I had a problem with my first Prototostar, I emailed yoyo factory and I was basically told to go pound sand. How is that good customer service?
Also you keep saying unreasonable requests… there was NOTHING unreasonable about it. If he had no b grades to work with a a CAD drawing would have been absurdly easy to provide.
I’d be curious if you could cut and paste that PM or email in here. If it says “go pound sand,” I’d be surprised myself. If it is a message that you interpret as that…you are welcome to that, but if it is not exactly what he wrote, perhaps we should see the specific message and interpret it for ourselves. But, either way, the guy is entitled to a bad day, or even several. Have you been nice every day of your life, every moment for your whole life? I seriously doubt it. I haven’t, and I realize that at my age, it is not worth holding a grudge…over one yo-yo. Have you ever been to work and had an oversight, or made an error? Are there times you could have been nicer?
The trouble I have making sense of all this, is that several of the people in here admittedly wanted something from Ben that they claim they did not get in the past. I am not here to pass judgment on your interpretation of how it went down. But, given that there are people in here with unresolved issues, it might not be the most credible group of disgruntled people to have a good discussion about the Ricochet, as it seems the outside issues are getting in the way.
Ben stated that one person asked to borrow yo-yos and did not get them. I don’t know…I wasn’t there. Another person stated that he was “ignored” many times on the forum by Ben. I don’t know…I wasn’t there. You state that you had a Protostar issue that was not addressed. I don’t know about that either from an objective standpoint. My only statement here, is that whether your sentiments have validity, or not, it is not a good reason, in my view, to crash the Ricochet thread. There are literally people in here stating that they don’t like YoyoFactory, don’t like Ben’s personality, don’t like the photos of the Ricochet, but all making requests that they expect Ben to honor. It just does not add up.
Now, I already addressed the CAD photo, and I don’t think you have any right to his CAD photo. That is his own design, his own work, and it is business record. If he wants to share it…fine, but if I was in his shoes…I would not. He does not need to provide you a blueprint for making the Ricochet. Again, I can ask KFC for the recipe for the fried chicken, but it is not reasonable to expect it and get bent out of shape if they don’t provide it. You have no right to his CAD photo. It just seems coincidental that everyone with an axe to grind with Ben is in here making demands for a photo of a cut up yo-yo or a CAD photo or some request or another. You specifically, after hearing that Ben was not going to grant your request, stated you did not even like the yo-yo design anyway. So, why on earth would he go out of his way to provide anything further to you about that design? I would have made the same decision he did, given the past problems with the people making the requests.
Are you going to hate YoyoFactory over a $30 yo-yo? The high end stuff should get some attention, but those cheap yo-yos no matter who makes them, stuff happens. Did you talk to the store about an exchange? I just don’t think any of the issues popping up so far warrant hating YoyoFactory. I had a customer service interaction with company that shall remain nameless, and this person does not get any of the flack that Ben does. I thought of posting things on the forum about it, but it just is not the right thing to do. I hope that company steps their game up, but I will likely buy a yo-yo from them again at some point in the future. I had a great response from Ben in response to customer service. That was after buying 25 of his yo-yos. I ended up resolving it on my own…so a real minor issue.
YoyoFactory Ben probably gets messages from kids all day long, and some people don’t try to contact the store for an exchange, they want to talk to Ben…because he is Ben. It must get overwhelming at times and no one is perfect. So, is this all really just about that…or am I missing something else in all this? :-\
Once my DV888 turned responsive… I got to trade it for a new one. Yoyofactory is so cool. And now I want a Ricochet so much.
yeah Chiming in om yyf I have owned several of their product and none of them are bad yoyos. the only one I didn’t like was the g funk, but that’s just personal preference. yoyofactory is known for great customer service as well aren’t they? Haven’t had to bring anything up with them that I didn’t hear from the forums. My issue was the delrin severe response didn’t know the pro pad was installed and would wear down so quickly. only true problem i’ve encountered and that’s nothing. So honestly if this thread turns you away from yyf just don’t bash every yoyo they make because they are great yoyos for the masses at amazing prices.
It’s pretty obvious that a couple people in this thread didn’t care for yyf from the beginning
I too would be interested to see the entire email you have jeteyenight since I’ve seen nothing but good when it comes to yyf and their customer service
So, I own a Ricochet and feel I should defend it’s honor and fend off the trolls.
First of all, asking for a cross section picture is the most ridicule thing that could’ve been asked by a potential costumer. If you were a yoyo maker like the G2 dude (who clearly has no interest in buying this yoyo), and you wanted to discuss designs, that makes sense, as you want to see what it looks like and how you could improve it. But as a potential costumer? That picture changing your mind about buying a yoyo only shows how superficially you look into your purchases (or how much a troll you are).
When you buy a car, no matter how expensive, do you ask for a cross section picture of the engine? Or would you rather know how fast it goes, how comfortable it is, how it performs under your control in a test drive?
If you were asking for a showoff video, or the longest sleep time achieved, or how it binds, or how durable it is, or how it sparks, or how it plays, or even how/where/when you could try it to make up your mind, that makes sense. But asking for a cross section picture? Does it matter if the cross section has spelled a “f*** you” just for you? Seeing the cross section picture will not in any way change how the yoyo plays in your hand, so go play it if you’re interested, or go away if you’re not.
Buy the yoyo if you like it’s looks, how well it plays, how durable it is, not based on a stupid useless cross section picture.
I like titanium, I bought the yoyo (which honestly is not expensive at all when compared to other high end aluminium yoyos, and it weights about the same as the majority of them), and I like it and encourage anyone looking for a titanium throw to try it out!
I like the car reference… last car I bought I took the thing apart in the lot before I drove it off, just to make absolutely certain the short block was new like the dealer said it was. In that time i discovered the engine mounts were toast and the turbo inlet was cracked. Saved myself $1500. If you know about what you’re shopping for, and care about what you’re buying, you should know all you can. Just because you can’t tell anything from a cross-section of a yoyo doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t.
You inspected an used (and abused) car that’s made out of thousands of parts, that does indeed compare really well with a brand new yoyo that’s made of 2 rims, an axle, 2 responses and a bearing.
Did you cut open the engine to see it’s cross section?
You truly are a god of yoyoing for knowing how the yoyo will play from it’s cross section picture, my apologies.
He wasn’t asking because he wanted to figure out how the yoyo played. He just wanted to see how they took advantage of the properties of titanium. IE.thinner walls
Actually, it’s not that hard to get an idea of how the yoyo will feel from a cross section. A person could look at how the weight is distributed, and from there, determine whether the yoyo may be heavy on the string or light on the string, and even how forgiving the yoyo will be a bad throws. For example, more material at the center of the yoyo means more weight at the center, so from this, you can determine that the yoyo would more likely be slow, and light on the string.
Well, we are beating a dead horse with the cross section posts. Because again, unless you want to buy the yo-yo and have it cut up on your own…you are not getting to see it. Nor are you getting a CAD photo. So,whether or not you can gather more information from it would be completely irrelevant. You are better off reading or watching a review about the Ricochet, borrowing one to throw, listening to word of mouth, or asking Ben questions directly, as this thread was set up for, to figure out how it plays. Oh wait…Ben is gone now because he kept answering the same questions over and over again from the same few people. So, anyone claiming to be looking for more information about that yo-yo has just defeated the purpose.
I think some of these guys are acting like fans of Ben, who feel he did not live up to their expectations. Have you ever seen a die hard fan who loves a superstar. Then, when they finally meet that superstar, the superstar, in their perception, shuns them, and maybe is not as nice, or is a bit short with them…just too busy to talk or give an autograph. Then, the fan goes on a tirade to bad mouth the superstar at every opportunity? The fan stalks the superstar, and files frivolous suits, and makes himself look bad in the process. The superstar rarely remembers the moment they made the fan angry in the first place. He was just…busy. This reminds me of that. You guys are just flattering Ben. If I were him…I’d be touched. Ben should have put his face on one of those trading cards, so you guys can just ask for his autograph, instead of coming in here for his attention. Probably dissing the guy while throwing his Cold Fusion trick.
Ben gets messages, probably daily, from little boys and girls who want to be sponsored by YYF, or at least a Protege. I cannot imagine he has as much time for grown man fans on the forum. No one complaining is a little kid who might be heartbroken. Give him a break. :-\
Well, with cars I don’t have to ask for cross sections or schematics. I usually can find what I am looking for and quite a few dealerships will have that information if I can’t. If they really want my business I can have one of the mechanics come and show me quite a bit about the car. I research all cars quite a bit before I buy them and have looked at more schematics, cross sections, and talked to more mechanics than I can count. Any car I buy will have my kids in it, you better believe I am going to ask for any and all information I can about it.
Now going with the yo-yo, there is a specific reason to ask for the cross section, I want to see what is going on inside the yoyo. If you are going to make a titanium yoyo and change the high price that goes with it then I would like to see why I should by that instead of a lesser expensive aluminum. Sparking means nothing to me so that leaves all the other properties of titanium. If you are going to just make a titanium without taking advantage of the properties of it then you are just being lazy or you have chosen an outsourced factory that can not keep the tolerances in line while pushing the material to the limit. And no, that is not a dig at YYF. I would call any company out that makes a similar yo-yo. Sparking is not the only thing to titanium, you can make some truly amazing things with it. Keeping with the car theme, it is like making a Ferrari F12 with a four-banger Ford engine. Sure, it is completely comfortable and even elegant feeling while standing still. It will also cost as much as the standard Ferrari but, and this is a huge but, it will only go as fast as a Focus. That, I think we all can agree, is an asinine thing to do.
I think it is all irrelevant, because no matter what benefit it might provide, Ben stated he is not posting it. He seems disinterested in selling you his yo-yo. There is no incentive to grant your request. There are yo-yos that are as expensive as the Ricochet, or more, and the company has not offered a cross section photo or a CAD. They don’t owe us that…neither does Ben. The Ricochet sold for $159 at the last sale. I bought a Berserker last year for $180…more than the Ricochet. The Berserker is not titanium, but was more expensive, and I have not seen the cross section or CAD for it. Maybe I should see it to find out why it costs more than a titanium. How does expense justify seeing the cross sections? Ben’s titanium is not expensive at all. Have you seen a CAD or cross section for the Oxy 9.06? I bought that and never seen them posted. I saw it and was interested…or not. I made that decision without that information. Everyone else can do the same. As I stated before, he can make a titanium out of titanium just because. It is more durable, you spark it, it’s shiny, plays nice…worth my $159 either way.
None of this makes sense to me. Read my last post. I think that is what is really going on here.
…You’re the one that brought up cars, bra. Were you thinking of the simpler, five or six part cars? My mistake.
Engine specs are available to anybody at any time, no need to cut it up. They have to be, so you know how far you can safely bore out pistons and whatnot. Kinda like… I don’t know, how you need to know how far you can safely cut a recess in the wall of a yoyo. It’s not like YYF haven’t messed that up before.
Eh people, why you no read ma posts?! I must reiterate…
Ben never said he pushed the limits with Titanium. He never claimed to make thinner walls, new weight distribution or to push the envelope. He himself said that he didn’t.
A solid gold toaster… is just a toaster made out of gold. The 7075 Chief was just a normal Chief machined in 7075.
This is just a normal yoyo shape machined in Titanium as a test, and I’ve never seen it passed off as anything else.
Anyone with a Ricochet who has access to a contact surface scanner or a non-contact 3D laser surface scanner (Like the “inexpensive” $3000 NextEngine 3D Laser Scanner) can easily generate a complete profile of the yoyo. The NextEngine has a maximum resolution of 0.005" (0.127 mm) which, although not as accurate as the tolerances of the machined dimensions, would give any reasonable yoyo fan enough information as to the profile and use of the base material’s properties. Most local Tech Shops have one of these devices…
db
Dang you and your logic. 
Hrm, so you don’t ask the car factory owner directly? You ask the dealership vendor who is paid commission to sell you the car? And he would never cut a cross section for you, would he? He’d just direct you the specs given by the factory. Go ask Andre (the dealership) for this reasonable request before deciding if you’re going to buy it or not, then go say he’s a bad vendor because he will clearly say no.
Change the high price? A Puffin costs 145 and is made of aluminium, a Stargazer/E=Mc2, when not on sale, about the same. You do realize that a titanium alloy is way more rare and expensive than an aluminium one, don’t you? Now you’re going to argue that the Ricochet is made in China, but so is your phone and your computer, did that take you off them?
So your reasoning is: if it’s made of titanium, it has to push the boundaries of yoyo making, otherwise the seller sucks?
And you want the vendor to provide the picture of the cross section for you to say how much it sucks? That makes a lot of sense.
You clearly don’t know how much manual labor goes into making a Ferrari engine. A Ferrari “shell” with a ford engine is not a Ferrari. A titanium yoyo is a titanium yoyo as long as it’s made out of titanium, period.
You must be brain dead, brah. Do the engine schematics go out in the car’s promotion package? Or are they made for dealership mechanics and you just have access to them? And how does a car compare to a yoyo? I brought up the car analogy to show how a reasonable person buys a car, by trying it out rather than looking at cross section pictures of the engine.
And now you’re saying you must have the cross section for modding? Sure, makes sense.
Just pointing out, not trying to get in on the argument, that actually, titanium is not “way more” rare than aluminum. It’s actually the 4th most abundant metal on earth, behind Magnesium, Iron, and Aluminum. So it is more rare, but not too much more rare. I think the reason titanium yoyos cost a lot is the machining process, not necessarily the scarcity of the metal itself.
Yes, because of how strong titanium is, the material is MUCH more expensive to machine.
