Do not order from Bokrand (anymore)

[Smegger68]

For my own experience \i can only say I have ordered counterweights for my Ortofon arm on 2 occasions (to suit SPUs) and on both occasions they arrived in a timely manner. This was a couple of years ago to be fair.

[OldRecordLover]

Not ideal! Were you expecting a delay or is this bad customer service again?

Bad customer service. There have been several unexpected/unexplained delays and I'm not the only person in a similar situation. See this thread - https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threa....34065/page-15

Even though he says he has a backlog of 40+ overdue orders

"the oldest order is a year old, then orders 6, 5, 4, 3 months ago."

he continues to sell on eBay (here). Taking new orders when you can't honour existing orders is a strange way to do business. This comment on the WBF thread I linked to sums up my feelings -

It is a very simple solution, just let people know when you will be able to fulfill their order. For example, I would have been ok even if I was told I would need to wait for 3 or 4 months or maybe even longer. It would have been my choice to decide if I want to pay and wait. However, you told me -and as far as I can see, a lot of others- that you can ship much sooner than you already know you couldn't. This is called false advertising.

I am sorry about your health and sincerely hope you get better. I applaud your craft too. The way you conduct business is however very problematic.

[Lawrence001]

Reminds me of that guy who's hand built speakers and sold them online. When What Hifi gave them a 5* he sold loads but he couldn't make them fast enough. I forget what the company was called.

[Wakefield Turntables]

I think this is wrong. Surely, it would make sense to make quite a few of these tonearms, especially as they seem to be popular and have some sort of traction as a product, that way many orders could be satisfied without long waiting times. Just my 2cent..

[drSM]

I got my Bokrand AB 309 just yesterday.
Still lettting out long sigh of relief
Its taken very nearly one year
You will see my post here on 10/05/22 (#19) i had just bought the arm from him on eBay.
It was quite disconcerting when the money back deadline had lapsed on eBay and i couldnt even message him
Hence my request here in Dec 22 for his regular email address.(thanks Charlie)
The old fella was in and out of hospital.
At one stage he said mine was one of 21 arms, then a few months later it was one of 40 !
When i reminded him that it was 11 months ago that i put the order in he got going with mine and offered me the 'improved' version for no extra money.
Better bearings i think.
It looks lovely.
so yeah be prepared to wait

[rahman]

I posted this on another forum (WBF) but thought it best to also do so here as a public service.

"Unfortunately, Alfred's unsavory business practices (basically robbing Peter to pay Paul) are continuing.

In brief, I purchased an AB309 off ebay on 19 January, but only after getting Alfred to confirm the following before purchasing:
"Hi Adrian
I confirm shipping with DHL and tracking shipping next week Friday" (i.e. 26 January)
Best regards
Alfred"

Given the various complaints about his practices all over the web, I thought it best to get written confirmation in advance of purchase and to pay with paypal.

As I was going to be away for work the following week, I also wrote to him to give him more time to ship so I could be home to accept delivery.

Sadly, no communications from him since purchase, notwithstanding some gentle reminders.

Today, I wrote to him to advise that if I did not receive the arm by 14 February that I would be opening a complaint with ebay/paypal. I also stated "It is unfortunate that you are forcing me to take these measures and I had sincerely hoped that you would honor the commitments that you made before I purchased the item. I hope you will rectify the situation soonest."

In the interests of transparency and fairness, I will update this post, but, based on my experience to-date, I would strongly suggest not buying from him at this time and certainly not via a payment method for which there is not ready redress given his business practices (i.e. definitely not via bank transfer).

At the same time, I do hope he gets his affairs sorted and generates the funds in advance to actually produce and distribute the arms in a normal, timely manner.

Cheers,
Adrian"

[zerowaf]

Any news on Alfred?
I can´t find any trace of him on ebay anymore.

It´s a shame, as I am pleased with his tonearm.

Though, I also had some big delays about two years ago when I was buying mine, I was still thinking of buying one of his 16" tonearms in some undefined future.
Say after the sommer.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Any news on Alfred?
I can´t find any trace of him on ebay anymore.

It´s a shame, as I am pleased with his tonearm.

Though, I also had some big delays about two years ago when I was buying mine, I was still thinking of buying one of his 16" tonearms in some undefined future.
Say after the sommer.

Various forums with various discussion about not buying from him, yet he still advertises, takes money, and deliveries are few and far bewteen. CAUTION!