BEST300B.COM Tube Buying Experience?

Fishfood

VIP/Donor
Jul 11, 2020
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541
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Anyone purchased tubes from BEST300B.com? I'm looking at their website and their prices are really good on KR 300Bs and I'm in the market for a set.

Anyone have experience with this seller?
 

advanced101

VIP/Donor
May 3, 2017
247
178
233
Yes, great service.
 

Whbgarrett

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2019
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I realize that others have had good experiences with this merchant, but I am in the middle of a very poor buying experience. Here is the message I just sent to PayPal to dispute a transaction because I have not been able to get the merchant to respond to my e-mails for five weeks:

"The disputed transaction is for the purchase of four KR KT150 audio tubes. The attached e-mails will confirm that (i) I paid for the tubes on April 1, 2022, (ii) I e-mailed the merchant the next day to say I thought I had made a mistake as to the model and had a question about its compatibility with my equipment, and asked that the merchant contact me about it, (iii) having received no response from the merchant, I e-mailed again to cancel my order on April 5, (iv) on April 7 the merchant did respond and promised to check on my compatibility question and get back to me promptly, (v) despite my sending follow up e-mails on April 19, May 1, May 6 and May 11, I have not heard back from the merchant and (vi) in my last e-mail of May 11, I warned the merchant that I would contact PayPal and dispute the transaction, which I am now doing."
 

Fishfood

VIP/Donor
Jul 11, 2020
537
541
255
44
I realize that others have had good experiences with this merchant, but I am in the middle of a very poor buying experience. Here is the message I just sent to PayPal to dispute a transaction because I have not been able to get the merchant to respond to my e-mails for five weeks:

"The disputed transaction is for the purchase of four KR KT150 audio tubes. The attached e-mails will confirm that (i) I paid for the tubes on April 1, 2022, (ii) I e-mailed the merchant the next day to say I thought I had made a mistake as to the model and had a question about its compatibility with my equipment, and asked that the merchant contact me about it, (iii) having received no response from the merchant, I e-mailed again to cancel my order on April 5, (iv) on April 7 the merchant did respond and promised to check on my compatibility question and get back to me promptly, (v) despite my sending follow up e-mails on April 19, May 1, May 6 and May 11, I have not heard back from the merchant and (vi) in my last e-mail of May 11, I warned the merchant that I would contact PayPal and dispute the transaction, which I am now doing."

So you haven't received the tubes and have had no contact either in all that time?
 

Whbgarrett

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2019
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That is correct. No tubes, no refund, no response, crickets . . . Very disappointing to say the least.
 

wil

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2015
1,482
1,506
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That is correct. No tubes, no refund, no response, crickets . . . Very disappointing to say the least.
I've dealt with Best 300b. While I found communication could be slow sometimes, they always came through.
 
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Chop

Well-Known Member
Aug 9, 2020
227
272
135
England
I'm trying very very hard to buy some tubes from him. He's a nice guy but incredibly slow to respond.
 

matakana

Well-Known Member
Aug 26, 2020
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188
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UK
I'm trying very very hard to buy some tubes from him. He's a nice guy but incredibly slow to respond.
Do their prices include VAT and then its deducted for non EU customers at checkout?
 

Whbgarrett

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2019
139
180
128
62
I have an update on my experience. I just received a refund notice from both the merchant and PayPal. I assume it will settle in my account in the next few days. So, frustrating that I had to go to the trouble of filing a complaint with PayPal in order to get this resolved, but it is now resolved.

I will ignore the fact that the refund is denominated in Euro and in the intervening six weeks the Euro has weakened vs the dollar :).
 

L3RD

Member
Apr 30, 2022
100
19
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66
I have an update on my experience. I just received a refund notice from both the merchant and PayPal. I assume it will settle in my account in the next few days. So, frustrating that I had to go to the trouble of filing a complaint with PayPal in order to get this resolved, but it is now resolved.

I will ignore the fact that the refund is denominated in Euro and in the intervening six weeks the Euro has weakened vs the dollar :).
They are having some private issues, that business should soon be consolidated with Lampizator and hopefully be up again soon. Lampizator has been difficult to communicate with as well, both are family owned, so it may take awhile yet.
 

Fishfood

VIP/Donor
Jul 11, 2020
537
541
255
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I did end up trying to buy KR 300b's from them and had a similar experience with no communication and ultimate I asked for a refund and they gave it to me quickly.

I'll try again once they have everything worked out.
 

L3RD

Member
Apr 30, 2022
100
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66
Sorry to hear about that, but it is a family issue. I was told that my DAC order was being canceled, then that it would ship shortly. I'm still waiting. I do think that it will likely ship today.
 

Sampajanna

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2021
651
756
170
Was just looking at this site as well….
 

L3RD

Member
Apr 30, 2022
100
19
23
66
Was just looking at this site as well….
I'd ask if they are still selling the BEST300B. I was told that they may not be making them anymore. Mine may be amoung the last made, I hope not, but at this point I'd check before ordering. I don't know why the US distributor didn't pick it up, I think that they could have. This has a recently improved engine, and direct heated triodes. It should be a great DAC.
 

heihei

VIP/Donor
Jul 24, 2017
466
538
283
I also had issues with a set of tubes I tried to purchase. No comms for a month then a refund appeared. Disappointing and hope they can sort things out.
 

L3RD

Member
Apr 30, 2022
100
19
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66
I suspect that they should be back to 100% soon, though I was told that I'd have a tracking number Saturday and it's 2:50PM Monday in Warsaw and I still have no tracking number...
 

astrotoy

VIP/Donor
May 24, 2010
1,547
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SF Bay Area
If you are in the US, you might want to email Fred Ainsley, who is the North American distributor for Lampizator. He has always been responsive and usually knows what is going on with Lampi. fred.ainsley@gmail.com.

Larry
 

L3RD

Member
Apr 30, 2022
100
19
23
66
If you are in the US, you might want to email Fred Ainsley, who is the North American distributor for Lampizator. He has always been responsive and usually knows what is going on with Lampi. fred.ainsley@gmail.com.

Larry
What's happening Lukasz told me about, and it's not for me to tell others, and it is impacting both businesses. If he only has BEST300B money AFAIK, he has to deal with Lampizator directly as Fred didn't care to pick up the BEST300B, unless he wants to go used. Unfortunately all Fred can do is sell him a Baltic 3 or up, and thus be the intermediary between them, as he would have more heft with Lampizator. Fred and I communicated and he offered to sell me a Baltic 3. Now, FWIW Don Sachs builds tube equipment and has modified largely Macintosh and Citation gear for decades. He told me to get direct heated tubes, and that means the BEST300B or the Big 7 at the low dollar spectrum. I would have loved to by a Big 7, but I thought that I had more humanitarian issues to attend to, and bought the BEST300B. I rather hate to talk about my charity, but don't think me selfless. I probably should have also sent the BEST300B money, but selfishness won that battle.
 

Sampajanna

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2021
651
756
170
So do you guys think i should hold off ordering tubes form them?
 

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