Public Service Announcement.....

[JofZ]

It has come to my attention that there are at least 45 people waiting for a communication from Snake Oil Strings with regards to outstanding orders. There are at least 4 threads regarding this subject on The Gear Page. Every single response is the same, great product, terrible service.
There are some people who believe a magazine review created the backlog. Fact: the review took place in 2006! This is not the cause of the delay!
I have personally been waiting since August of 2007 for a return phone call. I have personally sent over 50 emails and made at least 24 calls to Dean.

At the end of the day, as a consumer you need to do your homework and verify, confirm and know who you are doing business with. Purchase ONLINE goods with an AMEX or Credit Card even if you use PayPal. That way when your product is not sent you can block the transaction! Notice, I am not saying not to buy the strings! I am saying if you do that you have been warned about the current problems and you should not post about them anymore!

If you can't live without them deal with it! If you can, there are 12-18 other strings that will suit your needs just fine. I have 12 guitars and only one now with SOB's and I can't tell the difference!

[sliding-tom]

Not wanting to put Dean down (his Nickel strings are still the best I've ever played), but the shipping costs on his strings are too much anyway (not his fault), so I'm staying with Pyramids which are easily obtained here (german company) and inexpensive,too. Their new "Nickel Classic" set is a great sounding string.

[PeeWee]

Hmmmm. I haven't re-upped my order as yet because I've been hearing a lot of feedback regarding the backlog. I love Dean's product and believe you me, I've had a few problems with QC over the 4 years I've been using his strings exculsively. That said, Dean has always gone the extra yard to correct the issues. When I told him a few years ago that I was considering going back to my previous brand due to consecutive orders being botched, he sent me 6 sets on his dime and packed them himself to insure that my order was correct....and I got them overnight!

My last order was a little delayed. Normally I'd get them with in 5 business days but the last order took 10 days to arrive. I sent him an e-mail asking what the holdup was and he got back to me in a few hours stating that the demand for SOBs was larger now and they were gradually trimming down the lists of requests. I'm not certain just how many are working at the company, but I can assure you that the numbers are tiny.

In the meantime, I stocked up on a few sets of D'Addarios and still have 4 sets of SOB Nickels at my disposal. I'll probably place another order with in the next week and just bide my time with the D'Addarios until I receive them. Will I order again after this next one?? We'll have to see as my budget is going to be altered due to another child on the way, everyday cost of living increases, fuel prices and just trying to stay ahead of the curve.

[mailman4]

Since this is "(The Official SOB String Forum)", perhaps Dean can chime in and help us understand his predicament?