Vintage Calculator Repairs

[Michael Fehlhammer]

Certainly many of you know the repair service run by Bruce Larrabee, VintageCalculatorRepairs.com; does anyone know him personally, or has anyone had ( email ) contact recently?
I am a little worried because I sent in a calculator about one month ago and did not receive any feedback; I asked for confirmation that the calculator has arrived safely, but several emails have not been answered so far. I also tried to contact him via his website, in vain.
On his website Bruce mentions health issues; may be these are the reason for the silence? What are your experiences?

[HokieKev]

I sent an email a couple of weeks ago about a repair as well. Maybe he took vacation in August...

I hope he returns and his business is doing well.

[Dave Frederickson]

We've been chatting about Series 80 ROM's recently.

1MA7-0166 (HP85) ROMS - Free

[Michael Fehlhammer]

I haven't heard anything from Bruce yet, and I admit that I am getting a little nervous. Several emails have not been answered, I also sent a PM via this forum. No response. This is really strange, especially since Dave showed us that Bruce posted a comment in a thread about series 80.
So obviously he does read and write emails, but refuses to answer questions from his concerned customers.
What are your latest experiences, HokieKev? Are you also waiting for an answer still?

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

Michael,

I just checked the "News" page of his website and he has listed that he has a new phone number which he's "hoping that it will mitigate the
difficulty I'm having answering my email."

You may want to try calling him.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

[rprosperi]

(09-15-2015 09:30 PM)Michael Fehlhammer Wrote:  I haven't heard anything from Bruce yet, and I admit that I am getting a little nervous. Several emails have not been answered, I also sent a PM via this forum. No response. This is really strange, especially since Dave showed us that Bruce posted a comment in a thread about series 80.
So obviously he does read and write emails, but refuses to answer questions from his concerned customers.
What are your latest experiences, HokieKev? Are you also waiting for an answer still?

Michael - since a call from Germany could be expensive, feel free to email me your questions/issues and I'd be happy to call Bruce on your behalf, and relay his replies.

[Michael Fehlhammer]

As everyone can see from the start date of this thread, it is more than half a year since I sent my HP 67 to Bruce Larrabee (VintageCalculatorRepairs.com).

Since then I haven't heard anything. All my emails have been ignored.
Bob was so kind and tried to phone Bruce many times, but has been successful only once ( thank you, Bob! ).
After ceasing the answering of emails, now Bruce also seems to refuse to answer the phone.
Meanwhile there is little hope that I will get back my calculator one day.

This behaviour is beyond excuse.
I strongly discourage anyone from sending in calculators to this company.

If anybody has made any experiences with that company during the last few months, please let us know.
Maybe the company doesn't exist anymore, wouldn't be surprised to hear that.

[quantalume]

The last time Bruce logged into the forum was two days before you started this thread. That would tend to make me worry that something happened to him. On the other hand, his web site was modified just a few days ago.

[Michael Fehlhammer]

Bruce is alive and kicking;
a forum member just has told me that he phoned him a couple of days ago.
He even still offers his repair service!
Fortunately the forum member decided not to send in his calculator.

[Garth Wilson]

A death in the family caused a lot of chaos and stress in the family and made Bruce unable to maintain the calculator repair business for the last year and a half. Neck surgery didn't help that situation either. But an update on his site yesterday, 2/23/17, says he will be getting back to the repairs and has some improvements in his process that should speed things up. He has a new phone number, 541-731-5130, which you can call 9:00 am to 8:00 pm PST. Note that he has moved.

[rprosperi]

(02-24-2017 09:51 PM)Garth Wilson Wrote:  A death in the family caused a lot of chaos and stress in the family and made Bruce unable to maintain the calculator repair business for the last year and a half. Neck surgery didn't help that situation either. But an update on his site yesterday, 2/23/17, says he will be getting back to the repairs and has some improvements in his process that should speed things up. He has a new phone number, 541-731-5130, which you can call 9:00 am to 8:00 pm PST. Note that he has moved.

Great news, glad to hear Bruce is feeling better. Thanks for sharing this update Garth.

[Thomas-HP41CV-owner]

I am still waiting for Bruce to respond to me.

I received his email with the work order info on March 24. I paid the USD 85 viaPaypal and shipped my treasured HP41CV to Bruce for repair.

I have emailed and tried to call him many times. His voice mail say he is not listening to voice messages....

Having read your input above, I have been hoping Bruce would be OK soon and start answering to my contact.

Any new info in the community? (I really miss my HP41CV)

[toml_12953]

A while back, I sent him my HP 9100B to repair since he said he wouldn't charge me anything if he couldn't fix it. Once he worked on it a while, he said he couldn't fix it but I'd have to pay him for his time. I haven't trusted him since. When I get a PC in to fix I don't charge anything if the unit isn't reparable. I eat the cost of my time.

[Dave Hicks]

I just received this via the contact form on the website. Even though it was requested that I post this, I have edited out parts that seemed a little personal for the general internet:

Quote:I need to notify people who sent calculators to Vintage Calculator Repair that Bruce will no longer be able to work on calculators. He took a turn for the worse and his cousin Don Frosland had him put in a nursing home. Unfortunately, Frosland never thought much of Bruce's line of work and I am afraid he won't take care of business...

If you could please post this news to your forums and Don Froslands phone # [redacted - see below]. Bruce would be very upset to know things weren't handled properly.

...So everyone make sure this can not happen to you. Get the paperwork done! Things happen faster than we anticipate...

I hope things work out well for those who have calculators at Vintage Calculator Repair.

I went back on forth on whether I should post the supplied phone number. On the one hand, people probably want their stuff back. On the other hand, this is a cousin who may not have a clue about this stuff and it wasn't HE who offered his phone number but someone else. (And the someone else sounded upset with Don and his lack of interest in his cousin's business - but I couldn't tell you much about my cousins' businesses either.) So, if you really need that phone number, please PM me (soon*) and please be nice when you call him.

* I'll hang on to the phone number for a few weeks at least. Please don't ask me for it in 2021 or later.