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Could-care-less Manufacturers and Authorized Dealers Bash

This thread is for everybody who wanna fan out their frustration on manufacturers who don’t care about supporting their products.

I get that they love you to pay full retail and brand new thru their dealer network. But then again, what do they care if I am willing to pay full repair cost for out-of-warranty and/or non-warranty repair?

(please, real personal experience only ... what happened to your friend doesn’t count)

=========================================

My top 3, in any order ....

1) MBL
Got an 110v MBL from Canuck Audiomart Canada. Somehow an AudioTekne power cord toasted it (if you happen to use LossLess active cables with MBL, watch out too). Sent it to my local tech guy. Got ZERO cooperation from MBL with no schematics. Sent it to an ex-Krell repairman’s shop in Connecticut who services MBL too. Got ZERO cooperation from MBL neither. OK, I shipped it to MBL service center (in Los Angeles) MBL America couldn’t get a schematic to fix that from Germany neither. Had to ship it (again!) to MBL Germany to have it fixed.


2) Jeff Rowland
Got an pair of Model 1 - one of them stopped making sound for absolutely no reason. Sent it to the local authorized Rowland service center. That shop in Verona NJ (email me if you want the name) let it sat for 2 weeks, then charged me $95 "inspection fee" then told me to take it away. They said Jeff Rowland refused to send them the schematics needed for the repair. Contacted Jeff Rowland via emails. Got the 5th amendment treatment. Lost my shirts to sell them as-is.


3) Rotel
Once upon a time, stepped into an authorized Rotel dealer showroom and drove away an brand new Rotel receiver, even thought the dealer refused to demo it ("oh it’s too much effort to connect one for you when we have stuff a zillion times more expensive for demo for our big spenders"). What an insult. Anyway, once the unit was unpacked and then plugged-in, sparks abound, smoke came out. Totally dead. Talked to the dealer (email me if you wanna know that place in Summit NJ) - blamed that I don’t know how to plug the unit in (really????). Want me to ship it to the service center instead (which I recall, at that time, only in Japan). I argued and threaten dispute with credit card company - they didn’t care, just waved the receipt with fine print saying ’cannot be held responsible for misuse’. I lucked out since I didn’t fill out the warranty form and an Japanese member happened to like to buy one (it was considerably cheaper in USA than in Japan) and he was going to Japan. I gave him $200 discount and he was happy (he told me Rotel gave him a new once he moved to Japan).




bsimpson
giantsalami's avatar
giantsalami
208 posts
 
The Good: Modwright, GR Research,Verastar, The Upgrade Company, Tekton.
The Not So Good: Odyssey Audio, A couple of repair shops, both local and well known.                                                                                                                                        Good conversations with: Evoke Speakers, Fritz Speakers,Verastar, 
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,000 posts
 
I think all speakers should be sold direct.  The retailers who sell them usually carry one or two low end speakers for a line and you can't demo them anyway.  This is called imagine how they sound by looking at a picture.

Jim Salk with SALK audio told me he is unwilling to sacrifice his quality by manufacturing his speakers with low quality drivers in order to discount his pricing to retailers who end up making all of the money.  How many times do we want to listen to listen to a moderately priced speaker line and have to settle to listen to their lower cost speakers.  In my opinion retailers serve no function.  It is similar to buying shoes.  Would you buy a pair of $300 shoes without first trying them on?  Then all we hear about is how poorly the audiophile industry is doing.  Maybe they should consign their speakers with an agreement to bill retailers for the speakers they put on their floor if not sold withing 6 months.  This would certainly motivate retailers to demo them and to get them sold don't you think?  I still think if audio gear manufactures teamed up together to open high end stores and have manufactures share the cost of the overhead, manufactures would enjoy increased sales.  
miketuason
333 posts
 
Most dealer or retailer store will let you take the speakers home if you purchase them first, and after I don’t know if it’s one week or one month, if you are not satisfied, they will refund your money 100%, again “most” but not all.
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,250 posts
 
@2psyop...……..
@dweller...…………………………………..

Beware of LG.  I bought a LG Plasma TV back around 2005-06.  Bought the 3 year extended warranty.  Two days after the warranty expired, the Plasma TV went dead, sound but no picture.  LG stated since they didn't make Plasma TV anymore, there was nothing they could do .  At the time of purchase, I paid $1500.00 on sale from Best Buy plus another $250.00 for the 3 year warranty.  Never, ever again.  Best Buy felt bad and gave me a credit for the extended warranty.
bsimpson OP
167 posts
 
@  tuberist

Which brands gave you such outstanding service?   We could all benefit from the information.

Thank you
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