Dear reader,
I joined Roland UK (then based at Brentford) in 1988 as an engineer. In 1990 Roland relocated their offices to Swansea and I went with them; the decision to uproot from London and go to South Wales was not easy, but working on Roland gear was always a 'dream job' for me! Whilst in Swansea I was promoted to the level of “Senior Engineer”, and I became responsible for other aspects of running a service centre (as well as repairing). After talks with managers and directors at Roland, concerning the lack of decent satellite service facilities around, plus the fact that I felt I wanted to move back to the London area. I decided to leave Roland UK to form Delatronics in September 1996.I had often dreamt of starting my own business as many do, and I knew that with Roland’s full support for my venture, what could go wrong?.
The name Delatronics is simply Delahaye (my surname) – Electronics spliced together. I found premises in Harrow town centre (NW London) – A small two storey office behind an electric shaver shop. The location was ideal, and the rent was low and also I was in easy reach of London underground and British rail train stations. Over the five years I spent in Harrow my business did OK and I made a small profit after the first year or so, but the lease on the buildings was taken over by a property tycoon who was about to increase the rent, running a business like this is not the most profitable venture especially if you specialize on one product (I didn't have the room to expand or the will to do anything else but Roland). My time in Harrow had come to an end, so I downsized by moving to Milton Keynes and buying a house with a separate workshop so I could work from home and remove some overheads and therefore keep going!.
In March 2010 I decided to emigrate to Brazil with my wife and 2 year old daughter; I had felt for some time that the climate in the UK was no longer what it was and no longer for me (both Spiritually and economic), I now hope to cater for the South American and US markets, specializing in the same things as in the UK but adding some makes and Edirol Video equipment support.
Since starting this company, I have done contract work for Sound Technology (Alesis, Sampson etc), and Yamaha. I am also the official service centre for Edirol (Europe) Ltd. My customers come from all over the UK from the Channel Islands to the Shetland Islands (also Europe), there are other non specialist service centres out there but none can claim to have the heritage or expertise of Delatronics (most also charge more than I do as well!). My hourly rate has increased by just £5.00 in ten years and is still £10 less than Roland and £30 less than a couple of London based service centres I could mention.
This web site was first put on line in 1998 and the number of hits has increased from just 20 hits a month in the first year to around 4000 hits now - So thank you for visiting, and keep the feed back coming in!
I would also like to point out in this section that if it wasn't for God's help and answers to prayer, I would not be running now! There have been many times over the years when times have been tough and I felt like 'throwing in the towel' but since March 2003 when I became a Christian I feel my future is secured, and I never need to worry about work coming in - One prayer usually does the trick!! So why tell people about my faith? I think it matters for you to know who you're dealing with and how Delatronics is run; Becoming a Christian alters how you live your life (including your work life) and how you treat other human beings. Whilst I don't believe you should force any system of belief on anyone (God gave us free will to choose the way we live our lives and to believe in what we want to believe) - It would be great if you would take five minutes to read the link below which explains why I become a Christian at 39, how has it changed my life and why becoming a Christian is the best thing I have ever done PLEASE READ THIS.
Phil Delahaye (March 2010)