Re: Vendor fraud? Electromechanical relays

larwe_at_larwe.com
Date: 12/29/04 

Date: 29 Dec 2004 11:58:50 -0800

Hmm. Well, for example they say they are authorized distris for
Aromat/NAIS. I looked at Aromat's web site and onlinecomponents.com is
not listed as a distri. I looked at Omron's distributor search and
searched for "online" and "onlinecomponents" and then all distris in
CA, and didn't find onlinecomponents.com listed there either. I then
went to National Semiconductor (another company on their linecard),
searched on their ZIP code, and didn't find them listed there either.

This isn't proof of anything, of course, but it's an interesting data
point. Also note that their contact-us page implies strongly that
they're a small dotcom operation and the diversity of merchandise they
carry implies they're like a 99c store - they buy up surplus stock..

I don't put much weight on the "stamped number came off" issue. I've
seen poorly-stamped part numbers on genuine parts. The smoking gun is
that the relay had the wrong number of poles.