Anyone heard from Jim Nicholls (JWM amplifiers) recently?
- Thread starter Roublard Cache
- Start date
NOSValves
Super Member
This may not help or possibly lighten the blow...if nothing else give you guys the reverse perspective...I have many pieces of gear here that I have sat on for more the 5 years... the owners have disappeared!
At one time I was severely backlogged. Luckily during the years that I was backlogged I would always touch base before I got going on the project to make sure nothing had changed with the customer financially that would make my bill a burden on them. I have a good number of vintage pieces here that have been boxed up for 5 or more years with no one to claim them.
I also have had the few that contacted me and kept delaying the projects and then just disappeared and will never reply to emails.
I have one French customer that went on a buying frenzy and purchased 9 fairly expensive vintage amps anon eBay a sent them to me for refurbishment and then shipped to France. I had to tell this customer to stop buying because I could not be his person technician or store all these amplifiers he was buying. I did a number of projects for him with 2 or 3 months between each project. I agreed to go on doing his project with that one every two month time span. All the projects and payment went great and as far as I know he loved the stuff.
This guy was unbelievably good natured and fun to deal with. He lived/retired in some quant French village but originally lived and I imagine made some big bucks in New York city. I believe the last thing I did for him was a pair of Scott 250 mono blocks. Two month later I wrote him with a quote for his next project to make sure it was a go.... countless emails have went unanswered for years! I believe the gent passes away. I do not have the heart to just sell his gear but I have no way of contacting him or his relations other then email and a snail mail sent to his shipping address.
I know what some of you will say...but no I'm not giving the stuff away or selling it. It is not mine to give or sell... If I do get to the point where I say this stuff has to go I will donate the proceeds less a few bucks for my troubles to some fitting charity. I learned long ago what comes around goes around.
At one time I was severely backlogged. Luckily during the years that I was backlogged I would always touch base before I got going on the project to make sure nothing had changed with the customer financially that would make my bill a burden on them. I have a good number of vintage pieces here that have been boxed up for 5 or more years with no one to claim them.
I also have had the few that contacted me and kept delaying the projects and then just disappeared and will never reply to emails.
I have one French customer that went on a buying frenzy and purchased 9 fairly expensive vintage amps anon eBay a sent them to me for refurbishment and then shipped to France. I had to tell this customer to stop buying because I could not be his person technician or store all these amplifiers he was buying. I did a number of projects for him with 2 or 3 months between each project. I agreed to go on doing his project with that one every two month time span. All the projects and payment went great and as far as I know he loved the stuff.
This guy was unbelievably good natured and fun to deal with. He lived/retired in some quant French village but originally lived and I imagine made some big bucks in New York city. I believe the last thing I did for him was a pair of Scott 250 mono blocks. Two month later I wrote him with a quote for his next project to make sure it was a go.... countless emails have went unanswered for years! I believe the gent passes away. I do not have the heart to just sell his gear but I have no way of contacting him or his relations other then email and a snail mail sent to his shipping address.
I know what some of you will say...but no I'm not giving the stuff away or selling it. It is not mine to give or sell... If I do get to the point where I say this stuff has to go I will donate the proceeds less a few bucks for my troubles to some fitting charity. I learned long ago what comes around goes around.
Great post Craig. Thanks.
My takeaway from this thread is- If folks are looking for prompt and reliable service? Find a brick and mortar with a good reputation to do your refurbs/upgrades/whatever. A hobbyist can do it but be aware that the same rules and expectations (and price) aren't the same as an established outfit/brick and mortar. I hope that the posters here who's equipment is in the wind can get some satisfaction/resolution to their issues.
That said, shouldn't this thread be in the feedback forum?
My takeaway from this thread is- If folks are looking for prompt and reliable service? Find a brick and mortar with a good reputation to do your refurbs/upgrades/whatever. A hobbyist can do it but be aware that the same rules and expectations (and price) aren't the same as an established outfit/brick and mortar. I hope that the posters here who's equipment is in the wind can get some satisfaction/resolution to their issues.
That said, shouldn't this thread be in the feedback forum?
Roublard Cache
Active Member
I got my amp back. He stated he was in the hospital, and is quite sick.
The amp works great, but he forgot to ship the Mullard EL34s that I sent with the amp.
I have a feeling he is much more ill than he lets on..
The amp works great, but he forgot to ship the Mullard EL34s that I sent with the amp.
I have a feeling he is much more ill than he lets on..
I have reason to be near Pennsauken on Sunday or Monday. I'd be willing to stop by this guy's house and find out if you have some kind of contact info (address, phone #?)
Please PM me with info and i'll ask on your behalf. No promises . He may not be home or even there. But maybe you can get some answers. Let me know
Please PM me with info and i'll ask on your behalf. No promises . He may not be home or even there. But maybe you can get some answers. Let me know
Sorry I must've been typing while you were. Glad you got your amp back!
rpampt
Analogeous Vinylitis
Well tell us all about it and include some pics. 
When I had emailed him he mentioned the hospital stay upcomng, but said it was nothing big. Certainly glad you got it back. Maybe his health issues were indeed bigger than anticipated.
When I had emailed him he mentioned the hospital stay upcomng, but said it was nothing big. Certainly glad you got it back. Maybe his health issues were indeed bigger than anticipated.
Great that the OP had his amp back!!! and that it sounds great!!
The whole idea behind this is that we contacted Jim because he is good at what he does.
In my case, still no answer or email, and as I said, I do not have his phone number. Roublard, or somebody else, could you please send me his phone number? I understand he has been sick but he is building my amp since february and he has been almost paid in full.
I would really appreciatte if somebody can send me his phone number.
Alan
The whole idea behind this is that we contacted Jim because he is good at what he does.
In my case, still no answer or email, and as I said, I do not have his phone number. Roublard, or somebody else, could you please send me his phone number? I understand he has been sick but he is building my amp since february and he has been almost paid in full.
I would really appreciatte if somebody can send me his phone number.
Alan
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Hi-Q
Active Member
I think the key problem here is communication. When I am restoring (as a hobbyist) an Amp or vintage radio I always strive to give an update on progress or when hold ups occur such as trying to obtain a rare component. I also like to clear jobs as fast as possible as I always have other things to do but somehow manage to juggle times around so everyone is happy. I like jobs requiring hard to find spare parts as it give me a breather for working on other things where their hard to find parts have been acquired. In other words, I perform a good balancing act and yet-most important of all-I keep all customers informed of the current state of play. The few conversions I have done for the Yaqin MS22-b for example, I can do each in two evenings, extended by one or two days if I need to buy more components. Again I endeavor to keep the customer informed if there is going to be a delay. I also have come up against the reverse situation many times with unclaimed repaired items. I recently overhauled a CB rig with its add-on Power Amplifier but despite e-mails to the customer, it has been sitting here for over 12 months. The customer keeps saying he will pop buy in the next couple of days but it never happens. If I was a business then I would, after 30 days, be entitled by law to sell the equipment at a price to recover the original servicing costs plus storage. I am in the process of building a new design of RIAA amplifier which I have promised to 3 people. My work on these has been held back by requests for servicing some vintage gear, it just makes me work faster as I want to get back to the RIAA amps as soon as possible, but at least the three customers have been told of the delay and appreciate the situation this end. ... Les
Well, to be honest, for me its a little hard to deal with this situation because Im not even in the USA to try to pay Jim a visit.
I have sent him more than 8 mails and nothing.
Since, I have no answer from him even tough he sent the Dynaco back to OP, I will have to involve my lawyer and let my lawyer handle this situation the way he prefers to do it, small claims NJ court or whatever he decides. I have evidence of all the payments so it should not be hard.
I understand Jim has been sick, but its almost nine months and when its not his work, its family,....and just for the record, I have been kind enough to pay him, in advance, almost the whole price of the amplifier. So, Im done with this situation.
I have sent him more than 8 mails and nothing.
Since, I have no answer from him even tough he sent the Dynaco back to OP, I will have to involve my lawyer and let my lawyer handle this situation the way he prefers to do it, small claims NJ court or whatever he decides. I have evidence of all the payments so it should not be hard.
I understand Jim has been sick, but its almost nine months and when its not his work, its family,....and just for the record, I have been kind enough to pay him, in advance, almost the whole price of the amplifier. So, Im done with this situation.
NOSValves
Super Member
I don't blame you at all. Regardless of the situation an email even if sent by a friend or a family member letting current customers know the situation is the absolute minimum that should have been done. Heck he could just had someone post an alert on his webpage. I'm glad the OP has gotten his gear but he should not be a happy customer by nany stretch of the imagination.
Just a plain shabby way to treat a customer....prepaid or not.
Just a plain shabby way to treat a customer....prepaid or not.
Did you tried to find him on facebook, google+, linkedin, or classmates.com? Sometimes it may help to get in touch with lost people.
PS. Its quite risky to ship pieces of valuable equipment, or order custom built, from someone you don't know at all. Prior ordering restoration jobs, its better to hang on forums for a while, and get a list of respectable repair serviceman and workshops with customer's feedback.
I know nothing about Jim Nicholls (JWM amplifiers), so I can't tell exactly what happened. May be he is on sick leave, may be traveling or become monk, may be forgot something because of sclerosis, or decide to drop this business altogether. The only thing which is quite clear his customer service is not acceptable.
However, if you got customer's feedback first, it would save you from your expensive troubles.
May be this will help you a bit.
A link from the JWM Amplifiers lead to the
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1010/master_builder.htm
It mentions Lance Cochrane - the teacher, and Jim Nicholls, one of his students.
Lance Cochrane have linkedin profile, listed himself as Audio Visionary, San Luis Obispo, California Area, Electrical/Electronic Manufacturing, Effusive Productions.
Googling "Effusive Productions" reveals virtually nothing.
So, at least, you can try to e-mail his current (or former) colleague.
PS. Linkedin requires paid subscription to allow to send e-mails to members.
Once again, I'm down that way almost every weekend. If you have contact information, maybe I can get you an update. Maybe someone showing up at his house will prompt him to get back to customers. (Maybe I'll get shot). Assuming he's not dying I think it will get him to move. Open offer Good luck guys.
Thanks for the advice. I will try to send Lance a mail and see what happens. I already tried to contact Jim through Linkedin but nothing. On the other side, the phone would also help. I already send the OP a private message asking for Jim's phone as he said he had it but he did not answer yet.
And yes, some of the posts here are totally right, I should have done some research before going with Jim, thats on me.
Thanks for the offer. I would really appreciate if you can just tell him that Alan Brain needs him to answer his mails, that not answering is making things much worst.
He told me like three months ago what his address was:
At that time, it was confirmed since I did send some tube adaptors there and he got it.
Please, be careful, do not engage in difficult situations, even a paper under the door is a big help!!!
Thanks a lot for your offer!! and please let me know how I can pay you back!!
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Robinhawaii
Super Member
Mail him a postcard. It's hard to ignore a postcard that says:"Please send me the amplifier you promised to build for me or refund my $1800.00 NOW! Thank you."
Good luck,
Rob
Good luck,
Rob
I wasn't going to threaten him. Just ask him to do what's right. No pay back necessary
