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Warranty...good,bad and the ugly

A few months ago I bought a Mac 402 new and had it shipped,Mac voided the warranty because of their policy on buying over the phone and having it shipped,I posted that info several months ago with lots of comments.I now see that there are several having issues with Wilson finishes and warranty stipulations..I had a Pass amp which was bought used over this site about 2 years ago,it developed an issue and even though I wasnt the original owner they still covered the warranty and even paid shipping on the repair(amp had about 6 months left on the original 3 year warranty)..Why dont all companies operate this way and just simply cover their gear from the time it was intially purchased reguardless of how many owners it has had,where it was purchased,who set it up etc etc..Seems rather silly and bad business...any ideas????
missioncoonery

Showing 3 responses by ggavetti

ggavetti
143 posts
 
economists would call the behavior of companies like mcintosh the exercise of market power: their brand and position is so strong that they can afford to extract as much value as they want from customers. makes perfect business sense...until they alienate their customers
ggavetti
143 posts
 
Onhwy61, if McIntosh's are never defective (which is something I buy, although this does not reflect my own experience), it is really bizarre that the company behaves this way: offering a full warranty should be pretty cheap if the product doesn't break. But beyond that, I think it's appalling that they did not protect a customer from a dealer's misbehavior, no matter what their official policies say. But as I said before, some companies are so strong in terms of their brand name (McIntosh produces good audio, but more than everything else it's a "lifestyle" product) that they can get away with modest customer support.
ggavetti
143 posts
 
i agree, they're amazingly well built. i had bad luck with mine (ma-2275) but I bought it from audioclassics, and it was replaced immediately (but that's an audioclassics policy).

by the way of warranties, i was disappointed by Shindo. I bought a second-hand (8 month old) pre-amplifier that cost me $6000, there was a problem with the phono stage, and they told me the warranty does not extend to second-hand buyers, no matter how old the unit is. i think this is pretty bad for high-end gear, and i will definitely make sure not to buy second hand gear that does not have warranty in the future.
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