SparkFun Forums

[riden]

Yeah, I sent mine back too (by narcoleptic sub-orbital carrier pigeon), no word yet on whether Sparky received it yet, or when I can expect a replacement. It's only been two weeks, so they may not have received it yet...

I didn't get a confirmation either, but it seemed that they turned it around right away since it only took about a week both ways.

I recently sent a package from Chicago to the Toronto area via "global priority mail" or something like that and it took 10 days to get there. I could send that same package via USPS priority mail and have it arrive in 2-3 days max almost anywhere in the U.S. I'm not sure why it takes so long especially since these are major cities. Maybe I'm spoiled and need to watch those old westerns where the pony express riders are delivering the mail on horseback. Maybe then I will appreciate the improved service.

[roach]

So, after about six weeks of waiting, I finally received a "replacement" for my defective cp2103 board. Let me share a very uncool experience with y'all.

The back story:
After originally ordering and receiving a cp2103 breakout board, I tried to set up the board in loopback mode by tying the RX pin to TX, and seeing if anything got echoed back in my terminal program. The unit was correctly detected as a COM port, the "Power" LED on the board turned on and everything, but nothing was being echoed back to me.

After removing the pin headers that I had soldered to the board, and hoping no one would notice the bits of solder flux that were still evident (if you looked closely), I sent it back to SparkFun for replacement or testing.

I just received the board, with a polite note from Eric, stating "we found no problems, but we are sending you a new unit anyway. Good Luck".

Upon closer inspection, however, this board is the exact unit that I sent back for replacement. Found no problems? Did they even test it, or did they just dump it back in the mail? Either way, I'm out an additional $15 for customs, duties and shipping on a product I already paid for, it still doesn't work, and SparkFun lied to me.

Now, having ordered from SparkFun in the past, I've never had a problem with the quality of their products, and I've also enjoyed the PCB deals at BatchPCB. I also appreciate and respect their willingness to stand behind their products with a relatively no-hassle returns policy, but this is so goddamn uncool as to counterbalance almost all of the positive experiences I've had with SparkFun in the past. I mean, why lie? Why not just test the damn thing, tell me that it works and I'm an idiot, and return it to me? Why pretend that it works, I'm an idiot, and then tell me they're sending me a replacement, when they're not? If one of these statements is false, how can I trust that they even tested it in the first place?

Very uncool, SparkFun.

[amcfall]

So, after about six weeks of waiting, I finally received a "replacement" for my defective cp2103 board. Let me share a very uncool experience with y'all.

The back story:
After originally ordering and receiving a cp2103 breakout board, I tried to set up the board in loopback mode by tying the RX pin to TX, and seeing if anything got echoed back in my terminal program. The unit was correctly detected as a COM port, the "Power" LED on the board turned on and everything, but nothing was being echoed back to me.

After removing the pin headers that I had soldered to the board, and hoping no one would notice the bits of solder flux that were still evident (if you looked closely), I sent it back to SparkFun for replacement or testing.

I just received the board, with a polite note from Eric, stating "we found no problems, but we are sending you a new unit anyway. Good Luck".

Upon closer inspection, however, this board is the exact unit that I sent back for replacement. Found no problems? Did they even test it, or did they just dump it back in the mail? Either way, I'm out an additional $15 for customs, duties and shipping on a product I already paid for, it still doesn't work, and SparkFun lied to me.

Now, having ordered from SparkFun in the past, I've never had a problem with the quality of their products, and I've also enjoyed the PCB deals at BatchPCB. I also appreciate and respect their willingness to stand behind their products with a relatively no-hassle returns policy, but this is so goddamn uncool as to counterbalance almost all of the positive experiences I've had with SparkFun in the past. I mean, why lie? Why not just test the damn thing, tell me that it works and I'm an idiot, and return it to me? Why pretend that it works, I'm an idiot, and then tell me they're sending me a replacement, when they're not? If one of these statements is false, how can I trust that they even tested it in the first place?

Very uncool, SparkFun.

Have you actually talked to them? I'm not doubting you, but you're assuming they out and out lied. They could have made a mistake and acidentally sent you the original back. I just say this because SFE's service has always been good to me, they even sawapped out a MCB USB that I'd been using for months, no questions asked. So with their previous track record I'd gibe them the benifit of the doubt.

Avery

[roach]

Have you actually talked to them?

Not yet. I'm still too pissed to carry on a mature conversation about this.

Granted, I haven't actually tested the unit again to see if it's working. I just assumed, since it's the same unit I sent back to them, and it wasn't working when I sent it, it must not be working now either. Once I get home, I will have to test the unit again. If it works, I will of course issue a public apology and retraction (watch this space!). Wouldn't be the first time I've shot my mouth off in these forums.

So with their previous track record I'd gibe them the benifit of the doubt.

Normally, so would I, but like I said, I'm pretty pissed about this right now. I'm going to take it home and run some more tests. Maybe it's magically started working while in transit.

EDIT: Well, I've confirmed that the board still doesn't work, so I guess the next step is: give up?

[roach]

I've spoken with Nathan, and he has apologized, and offered to refund my order. While these measures do not resolve the technical difficulties I'm having with the board, they certainly go a long way toward mitigating the sheer crappiness of this experience.

I still have extremely high confidence in SparkFun, and overall high satisfaction, despite this one bad experience. I guess I'll have to order another cp2103 breakout, and just hope the next one works.

Can anyone, anyone at all, provide port settings that are confirmed to work with this board? AT commands? baud rates? flow control settings? Anyone?

[riden]

There doesn't seem to be anything tricky with the configuration, if the drivers installed, you should be golden. I had a problem (as noted in my earlier posts) with one of the boards, and I sent it back for replacement. After receiving the replacement, I reinstalled the drivers, plugged the board in, connected TX to RX, fired up HyperTerminal on the COM port corresponding to the one assigned to the CP2103, and everything worked as advertised. I've used it at the default 115kb as well as 9600 baud, no flow-control.

As was echoed by others, my experiences with SparkFun and their customer service has been nothing but positive. Given a chance, I'm sure they will do their best to get the problem resolved.

[TSPRAP]

I was reading in another post that a guy with a GPS(?) board was having trouble with comms. It would work perfectly when he pressed down on the CP2103. Your problem might have been that the CP2103 wasn't tacked down all the way. If you still have your dead board try putting preasure on the Cp2103 and see if it works.

[roach]

Interesting. I'll definitely try that. I was also thinking of hotplate-reflowing the bugger.