Just making sure: You ordered a product, knowing it wasn't what you really wanted, ordered and paid anyways, only to contact CableMod after that to see if you can change something - because you didn't want the thing you ordered to begin with? How is that CableMods fault? 24 hours is a perfectly reasonable response time, and you should've contacted them before buying something you don't really want.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't really feel your "poor experience" with CableMod is justified.

I ordered it thinking it's what I wanted, and the next day changed my mind on a portion of it. I contacted them within 24 hours (their cancellation window) about the modification, not entirely expecting they'd be able to do it but worth checking anyway. Nothing on their site notes that orders cannot be modified and must be cancelled. I don't think they need to have that on there, but it'd be a good idea. Because I think to the average person if you have a 24 cancellation window you might be able to modify an order within that timeframe too. Again, not expecting it but hoping. Their response time was also reasonable, but did place us well outside the 24hr window. It wasn't until their response that I was informed orders cannot be modified and must be cancelled/resubmitted. Had that been noted on their site, I'd have just cancelled within that window. This element of my post was more to kind of get that info out there, I'm fine with them not being able to make a modification outside their window.

The poor experience/larger frustration came from me having to ask three different times about a shorter cable before I got an actual response that addressed it. When you have to ask your question three times, it feels like they aren't actually reading your email.

This is laughable

Check the edit, I think people are quick to comment without actually getting what the issue is

You asked them to make a cable that their configuration clearly states they don’t do. Hence the minimum length. This comes off as trying to call out cablemod for not doing something they don’t do anyway.

If they have clearly defined minimums/restrictions when it comes to cable length why did you think a custom order outside those restrictions could be done? Also when it comes to having to ask three times about a custom order they probably prioritized doing what they could and canceling your order and that is why the second less important issue was not addressed until everything else was resolved. Cablemod's keyboard cables are still a growing part of their company and it shows in their limits compared to smaller/independent vendors, so them going against their standards is not something they advertise. You are better off going on r/mechmarket and browsing the various posts by small cable makers, they will probably be able to work something out with you as unlike cablemod they don't have tons of orders that need to be processed fast and efficiently on a daily basis.

Again, I think my annoyance/expectations are being blown out of proportion. I emailed them to request something pretty reasonable, and certainly within the realm of their offerings/capabilities, and was left feeling ignored/dismissed by customer service. If they'd responded in the first email saying they can't make that, I'd have just moved on. Wouldn't you feel like you had a poor experience if it took three times asking a question to get an answer?

Idk that I'd call it clearly defined minimums/restrictions. It might just be that 20" tends to be the shortest order they commonly get and therefore configured the slider that way, or that they didn't anticipate the market for shorter cables for split keyboards. I sent an email to find out, because I don't think it's all that unrealistic to think that if you inquire a custom cable company might be willing to cut a shorter piece of cable. It's not like I demanded they make it.

I'm very sympathetic to people doing their jobs, and have worked in customer support/client facing roles most of my career. But not responding to all the questions in a customer's email, especially when there are only two of them and they're related, and then again not reading/looking into the issue before responding is bad customer service.

Also, thanks for the recommendations on where to find other vendors.

Just order the full length, take apart the connector, desolder, cut the cable down to length, deinsulate the wires for reconnecting the connector, solder the wire onto the USB-C board, and put the housing back on?

Either that, or just buy all the supplies to make your own. Kind of hard to sus the company when they clearly stated that your order couldn't be made to your spec.