I added CPV to Yelp today, and posted this review about them. Yelp has not added it as of this hour but they should soon. Regardless, hope this helps you all. I had a 4 month ordeal with CPV and here is my story...
I'm writing this review from a standpoint of feeling that business owners deserve forgiveness and a second chance, and also that their customers deserve to be informed of what's happening with their property while it's in someone else's possession. I'm giving Crossed Paths Vintage 2 stars and the free market will decide where it goes from there. Here is my experience:
I found CPV's vintage receiver repair and restoration service advertised on eBay. I contacted the owner (Brent) for further information on his services, and ended up deciding to hire him to perform work on 2 vintage receivers I own.
According to his eBay advertisement, he performs complete tear down and rebuild of vintage stereo equipment, including things such as capacitor replacement, soldering checks and repairs, etc. It says this is done In a 30 day turnaround. Speaking with him, he gave additional details about what he does, and asks for any special requests. He requested prepayment for the service, plus an additional discounted amount for return shipping of the units via UPS. I followed his instructions and sent my goods out in April. I expected them back by June.
Come June, I inquirerd on their status, and he told me there were delays in parts ordered and the units should be done in about another month. Here where it gets interesting.
I Googled this business, and a couple of threads popped up about business reviews, and current and former customers discussing their experiences on a vintage audio chat board. The experiences being shared ended up being quite scary, from major year long delays to people claiming this was a scam service. The common denomination amongst people tended to be extremely poor lack of communication from CPV.
Now in my opinion, when you're running late on providing services you've been paid for, with peoples extremely valuable equipment (some of these receivers fetch well over $2000 in value), honest and timely communication is extremely important. Lack of communication drives a lot of potential misconceptions when your property is in another state with someone. Couple this with poor online reviews, I had no choice other than fear my units weren't coming back.
I called my local police to file a report about all this, and they forwarded it to the Burleson TX police department. They went to investigate and it turns out CPV is running very behind on their services. Well then why not just tell people the truth??? Why still advertise a 30 day turnaround? Needless to say now CPV suddenly got the units done and sent back very quickly. They were packaged well for shipping as promised. I hope in the future communication between business and customers improves, this will save a lot of emotions.
