Worst places to buy parts from.

[madsci1016]

Still venting from the Sparkfun disaster, I am trying to purchase from other sites, but don't know any reputations.

I figured we can discuss our bad experiences to help other avoid shady companies.

I'll start:

My only problem I have had is with www.all-battery.com

I ordered a battery adapter cable, 3 connectors to one (wired in parallel )

They sent me one wired in series. I almost connected 44 V to my robot, and would had blown everything.

 I sent them an email, they sent me another one, AGAIN in Series. i called, they asked for a picture of both adapters, i sent it via email. Never heard back.

looking into battery junction. Any other sugestions?

[Razor Concepts]

Servocity has rip-off prices.

[SmAsH]

Servocity has rip-off prices.

Seconded, i get my servos from either ebay or small hobby shops that have cheap prices...

[Admin]

all-battery.com has had good recommendations from others in the forum . . . call em up!

Sparkfun is a good company, you only lost your time, really!

But yea, bad companies get removed from the SoR parts list. They'll lose out on sales, and you'll get your revenge, if they truly don't like their customer

[madsci1016]

all-battery.com has had good recommendations from others in the forum . . . call em up!

I did, and got the run around. I also have already cut up the adapters to re-wire them. I didn't feel like fighting with anymore.

[TrickyNekro]

What happened with sparkfun, I have missed some episodes...
But really, it's a good company...

They have sent me whatever I ordered within 2 weeks, and never paid export fees... ( I live in Greece, sent as gifts )
Also I have a friend that "co-operates" with sparkfun in Greece thus he gets better prices for more massive orders, and
have brought us many many goods within the time limit and in very good condition???

It's not like I advertise them, but "I" buy a lot from them and like to know what happened... 

[Admin]

This thread got turned into a seriously off-topic flame fest, so I deleted a bunch of posts . . .

Nothing mentioned would have helped others build a robot, not even remotely . . . nothing personal!

[Joker94]

Some ebay sellers can be problematic. I know a few people who bought servos from ebay and went for the cheapest and ended up with 4 black boxes, 4 broken circuit boards and 14 sub standaed metal gears(2 were missing).

Although i find ebay a good place for servos i have a few ground rules/ a check list i follow.

1)Who is the seller? you often find some good deals and find the sellers are from well known hobby shops or well know stores. And more often than not there will be a large number of the product available.

2)Documentation. Servos especially should have all the specs you would normally find if you were buying from a well know place. If you can cross check the spec do as some people just make them up if they couldnt care less(the people who make an effort are more reliable. but not always)

3)They should have infomation like this package  includes, the payment methods, shipping time.

I am not saying that sellers who dont meet all or any of the above points are bad and are un trust worthy i am just saying that i have been following them for a while and never had a problem.

This thread got turned into a seriously off-topic flame fest, so I deleted a bunch of posts . . .

Nothing mentioned would have helped others build a robot, not even remotely . . . nothing personal!

People do take it personally when they get there hopes up. Especially when it is todo with robotics and they had plans for everything they were getting.

Regards

Joker94