Synthrotek- Poor Customer Service (Rant Warning)

Up until recently, I have had nothing but good experiences with the modules and kit builds that I have purchased from Synthrotek. I have their Sequence 8, which I built and works flawlessly. I also have built a Rat King Random Sequencer and an MST Multiples. And I have purchased assembled, a Tone oscillator module. All are fine. Everything was fine, until it wasn't.
Recently, I purchased a Rat King Gates module. This is where my troubles began. Right off the bat, the unit did not work after assembly. I checked everything, my soldering, component placement, everything. It was all in order.
I tried to reach out to Synthrotek, about this and they told me that there is dual polarity on their Vactrols. Not only do they have to placed correctly end to end, but also side to side. These instructions were vague on the assembly guide.
Okay, so I removed the Vactrols and flipped them around, and still the unit did not function. (Even less so than before)
Okay, so the unit doesn't work. It's a risk you take when you build a kit. I was resigned to that. A $70 lesson in asking questions about vague instructions.
So, now the issue is, Synthrotek has gone dark. I've emailed, I've called, numerous times. No response.
At first,all I wanted was suggestions on a path forward. Now, realizing that the module is probably a paperweight, I just wanted to let them know that there was a problem. Now, I'm not sure if there has been problems with this build before with others, as I cannot find anything on the web.
I have now resigned to no longer do business with this company. Going dark on your customers is the fastest way to lose them. I would have probably kept on buying from them them, were it not for the lack of communication.
Will I put electrical tape over anything with their name on it in my racks? No, probably not. But, it will remind me that all it takes is for a company to ignore their customers one time, to lose them forever.

Interestingly, the last new module design they have on their (clearly unsecured!!!) website is from early 2020, which is a big switch from their prior consistent introduction of new modules. I can surmise a guess as to why they might seem to be MIA, though, but I'm not going to get political on MG.

My suggestion would be to get in touch with Rat King directly instead via their website at http://ratkingmodular.com/ . You might also find some useful fixes in their own assembly directions, which might or might not be the same as the ones Synthrotek provides. Good luck!

their (clearly unsecured!!!) website
-- Lugia

Out of curiosity, what makes you say that ? It's not as clear for me :-)

http:// NOT htttps:// = no security

Weird, synthrotek.com presents a valid certificate to me, a cert from Sectigo valid until September. If you see something else, it may be related to the browser you are using ?

well I was just commenting on the url in Lugia's post

when I open the page I do get a warning on Firefox about parts of the page being insecure - the images

best practice these days is to have everything protected by ssl including all internal calls in multi-tier applications

It's just the Favicon that is requested unsecure via http from the same domain. I don't think that is a big security issue.

Ha, I was on the wrong website, assumed we were talking Synthrotek but that was a reference to Rat King Modular's poor security choices. Carry on.

if it is just the favicon - it's not a big security risk - just a bit sloppy

but rat king is not https it is http and as such unsecure - bad practice for a web shop - I would not buy anything from their site due to this

but rat king is not https it is http and as such unsecure - bad practice for a web shop - I would not buy anything from their site due to this
-- JimHowell1970

Rat King's website is not a webshop, it redirects to synthrotek's webshop (which offers a valid certificate) for purchases, you're "safe" ;-)

Going back and looking at Synthrotek's site and the warnings that Firefox pops up on it, it shows that the site contains "unsecured content". The certs for transactions might be secure, but my concern is that there's elements there that clearly are not and which could, in theory, be used as part of a backdooring scheme. Very sloppy in this day and age to put up a commerce website that's not 100% nailed down.

And Jim has a very good point: MAKE SURE your transaction traffic is ALWAYS secure. Check for "https" and NOT simply "http".