A positive review

To balance out the previous post :)

I replaced my Hifiman RE-0's! They're a very very good sounding earphone for moderate money. To me they sound very good, but with little bass so some people may not like that. But the biggest selling point is they sound as good or better than earphones that cost $300. They were about $85, but you can get them cheaper online.

I got my first pair a couple of years ago, they had some problems though. The cloth covered cable was constantly getting knotted, and also if it dragged over your shirt you would hear that in your ears. It had a small plug which was quite fragile and that's the part that eventually died on them. Also back came off the earbuds, that was because the helmet tried to rip them apart every time I took it off, but this was fixed with sandpaper and superglue.

However the new ones have fixed two issues at least and they come in different packaging now. The cable is now plastic coated, and the plug is now much chunkier. I'm yet to test the durability with my helmet. I think they also sound slightly better now too.

I got them from Munkong Gadget. They have two outlets that I've found so far. One in Digital gateway (go out the opposite side of the Siam BTS station from Siam Paragon) and another in Pantip Plaza (on the ground floor, towards the back, head right and it's near the Bangkok Bank branch that's hidden away there). Small store, but they had a good selection of headphones and amps.

I went to get these because the Logitech headphones I got in Cambodia were excellent fakes but sounded horrible. The box, the pamphlets inside, even the earphones themselves all looked right. But they sounded just like any other boring earphone, nothing like what the reviews said about them and no where near Hifiman territory. The box was missing a few things which I saw in photos on some reviews so that's why I figure they were fakes and not just bad sounding headphones. So I stuck with a lesser known Chinese brand instead of going for another big name brand that's probably going to be a fake anyway.

A negative review

I'm still having trouble finding sprockets in Thailand. I know they are made in a factory here somewhere, however, I don't know where or how to get them here. I'm resorting to getting them posted from Australia with a few other things that I need.

Rant mode activated.

In the meantime I tried contacting a place I've used several times before. The place is Procycle and I think half the parts on my bike are from them. It was always straight forward dealing with them in the past: put the bits you want in their cart system, pay via paypal (which has been disabled now), and then it arrives a few weeks later. They are a good supplier for DR650 parts, they have everything. But I probably won't use them anymore.

So the other day I sent off this email to them to see if I could get the parts sent via UPS, as the normal postal service in Nepal is apparently unreliable (lots of posts on the lonely planet forum about things going missing etc). Now I know it's going to cost me a couple of hundred just for shipping by using UPS, but it's my only option when it's a critical part. However on their site they say they use USPS for international postage, but that isn't good enough for me, too slow and things to missing at the other end.

This is what I sent:

Hello, Is it possible for you to send a few items via UPS to Kathmandu with their wait for pickup option? I've heard the poste restante in Kathmandu is very unreliable so I'd prefer to use UPS over USPS for this shipment. I'm having no luck finding parts for my DR650 in Thailand, so my best option is to use you to get parts into Nepal for when I arrive. I've used Procycle multiple times in the past when I was back in Australia building up the bike. This is all for a 2009 DR650. So far what I need: - Fuel tank vent cap - Remote choke cable kit - DT Triple Layer Air Filter - Sprockets for front and rear, both 14+15 for front, 42 for rear, and 525 chain (or 520 if it's cheaper). - Sprocket retainer for 14 tooth sprocket. Can you give me a cost with/without the chain? I can pick up the chain locally and just throw it in the crate for shipping. Regards, Ryan Beales

So I'm emailing because I need to. Obviously I've tried other avenues, and I need them to help me out here.

And I get this back:

HELLO RYAN,, WE ONLY USE U.S.P.S. FOR SHIPPING. WE OD NOT HAVE ANY MEANS TO USE UPS. THANK YOU,  CARL.

The formatting and spelling is all theirs. So I think they obviously haven't read the previous email past the first line, or even past the subject. I can read their website, I know they use USPS, but I need them to help me out and ship via UPS. Also, they don't have the means? Really? Uhh... Anyone anywhere can send via UPS, yet these guys are unable to for some reason. I understand the parts may be in a warehouse somewhere else, but here's a solution: Get it sent to yourselves and then get UPS to pick it up (or I can even organise a pickup from here online), I'll gladly pay all the extra costs. I have a need for the parts anyway, cost obviously isn't an issue if I'm asking for UPS. There's not a huge amount of extra thought or work here.

So a little annoyed that a place I have dropped $1000's into in the past won't help, I send back my sarcastic reply:

You don't have a phone or internet access? Thanks for helping me out and giving the standard answer, I'll be shopping elsewhere from now.

Of course that's not going to help anything, but I'm annoyed that the customer service is really that bad.

I get this response back anyway:

HELLO RYAN, WE DO HAVE INTERNET ACCESS, THAT IS HOW WE ARE TALKING NOW, AND WE DO HAVE PHONE SERVICE,, 541-688-9543. GOOD LUCK, AND THANK YOU,  CARL.

Whooooosh... Looks like Carl still hasn't found his capslock key. I had an email from him about a year before this for another order and it was all in caps too.

There are other people working at Procycle, but Carl is the sales manager. Way to make a sale mr sales manger. If he'd helped me out I would have gladly added their sticker onto my bike and ridden it all over the place. I've posted photos of my bike on other sites too so they would have got free advertising when I do that. Instead the only mention of their name from me will be attached to this crankypants rant now.