When should patience turn to push?

[swankdoc]

I hired a person to do a custom rack job for me about 6 months ago. Not an overwhelming job. A common pair of preamp cards, to put into a rack with power etc. Spoke with them on the phone. Went over the expectations about what I was interested in, and person said 'no problem'. He seemed like a really nice enough guy on the phone, knowledgable etc. The business is established, recognizable name, I'm pretty sure everyone here would recognize them, heck he might even post here...I dont know. So they asked for 1/2 the money up front, and the balance of the $$ after they had a chance to look at the cards and find out exactly how much it would cost. It came to $1250.....yes, just for the rack job. Its to have an external power supply, stepped output transformers, LEDs, DI's...so I figured for a custom job it might be steep, but not insane. So the money was paid in full back in January. Well, now nearly 6 months later, its not done. When we started, I did not get a time frame, but on the phone Im nearly certain he said the standard "a few weeks". So every month or so i email a friendly, "Hi , howz it going?" and I get a ...."it'll be done in a couple weeks." A month goes by, and that repeats.
So now that we're at the 6 month mark I thought I'd prod just a touch more. So this time I email..."hows it going, you've had it 6months, Ive been really patient, can you give me date please?", and he wrote back....'I'll get done soon, please be patient.'

So, are you guys still OK with the story? I remember someone else here saying some custom jobs / electronics have taken a year to get back to them. I just sorta dont get it. I mean at some point dont you just put it on your desk and finish the thing? On the one hand I dont want get all panty-tied, cuz I want a nice job done, and a friendly contact. On the other hand, In my business, there aint no such thing as pay me now, get it whenever I get around to it, perhaps 6+ months or later...uh uh, that dont never cut it, so this is pretty foreign territory to me.
I wont post a name or biz, cuz Im not here to bash anyone, I just need some mental health guidance. For all I know its a standard-ish wait and its gonna be awesome, and great things come to those who wait. On the other, its hard not to imagine that old car commercial of "hey we got 4 of our best guys on it right now"....

thanks.

[gainreduction]

Simply ask for your money and modules back.

I'm sure there are lots of good guys who can get the job done within a given timeframe.

OTOH asking for your money back might push them into finishing up your rack.

Sorry to hear about that experience, waiting sucks.

[XSergeantD]

Are you able to make it to his jobsite? 6 months for what you mentioned seems like when to make a visit and see where they're at. No work done, then get your stuff and $ and go elsewhere. You're losing money not having this gear to work with - OK, mybe not, but maybe you've been pushing back a session that you need to use this stuff on and the client couldn't wait any longer and went elsewhere. A few weeks might be believable up to 3 maybe even 4 months, but at least the guy should have given you an update when you give em a call

[Kestral]

A dual Neve 1073 rack from Vintage King is like a thousand dollars. Dude charges too much, contact Vintage King.

[cfjis]

Man... get your dough back...
I know some great tech's who'll build Neve pre's for not much more than that... and get them done and to you within a couple of weeks.

Sorry, man. Nothing sucks more than having your time wasted.

-CJ