Thanks! I sent it back today, hopefully the exchange goes smoothly! Will update when I get the new unit.
or even the factory sneakily lowering their quality control to cut costs and pocket the difference.
What factory? I thought they made all of these in house.
or even the factory sneakily lowering their quality control to cut costs and pocket the difference.What factory? I thought they made all of these in house.
I thought they were made in China? I remember reading that in an article about the OP-1
Mine is about 18-24 mo. old, but it arrived in perfect shape. No complaints. Got it from B&H in NYC.
“There were numerous challenges in the intervening three years, and even since launch. For example, Teenage Engineering initially produced the aluminum chassis in Sweden, then shipped them to China to have the guts assembled. Kouthoofd explains, “it was too expensive to ship all that metal to China and keep shipping it back if things were wrong.” As such, only the first 2,000 units were not completely assembled in China. Additionally, the painted aluminum chassis often takes several tries to get just right — Kouthoofd says “we have to return half of them because they don’t look perfect.””
http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/28/3270259/teenage-engineering-op-1-accessories-launch-profile
"There were numerous challenges in the intervening three years, and even since launch. For example, Teenage Engineering initially produced the aluminum chassis in Sweden, then shipped them to China to have the guts assembled. Kouthoofd explains, "it was too expensive to ship all that metal to China and keep shipping it back if things were wrong." As such, only the first 2,000 units were not completely assembled in China. Additionally, the painted aluminum chassis often takes several tries to get just right — Kouthoofd says “we have to return half of them because they don’t look perfect.”"http://www.theverge.com/2012/8/28/3270259/teenage-engineering-op-1-accessories-launch-profile
That’s the exact article I read, thanks for finding it!
Update: company doesn’t consider the dust under the screen or the slightly crooked encoder bases/loose speaker enclosure as ‘defective’ and will therefore not send me a new unit. Apparenlty they’ve seen many units from the last couple batches that have the gluey type debris around the screen lip under the cover and don’t think TE will replace based on this. TE won’t replace based on a dead pixel, for example (need to be 3+) so why would they replace for something like this? Pretty disappointing.
Tired of being without my unit, just asked them to ship it back to me. Oh well…aside from harshly triggering my OCD this won’t affect the usability of my OP-1.
Dude that sucks, sorry to hear you aren’t having any luck on replacement. Sounds like the shop is just trying to worm out of being out of pocket/effort in any way. The cosmetic/build issues aren’t standard therefor it’s essentially defective right?! I’m in middle of replacement process on a new unit too. Sucks to be without it straight after purchase but hoping the replacement is up to scratch. T.E make a lot of noise about quality of materials and build on the OP-1, stores should understand that customers expect to receive a unit that lives up to that brand hype…
At least it’s just cosmetic and like you say not gonna effect you using OP 
mine had problems with random stuff happening by itself so I had no choice than try to be patient anf switch it out 
Yeah, I said basically the same thing to them about expectations vis-a-vis the TE hype, but it sounds like they’ve approached TE about this ‘level’ of issue before. Like, it’s not deviating far enough from what they consider acceptable manufacturing flaws. The Canadian reseller support team is really nice, they sounded backed into a corner by TE more than anything else…and they split the shipping cost with me even though they didn’t have to. Oh well, looking forward to just getting it back and making music. Good luck with your replacement, @Callofthevoid
What? Sorry to hear that. So they’re fine with selling you a defective product then? I’m pretty sure I know which reseller you’re dealing with and I also buy most of my gear from them, but will reconsider in the future. As you said it doesn’t affect how the unit plays, but it’s also kind of pathetic how they’re making lame excuses instead of offering up replacement. It seems like they value a single sale more than repeat customers. Good to know at least. I would consider sending TE an email to see what they say but that’s up to you, of course.
I’d take photos of the defects and approach TE directly if I were you, tell them you came here for advice and what the concensus was, and that you contacted your point of purchase too. Worth a shot.
For sure. It’s a lot of money to spend and not get something that is on par with what everyone else has. I got mine last week and there are zero issues. I’d be bummed if there were.
For sure. It's a lot of money to spend and not get something that is on par with what everyone else has. I got mine last week and there are zero issues. I'd be bummed if there were.
I agree 100%. If I were you I would raise this with TE. Quoted from @KrisM on previous page:
"There were numerous challenges in the intervening three years, and even since launch. For example, Teenage Engineering initially produced the aluminum chassis in Sweden, then shipped them to China to have the guts assembled. Kouthoofd explains, “it was too expensive to ship all that metal to China and keep shipping it back if things were wrong.” As such, only the first 2,000 units were not completely assembled in China. Additionally, the painted aluminum chassis often takes several tries to get just right — Kouthoofd says “we have to return half of them because they don’t look perfect.”"
With reference to the last sentence they clearly strive for perfection.
Exactly ! +1 for @daninski : try direct TE contact, @ian_cc.
So final update: I received my OP-1 back and I swear that the retailer replaced the crooked keys. It’s the same serial number, still had all my sounds on tape, but the keys look better. Anyway, they also paid for all my shipping, not just half like they originally said they would. So I say, pretty good service all-round on their part.
Thanks for all the input on this one guys.