Sent the old-stock unit back to Universal on 12/23/2005. Got a call
from Universal (Tony) on 12/28/2005 (five days later) that it had been
received and a new unit was available and on its way.

Called today (1/04/2006, 12 days after old unit sent to UR, 7 days
after being old new unit was "on its way") to order some additional
parts.

Asked about status of replacement, which I had expected to be delivered
last Friday. Hadn't shipped yet. MIGHT ship THIS Friday. If so,
would get here 1/10/2006, 2.5 weeks after I sent in old unit, two weeks
since I was told it was available and "on its way." (note I am 2 days
by UPS GROUND from Universal).

Note original unit was ordered December 5th, online, from Universal.
Now going on one month since order and no unit.

I've been a customer of Universal for a decade and a half. I don't
know what's going on over there.

greg

wrote in message
oups.com...
Sent the old-stock unit back to Universal on 12/23/2005. Got a call
from Universal (Tony) on 12/28/2005 (five days later) that it had been
received and a new unit was available and on its way.

Called today (1/04/2006, 12 days after old unit sent to UR, 7 days
after being old new unit was "on its way") to order some additional
parts.

Asked about status of replacement, which I had expected to be delivered
last Friday. Hadn't shipped yet. MIGHT ship THIS Friday. If so,
would get here 1/10/2006, 2.5 weeks after I sent in old unit, two weeks
since I was told it was available and "on its way." (note I am 2 days
by UPS GROUND from Universal).

Note original unit was ordered December 5th, online, from Universal.
Now going on one month since order and no unit.

I've been a customer of Universal for a decade and a half. I don't
know what's going on over there.

greg


That is certainly pathetic!

Universal came through for me in the end and I should acknowledge that.
They red-labled my new radio after my last complaint and it's arrived
an in perfect condition.

On the con side, it took some prodding to get Universal to wake up.
On the pro side, they made good on the whole issue and never once tried
to make it "my problem" (something I had been dreading).

In fact, they went beyond that by giving me gratis some accessories
that I had ordered for the VX-7R. Universal has a problem to be sure
and that's that it can't seem to ship product within anything that
someone would consider a normal timeframe for in-stock items (seven
days to get something shipped out the door that was sitting on a shelf
in the adjacent room?).

But they do appear to be conscious about their image and their
reputation. As long as I squawked loud enough, they bent over
backwards to make things "right." But I would have been just as happy,
more so in fact, to have not had to squawk in the first place than to
get freebies to make up for the hassles.

Bottom line: I'll keep ordering from Universal and will recommend them
to others but with the only caveat being that, for reasons that are
unclear to me, they have a hard time actually shipping items with any
speed whatsoever. I hope they can clean that up because it's the only
smudge on an otherwise very good experience.

greg

For those interested in ordering from a top-notch, quick-shipping outfit
that offers ham radio and scanner gear, the fastest and best customer
service I've ever had is through gigaparts.com. I'm not affiliated with
them in any way; I am just a satisfied customer, and I believe in giving
credit where it's due. They bend over backwards to securely pack your order,
ship it quickly, and any questions you may have are answered in a timely and
friendly manner.

Along with ham radio equipment, they offer a number of handheld
scanners/receivers from Icom and Alinco, as well as the Yaesu VR-5000 and
the Icom R75. Their stock of scanners is not as wide-ranging as Universal's,
but I can attest to their service.

Jackie

" wrote:

Universal came through for me in the end and I should acknowledge that.
[...]

Glad to hear that it all worked out for you, and that they did try to
make it up to you.


--
Eric F. Richards

"Nature abhors a vacuum tube." -- Myron Glass,
often attributed to J. R. Pierce, Bell Labs, c. 1940