Frank and frontpanel.de

[Unit-8]

With this new topic I want to talk about Frank and his work in frontpanel.de.
I recently commissioned a work for a front panel for a project really popular on this forum.
After receiving the panel, I realized that was missing part of the paint on the scales of the control knobs, the holes of the blocking pin of the rotary switches on the back were completely off-center and various few issues.
Of course, the first thing I did was contact Frank to make it aware of these problems.
At first he was very accommodating in solving them, but immediately after I receiving this email:

Hi Andrea.

Sorry for this. We had been in a hurry because we wanted to ship everything before holidays.
Besides the problem with the missing paint and the holes at the rearpanel I can't make Frontpanels which don't have a scratched rearside of the Frontpanel
because I get the Aluminum with a protection foil at the front only - not at the rearside.
And I can't make frontpanels with anodized 3mm sides in general. And I don't know any company who can do this for prototypes. Giving the frontpanel to
an anodizing company after the milling process and before the engraving process would nearly double the cost of the frontpanel.
I can fully refund the money for the frontpanel if you want.

Frank.

he has disappeared and has not returned any later my email.
Now I do not want to elaborate further, but I wonder: he reserves this treatment at its discretion despite receiving money to do a good job?
I know him is very famous on this forum and he is part of it as well, but is this the spirit of DIY for him?
I am completely disappointed by this affair and apologize for that I hope my understandable liberating outburst anyway.

 

[gyraf]

How long have you waited?

There's no need to worry about Frank - he's one of the good guys, if there ever was one..

Jakob E.

 

[Unit-8]

Hi Jakob,

I had basically a chat with him during the making of the front panel with immediate answers.
He was really helpful, and has taught and led me during to the realization of the layout.
I do not remember how many times I thanked him for that.
Now I do not know why he changed his mind, the fact is that I have not received an answer from him and do not know why. Last email from him was on 16/06.
I do not think I was particularly boring or insistent in asking him any tips or tricks to make the drawing of panel layout, but being the first time I did it and I had to ask him some advice.
This is my idea of course, but I'm not sure given the lack of answers from him.

 

[weiss]

Don't worry. Sometimes he is very busy and from time to time an email gets lost. I can tell. I had some problems as well concerning wrong versions being manufactured. I contacted him and got a discount.

 

[Unit-8]

Hi Weiss,

I hope you are right sincerely.
I sent several emails to him, maybe one can be lost nothing weird, but 6 days are enough for have a reply I think. Or maybe not, who know it?
I'll keep you posted anyway.

 

[Majestic12]

I have talked to him two days ago on the phone and I believe he has lots of work to  do at the moment since he just returned from his holiday and also has to deal with the strike of DHL  (which is the shipping company he usually uses) here in Germany.

Just try to contact him again, I am very sure that you both can come up with a solution.

 

[Unit-8]

Hi Majestic 12,

I'm glad to hear it from you. I will try to contact him again for sure.

 

[rainton]

As majestic12 said - he was on holidays  and I'm sure he has a or of work to do.

I've been dealing with him dozens of times in the past and I would vouch for him anytime!

If mistakes happen I'm sure you and him can sort it out

 

[rob_gould]

He offered you a full refund. I'm not sure how much of an argument you have after that gesture.

If youre not keen on sometimes having to wait a few days for a reply, your option next time is to go to Schaeffer. They're a bigger company with more staff and are probably able to reply more quickly.  They are also 1/3 more expensive and don't offer any design assistance as part of their service. They also don't do anodising on the edge of any panel material supplied by them.

 

[Unit-8]

Hi Rob_gould,

The offer of a full refund is still only an offer by Frank because after six days since the last email he has not replied yet.
However, I told to him in the same email that I do not want a refund but just a front panel well done.
I hope that Frank will reply me quickly as it did before paying the order.
Thanks for your tips anyway.

 

[12afael]

I know Frank and he is an extremly good guy.  I hope you can solve the problem the best way posible I'm sure Frank will do his best.

 

[gyraf]

(..) but 6 days are enough for have a reply I think.

Not really enough if you're really busy and want to give a good reply. I try to aim at answering emails within 14 days, but often it takes longer.  ;D

Jakob E.

 

[Gustav]

With this new topic I want to talk about Frank and his work in frontpanel.de.
I recently commissioned a work for a front panel for a project really popular on this forum.
After receiving the panel, I realized that was missing part of the paint on the scales of the control knobs, the holes of the blocking pin of the rotary switches on the back were completely off-center

.....

I can't make Frontpanels which don't have a scratched rearside of the Frontpanel
because I get the Aluminum with a protection foil at the front only - not at the rearside.
And I can't make frontpanels with anodized 3mm sides in general. And I don't know any company who can do this for prototypes.

- It can take a few days to answer mails, when you have issues to resolve, simply because you have to reflect on solutions and wording.

If you are concerned about the alignment of anti-rotation pin-holes for your alpha  pots (as long as the distance to center works), or worry about scratches on the side of the panel facing into the case, I suspect you are more careful about the details than most people.

If I were Frank, I would be worried about providing another panel, and another, and another, since it seems like the two of you are not in sync about what can realistically be done/what is expected. (It sounds like he tried to explain to you, that the material won't allow for a production that meets your specs).

You may have better luck getting a panel made by Schaeffer and going with powder coating. It will cost more (probably more than double), but there will be no exposed aluminium edges, and the side facing into the case will look perfect as well.

Gustav

 

[[silent:arts]]

Asking about Franks spirit of DIY because of a six days delay on helpful emails, knowing he is on holidays?

You must be joking. Please tell us about your spirit of DIY.

 

[Unit-8]

Hi guys,

I'm happy to see that Frank have a lot of friends and supporters on this forum.
This means that Frank is a really nice guy and does his work conscientiously and professionally and his reputation among DIYers is supported by all these answers.
But as I said before I have had several discussions with Frank with answers and tips in real time during the preparation of the design of the front panel layout.
To date, however, it has been a week since his last email you a few seconds to respond to an email does not seem particularly challenging and do consider this a waste of time that they leave work to answer.
However I will follow your tips and wait for an answer and when it happens you'll know for sure.
To reply to Silent Arts, the spirit of DIY is to have mutual respect between people working in some way in the same field of interest.
Nothing complicated, I think

 

[[silent:arts]]

To reply to Silent Arts, the spirit of DIY is to have mutual respect between people working in some way in the same field of interest.
Nothing complicated, I think

I don't think it is respectful to post private emails in public just because of a six day email delay. But thats just me.

 

[Unit-8]

You might be right, but I am sharing with you what I believe is a failure on the part of Frank, or at least so far seems to be so.
I do not think about privacy in the email that I posted there are elements compromising for either of us. I think I'm entitled to express my opinion and express my discontent. We are in a democracy, right?

 

[Rocinante]

There is lots of waiting in DIY. Especially if dealing with small operations.
I'm gonna echo everyone else in saying, of all the people in the international DIY arena Frank is of the very best and worth the wait times.  There are so many reasons he can't respond sometimes but like Jakob had said; he really is one of the good guys.
I'm sure there is another 100+ members who feel the same way.

 

[jasonallenh]

I haven't had any issues reaching Frank... sometimes I don't get an immediate response, but sometimes I do, which is crazy when we're in completely different parts of the world.

BREATHE!

 

[Unit-8]

Hi all,

I just got an answer from Frank just now who explained his current situation regarding the job because I did not know that is also involved in other business more different problems here and there.
I can only confirm all the good feedback I received in his defense and with good reason.
I'm glad I shared this with you and I can say without a doubt that this forum there is the true spirit of DIY.