I've been watching this post, but haven't said anything so far. I've done business with the three people that repair, sell, and service players in the US and are on this website; Kurtis, Duncan, and Duane (Grasshopper).

I'm struggling with what and how to discuss my dealings over the last few years with Duncan since I don't know his situation, or what he has had to deal with (other than rumor or hearsay). It's been good and bad.

The bad; as mentioned a lack of communication, to the point of wondering whether he moved and I got ripped off. Checking the BBB and the forums didn't help as all I found were complaints and questions from customers of what was going on, including allegations of fraud. When I did get a response it was usually after expressing increasing frustration, and the answers seemed lacking in detail as to what was happening or when things would be done. I had debated posting here, but I think it would have fallen on deaf ears (at that time), and I haven't walked in Duncan's shoes to know what all was going on.

The good; My initial LD player purchase went well, and later business dealings with Duncan were resolved to my satisfaction (almost a year ago now). The repairs he has completed have been excellent -although his technical competence is not the issue.

Since this is mostly a small and fairly tightknit community, I would say this to Duncan: No one needs to know your personal life, but if you have a business that deals with customers that you never meet or see, you do need to let them know what is going on a regular basis. Having a niche market with little competition does not relieve you of the responsibility as a business owner in acting and communicating professionally. I hope you will post and let people know what your situation and intentions are, I personally never believed you to be dishonest, but I did get extremely irritated having to ask repeatedly what was going on long after I paid.

I can only comment on my experiences from the last few years.

Duncan was always great to work with. I've sent him two players, a CLD-79 and a DVL-700. Both were fixed promptly and I was given updates via email on the progress of the fixes for each player.

So yeah, it's pretty shocking to read people having issues with Duncan's service.

he fixed a player of mine years ago, around 2004 or 2005 everything was great, around 10-15 day turnaround.
unpacking a box I found the receipt from 2013 when he fixed a player again, he received it 1-8-2013 and I paid 1-15-2013
but didn't receive until 2 months later.
OK, OK it can take time etc, I received it and all was fine.

and then I sent my CD player 6 months ago and this issue started etc.

if you do the math, he received my second player while he was still "working" or "finished" erwing's player.

just really bad that this is going on, even with his issues, if they have been going on for 2+ years then he shouldn't be taking on more work
or sending back repairs so we can get others to fix or try and fix our stuff.

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the rein-o official signature:

rein-o - I'm glad you had the guts to actually post about this issue. There are way too many fencesitters in life and I'm glad you are not one of them.

I know you got on really well with LDService and were like buddies on this forum, so you would never have raised this issue unless it was absolutely necessary. If LDService has retired - fine then he should at least let everyone know so no more players are sent for repair. If LDService hasn't retired then I think everyone who has entrusted him with their equipment deserves an explanation as to what the heck is going on.

I got a reply about mine.

i didn't get any reply
i sure didn't get any player back
and i didn't get any reply back when i asked him what was going on when others here and off of here were contacting me.................
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the rein-o official signature:

for me he has already sold our players...
phone is swithced off from month..

nobody lives near this cheater and can ring his bell? maybe hes died from months and nobody knows.

He's not dead. He was online twenty minutes ago.

I bet he replied with 'See ya next year suckers!'

what really gets me is when I asked him before I sent my CD player he said he could fix it.
6 months is not able to fix anything.
also he should have known that he had other peoples players for over 1 1/2 years before he took on more work.

what i'm really disappointed about is that he is a nice guy to converse with via PM and I did talk with him on the phone
once back when he had a phone line 2004-5 before I sent my first player.

its a shame as he does really great work.
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the rein-o official signature:

I get the feeling he needs someone to keep him on task etc. It's easy to be skilled at things and less skilled at life things.

And probably a little more space than he had - he mentioned having to cart players to and from home. Being able to plop an S2 down when it came in and just work on it would probably increase his throughput a bit.

Is anyone else good with the gas tube players?

I think you've hit the nail on the head. No point being a brain surgeon if you have no communication skills and get distracted at the first hurdle.
I once knew a guy who lived out in the sticks who fixed watches. That is all he did and his house was just coming down with them. Now he was very skilled and could repair any watch but try pin him down to get a timescale and it was impossible. Average time to get one repaired was usually 5+ years...sometimes a decade. Sound familar......?

you give me 5+ years and I can fix your cars and build you houses from scratch, even forge the cast iron or copper pipes by myself........

that is not fixing stuff if it takes that long period.
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the rein-o official signature:

I think the mindset of some repair people who work alone differs considerably from a conventional Service Centre. In their minds this is more of a hobby when they get an opportunity to look at it for you. They think they are doing you a big favour. The downside is there is rarely any timescale set on when the work will be completed, so you'll need the patience of a saint!

I wouldn't be surprised if parts are used from one machine to repair another which probably goes some way to explain the delay. The reality is the longer they keep equipment for the greater the chance of getting a suitable donor machine since some people will forget about them, move on or just die!

It is really a unrealistic dream world they live in - like a never never land where nothing gets done unless they get a prod with a stick.
That dodgy Saxon song called 'Empty Promises' from 1986 sums it up rather well!

where is he?
head under the sand?...

Too busy drowning his sorrows....

Duncan's still a good guy. The problem he's faced with is that he has to stay profitable while serving a shrinking niche market. Putting food on the table is what's most important at the end of the day, so if it means prioritizing big industrial repair orders over the little guys (e.g., LDDb users), then I'm sure he'll go with whatever brings in the most money every time. FWIW: He was also dealing with big medical bills earlier this year due to his wife having a heart attack, IIRC, so that might partially account for some of the problems mentioned in this thread.

I sent my two Panasonic LX-900s to him in early 2013 (January/February) and didn't get one of them back* until earlier this year after having an argument with him over PM. Unfortunately, the player that was returned to me died during its first A->B side-change and still has my copy of THX 1138 inside. This was probably due to damage from shipping, but I just couldn't take the stress of sending it back and starting this process over again, so it's been sitting dead in my basement ever since.

With the cost of the players and S&H aside, Duncan charged me $212.50 for repairs. During our argument Duncan told me that he undercharged me given the amount of time he had to invest in trying to resurrect one of the two and that—given my occupation as a DoD contractor(?)—he figured I wouldn't be able to afford [his hourly rate] x [the number of hours he had already put in]. I think this was uncalled-for, but I have pretty thick skin, so I don't let it bother me.

Well, that's my story. I hope you all have better luck than I had. I also hope that things get better for Duncan.

(* The second one was a donor anyway, so I'm not concerned with getting it back.)
(? This didn't make sense to me because DoD contractors typically earn well above six-figures per year.)

Yikes! Have you taken a look inside the 900 yet to see if it's possible to get it un-stuck?

No, not yet. I haven't really had the time and my krbahr-repaired Pioneer CLD-1010 has been an acceptable substitute for casual viewing.

I think anyone with reason to post in this thread understands that life happens. I've dealt with gunsmiths and cue makers that would make and repair items on their schedule, which could span many months and even years, without the added intrusion of any personal challenges. In a niche or unique market that happens, but if someone is good enough people will wait. However, it's difficult to empathize with anyone's position when you have to repeatedly pry a response out of them, unsure of the accuracy of what you are being told, and even less certain of what the end result maybe.