Okay, I started with toplace when Ba was still there. When he left, since he was the main one communicating with me I decided to stay with him. But still ordering toplace from time to time. Here has been my experience:

BAs website photos look awesome. The Koreans pieces look awesome as pictured/ However -- I have had nothing but trouble getting something. 8-10 weeks of waiting. And when inquiries are sent....I am told its on tuesdays shipment, and then still nothing. BA is lying. Or his factory is lying. Either way it finally pushed me back to Toplace and a side by side experiment.

I ordered the new "thin Korean" and also ordered from John. Of Course the thin Korean was late. But I was patient. Toplace piece arrived on time and was perfectly consistent with what I have ordered - like always. When the BA piece finally arrived, I inspected both very closely. And here is what I found.

The "thin" Korean lace isn't as good as SFS Toplace. The hair is courser than the nice toplace hair. It also has a slight unnatural sheen to it. Not so on the toplace hair. The highlights were not correct on the BA piece. Perfect on the toplace piece.

Also I've noticed a difference in wearing each of these systems. With the BA piece , I feel that some people are spotting it. With the Toplace piece, I get random compliments.

These are just my observations, and others may feel different. But for me, I think Johns service and quality of toplace pieces are the way to go. And I suspect BA has not got it figured out yet. He hasn't delivered on quality or honesty for me though. There you have it. Huge thanks to John for my recent order. I will try and get pics of both pieces up when I get back from my tour.