frekin: I have a tuner kit ready to go to the post office for you, very sorry about the delay. It's rather embarrassing, but I basically misplaced the order when processing a large batch, due to a paperwork malfunction.

Christian: I sent out the bits for you kit many weeks ago, but apparently they didn't arrive. Possibly US customs doesn't like envelopes with coils of wire in? Anyway, Stuart emailed me and I send out another set about two weeks ago, normal post. I would hope this will arrive soon.

pca


Attachments
230902-IMG_4193_1.jpg (128 downloads)

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Experience is what you get just after it would have helped...

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#231061 - 30/08/2004 16:09 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: pca]
MHC
journeyman

Registered: 14/02/2002
Posts: 66
Nah, I'm not talking funny about you, I'm simply a consumer who is (was) in the dark as to what's happening with my tuner kit. I never suggested that you're a con artist or that you were ripping me off. I read these boards, I know who you are, I know what you've done for the community, etc. In fact, knowing this, and seeing that you hadn't posted lately or replied to my or Stuart's emails is what raised concern and led to my post. And I don't me concern that you pulled a fast one, but concern that you either weren't receiving messages or hadn't made it home from the european meet.

The only technical knowledge of these tuner pieces are what I've heard from Stuart. I didn't know the cost of the parts - even after asking. I understand that building a really neat boat is more exciting than shipping a couple cents worth of parts, but an email stating "a couple cents worth of parts have been mailed" would've deflated this situation before it began.

And don't worry about anyone ever talking funny about you on these boards. Rob's clearly got your back.

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#231062 - 09/09/2004 07:36 Re: Anyone heard from PCA? [Re: pca]
frekin
stranger

Registered: 26/01/2002
Posts: 47
Thank you kindly for the update. I look forward to toally messing up the assembly process in a fit of excited soldering.

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