- 1 - I can't find what I want on your web site. 2 - I
can't find anything on your web site. 3 - I hate the colors on your web site. 4 - Your web site sucks. 5 - Your web site is a disgrace to the internet. 6 - I hate
your website. 7 - I don't know you, but I hate you... etc.
ANSWER = 1 - Sorry. 2 - Sorry. 3 - Sorry. 4 - OK. 5
- OK. 6 - OK. 7 - OK, but those sticks and stones really hurt. Now
I've developed a self-esteem damaging psychological problem, and wish I had never been
born.
I'm sorry to
use such a worn out cliché, but you 'really' need to get a life. But since
you are so passionate about us, perhaps you would like to send us several
thousands of dollars and will we hire some real professional site
designers and coders. And with so much passion, you will probably want to read everything in the
About Us section including the 'Chronicles' of our
past Current Announcements. When you are done, write us again and let us know if
you still feel the same way.
Back to FAQ questions
- I am offended by that "Daily Manna", Bible
verse thing at the bottom of every page on your site and that Truth
Seekers thing. How dare you mix religion and business. That is stupid and
you are an idiot.
ANSWER = I'm really sorry that you are so easily
offended. Since you cunningly discovered it's there, an intelligent person
like you should be able to figure out a simple solution. I have one... do not
go to the bottom of any page on our site... it might be dangerous to your
well-being. On the other hand,
perhaps you ought to read the remarks on the Truth Seekers
page and try to be intellectually honest this time. One of the truly great
things about being in business for one's self is not having to bow and
worship at the feet of political correctness as dictated by some employer
or Human Resources department.
Back to FAQ questions
- I love your web site. I love what you are
trying to do for the vintage audio community. I love you.
ANSWER = Thank you very much. We get a lot of
comments from site visitors like this and really do appreciate them. In
fact, such comments have frequently been a huge encouragement to continue
when we have sometimes been discouraged and felt like quitting. We
are fully aware that our site is not a slick, professionally designed,
marketing guru driven site. It just reflects who/what we are. And
truthfully, in our
opinion that is better than anything any professional site designers
could ever do. We aren't trying to be like everyone else. We do not and
will not conform to fit in anybody's pre-designed box. And, we are making
zero effort to be like any of our competitors.
Just to let you know, we really are open-minded, we welcome constructive,
thoughtful criticism and suggestions. As long as you aren't the type of
person that #1 and #2 above is addressed to, please feel free to tell us
whatever you wish about our site. We promise that if we haven't already,
we will consider your suggestions. You can read a bit more about our
business and 'site ideas' on the
Basic Premise/Start Here page.
Back to FAQ questions
- Do you have such and such a manual?
ANSWER = As indicated in the yellow section
near the top of this page and our Current
Announcements pages, this has been an ongoing problem. We are very close
now to FINALLY posting complete, accurate and up-to-date lists of manuals
in the Manuals Catalog section. When completed, we
will guarantee that we do not have
anything not listed. Until then, we can't really answer that unless
you send us in inquiry. See Simple
Purchasing Info.
Back to FAQ questions
- Where can I find such and such a manual
if you don't have it?
ANSWER = I don't know. Try internet searches and follow
any promising leads, post messages on audio forums, watch online auctions,
put an ad in your local free advertiser.
Back to FAQ questions
- Why can't I find the number of pages so
I can find the cost on your Prices page?
ANSWER = You can't really "look up a price" based on the
number of pages. WE ASSIGN a particular Price Code to every individual
item and are doing it as quickly as we possibly can. There is that general
info in the yellow section
near the top of this page, but more explicitly, see the "APPROXIMATE PAGE
COUNT IS PROVIDED AS A REFERENCE ONLY NOTE:" section on our
Price Codes
page.
Back to FAQ questions
- How can I buy such and such a manual listed on
your site?
ANSWER = We've been "so behind for so long"
(sounds like a Randy Travis song), I'm tempted to say you can't buy from
us... ha! But seriously, the
Terms/Purchasing has been completely
updated. Just go there and pick any menu selection that strikes your
fancy.
Back to FAQ questions
- The item I want does have a price code. How
can I buy it?
ANSWER = If you found it in one of the Manuals Catalog
lists, there should have been some yellow background rows
every so often that indicates Paypal users can
Buy it Now with Paypal. And for others
who are not Paypal users or want to pay by some other method, links to
Simple Purchasing Info.
Back to FAQ questions
- Do you jack up the total price by adding
on "Handling Charges" or jacking up shipping cost?
ANSWER = Absolutely not! Domestic and international shipping costs
are shown on the
Price Codes page for each price code.
We are not interested in profiting on shipping cost, but we don't want to
lose either. We may make a few cents on your particular
shipment or (more likely) we may lose some. The shipping costs in our charts are the
price you pay. They are our best estimates rounded up or down to even
dollars. The exact amount shown on your package will usually be within a
dollar of what you paid. If you are purchasing multiple items, shipping
cost will generally be along the lines of those shown on the
Shipping Rates pages.
Back to FAQ questions
- I want some of your stuff but have no money
or I'd rather not spend real money. Can you help me?.
ANSWER = Yes. Perhaps... Maybe... We set up
The Trading Page
just for you.
Back to FAQ questions
- Why don't you have a button I can click to
buy a manual?
ANSWER = For general answers, you can see the yellow section
near the top of this page or Terms/Purchasing
and Buy It Now with Paypal. For a bit
more specific answer, I'll say this. Doing that for 50,000+ items would
present some serious hurdles we are not prepared to cross at this time and
possibly never will. We may in the future add a clickable Buy It Now
button to a few hundred or a few thousand of the most requested items. We
simply have not made a firm decision about that yet. In the mean time, it
is very easy to Buy It Now with Paypal.
Back to FAQ questions
- Why don't you have
a Shopping Cart system?
ANSWER = Like the answer about clickable buttons to
buy individual items, crossing that hurdle at this time is simply more
than we are prepared to do at this time. It is something we will be
investigating and giving serious consideration to at a later time. In the
meantime, see
Terms/Purchasing
and read whatever suits you to see how to do business with us.
Back to FAQ questions
- What is your phone number so I can call you?
ANSWER = Please don't. We are currently set up to do business
via the internet and email. Even if we published our number, you would not
necessarily be able to contact us as we are not always near a phone plus
keep some really weird hours. We could play phone tag for a long time and
never connect. However, when we have more organizational things
done and complete a planned move to a new location, we may publish a phone number
and be available to answer it. It would be a helpful thing if you would include YOUR PHONE NUMBER
(and best time to call) with your inquiries to us. There are times when it would be much easier for us to
give you a phone call.
Back to FAQ questions
- I want to use my credit card. What is your phone
number?
ANSWER = We are not set up to directly process credit
cards. You are most welcome to use your credit cards through online payment
services like www.paypal.com (our preference).
See
Payment Options
for more information.
Back to FAQ questions
- I refuse to use Paypal, but insist
on using my credit card or I will go elsewhere.
ANSWER = We certainly don't mean to sound nasty,
but... see ya! Hope you come back some time. We also hope you like the
competition's product.
Back to FAQ questions
- Do you guys really make good manuals?
ANSWER = Yes. Absolutely! Best-efforts Quality is our
A-#1 top priority. The vast majority are
Quality Rated as
'Very Good to Excellent'. In virtually all cases, they will be printed as
the originals including 11" x 17" folded pullout pages and will be neatly
constructed as either center-folded, center-stapled, OR side-stapled (as most
originals are) with fiber reinforced tape applied to the spine. Often they
will be better (cleaner... no dirt, stains, writing, rips, etc.) than many
originals you might find. For exact details about how our manuals are
made, see
About Our Manuals.. We receive rave
reviews from customers virtually every week (sometimes several). Some of
them are posted on our Customer Comments
page.
Back to FAQ questions
- Are you serious that most customers find their
manuals better than expected?
ANSWER = Yes, we really are serious. In most cases where the item has a Quality
Rating of "Very Good", "Very Good to Excellent" or "Excellent", you will likely
be pleasantly surprised. Ask yourself this question: Have you ever
seen any other manuals site (other than a small, boutique type specialty
site) talk so much about how stuff is made, about quality, and guarantees, etc.? We didn't think so. For further info, see
Customer Comments, Manuals Philosophy,
About Our Manuals, and
Quality Scale
Back to FAQ questions
- Are your manuals copies of other copies?
ANSWER = The vast majority (99%+) are made directly
from our original factory manuals. We virtually always do extensive detailing
and cleanup work if necessary, in order to produce the cleanest reproductions possible.
In a few cases, we reproduce from high quality 1st generation copies. Just
a few rare cases, we reproduce from a copy that is not particularly good,
or possibly even poor (but we "always" tell you first). We also
"always" provide
an *honest* Overall Quality rating before you buy according to this
Quality Scale which you should read
so you will know what it means.
Back to FAQ questions
- Can I read the small print in the schematics?
ANSWER = In almost all cases, YES. But sometimes you
can't read it in the originals, so you also can't read it in ours either. A
magnifying glass is quite helpful with some service manuals. In some cases,
we "may" produce enlarged versions of really difficult areas and/or "might"
make enlargements and then spend a lot of time hand tracing over very faint electrical values.
Another thing we do it pay very close attention to whether our printing
equipment is performing properly or not. If we notice any degradation, we
make adjustments and it that doesn't work, we get service techs on it very
quickly.
Much wonderful
equipment was produced by many audio companies. But many of those same companies
must have had idiots who designed service literature. Sometimes even if there is space
where they could have used 20 point type size in a schematic, they used 4
point type size (and sometimes with a pale pastel color). What the hell were
they thinking?
Back to FAQ questions
- Do you provide any guarantees?
ANSWER = Yes! Absolutely! If we take your money for
an order, you have our word that we will treat you right. Our word is our
bond and we guarantee satisfaction according to the description we offer before
your purchase. These are not trick words and neither is our individual item
descriptions or our individually assigned quality rating. We WILL do what
is necessary to insure your satisfaction. But if you happen to be one of those
(thankfully rare) extreme a-holes who simply can not be pleased with any amount
of effort... we might ask you to PLEASE RETURN your items for a full refund.
Or we might even refund all your money and tell you to keep it and enjoy ripping
us off.
Back to FAQ questions
- Will you ship a manual to such and such a country?
ANSWER = Yes... unless it is on a "restrictions apply"
status with the US Postal Service such that no mail is allowed.
Back to FAQ questions
- Will you email the manual
to me in PDF (or other electronic format)?
ANSWER = We do happen to have perhaps a few thousand
(don't know exactly) various manuals in various electronic formats. In
spite of that... right now... the answer as of 2/2004... is almost never.
We specialize in producing genuinely high quality printed reproduction
manuals and brochures. We have given a great deal of thought to this
subject and for now, the major thrust of our business will be to continue
our pursuit of the top quality printed manuals route.
There are tons of folks distributing scanned manuals. We have some very
strong opinions about electronic literature distribution. There is much
fakery, trickery and subterfuge involved with much of the electronic
manuals being distributed by a lot of places on the net. This topic is
quite similar to the "digital ready" speakers advertising of a few years
ago. The words: digital, scanned, high resolution, etc do not necessarily
make anything better and should not be automatically construed to mean
they will be excellent or even good.
HOWEVER... because we do desire to accommodate, we may be listing what we
have in our Manuals catalog. If we do, there will be links to other
pages explaining that we may not be ready to distribute them yet... or
whatever the case may be. At the very least it will provide our real
opinions about electronic manuals and their distribution. AND if we do decide to
allow them to be purchased on a regular basis, we plan to do it differently
than any other manuals seller we have ever seen on the net. Stay tuned...
Oh, almost forgot... (laughing about reason #9 subsiding)... Annnnnd...
THE #1 REASON THAT MOST FOLKS SHOULD WANT A PRINTED MANUAL... It's tough
to take a PDF to the "reading room" for study while engaged in other important
tasks. ( ...roars of approval and hysterical laughing...)
Back to FAQ questions
- How long does it take to get an answer?
ANSWER = THIS IS A REALLY GOOD QUESTION! Since upfront
honestly is the best policy, here's the complete, "no-BS" answer. Until
our website is 'fully-functional', so that most of the popular manuals are
described and priced so that people can buy without having to write to us
first, we must
do it via email. Answering emails has been our single biggest problem since
starting this site. I (Rick, owner) hate the situation and have lost much
sleep trying to correct it. So, the real simple and truthful answer is...
Just like with you, it depends on what we are doing and how busy we are. Sometimes
you will get an answer in 5 minutes. Often within a few hours. Normally within
24-48 hours. When we are super busy, it might take longer. If we happen to
be overwhelmed and backlogged, it might take much longer and it might even
get "lost in the shuffle" and become part of the email archives monster we
have here. I hate to admit it, but even some past customers and some we consider
friends have had inquires lost in those backlog archives.
One thing we want you to know is that if we take
your money, you will receive your order in a timely fashion unless something
extremely unusual is going on.
2003 was the first year of our unexpected acquisition of 6 tons of
manuals. We did deliver for lots of customers, but the entire year was one
hectic, drastically over-worked disaster. All in all perhaps the worst
year of my life. Over the entire year of 2004, we were able to complete many
super helpful projects and made much headway with our StereoManuals plans.
But at the same time, our manuals business plans were severely hindered
over the course of the year by numerous things for weeks at a time and in
one case, nearly three months.
Example, in 12/2003, my elderly mother required a serious abdominal surgery.
Recovery was slow. In mid-2004 a follow-up surgery was performed. Immediately
afterward in the intensive care unit, she suffered a stroke. I spent a lot
of time over 3 months in particular tending to that situation. I have no idea how
that will play out or for how long. But, family is more important than selling
manuals. 2004 was probably the saddest year of my life. As of today
(Feb/2005), that situation has evolved but is not solved.
So... we hope you understand if you happen to be one of the approximately
20% of folks whom we just don't seem to be able to get an answer to.
We believe that we may be near to being able to respond to all in a timely
fashion and perhaps begin to attack the backlog. But we have said that before
and had unexpected things happen to hinder us. We are after all, just regular
people like you. Since we do not have access to unlimited capital, this family
business progresses just as fast as we are able to make it happen. Time will
tell if this time we can "finally" be optimistic again about getting and staying
current which is the way we always "used to" operate before acquiring such
a huge library. See the next question and answer. We do hope you understand.
Back to FAQ questions
- I wrote to you (once, twice, more) in the past
and never received a reply. Will I this time?
ANSWER = Who knows? We sure hope so. There is information
all over our site about the growing pains problems we have had and our many
efforts, attempts, and very hard work trying to overcome the startup phase
problems of a manuals business. Regarding your previous message(s), it is still our intention to reply to every single one at some
point in time if only to apologize. (More information about this
here.)
This is the "Bottom Line"...
We acquired too many manuals that we didn't own long enough to have completely
organized, described and priced. It took much longer than anticipated to modify,
adapt or develop new and necessary business processes and procedures. We were
"too easily found" via high ranking Google searches and that resulted in an
overwhelming (to us) number of inquires that we were not prepared to handle.
We were too under-capitalized to do anything about it any quicker than we
have. And finally, a number of "family things" and other responsibilities
periodically hindered faster progress.
Back to FAQ questions
- I have a such and such manual(s) that is (are)
not listed on your site. Are you interested in it (them)?
ANSWER = Yes, probably... maybe... write to us and
ask.
Back to FAQ questions
- Are you interested in trading your such
and such manual(s) for my such and such manual(s)?
ANSWER = Yes, probably... maybe... write to us and
ask.
Back to FAQ questions
- How can I find out how much my such and
such equipment is worth?
ANSWER = Try internet searches and follow any promising
leads, post messages on audio forums, watch online auctions, put it up for
sale in your local free advertiser.
Back to FAQ questions
- What is an audio forum?
ANSWER = A place on the internet where like-minded people
post messages about a particular subject like... vintage audio equipment.
There are some links to audio forums on our
Links Page. We are host to a
very nice
audio forum discussion group (mailing list). It is called 70sAudioMindset
but is not limited to only 70s stuff. All audio topics are on the table,
even including digital and black plague stuff. Click the link here for more information about
70sAudioMindset.
Back to FAQ questions
- What is my local free advertiser?
ANSWER = Get real... (I can't believe I put this here).
It's a free or small-cost publication probably available in your local grocery
stores, convenience stores, etc. that list things people in your community
are trying to sell.
Back to FAQ questions
- I want to buy some of your Pioneer gear on the
Other Stuff page. How much is it?
ANSWER = Go read at the top of
that page again. But if you
feel like making us an offer we can't refuse....
Back to FAQ questions
- You sound like a funny guy at times and
at other times seem rather plain-spoken and matter-of-fact...
are you a nice guy?
ANSWER = Yes Sir! I am one of the friendliest guys you
ever met... just very, very extremely busy... working 12 - 20 hours per day
most of the time. I'm looking forward to getting more of the "startup phase"
behind us. Perhaps I can become a human being again and get a life back. See
Current Announcements page for more information
than you care to read.
Back to FAQ questions
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