Welborne Labs business in trouble ? Be aware

In order to prevent other people to get such troubles with that company, I report here the story of my negative customer experience with Welborne labs.

After having seeing very good appreciations of the DRD 300B kit on Enjoy The Music.COM, in March 2007 I ordered the Terraplane 300B kit which is a signature version of the DRD300B amplifier. The transaction was made by visa card and, immediately, my bank account has been charged for the total amount.

3 weeks later, I sent Ron Welborne a mail in order to get a shipping date. He answered me : "We have a few items that we are waiting on from suppliers but we expect to finally have them this week so we will be shipping your kit shortly. I will drop you an email just as soon as it ships."
I never received that email, and, since, he never answered to my other mails.

At the begening of May, I made a complaint to the Denver/Boulder Better Business Bureau (BBB), which is a mediation organism between consumers and businesses. I asked for the cancellation of my order and for a complete refund of all was charged to me. The BBB notified the dispute twice to the Welborne Labs company, without any answer from Ron Welborne.
This neglecting attitude of Ron Welborne is amazing for a businessman !

Finally, the BBB adviced me "You may wish to seek legal advice or small claims court for further recourse". They added "The Better Business Bureau develops and maintains Reliability Reports on companies in our service area. This information is available to the public and is frequently used by potential customers. In the case of your complaint, the company's failure to promptly give attention to the matter will be reflected in the report we give to consumers about them."

You can see the customers experience reports here : http://data.denver.bbb.org/commonreport.html?bid=90007851
The complaints seem to grow in number, and I encourage other people in trouble with that company to make complaints to the BBB.

After this attempt of mediation, and because of the serious damage undergone, I decided to make an as large publicity as possible, and to sue Welborne Labs for breach of trust and swindle. These offenses are severelly repressed in France. I think that is the same in the States.
In a few days, he will be officialy informed.

Of course, if any refund occurs in the interim, I will inform the forum...

Regards,
Thierry
:tresbon:
I'd like to thank Thierry for keeping us informed and also providing the forum with the subsequent BBB investigation report.Good detective work.The same thing is occurring with my DRD order at the moment.Initially purchased via the welborne shopping cart.Lots of excuses initially also lied originally stating that the item had been shipped,when it had not.Now Ive had no response for 2 months and taking up the matter with Paypal.Shoppers be aware,paypal only guarantee your purchases for 45 days,after which time they absolve themselves of ANY responsibility,even though their transaction receipts do not mention any terms & conditions regarding this fact,allowing a definite legal loophole for anybody caught out like this.By the way Thierry was the matter finally settled?
 
This post should be made a sticky, perhaps no one else will fall prey to this poor excuse for a business. Do us all a favor Ron, close your doors!

Russellc
 
Its truly unfortunate. I have an old welborne labs phono stage that I really enjoy.

I don't think anything has been resolved yet judging by the posts on audio asylum.

Evan
 
I used to order wooden chassis boxes from Welborne Labs and he was always pretty honest / quick with the shipments. I haven't ordered anything from him recently so I can't comment further - just sad to see.
 
I too have had a bad experience with Welborne Labs. I ordered a ST-70 rebuild kit and only got part of the material I needed for the amp. Still waiting for the power transformer and the tubes! I'll never buy anything from Ron Welborne again.
 
Poor response from Welborne Labs

I too have had a bad experience with Welborne Labs. I ordered a ST-70 rebuild kit and only got part of the material I needed for the amp. Still waiting for the power transformer and the tubes! I'll never buy anything from Ron Welborne again.
 
Welborne Labs has treated me along with many others disgracefully.He has defrauded me.I have Consumer Protection Australia,IC3,Colorado State Attorneys Office,NAB Visa Card all working on this.WHY ON EARTH IS THIS MERCHANT OF DOOM STILL ALLOWED TO TRADE BY PAYPAL?WHY DO THEY CONTINUE TO ENDORSE A KNOWN AND PROVEN REPROBATE AND FLOUTING ALL APPLICABLE ETHICAL STANDARDS OF COMMERCIAL PRACTICE?A warning to anybody out there DON'T ORDER ANYTHING FROM WELBORNE LABS,you will never see your money again.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but can't you sue in your home state small claims court?

It also seems that if everyone with a complaint against him unified and began sending written noticies to one Denver detective that action might be taken there.

Further, did anyone pay by mail?

If so, your local post office can get in on the act.

All the BBB can do is warn others off.

They cannot resolve anything.
 
It also seems that if everyone with a complaint against him unified and began sending written noticies to one Denver detective that action might be taken there.

Let's see, RMAF was just in Denver...and nobody who got ripped off by Ron thought to take a break and pay him a visit? That would have made for a thread I'd like to read I think.
cheers,
Douglas

but seriously, SM's suggestion is a good one, somebody post a Denver detective's name and everybody can pille on.
 
Let's see, RMAF was just in Denver...and nobody who got ripped off by Ron thought to take a break and pay him a visit? That would have made for a thread I'd like to read I think.
cheers,
Douglas

but seriously, SM's suggestion is a good one, somebody post a Denver detective's name and everybody can pille on.

That would have been a much easier task for those who attended RMAF if Welborne was there. They were not..
 
Make Ron's day a happy one.

RE WELBORNE LABS : any good folk out there seeking either a resolution or refund,I believe Ron is contactable on the following Email address (provided to me by Paypal)that is, providing he is either decent enough or man enough to face up to his responsibilities and reply...wlabs@wildblue.net.Good luck all,sincerely,John Benevoli.
 
It seems it was hasty to suggest a recent order with Ron worked out well. It seems some major parts are missing from said order.
 
Welborne Labs problems

I ordered the Dynaco 70 board and components. What I got was an incomplete order, the board and the top plate were missing.

An employee by the name of Anne responded to emails-that the remaining parts were being sent. The problem is, that package went to ANOTHER address in my City. Then Anne promised a refund, at least until their poor handling was taken care of.

The refund never came, same with the parts. My subsequent emails were ignored and I have heard nothing more, almost 3 months since I ordered the parts. To make matters worse, my credit card was charged long before the initial shipment. I have even offered to return their incomplete shipment if a refund was made. Again, no reply. I don't expect any resolution at this point and am warning others. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY.

Rick Rob
 
I have had trouble with him as well. This has been going on for at least a decade. Many negative posts on AudioAsylum as well as other forums. With so many problems over the years I'm surprised to hear that he is still in "business".
I once questioned a design parameter for one of his amps on an audio forum; normal technical discussion. Next thing I know, in comes a PM from Welborne himself threatening to take legal action against me. Nice guy.
 
It's supply and demand.. small biz supplier.. first come first serve. You should ask if a complete bom can be filled since there is no apparent inventory available on his sight.

Life isn't always mcdonald's. :smoke:

btw.. I haven't bought from him.. never heard of him. But I'll email an order first if I do buy.
 
Another bad experience

Just fyi the Welborne problems go on in 2015. I ordered a discrete op-amp from Welborne's excellent Web site. Shortly afterwards realised that it was mono, thus I needed a second for stereo. Sent a message to Welborne requesting a Paypal invoice for the additional op-amp. By return received the invoice which I paid. So now I'm down $210. Subsequently read about all the problems with Welborne. Waited for a whole month without even an acknowledgement of either order, then placed a PayPal claim with the resolution centre. They got no joy out of him either, so, long story rather long, PayPal gave me a full refund - the moral is, if you're going to deal with dodgy traders, protect yourself!
 
This is really old news, I don't know if he got in over his head, or if he has little Larsony running through his veins. Just stay away!! Burn me once, bad on you, bur me twice, bad on me.:yes:
 
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