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 4 responses by unsound

To heck with the middlemen. The dealer and distributor didn't provide any initial service to be compensated for. Here's a chance to make some money that would otherwise be lost. Do you mean to say that if I drive a car purchased in the USA to Canada and it breaks down I can't get it repaired? Ernie asked specific questions. Ernie answered specific questions. Ernie gets screwed. EC has had a bad reputation in the past, looks like they don't learn. I for one won't buy or recommend anything from them unless they do the right thing. Furthermore, I will think twice about doing business with any dealers who represent companies with such bad customer service. It's not just out of patriotism that I say buy American. Ernie, good luck
I can't help but think, that even though this isn't a "warranty" issue, it could still have the same ramifications. Considering Ernie was willing to pay full price for a new product/service, it doesn't seem that far fetched to think that if Ernies player was in need of repair, he would have been denied that service too. As such, why would anybody buy Electrocompaniet gear used, knowing the risks involved. Knowing that Electrocompaniet carrries less value on the used market certainly would make it less appealling as a new purchase as well. You might end up marrying the damn thing, till death due you part (with little chance of resurrection). This is a digital piece to boot. Digital items usually have the shortest shelf life and quickest depreciation in the business, as evidenced by the "upgrade" sought here. Why would any customer want to do business with a dealer whose customer service is limited by his middle men. Why would any dealer want to do business with middlemen that prevents sales (the upgrade) and compromises customer relations. Why would any manufacturer want to do business with middle men that negatively effects profits for them. I have two suggestions. One, see if the "Danish" dealer can help. Two, contact Electrocompaniet and give them the opportunity to salvage their U.S. business. I suspect the middle man was entrusted to sell Electrocomaniet products, not to prevent the sales of Electrocompaniet products. Nothing personal, but this distributor isn't coordinating anything for the benefit of anyone, except his own parasitic ass. Imagine you bought a used car from your uncle or anybody else for that matter. Now imagine you go to the new car dealer for a part for this car and the new car dealer tells you, your denied because you didn't purchase the car through his prefered network. This is absurd! I'm sure Thiel (for one) wouldn't leave their good name and good customers out to dry like this.
Ernie, better luck with your health! Pending a quick and satisfactory response from Electrocompaniet, if we were to donate anything, may I suggest that it would be with the stipulation that it could be towards any unit he chooses, so long as it's not an Electrocompaniet.
Leftistelf, I agree with your position re: customer relations/service. I think your comments on the airlines may be a bit incomplete. Airlines have been troubled with bankruptcy for a very long time. The airline industry is particularly sensitive to world affairs, and the current state of the world is not helping the airline industry.