Sozo Amplification Part II

[Amp Kat]

Two months now and still no cap order. They will never get another order from me and hope you all think about it beforeb you leap. They were quick at taking my money though. Afraid I may have to use another cap to get this out the door. My customer is irate about right now and nothing I can do. They suck in a big way

[kg]

that sucks kerry

[Amp Kat]

You know ken that it's one thing that they are on back order and I know the .1's and I think .033's are also but if you can't deliver caps in a month tops then something is wrong. Either someones not doing their job or demand is so great you can't keep up, then hire somemore people. I order stuff from all over on the net and never have to wait more than 2 days before I get my orders. Sometimes I get Mouser orders the next day for ground standard. Crock of sh!t if you ask me.

[Prairie Dawg]

I usually get next day service from Mouser and I'm in central Iowa.

[jrfrond]

I've only had two experiences with Sozo, the last one back in February for .1/400V caps, and both have been positive. There must be a good reason for the issue.

When all is said and done, though they make an excellent product, there are several OTHER excellent, similar products on the market if you can't wait any longer.

[Amp Kat]

OMG I'm In Shock Mode

Just received notification that they shipped the caps today. Ok which one of you did the dirty work and lit a fire
Gonna have a party tonight and celebrate.

[dai h.]

from what I gather they are pretty small (the owner John Gaynor(sp?) plus how many?), plus they don't manufacture the caps (I think they are a custom order from a cap manf.), so I don't know about the idea of comparing them to Mouser (huge, international). Can't imagine they would be a priority for a cap manf. either.

[Amp Kat]

I don't know Dai but if that is the case you have to manage you're business better than that to stay competitive in todays market are you will get stepped on bigtime. What you are saying makes sense because Weber was out of the same caps so obviously the well went dry and everyone had to wait on them but even on regular orders they have in stock it takes two weeks for them to get orders out and I didn't see it but on their website this is in small print at the very bottom. Why two weeks ? If they are allowed to use the name Sozo which is the cap name you would think dealing with them would be faster than any other distributor that deals Sozo like Weber and I have never ordered from Weber and waited 2 weeks much less 2 months. Sozo doesn't return calls and they don't return emails unless you get ugly like I had to do. Don't want to be an ass but when I have customers getting irate with me because they want Sozo's in their amps and they need their amps it's hard to keep a good clientel time-wise. I guess I learned a valuable lesson and am somewhat spoiled from ordering from on-line services that get me my products in days.

[big_teee]

I was going to put the sozo's .022s in my 2204 I just built and eveeryone has been out of them for a long time.
I used the Malory 150s instead.
I just looked, and TubeDepot has them now that I'm done. lol

Terry

[dai h.]

why do they want them? Do they have the belief that "mustard" caps made Marshalls special (and thus will do the same for their clones or modded Marshall type amps)? The very earliest didn't have them, and the "point to point" turret board period had a mix of cap brands (and resistors). I don't doubt the Sozo are a decent cap, but sometimes it's pretty funny watching what people choose.

Anyway, even if the vendor was someone huge like Mouser, et al, if they run out, the caps aren't just going to magically appear quick as fast food or something. Sometimes you have to wait even though it sucks.

[Enzo]

The problem with any suppliers is how they serve you as a customer. Sozo may run out of caps, and Mouser may run out of caps. When I order from Mouser, it tells me right then if the part is out of stock and back ordered. The pages showing parts even include amount of inventory on hand for you. When a part has zero in stock, there is a click for delivery dates that tells you they expect 1000 of them to be delivered on such and such a date. When you order, you are informed what will happen.

I have not done business with Sozo, but if they are out of stock, do they let you know? Do they acknowledge your orders up front with stock information? And not returning calls or emails? I don't have that problem with Mouser.

[soundmasterg]

The problem with any suppliers is how they serve you as a customer. Sozo may run out of caps, and Mouser may run out of caps. When I order from Mouser, it tells me right then if the part is out of stock and back ordered. The pages showing parts even include amount of inventory on hand for you. When a part has zero in stock, there is a click for delivery dates that tells you they expect 1000 of them to be delivered on such and such a date. When you order, you are informed what will happen.

I have not done business with Sozo, but if they are out of stock, do they let you know? Do they acknowledge your orders up front with stock information? And not returning calls or emails? I don't have that problem with Mouser.

You're exactly right Enzo. I've seen this with other businesses in the car world, and some people will go to them because of the unique product they offer, and others will find another vendor and forget about the special parts. I've used some of Sozo's standard cap line and I like it a lot and plan to use their stuff in the future, but not to the extent that I would be dependent on them having stuff in stock every time I try to order. That said, any repair shop or place making amps should have some supply on hand in case of shortages. I will say that Sozo seems to be a small business and they probably don't have the resources to have as good of a computer ordering system as Mouser does, but putting a statement up on your site explaining that you are out of something and answering emails and calls is just good business. The guy needs to do better....

Greg

[dai h.]

I agree that they should (ideally) keep the customer informed, but the nature of the product is different to most of the ones at Mouser, Digi-Key, i.e. the caps are a specialized "boutique" type item, not made for consumption in massive quantities (so I would think, compared to say a 1N4148 or whatever). If Sozo runs out of stock, would they even be a priority for the cap manf. or would they have to wait to get a new run made? For something from a major manf., maybe they have a production schedule they can more or less keep to, plus alternative equivalents from other makers. The whole idea is though that they are exclusive and non-substitutable, so as long you stick to the idea, then you face a "shortage".

[vavlehead]

I agree that they should (ideally) keep the customer informed, but the nature of the product is different to most of the ones at Mouser, Digi-Key, i.e. the caps are a specialized "boutique" type item, not made for consumption in massive quantities (so I would think, compared to say a 1N4148 or whatever). If Sozo runs out of stock, would they even be a priority for the cap manf. or would they have to wait to get a new run made? For something from a major manf., maybe they have a production schedule they can more or less keep to, plus alternative equivalents from other makers. The whole idea is though that they are exclusive and non-substitutable, so as long you stick to the idea, then you face a "shortage".

Well...(IMHO) since it is a "small" shop it should be even easier to inform or NOT take peoples $$$ when you know you are going to run out of stock.
In general having folks wait two months for product such as a coupling cap after they paid is business suicide.

[Amp Kat]

I would have been cool with them had they let me know right up front just as Enzo is saying about Mouser,MCM,Digikey ect..... they all do this. It was a month before I knew anything and had I not contacted them by leaving voice mail (because they never answer the phone live) and emails they may have never let me know anything. It's just bad business on John's part and I'm sure he means well but ignoring customers is an easy way to loose business and with the economy like it is not sure you can afford to do that. Had I known Weber carried them 1st I would have used them which I will next time.