Ordering a Bokrand Tonearm

[Adnick]

He responded today to me saying he needs another week to ship the arm. Let's see if he does that next week.

Unfortunately I’ve had several promises like that from Alfred, he even told me he was Express shipping mine at one time…

“(March 5th) Hi Andy,I'm working on your tonearm and it will be shipped this week. I'll make the firm booking with DHL on Tuesday and then send you the confirmation from the carrierBest regardsAlfred”

 

[Adnick]

Won’t get into all the details but after several messages back and forth he finally agreed to honor his offer for the new style banana arm, but I’m not paying the difference until the day it ships…

It’s truly unfortunate that it’s gotten to this point, Alfred does some incredible work, but he is running a business and with 35 -40 pre paid payments, that’s a considerable amount of cash that’s been in hold for up to 6 months.

I’m not trying to beat him up, just trying to get what‘s already been paid for & what’s been promised over and over again…

Andy

 

[shadowlight]

Unfortunately I’ve had several promises like that from Alfred, he even told me he was Express shipping mine at one time…

“(March 5th) Hi Andy,I'm working on your tonearm and it will be shipped this week. I'll make the firm booking with DHL on Tuesday and then send you the confirmation from the carrierBest regardsAlfred”

Yeah, first was sometime around Nov. 25th, then in January when I actually got a shipping label so I have zero confidence that my arm is going to ship next week. It's comedy central at this point and I sit down with a bag of popcorn to see the next response

Edit: Like you, I also asked him to ship me whichever arm that he has ready to ship.

 

[alfredbokrand]

But still there is no explanation why he didn't stop taking new orders over ebay or why he didn't use "seller is away" option? Why he is taking new orders when he can not build as fast as new orders came in?

Hello,

I explained it in an open letter. I live from the income from the tonearms and have no financial reserves and could not form any, since my profit is very low because my prices for this tonearm, which is highly valued worldwide, are far too low do i always have to sell new ones so i can buy material for the tonearms that are still to be delivered.i currently have no other income and i don't receive any pension either,because i've always been self-employed until today.is this open and honest explanation enough for you?

 

[alfredbokrand]

I have been watching one of Alfred's arms 'NEW ! 12" Ortofon tonearm AB-309 banana IMPROVED-for SME type Headshells' and also received an offer of a £100 saving from £895 to £795 !

Looks like he is dishing out offers on tonearms to increase his order quantity yet he can't deliver to customers who have ordered months ago for possibly the higher price !

open and honest letter to all

due to my long illness, about 40 orders have accumulated, all of which still have to be made. The oldest order is a year old, then orders 6, 5, 4, 3 months ago. Everyone wants their tonearm as soon as possible. I can Just work, don't do magic. In addition, there are calls and emails from these customers every day and many expect me to answer immediately. That's impossible, when should I work in the workshop when I get about 10-12 emails every day and they Answering an email takes 10 minutes because my english is not so good.
12X 10 minutes = 120 minutes = 2 hours. Since I work alone
it's impossible to manufacture tonearms and spend 2 hours a day on the PC. If I then work through 2 days, that's 3 days already 6 hours, how should I do that?

if everyone wants their tonearm right away, then everything collapses. it's like a bank, if everyone wants to withdraw their money at once, then the bank will go bankrupt. i'm already thinking about getting a loan and pay everything back first and then start again, but then only with tonearms that are already ready for shipping.

I wasn't able to build up any financial reserves, since my tonearms were always only supposed to be a hobby and I have therefore made the prices o cheap for my customers.

So I can't pay out all customers at once, I need about 4 weeks for that.

Everyone can calculate for themselves that there is hardly any profit for me.

A used Ortofon AS-212 tonearm already costs 250-350 euros,

In addition, there are the brass weights, brass bearing housing, CARDAS connector, headshell connector, base, nylon holder for CARDAS connector, lift, Ebay commission is already 13% !!!!

So what is left for me for the many hours of work? Almost nothing, I only change money.

If you think you can do it all better at 74, like me, then you should prove it

 

[Robert Young]

I love my Bokrand tonearm, and although it took time, it holds a special place in my system. When one buys a hand-crafted masterpiece, one shouldn't expect quick turn-around. It took a year for the stunning Schroeder Reference to appear, and 6 months beyond that for the Allaerts mounted on it.

 

[djsina2]

Raise your prices 2-3x.

 

[shadowlight]

I love my Bokrand tonearm, and although it took time, it holds a special place in my system. When one buys a hand-crafted masterpiece, one shouldn't expect quick turn-around. It took a year for the stunning Schroeder Reference to appear, and 6 months beyond that for the Allaerts mounted on it.

I do not mind the long wait time but the issue that I have is with multiple missed dates especially after providing tracking information.

 

[Robert Young]

I do not mind the long wait time but the issue that I have is with multiple missed dates especially after providing tracking information.

I think that’s fair. However, knowing that Alfred does this as a hobby means i probably didn’t hold him as hard to successfully managing the administrative parts of a business.

as mentioned in another post, i think Alfred should increase his price (the arm is worth 4-5 times what i paid for it), and he should underpromise on delivery and consequently over-deliver in reality.

i hope that you will not be biased against the arm when it arrives. It can be revelatory with the right cartridge. I’m enjoying it with a Meister Silver SPU and a Monster Cable Genesis 2000 sigma. Very very different cartridges, but beautiful results thanks to that split counterweight!

 

[shadowlight]

I think that’s fair. However, knowing that Alfred does this as a hobby means i probably didn’t hold him as hard to successfully managing the administrative parts of a business.

as mentioned in another post, i think Alfred should increase his price (the arm is worth 4-5 times what i paid for it), and he should underpromise on delivery and consequently over-deliver in reality.

i hope that you will not be biased against the arm when it arrives. It can be revelatory with the right cartridge. I’m enjoying it with a Meister Silver SPU and a Monster Cable Genesis 2000 sigma. Very very different cartridges, but beautiful results thanks to that split counterweight!

No chance of me being biased, since it will be an improvement over my current SME 3009 and LP Gear cartridge. I am hoping to use Denon 110 and 103R that I have handy once the arm arrives. I also need to get a tonearm board for the TD124 which I am waiting to order until I see movement on shipping through the carrier network.

Alfred said that he needed another week to get me the arm yesterday. I will touch base with him next Friday if it I do not hear anything from him by the middle of next week.

 

[Robert Young]

No chance of me being biased, since it will be an improvement over my current SME 3009 and LP Gear cartridge. I am hoping to use Denon 110 and 103R that I have handy once the arm arrives. I also need to get a tonearm board for the TD124 which I am waiting to order until I see movement on shipping through the carrier network.

Alfred said that he needed another week to get me the arm yesterday. I will touch base with him next Friday if it I do not hear anything from him by the middle of next week.

We seem to have a few bits of kit in common! I recently had an early production (first month!) TD 124 restored, and went a little crazy with the arms.The 124 came with an SME 3009 non-improved series 2, and I had Alfred Kayser rebuild that one so I could honor my 98-year old father's original choices...it really performs beautifully with a few cartridges I like: a Shure V15 iii with SAS Jico; a Stanton 881s; and a Grace F9e. Other carts are awesome on other arms (I LOVE my Zu Denon DL-103r on a Gray 108!). The fact that one can set an arm up on a board, with cartridge set, and keep it stored for an easy switch is one of the reasons I love the TD 124. Currently the Bokrand is on a slate Lenco L75/PTP6, along with the Schroeder Reference, but it doesn't get much use. The table is a bit too big for the space I have in my NYC apartment, so it lives in my work space with a pair of headphones and a decent SUT. I may get another board so I can add to the Bokrand/SPU to the Thorens. Im a huge fan of Audio Silente's graphite 124 boards, by the way...neutral and gorgeous.

 

[kodomo]

open and honest letter to all

due to my long illness, about 40 orders have accumulated, all of which still have to be made. The oldest order is a year old, then orders 6, 5, 4, 3 months ago. Everyone wants their tonearm as soon as possible. I can Just work, don't do magic. In addition, there are calls and emails from these customers every day and many expect me to answer immediately. That's impossible, when should I work in the workshop when I get about 10-12 emails every day and they Answering an email takes 10 minutes because my english is not so good.
12X 10 minutes = 120 minutes = 2 hours. Since I work alone
it's impossible to manufacture tonearms and spend 2 hours a day on the PC. If I then work through 2 days, that's 3 days already 6 hours, how should I do that?

if everyone wants their tonearm right away, then everything collapses. it's like a bank, if everyone wants to withdraw their money at once, then the bank will go bankrupt. i'm already thinking about getting a loan and pay everything back first and then start again, but then only with tonearms that are already ready for shipping.

I wasn't able to build up any financial reserves, since my tonearms were always only supposed to be a hobby and I have therefore made the prices o cheap for my customers.

So I can't pay out all customers at once, I need about 4 weeks for that.

Everyone can calculate for themselves that there is hardly any profit for me.

A used Ortofon AS-212 tonearm already costs 250-350 euros,

In addition, there are the brass weights, brass bearing housing, CARDAS connector, headshell connector, base, nylon holder for CARDAS connector, lift, Ebay commission is already 13% !!!!

So what is left for me for the many hours of work? Almost nothing, I only change money.

If you think you can do it all better at 74, like me, then you should prove it

No one is saying you are charging too much! No one is saying it doesn't take a lot of time and craft! You are answering accusations that haven't been made at all. I understand you were sick and orders accumulated but you could let people know this when they order.

It is a very simple solution, just let people know when you will be able to fulfill their order. For example, I would have been ok even if I was told I would need to wait for 3 or 4 months or maybe even longer. It would have been my choice to decide if I want to pay and wait. However, you told me -and as far as I can see, a lot of others- that you can ship much sooner than you already know you couldn't. This is called false advertising.

I am sorry about your health and sincerely hope you get better. I applaud your craft too. The way you conduct business is however very problematic.

 

[mtemur]

In addition, there are calls and emails from these customers every day and many expect me to answer immediately. That's impossible, when should I work in the workshop when I get about 10-12 emails every day and they Answering an email takes 10 minutes because my english is not so good.
12X 10 minutes = 120 minutes = 2 hours. Since I work alone
it's impossible to manufacture tonearms and spend 2 hours a day on the PC. If I then work through 2 days, that's 3 days already 6 hours, how should I do that?

IMHO if you had kept your promises about shipping dates in the first place people wouldn’t have wrote e-mails to you which you couldn’t find time to answer. Naturally, unkept promises worry customers and force them to send more e-mails.

Easy solution:
Make a realistic schedule depending on your tonearm building capability. Let the customers know about new, updated delivery dates and more importantly don’t miss them.

 

[MarcusD]

Alfred,
Interesting that you state you have orders waiting for a year, when I emailed you January about a 2nd arm you were talking about an arm being ready to ship in 10 business days ( I laughed to myself when I read that).. I am happy with my Bokrand 12 inch that I got off you last year but even that was a lot of hassle.
Just give a 6 month delivery timeframe and try to get every arm out within that timeframe.
You have made a rod for own back with your hokey promises and constant excuses

 

[Adnick]

Another missed shipping date!

Two weeks ago Alfred sent me an UPS shipping label with tracking number, after a week of no tracking history I contacted him to find out what happened, he never shipped, but promised to ship today, 12 April….today there’s still no tracking history.

There’s a back story, but I’ll withhold that because I’m waiting on him to respond to my last email….

Hope others are having some succes,

Andy

 

[shadowlight]

Nothing so far and the tracking number that was provided back in Jan. is no longer valid when I go to the Packlink website.

 

[Adnick]

Ok, Alfred contacted me with new shipping & tracking information, the pick up/ship date is not until the 28th of April…

VR
Andy

 

[shadowlight]

Ok, Alfred contacted me with new shipping & tracking information, the pick up/ship date is not until the 28th of April…

VR
Andy

Happy to hear that news.

 

[adrianywu]

Alfred should figure out how many orders he can comfortably cope with every month, and raise his price to a level that he thinks will cut the number of orders to that level. He will have a higher profit margin, have less stress, and happier customers. He might even be able to generate a higher revenue stream.

 

[Folsom]

The arms are worth more, no doubt. And there is no competition (similar priced items are not competitive). That’s what I see. I will say though I am not the person that always buys the lesser dollar version of things, so I am less common.