[sdiy] Doepfer (was: First synth to build? PC power supplyunit)

[jhaible at t-online.de]

Ingo Debus schrieb:

> In the beginning Doepfer was a very DIY-friendly company. 
[...]
> Later D stopped selling kits. They said the support was 
> too much effort or something like this.

"Support" in the DIY-days of Doepfer could look like this:

Bad quality control (a wrong TTL chip in the package),
and a smug, uncooperative reaction on the phone:
"Most kits don't work because the customers do something
wrong. There is a wrong chip in the package ? This can
happen, but you - the customer - have to proof it. Send
the unopened kit back to us, and we will see whose error it
was." - "Can't you just send me the right chip today, so
I can start building the kit in a few days ?" - "No, we
have to protect ourselves against unjustified claims from
our customers. So please send the whole kit back." - "When
will I get it back with the right chip?" - "*If* it was
our fault, we will send you a new kit. This will take
a couple of weeks, because there is a high demand for our
products."
These are not verbal quotes, but be sure that the spirit
is preserved of what happened to me when I bought a MCV1
kit in Doepfer's "diy days". DIY yes, friendly no.

(The chip in question was below 1 Dollar value, but it
was quite exotic, so it was hard to get locally. In the end
I spent a whole day to find one in Nürnberg, and I turned
down the "offer" to send the kit back. Bottom line: The
company's customer handling policy was "effective" - no need
to send a replacement part, no returned package, no extra
costs.)

JH.