Opinion on Copper.com's "expand, align and tune"

[davegrantsr]

for all intents & purposes, h & y and copper are the same animal......i've bought from both for, what? over 20 years? i have never ever paid them to do anything to any radio i've ever bought there. i can only think of 2 radios that were received and did not work properly out of the box. both were replaced immediately with no problems. think 'you catch more flies with honey then vinegar'. i just said, hey, i have a problem, please help & they did. even in my business, those who scream first get the slowest reaction.
NO WHERE on their website or forum do they state they will MODIFY radios, other then converting to 11 meters. they DO NOT claim to peak the wattage, adjust the modulation, or do anything else OTHER then expand to cb. for $25 or $35 or whatever they charge, there are people more comfortable letting somebody else expand their radios, rather then themselves. ABSOLUTELY let copper do it then. i can't think of more then a couple people who ever posted on their forum saying that they had a problem, that coming from the 'non-core group', so i think that's not a bad record. i've compared close to 200 copper-bought radios over 30 years, and honestly 'by ear' could never say that one of their 'aligned & tuned' radios was any more 'on frequency' then any unmodded radio i've ever purchased. on the other hand, i've seen far more non-copper radios that vary in xmit & rcv freq then copper-bought radios. luck of the draw or copper really does align? i'd put money on 'luck of the draw', but.....remember, copper DOESN'T modify radios for performance, so if i didn't want to expand mine to 11m, i'd have no qualms over paying for 'expansion' and take 'align & tune' with a grain of salt. fast shipping, confirmed price matching/beating, and reasonable shipping costs-i've never had an issue.
as for the rumor years ago that copper sold refurbs as new radios-in particular uniden grants-my mid 90's sources claimed that rumor to be fiction. and i bought plenty of 'em.

 

[WR0220]

I remember when a bunch of Cbers were accusing Copper of selling factory refurbished radios as new. I never had a problem with a radiuo bought from Copper.....just disrespectful customer service idiots.

I know from personal experience that Copper sold refurbs as new. I don't know if they still do - I won't buy from them anymore - but I got stuck with one back in the 80's. I also got stuck with a fake (pink box) Cobra when I was told by them up front it was a genuine Cobra product. :angry:

 

[TB01]

I've bought 3 bases and 2 mobiles from copper along with multiple antennas, meters and such. I searched for hours for a cheaper price on all of these and couldnt find one. They are priced right if you ask me, and shipping was normal for an item of that size, weight, ect. Had nothing but good luck with them so far. I always get them to convert my radios, then it goes to my tech for recieve and trans. adjustments.
TB

 

[hotrod]

i buy radios there all the time. but take it to my tech
after i recieve it for the conversion and REAL tune

 

[Mudfoot]

I recentlly purchased a rci 2970n2 from coppers because it was the cheepest place (even with the expand and shipping) and when I got it, from what i could tell the only thing they actually do is expand....there is no align and tune....but like someone else already said, if you want your e chip you pay the extra....I had to turn up the modulation myself, every thing else seems to be factory set and I wouldnt change a thing...it preforms beautifully,it swings 300 on ssb, and dk's 100 swining 200 on am (at max output) I get great reports on ssb and am even with the stock mike, and they shipped it to me very quickly....so on that note, i have to say i would give them my business again....

That rig still dead keying 100 watts?

 

[The Mad Scientist]

I know from personal experience that Copper sold refurbs as new. I don't know if they still do - I won't buy from them anymore - but I got stuck with one back in the 80's. I also got stuck with a fake (pink box) Cobra when I was told by them up front it was a genuine Cobra product. :angry:

I agree with this. I bought two supposedly brand new bearcat scanners from them in the late 80's and both of them had so many repairs done to them that it looked like the main board had been assembled by hand. They gave me alot of flack about it swearing that they were brand new. Never bought a thing from them ever since. I did get my money back tho after months went by and it was determined that they were in fact referbs.

This is how they became so large so quick way back then. they bought loads of this referb junk for pennys on the dollar and sold them as new products.

My opinion would be to buy elsewhere. You work to hard for your money to take this kind of gamble with them.

 

[The Mad Scientist]

for all intents & purposes, h & y and copper are the same animal......i've bought from both for, what? over 20 years? i have never ever paid them to do anything to any radio i've ever bought there. i can only think of 2 radios that were received and did not work properly out of the box. both were replaced immediately with no problems. think 'you catch more flies with honey then vinegar'. i just said, hey, i have a problem, please help & they did. even in my business, those who scream first get the slowest reaction.
NO WHERE on their website or forum do they state they will MODIFY radios, other then converting to 11 meters. they DO NOT claim to peak the wattage, adjust the modulation, or do anything else OTHER then expand to cb. for $25 or $35 or whatever they charge, there are people more comfortable letting somebody else expand their radios, rather then themselves. ABSOLUTELY let copper do it then. i can't think of more then a couple people who ever posted on their forum saying that they had a problem, that coming from the 'non-core group', so i think that's not a bad record. i've compared close to 200 copper-bought radios over 30 years, and honestly 'by ear' could never say that one of their 'aligned & tuned' radios was any more 'on frequency' then any unmodded radio i've ever purchased. on the other hand, i've seen far more non-copper radios that vary in xmit & rcv freq then copper-bought radios. luck of the draw or copper really does align? i'd put money on 'luck of the draw', but.....remember, copper DOESN'T modify radios for performance, so if i didn't want to expand mine to 11m, i'd have no qualms over paying for 'expansion' and take 'align & tune' with a grain of salt. fast shipping, confirmed price matching/beating, and reasonable shipping costs-i've never had an issue.
as for the rumor years ago that copper sold refurbs as new radios-in particular uniden grants-my mid 90's sources claimed that rumor to be fiction. and i bought plenty of 'em.

Oh really? you sound like one of tech 808's buds.:laugh: I can assure you that it is not fiction and so could thousands of other individuals. And the reason you don't hear much about it is beacuse of their forum trolls searching for threads like this one threatening to SUE any one who dares speak the truth. Don't beleive me? it has already happend once on another fourm. They do thier best to burry these truths but there are just to many people out there who have had the same experences.

A word of advise to the moderators: Kill this one before they do the same here.

73's

 

[Mudfoot]

They sold me a refurb a few years ago. We both used colorful language after they started it first. Did a charge back on my CC.

Won't mention his name, but a year or so I talked to a tech that worked for Dynascan. He stayed with Cobra and now works at a shop in Illinois (hint). He still does warranty work. He said that they have had problems with Copper from day one.

They constantly fix their screw ups. He mentioned that management, at one time, wanted to cease business with Copper. He claimed they couldn't because they order huge quantities of radios. They would send letters and call their techs??? To let them know about high warranty returns. Guess it never sunk in cause they still crank everything up.

They get away with it cause most of their customers are unsuspecting that their purchase has been hacked up, cranked up and screwed up.

 

[ExitThirteen]

Old thread.

But I will say that they still sell Galaxy 949 and 959 refurbs at new price.



~Cheers~

 

[The Mad Scientist]

Same crap, different diaper

 

[Mudfoot]

Yes, it's old, but still applicable.

I didn't revive it to stir the pot. I honestly wanted to know if that radio still DK's 100 watts.

 

[purenrg]

Thanks you'll for bringing this out,sad, truly sad!!!

 

[davegrantsr]

Oh really? you sound like one of tech 808's buds.:laugh: I can assure you that it is not fiction and so could thousands of other individuals. And the reason you don't hear much about it is beacuse of their forum trolls searching for threads like this one threatening to SUE any one who dares speak the truth. Don't beleive me? it has already happend once on another fourm. They do thier best to burry these truths but there are just to many people out there who have had the same experences.

A word of advise to the moderators: Kill this one before they do the same here.

73's

i've read & re-read this post a couple dozen times. i'm still trying to figure out which part of MY post you are 'oh really-ing' about. they DON'T 'peak & mod' radios, they claim to 'tune & expand'. they DO expand but i doubt they tune. that's what i said. their prices are about as low as you can find, they will meet any confirmed internet REGULAR price & i've never had anything shipped by them that i could ship 'noticeably' cheaper. copper won't mod ANY cb for freqs, slide, anything. most export expansions require little or no soldering. i'm not buying that cobra, or uniden, (or ranger or stryker or anybody for that matter) had issue with excessive copper warranty issues. if you are familiar at all with the workings of a legitimate mainstream company such as cobra, or uniden, you would know that they would not tolerate a company such as copper, or h & y or any other business of this type doing harm to their name by selling refurbs as new. does not matter how many radios copper was buying. they were far bigger then copper back in the day-if copper ever thought they had trouble with the fcc, it would have been nothing compared to what cobra or uniden could have done to them.

 

[Mudfoot]

I guess all the testimonials of people that have screwed up radios from Coppers shitty peak and tunes are all participants in the conspiracy.

Cobra isn't going to do anything other than politely nudge a company likely that to comply. They order to many radios. It's like biting the hand that feeds you.

I can see that your a Copper fan boy of the highest order, for that, I applaud you.

Nobody's gonna make you see the light, that's for damned sure.

Another nice young lady that gave RA#'s for warranty returns (different company) went to high school with my wife, (many here have talked to her) I have talked to her many times. The high rate of returns were discussed. I guess she's lying to me as well.

I think a few techs on here can vouch for the "turn everything wide open tune" radios that people bring to them to fix.

 

[Z-MAN 369]

20 years ago before the internet, having a Copper catalog was kinda mandatory, lol. Almost like a bible of radio gear back in the day. I bought a 99v from them in the mid 90's and had a extremely bad hum/buzzing sound, it was a couple parts touching the chasis (easy fix) but took awhile to diagnose it though. Ive been burned too many times buying brand new radio's, i prefer "gently used or loved"