From: Kuniholm mail sdccu net Date: 23 sep 2006 Subject: Good Vendor Hello all, I would like to report an excellent experience with a vendor who doesn=92t = appear on the shogi.net links, but who probably should be included whenever= the list is updated. The vendor in question is David Hurley whose site, hirohurl.net, carries an= assortment of high-end Shogi equipment, most notably a wide selection of p= ieces in different woods, engraved or hand-calligraphied. His website has e= xcellent explanations of the different grades available, with plentiful pho= tographs; it is probably worth visiting just to browse, for it is an educat= ion in itself. I was buying my third Shogi set from him when I detected a slight, but stil= l perceptible flaw in the folding-board provided. David not only responded = to my complaint immediately, but when he discovered that all the boards fro= m his source had the same flaw, discontinued the item and offered me a rang= e of replacements to choose from =97 some even of greater value than the or= iginal item. It is, of course, possible to order from some Japanese manufacturers direct= ly, but they have a tendency to be slow (and not too forthcoming in respons= e to questions), and often fail to cope with difficulties when they arise, = especially when it comes to shipping options. The biggest vendors, let us r= emember, such as Rakuten, do not even ship outside Japan, and some of the v= endors listed on shogi.net =97 such as shogishop.de =97 are similarly usele= ss to purchasers worldwide, since they are unwilling to sell to customers o= utside the EU. Oh well, I don=92t mean to rant, but after waiting typically for a month or= two to receive goods from Japan, even when ordered from amazon.jp, it was = a pleasant experience to deal with someone who responded efficiently to inq= uiries, and shipped everything with alacrity, most items arriving the same = week. I would welcome hearing from other subscribers about their experiences with= vendors worldwide. Thanks, Eric --^---------------------------------------------------------------- This email was sent to: = shogi-l shogi net EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a2i6Ys.= bnuqMa.= c2hvZ2kt Or send an email to: shogi-unsubscribe topica com For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit: http://www.topica.com/?p=3DTEXFOOTER --^----------------------------------------------------------------