Hey - What Happened to the Beware of Viking Acoustics Thread

No they sent me a message saying it violated their rules. 

David - It took you 1.5 years to build a pair of speakers. I never once complained. I rarely even checked in with you. That's called an easy going customer but I don't appreciate your lies or stealing my money.

Drop the speakers?! I have no idea what you are talking about. OUTRIGHT LIE to cover yourself. You are really stretching now. Disgraceful.

I realize there is no way you are going to pay me what I am owed. If you were going to return my money and not steal it that would have happened long long ago. This post was to tell my experience so others can be aware of it and decide if they want to risk going down this path with you.

Bottom line is you shipped a garbage product and now you're trying to spin things every way possible to cover yourself. You are a liar.

@vikinghorn there were no inflammatory remarks. You are lying AGAIN. If anyone wants the exact email PM me and I will fwd it to you. This is insane.

And I will reiterate for the umpteenth time that obviously lots of bad things were happening in the world with COVID-19 so I never pressured you, never got angry with all the delays, never once said one thing!

@audition__audio you should also read my first post which clearly states Viking sent me a partial refund check. Not sure why this is so hard to understand. I have nothing to hide.

I assume Viking got audiogon to remove it. You can see Viking’s response over at WBF. 

There’s a thread on audio shark now about a buyer who was scammed by another company and audiogon also deleted that thread. 

@willgolf I respect the fact that you want to protect your investment but keep in mind I was a Viking customer for 7 years before the start of this incident 2.5 years ago. I too had fine prior experiences. Just goes to show that things can change very quickly. I think Viking’s response on WBF says it all and shows their true colors. I feel bad recommending this company over the years because what happened to me could happen to someone else.

I am the most easy going person there is. I never complained in public or even to Viking until they scammed me. I don’t appreciate being lied to and having my money stolen.

Email received 3 days ago from @vikinghorn 

Derek,

Please remove inflammatory posts on A-Gone and What's Best.

Correction:  boxes were from Bubbles and Boxes not Home Depot.

You didn't mention that the speakers were returned broken.

We are going to pay you less shipping and repair as soon as we can but if you let the posts stand we're going to call it even.

Thank you.

@vikinghorn if my partial refund was all I was supposed to get back then why for 6 months did you keep telling me more money was coming? I have all the emails which show you stating this over and over. Also, why did you lie and say the speakers were not sold to a new owner when actually they were sold months earlier and the check was cashed by you in Dec? I can get copies of that cashed check if you like.

That is hilarious @vikinghorn. You shipped me beautiful speakers? All the images are posted at WBF. If you think that’s quality workmanship and acceptable then wow, don’t know what to say!

You keep on rehashing the same things. If you would read my first post which is still at WBF I clearly say you returned 90% of my cash payment I made. This does not take into account the speakers I traded in. I also have clearly stated you received a damaged speaker due to your extremely poor, laughable, “factory packaging”. You’re trying to fight me and I’m agreeing with you.

I will make @vikinghorn an offer. Donate all the thousands you owe me to my local animal shelter. That way you don’t "lose" by giving me the money back. I’ll even let you have the tax deduction.

@vikinghorn notice how I never have said your speakers don't sound good? I won't, because they do. However, can anyone look at those pictures and tell me that is what is expected of a $15k retail speaker? It's horrible, garbage. I am baffled how you can think that is a "beautiful speaker", full of gouges and the paint falling apart.

No, I did not change my mind. Let me remind you of what actually happened with the TubeMasters. I said I wanted solid color cherry front baffle (as in no blonde streaks or crazy grain) and you said no problem. You built those speakers and the wood on the front wasn't as I requested. You made the comment "it's hard to get good wood now". I said ok, no big deal, there was no fuss. The plans switched to the Berlin because you said you could do the baffle in maple and the wood planks would be consistent. So that's how all that went down.

And no, there was nothing custom with the TubeMasters. This was your standard build. Same goes for the Berlin, it was your standard option. I am not sure why you keep saying everything was custom like you were going well out of your way to make me a one-off speaker. These are both listed on your own website as the standard base model build. I think you are getting confused because the speakers that I traded into you were a highly customized model with silver voice coils, silver wiring, silver binding posts, and big Duelund caps. These are the ones you sold years ago and made money off at my expense.

I just want to address these cables Viking mentions. Back in guessing around 2016 I had all Allnic electronics and cables. David asked to send me his speaker cables to try if I paid up front. I did that, tried them for a couple days, preferred my Allnic cables, sent them back, got a refund. David asked me to try them. I did not buy them and then complain. I have no idea why this is being brought up as it was somewhere around 2016 and absolutely nothing to do with this issue and there were no problems from either side of this transaction. This is getting weirder.

There are two since the reply came in another thread. 
 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/viking-acoustics-buyer-beware.34959/

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/viking-acoustics.34979/

May 25th Viking said they refunded my CC. However, Viking doesn’t even have my CC number. Then they said they mailed a refund check. Nothing has been received by me. 
 

@mlsstl you are not missing anything. Speakers were shipped to me in thin cheap $3 cardboard boxes that were way undersized vertically. The top of the horn, which extends above the speaker, was literally 1” or less from the top of the box. When I unpacked the speakers outside my listening room I made a pile of the “shipping materials” for each package. It was random scraps of whatever was laying around their shop I guess. When I repacked the speakers I put the same scraps into the same boxes just as I received them. Also, keep in mind I did not ship the speakers back to Viking. Viking arranged all this on their shipping account and all I did was hand over the speakers to the driver when he came to my house. So no idea if Viking put insurance on them. However, no carrier would offer insurance payment when they saw the completely ridiculous packing for a $10k item. 
 

I see the person who bought my trade in speakers just listed them for sale on this site. These are the speakers that Viking stole from me. Interesting that they have damage on them now too, maybe due to their wonderful shipping.

@souljasmooth the closure is Viking stole my speakers. 

For those that doubted my story, several other customers have had the same experiences since I posted. This includes a good customer like me who also had his speakers stolen and sold to someone else. I’ve heard Viking is now out of business.