I was recently looking for a particular potentiometer for a project in E=
PE magazine, and the only people
selling it were Rapid Electronics in Essex, England.  I made up a decent=
 order consisting of various PCB
chemicals, empty wide-mouthed plastic bottles to put them in, and so on.=


I went with their free delivery option (any order over GB=A325 qualifies=
 - you can pay extra for guaranteed
next-day), and despite this and the fact that I placed the order late on=
e afternoon, it arrived at 09:00 the
next morning - impressive!

One item that I ordered was wrong, though.  I ordered a pack of crystals=
 to make up etch-resist developer,
which makes 500ml, but they sent the liquid form, which makes 10 litres,=
 and costs about 16x as much.  The
delivery note and invoice were correct, so it was a picking error.

Now I could have kept quiet about it, but I really couldn't justify need=
ing 10l of the stuff, so I rang them
and spoke to someone who said they'd send the crystals, and get back to =
me about the bottle of liquid.  Five
minutes later a nice lady rang and checked that the stuff I had was the =
right chemical but in the wrong size -
and as it was, would it be OK if I kept what I had rather than have them=
 collect it?  Well, yes!  She thanked
me for telling them, as now she can correct the stock-levels, and was ev=
erything else as it should be?  (It
was).

So I give Rapid Electronics two thumbs up for service and I shall certai=
nly be buying from them again - their
prices are good, too.

The only problem I can see is that their range of PICs is a bit limited,=
 and seems to be "old fashioned".
It's also arranged strangely, with PIC16F627-04/P in one section, but th=
e PIC16F628-20/P in another.  I
couldn't find the -A variant anywhere...

Still, for everything except PICs they seem to be excellent!

(http://www.rapidelectronics.co.uk)

Cheers,


Howard Winter
St.Albans, England

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