Paul C. Buff, Inc. Technical Forum

I had a Issue with The Vagabond that was a Gift to me, i only used the product 2 times and made sure to charge it after every use. On the 3rd Use the Vagabond would not put out Power and it indicated that it was fully charged prior to using it... ive contacted Alien Bee's Via Phone & Email and i Got 1 response via Email; about sending the Item back to them to get serviced, the Item Weights around 20lbs and thats an outrages shipping fee, for what i think its a Faulty Product; it wont even run with 1 AB400. i was advice that Paul C Buff. would send me a PrePaid Shipping Package to mail the item to them, but i am yet to receive it or a answer regarding this from the company. i love the products and i do purchase from them but this is a issue that hasnt been resolved and lost clients because it is faulty.

and it also makes a screeching noise when i connect it to charge..

would the appropriate Rep please get a hold of me; i would like to resolve this while the item is still under warranty

The folks at PCB generally do exactly as they say, so there must be a breakdown in communications. Maybe they got your email address wrong,for instance. In any event, you would be much better off taking care of this by phone, particularly since your post on this forum didn't include any contact details.

+1 for BigIron's suggestions of calling PCB to resolve the issue.

Also, PCB doesn't send you a return shipping package. What you'll receive is an e-mail with an attachment that shows a return shipping label. You print out the label and tape it to whatever you box the VII in for return. You might want to double check that the return shipping label wasn't included as an attachment on the e-mail you got from PCB.

Some VII's make a high pitched "whine" when charging so the screech you are hearing might be normal (but it also might not... that's hard to tell via the forum).

I have passed this along to Customer Service, someone should contact you shortly. You may want to check with the original purchaser to see if the label was sent to thier email.

As for the whine while charging, that is normal and will dissipate as the charge nears completion.

I went ahead and called them; they pretty much said that i have to pay for the shipping. i dont understand why if this is a Faulty Product, So how can i have them send me a Shipping Label ? to be honest i cant afford at the moment to ship 20lbs because of the price of shipping. and hopefully someone can help me resolve this. item still under warranty. thank you

Like it or not, most companies won't pay to return a defective product. Now if this was a second time failure for the same problem than yes, I would demand a free shipping label.

I sent in a new Canon 5DII that cost me $50.00 because of the insurance. I got it back with the same problem, you bet I insisted they pay for the next trip. They did... They also fixed it that time.

I had to ship back a defective 20" CRT once that was under warranty. Cost $50.

You said in the beginning that the only response you had from PCB was in the form of an email message. You also said that you were "advised" that PCB would be sending you a return shipping package. Since your only communications was in the form of email, then you must have it in writing (email) that they were going to pay the return shipping cost. The good folks at PCB aren't weasels, so if they made that commitment, they would surely follow through. Something in this story isn't passing the smell test.

This issue has been resolved through our Customer Service department. As this thread is not really Technical Support, and is headed off topic, I will be locking the thread.

Please call or email us regarding any non-technical support issues you may have at 1-800-443-5542 or info@paulcbuff.com (technical issues are also welcome via phone or email).