HELP Electrocompaniet stole Christmas


What a mess:
After finally deciding that spending money on the latest EMC-1 parts mod, I contacted Electrocompaniet's distributor back in October to arrange to bring my EMC-1 MkII to him directly in PA so as to avoid RT shipping risks and expense for this 50 pounder. All was set for a Christmas week mod, as I was to be in NJ visiting my relatives that last week.
I called on Christmas eve to arrange a drop-off time, and was told that Christmas Day noon would be fine, but that I had to arrange the deal through a dealer! Yikes! So I remembered Fathers & Sons and called them, arranging for the paperwork and profit to be credited through/to them. Fine. So I drove 2 hours through a nasty winter storm to arrive at Warshaw's house, where he said he'd NOT perform the mod if my EMC-1 didn't have a serial number on it, as there was a grey-market guy in New York who sold a few of these this year. I assured him that mine indeed had a serial number, was produced in spring '01, and bought used by me in summer '01. He said OK, and lugged the player into his house, saying he'd call me in a couple of days to pick it up. Great!..............
I returned to NJ and watched the storm intensify....
Two days later I called to arrange a pick-up hour, and Alan told me that he did NOT perform the mod because the player had been originally sold by a Danish dealer, and NOT through him, so he had made a decision to NOT support any players not originally sold thorough him. No warranty repars, parts, nor mods!..............
I was stunned, couldn't convince him to make an exception since he had never asked me to provide a serial number beforehand, and I went through a total of a half-day of driving through a storm to accomplish this mod.
He just told me to come pick it up at my convenience. I glumly arrived on Saturday and retrieved my untouched puppy, where Alan said that unfortunately I had to share the victimization of the gray-market. I asked if I should contact a Danish dealer to see if a board-swap could be done (of course thinking he didn't really know the answer), but he thought that Electrocompaniet wouldn't support my player either! I asked with some incredulity what was going to happen with all the players that people have when they move from one country to another (!), but he said that this policy was the only way they have of penalyzing the gray market.... I suggested that in THIS CASE he should have installed the mod because of his lack of due diligence in assessing the production/sales history of this particular CDP, ESPECIALLY given my enormous effort in delivering it to his doorstep on Christmas Day.... I left sadly but gracefully.
WHAT SHOULD I DO? I contacted the Danish dealer but he's not responded. Should I contact Electrocompaniet directly and try to arrange a board swap or purchase the parts mod "kit" and instakllation directions (I'm pretty familiar with boards and soldering)? Should Alan have acted differently? Isn't the world getting small enough so that internationally-sold products should have protected lives independent of sales point?
PLEASE HELP!
A Happy and safe New Year to all!
Ernie
subaruguru

Showing 6 responses by ljgj

If Anthony (Chichiuno) puts up 1k than Ernie just needs to put up the other 1k which he felt he might to with Father and Sons and Ernie gets what he thinks he wants - anew EC upgraded player.
A man named Heinz Preiss located in Florida may be able to help you. He can be contacted at www.angelfire.com/biz/grundig or phone 941-776-9158.

I too have had my Alan stories being the owner of a CD player, phono preamp and at one time an amp that took almost a year to fix. I was about to buy the new DAC and called Alan to check on something about a dealer. I than remembered the horror of "him"and just changed my mind and went in another direction. During the amp incident I got a reply that EC stood behind the dealer and the distributor. Too bad they didn't stand behind the customer.
I still think that Father and Son should have alerted Ernie about what could happen in this situation. They should have said that they would be happy to help him but realize that if your unit is a grey market item that it is possible that you will not be able to have it done. It seems they were just trying to help but also to make a quick few dollars. I do not think that 1000 will be the price of a swap. It will be closer to the price of what he offered the DAC to you for or even more. Good luck!
When my amp went down after three weeks it was sent to Alan. It took six months to get it back. It didn't work - sent it back - it took three months to get it back - it didn't work. I took it down the road to a local amp fix-it guy and had it back in one day. Alan's excuse was trying to get a technician and then he said he had no excuse. He said he would send me some cones to compensate me but never did. In that time I emailed EC in Denmark and they replied that they have the utmost faith in their dealers and distributor. So what does that mean? I still had no amp for almost a year. I asked the dealer for a new amp - he said no but if I sold my amp on Audiogon he would help get me another brand like Gamut at a good price. How do you sell a broken amp? Good luck with Father and Son - they may be your only help or sell it and buy a new one. It will cost you a fortune to do that. The used market on EC compared to the new price is quite a difference. I emailed Father and Son and asked for their best price on a EC DAC and they responded around 1750 shipped. They will sell you one for 1500. He harped when I asked for 20% off. Another dealer offered one to me for 1550 when I just asked for his best price. That may be your cheapest route for the upgrade and flexibility on future transports. I called Alan to check on the 1550 dealer being legit and was reminded of why I didn't want to go in this direction. I had emailed Alan earlier asking for a break on price on the DAC as compensation for not having my amp for so long - he did not respond at all. This is why the high end is in the shape it is in. It will self destruct as many companies will and have, Competition is a no-no in the industry and the customer should be happy with you as a dealer and not the reverse in too many cases. I have probably said too much in this case but I hate when someone gets the shaft. I hope everyone comes out for the better in the end!
My friend has a new upgraded model and I have a 24/96 one. Together in the same system you cannot tell the difference on any regular basis. Kick in my Chord DAC 64 and that blows everything away - not even close. To think I almost bought the upgrade DAC and not the Chord is scary - of course then I wouldn't know how much better it could be. You have a great player and an even better transport. Life is good - save your 2k. Let Mike ship you a new one to even see if it is worth the money. If not ship it back - only cost you freight.