Small Green Computer Vortexbox

[Davidross]

Does anyone have experience with Small Green Computer's Vortexbox?

[Elescher]

Does anyone have experience with Small Green Computer's Vortexbox?

I just went through a big ordeal (bad) with them. Initially the owner mislead me to think they are the same company as Sonore. I know they are friends, etc., but still. When I got my Sonic Orbiter, it was defective. It took a long time for Andrew to respond to my needs. When he finally did call me back he determined that there was a programming error and fortunately was able to fix it after much of my time on the phone was wasted. Then more issues arose. The Sonic Orbiter (NAA) would intermittently disappear from HQPlayer software. It took Andrew a week to finally get back to me this time. Again, lots of my time wasted with him on the phone. This time he couldn't figure out what the problem was. We thought it might be a loose USB board connection, and he asked me to open the unit up and check it. After dinner, I checked it out, and surenuff. If this wasn't all bad enough, the kicker is I just upgraded my old Mac to a i7 and didn't know how to transfer the key token for the HQPlayer software from my old Mac to the new one. I asked Andrew to help me out and his response was that he didn't know how. Later I got instructions on how to do it, but since I am not very computer savvy I still needed guidance. I sent the instructions to Andrew, and his final response was that I should call Apple because he doesn't normally do these things, and only things related to music servers.

[Ultrarunner]

I had Andrew make a Sonic Orbiter for me earlier this year. I'm quite happy with it, and with Andrew's service. That last issue, at least, doesn't sound like something he should be responsible for. I would recommend Small Green Computer.

[Elescher]

I understand that he my have lots of satisfied customers, but so did Bernie Madoff (joke) No one should be grouped with him. The many hours that I spent trying to get the Orbiter to work, only to find that he didn't remember to configure it properly to begin with, and then having to literally make a repair (albeit quick) due to shipping, but ultimately because the USB sound card wasn't snugly fit and needed to be reseated, leaves no room for Andrew to have disregarded my request for him to help me get it going with the new Mac mini and HQPlayer. Even though he stated that he said that it is a job for the Geek Squad, it is a fine line and I think he should have stepped up to the plate, all things considered. Besides, it certainly wasn't my job to open up the Orbiter and reseat the USB card like he asked me to do, but I did.

 

BTW- Very nice system. I used to have a pair of the original Anat Reference II. Talk about service. I remember Dick Diamond coming out to my house in NY and spending 3 full days in my listening room to make the sale.

 

Anyway, the whole point of my comments here regarding SGC, and the owner is that it was obvious that once my money was securely in his hands, he stopped being the nice, courteous, willing to do anything to help kid he was initially.

[4est]

I really do not understand why it was their responsibility to help you with HQPlayer on your Mac...

[Elescher]

I really do not understand why it was their responsibility to help you with HQPlayer on your Mac...

OK, I will explain my point of view.

 

First off, I never said he was obligated to help me with the HQP issue. I was asking him to do me a favor. The fact of the matter, and I didn't want to go this far into detail, is that there is more to the story. I want to be brief so there may be run on sentences, etc. Item didn't ship day promised. While on the phone with him he said UPS was there picking up. When I tracked, it indicated that it was dropped off at local UPS store the following day. No biggie in of itself. When I got it, I had some questions. The man does not answer his phone. Ultimately, I had to open a dispute at PayPal against him, right before the final fix (that I did, no charge) because I hadn't heard from him in a week, and during that time, no sound. When we finally spoke he apologized and started rambling on about how customer service oriented he is, customer this, customer that, he was on vacation, blah, blah,blah, on and on. I said to him, you know you seem like a nice guy. Let's see if we can get it going, I'll give you a chance to make good. (I didn't realize PayPal had already froze his account) so he logged on to my computer from remote location, and thought he had fixed it, but the prob came up again within 1/2 hour. I emailed him back and that's when he asked ME to open it up and see if the sound card was loose. Again no big deal IN OF ITSELF. The next day he asked me if I would cancel the dispute at PayPal, and I said I would........and I did. Now he's No more Mr. nice guy!

[agillis]

This is Andrew from Small Green Computer. I like to think I'm a nice guy to all my customers.

 

What Elescher is saying is all true he defiantly did not get a great customer experience that I try to give all my customers. But in the end he did get a working system that I hope he is happy with.

 

I try to help my customers as much as I can with my products but in this case since I don't sell HQplayer I figured that It would be best for him to contact Signalyst directly for support.

[Elescher]

This is Andrew from Small Green Computer. I like to think I'm a nice guy to all my customers.

 

What Elescher is saying is all true he defiantly did not get a great customer experience that I try to give all my customers. But in the end he did get a working system that I hope he is happy with.

 

I try to help my customers as much as I can with my products but in this case since I don't sell HQplayer I figured that It would be best for him to contact Signalyst directly for support.

 

Andrew,

 

This is a copy of the email you sent to me in response to my asking for the small favor I asked of you. (which BTW I would not normally have asked someone like yourself to do, but considering the circumstances, I kinda figured you owed me).......

........That sounds likes a mac support problem. Can you get apple tech support to help? Or maybe find a local apple support person? I specialize in music players and don't usually do standard apple support.

Nowhere does it read to go to Signylist for support.

[ecwl]

I am just really confused by Elescher. He said the Anat Reference II dealer is great. Hmmm... But that's a pair of$107,000 speakers. I presume the price of the Vortexbox is significantly less than the margin the YG dealer got. Anyway, I got my CAPSv3 Carbon from Small Green Computer and it was great. Thanks, Andrew.

[Elescher]

I am just really confused by Elescher. He said the Anat Reference II dealer is great. Hmmm... But that's a pair of$107,000 speakers. I presume the price of the Vortexbox is significantly less than the margin the YG dealer got. Anyway, I got my CAPSv3 Carbon from Small Green Computer and it was great. Thanks, Andrew.

First of all, they were the Studio's and they were $26,000.00 at the time. Secondly, price has absolutely NOTHING to do with any of this. If you go to a restaurant and spend $100.00 bucks for a meal for two and get crappy service, is that O.K.? NO.

[T-bar]

I've purchased several vortexboxes and computers from Small Green Computer. Andrew has provided excellent products and service.

[gnan]

Sorry to hear OP's experience wasn't great.

 

My experience has been different. I've got only positive things to say about Andrew after 7 years as a consumer of his open source !free! software project Vortexbox.

 

He consistently answers questions on the VBox forums and pushes updates to what is a rock solid headless OS for LMS.

[ksalno]

I agree. I just bought a CAPS server with Win 12 installed from Andrew and found him to be very helpful and responsive. Of course, I didn't test him by asking him to help me with products or components he doesn't sell or profess to have knowledge of.

[blownsi]

I also cannot say enough good things about Vortexbox. Mine's been humming along for close to 5 years now. I wouldn't be without one.

[Elberoth]

I really do not understand why it was their responsibility to help you with HQPlayer on your Mac...

 

+1

[Elescher]

+1

 

Alright, I will try this one more time.

First off, there are no written laws that apply here. There are no obligations, and no financial influences. I guess the best way to validate my position would be one of a quid pro quo scenario. Let me say for the record that the money involved here is meaningless to me. This ended up costing me less than $10.00 to fix.

 

I received a defective unit from Small Green Computer due to plain and simple negligence.

I wasted many hours trying to get the unit to work.

After problem was resolved, another (intermittent) showed up.

I wasted many hours trying to get the unit to work.

It was determined that there was an issue with the connection from the USB card and motherboard.

I had a couple of choices to make at this point.

A. Send the unit back and get refund.

B. Send the unit back for repair.

C. Comply with what Andrew asked me to do as a favor to him and open the unit up and investigate myself.

 

I had already began proceedings on getting my money back and returning the unit back due to the terrible service that I was getting from Andrew, but like a lot of you, I really thought Andrew was a good guy, and gave him the benefit of the doubt. After a lengthy conversation with him puking his crap on how much he goes out of his way for his customers, etc etc etc., I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. I ended up fixing the unit myself, which ended up saving him the expense of shipping the unit to and from me to him, blah, blah, blah, etc., etc., etc., or him just refunding me all together. Those that are not familiar with PayPal policies, if you file a dispute, and then close it, you do not have any recourse after that. Andrew called me and asked if I would close the dispute because they were withholding the funds.

 

Shortly thereafter I asked if Andrew would do something for me that would have taken him less then 10 minutes and he blew me off.

 

This is history already so if you don't get it then sorry I couldn't explain well enough.