Old radio vendor - anyone use vintageblau?

[Greg D.]

I did... This is not totally disparaging but it's also not glowing, just a heads up...

I bought a reconditioned Frankfurt there to avoid ebay or unknowns.... Was told "super easy" plug in +/-, antenna, speakers, "nothing to it" (I got the emails to prove I'm not rewriting history)... Paid, got it with a somewhat crappy broken front plastic plate ("sorry, it wasn't broken when we sent it") and no chrome trim around the buttons. hmm...

I wired it and apparently blew it up by using the wrong speaker plugs - my bad - but only then did I get a page long diatribe that in no way resembled the original "super easy install" email - "oh yeah you need a special plug or this and that will happen". Well thanks for letting me know, I used him for his knowledge vs. an anonymous Ebay purchase, and I got "after the fact information" & implications I was not very bright because I never wired a 70s radio speakers before. Ok..

Sent it back, waited a month for a re-repair (and that was a 'favor' which I paid for to the tune of another $200) and this time it came with the right plug. So that's nice. Late but nice. Haven't tested it yet, I'm afraid to.... But it also came back with the same broken front plate, this time broken in 2 places !!! Hmm... wondering how much of a profit it would have eaten to send me another crappy unbroken plastic plate....

Moral of the story, I can either find a chrome trim piece and avoid the plate & install in the 912, or repair that plate and use it in the Alfa instead... Still, I'm disappointed. I messed it up (I admit I didn't know about special plugs and google said to use banana plugs, must have gotten the wrong kind), but in terms of the broken pieces, the missing pieces, the attitude... Offical review is a "Meh"... I'd recommend other sources...

If anyone has the chrome trim that goes around the buttons of a frankfurt, please let me know ;-)

[mfitton]

I may have what you need. Post a picture of your radio. I got lucky with "Vintageblau" I called him out on a lot of his misleading Ebay ads and he banned me from contacting him..

[Greg D.]

That's funny.. I was wondering if it was me or something, but I'm usually the model customer ;-) Glad/sorry to hear of your experience, I think we can definitely form an opinion now..

Here's my radio, and what I think I need...





I found one on ebay for my 911 but I can't seem to get lucky again !

[erick72pors]

be very careful regarding radios that are posted here on the S forum, ebay, pelican, etc. Because 99% of them are misleading and incorrect for your early 911! Most the sellers post a radio that are actually a blaupunkt from another make/model.

[Greg D.]

be very careful regarding radios that are posted here on the S forum, ebay, pelican, etc. Because 99% of them are misleading and incorrect for your early 911! Most the sellers post a radio that are actually a blaupunkt from another make/model.

Thanks... I'm good, the 911 has its stock radio in working order. This was for either the Alfa or the 912, and one those I do not care as much about originality. But I'd like it to look decent, and function... It's a lot to ask, I know ;-)

[mfitton]

Hi, I am one of the radio sellers you need to be careful with. I have the trim piece you need PM with your mailing address and I will send it off to you.

[Vintageblau]

Hi,

I just saw this thread and am a bit surprised. We have been selling restored radios as well as repairing Blaupunkt radios for classic cars for about a decade now and have gotten very few complaints. We spend a lot of time in contact with classic car owners, helping them obtain vehicle and date-code specific information regarding what radios are correct for their cars and also giving prompt advice during the installation process. We work very hard to make all of our customers happy and pride ourselves for our personalized customer service. Members on this forum, as well as the Porsche 356, Jaguar XKE, Ferrari and BMW community have purchased beautiful radios from us and are more than happy with their experience, please ask around.

Yes, occasionally a customer installs a restored radio incorrectly and this can certainly damage a radio such as Greg D. did as he states above. While a vintage radio is very easy to install (literally 5 wires, a diagram and instructions are shown on our website), the correct speaker plugs do have to be used or the speaker wires will touch and short circuit the radio. We repaired this radio for Greg at our typical $95/hour labor rate and our turn-around time is usually 2.5 weeks. Regarding Ebay, our Ebay feedback rating is 100%, another reason why restoration shops as well as collectors gladly work with us. We are always open and upfront about the radios and parts we sell, you are certainly welcome to ask me directly.

Our business relies on the reputation we have within this tight-knit classic car community and we put our customers first. If anyone has any questions at all, please let me know.

Ingo Prangenberg
Vintageblau.com
631-697-1611

[Greg D.]

My review was entirely factual and actually took the highest of the roads offered to me... In fact I was going for a rebuttal but nah, people don't care... let's just go with constructive criticism instead:

Offer the whole email page of explanations and warnings *at purchase time*, not after something happens. You're not selling rubber grommets or windshield wipers here... A simple warning would have been good - "use this plug or else you might blow up the radio" - I did not wire it wrong per se, I used the wrong banana plug. Better yet offer the correct plug with it ? for more $ ?

If a radio gets to your customer with a broken front plastic plate right out of the box, "sorry, it wasn't broken when we sent it" doesn't quite cut it at that price point, you wrapped it, just send a $5 plastic replacement. Better yet, offer the correct metal plate for more $ ?

If you're gonna call a repair after the no-warning thing a 'favor', don't charge another $200 over purchase price - and take a month and be condescending in your emails to the customer...

I truly don't have a history of being a "bad" customer with *any* vendor nor of avoiding responsibility (re-read above, I took the blame for the wrong plug which I had ZERO idea about, which is why I trusted a you in the first place, for correct advice I got too late), I suggest you do the same and work on your customer service skills.

PS: I wasn't even gonna bring that up because I ate this loss, but it's not even really all that repaired, the sound output is like 25% power of a normal radio. I no longer care, I stuck it on my Alfa instead as deco.

[mfitton]

I don't believe that vintageblau repairs their own radios, thus the long wait and cost of the repair.

[raspritz]

Not to be contentious, but this "not totally disparaging" thread seems a bit problematic:

I bought a reconditioned Frankfurt there to avoid ebay or unknowns.... Was told "super easy" plug in +/-, antenna, speakers, "nothing to it"...I wired it and apparently blew it up by using the wrong speaker plugs - my bad ...Sent it back, waited a month for a re-repair (and that was a 'favor' which I paid for to the tune of another $200)

A few things seem wrong with this story. Just using the wrong speaker plugs would not "blow" the radio. Even if one pair of plugs is wired backwards, that would just put the two speakers in opposite phases, and the radio would sound like crap, but would cause no damage. A guess might be that you wired a dead short across one or both speaker outputs (which would indeed be "my bad") and blew the amplifier. If so, you're lucky they only charged you $200 to fix it.

The face plate is a ~$100 item, and they don't usually come with a vintage radio. Did you pay for one?

Rich