I was both surprised and distressed to hear of the difficulties experienced by Mes, especially for such a large expenditure. With no intention of spinning or detracting from Mes unfortunate experience, I can report that in the USA, I have received solid customer service and dealer support for ARC gear for 18+ years. I have purchased a sequence of ARC gear/upgrades since the eighties, starting with a SP-6B and D-90 up to now, with a LS25 and VT100MKII. By obtaining a return authorization # prior to shipping, all upgrades were timely and each piece has been reliable (with the exception of a tube-flaming D-160 I owned). A reliable dealer has always advised returning products for upgrades at a slow time, i.e., summer months or at a time when a new product is not being rolled out, thus shortening turn-around time. I readily admit that both upgrades and discontinuation of products without an upgrade path (e.g., personally, the SP-14 and D-125 come to mind) have been frustrating and expensive for me also. Despite my regular auditions of other amps/preamps, I still come back to the sound of their gear. As mentioned above, a less expensive and far less frustrating way of navigating the ARC upgrade path is to stay away from the current product line.
ARC Support
FWIW, I'll relate my recent experience with Audio Research Corp. I've been a customer of AR for some years, on and off, including the purchase of reference gear over the years. I recently have had to place most of my system up for sale due to personal reasons, and this included a pair of Reference 300 MKII amps purchased new in Dec 2000. I accepted an offer from a gentleman in France at a fair agreed upon price. He asked that I ship them to AR to have them swapped out to 220 for use in Europe, and have them shipped on to him. The cost of the service was not an issue. Anyway, without going into the agonizingly frustrating details, heres what happened in a nutshell: AR told me basically they wouldn't do it because it would mean the possibility of losing a NEW sale for them and their European distributor. They were/are seemingly more concerned with selling a new product, in Europe, than supporting a long time customer who purchased this product at a local US dealer at 10% off list price of 30K. I explained the guy wasn't going to buy new anyway, it was beyond his price point. Didn't seem to matter. My point isn't to engender debate between AR supporters and detractors. This is merely my experience, take it for what it's worth. I personally am incredulous, find this to be in poor form, and certainly am not inclined to patronize AR in the future.