Bad Experience - Not Coming Back
Originally I was hoping for shine-through caps for a large graphic I wanted to put on top. I had notions of several projects for myself and friends. They told me I couldn't do that because they don't have shine through caps. The closest thing was front-facing, etched, legends. Initially, I didn't want that. But, over time, I softened and I finally went for it as a distant second choice - even though it required an extra $40 that I had to put in as a 'tip'. Plus, the site advertised a sale. But when the receipt arrived, it was full price. I questioned this. They told me something went wrong with their web site and it shouldn't have been a sale. They were very apologetic but initially wanted me to eat the difference. Then... I think they offered me a cap puller. I refused and thought maybe it would end badly, but ultimately they agreed to do it for the advertised price and said they had issued a refund for the difference. But there was a difficulty with the refund. It was listed as an additional charge by my bank. They told me that this had happened before and that if I just waited for it to complete it would end up being a refund. And - they were eventually right. All the while, their emails to me are full of references to goblins making mischief. Finally the caps arrived. And the graphic was terrific. The colors were off a little bit, but they had told me that might happen. In mine the dark red had turned to purple - but it worked with the art. The caps themselves were pretty good quality. On my keyboard, when the LEDs were off - it was art. When they were on, the legends shone through the fronts of the keys and were very easy to read, except for two keys. But there was a problem. Those same two keys, of the 108, were warped. I didn't think this would be an issue for them to fix. The number pad Enter is exactly the same size as the regular Enter and the left shift and the num pad zero - and those had no problems. They would do a run with just the bad keys and send them to me and I would be all set. It was too bad that it would take a few more weeks for it to get to me - but it would be worth waiting for. And then I could go on to my next project. Instead, they told me for the first time that those two keys in particular often warp and there's nothing they can do about it. They offered to send me two more warped keys, plus two non-etched keys with my graphic. But I wanted them to try harder. They are the ones who suggested I go this route in the first place, and I had paid close to $200 for this set of caps - not cheap! There was no warning up front that I should expect warped caps. I wanted what I had paid for and said so. Then they offered me a cap puller too - which I didn't want. Ultimately they basically said it's impossible to give me what I had paid for and that they were sending the 2 extra warped keys plus the non-etched keys and they were done. That was weeks ago and they've never arrived - nor have I gotten notice of an impending shipment. So, I guess they just decided to not send what they said they would. As you can imagine, I was very upset at first. I've cooled down now. When you deal with companies in countries with customer satisfaction and legal standards other than your own - sometimes you get ripped off. And ultimately, these are good enough for my keyboard. I always notice the mangled keys first thing. But - maybe other people don't. So, I'm using them. But - I can't give expensive, mangled, keys to friends as gifts. What would that say about me? Ultimately, I can't recommend Goblin, and I won't be dealing with them again. There were some very good things about my experience, and some very bad. They took my money without the caveat that I need to accept that some caps would likely end up warped, and then didn't deliver what we had agreed upon and indicated that they had known from the beginning that there would likely be bad caps. It's too bad too, because the ones that are not mangled (the majority) look great. Like *really* great.