PSA: Be Careful Dealing With Uptone Audio
Over the past 3 or so years I have owned an ISO Regen, two LPS 1’s and two LPS 1.2’s. When they work they are OK. However, when they do not, you cannot really count on any meaningful support from Uptone Audio – under warranty or not – and even more so if you are not in the US. One of my LPS 1’s failed during the warranty period after less than a year of use. It would not output anything. I contacted Alex Crespi of Uptone who arranged for a replacement. I shipped the faulty LPS 1 back (costly). I received a replacement in about a month. The replacement I received had dings on the case that were not there in the first place. I just chalked it up to shipping issues. Two months later, the replaced unit failed again. It would not light up. It had more than a year left under warranty. I contacted Uptone again who requested I ship it back again for replacement. However, they discouraged it and proposed a credit of US$185 towards the purchase of a new LPS 1.2 in lieu of the warranty on the unit which faltered so quickly after it was replaced. Upon further questioning and correspondence with Uptone, it came to light that they had not repaired the unit I had sent in for warranty replacement with new parts. Instead they had replaced the board with parts culled from used and returned units previously sent in for trade in or repair purposes. In short, the warranty is tantamount to having your unit replaced with a used one which may or may not have been faulty in the first place, which they claim to have “tested”. It is no surprise that the unit faltered so quickly after their supposed warranty replacement then. As such, their so-called warranty replacement is pretty much flawed. Alex got defensive and quoted some self-derived metric about the failure rates of their products being extremely low and put the cause of successive failure in my units down to my bad luck. He also said that I had electrically damaged the unit which is baffling since I had used it only with their supplied OEM Meanwell switching power supply which still works fine up till today. To date, in the last 20 or so years of being in the hi fi hobby, these Uptone products are the only ones to have malfunctioned so badly.
Wishing to cut my losses and to avoid having to ship the faulty unit back to the US at costly charges when the “warranty” replacement would most likely fail again shortly, I paid the remainder towards a brand new LPS 1.2. Alex made it clear that he would not assist with repair of the faulty LPS 1 and I disposed of it.
I received a shipment of the LPS 1.2. However, when I unpacked it, the unit had a clear rattling noise when removed from the box. Upon closer inspection, there was a slight scratch on the front chassis plate and the screws were badly stripped. It was pretty clear that Alex had shipped me a used unit or one that had escaped their seemingly lax quality control. I contacted Uptone immediately and requested that they make arrangements for their carrier to collect the unit from me for return to them and replacement of a brand new unit to me. Alex admitted to their negligence citing size slippages and disparities in their OEM case specifications which caused the misfit and rattling noise and worn out Torx screwdrivers stripping the screws. He was certainly aware of the issues affecting the unit I was shipped. However, he refused to do anything about it. He suggested that he would send me some screws and that I open up the unit myself and mount some electrical tape inside the case to stop the rattling noise. Again, he seemed to be fully aware of the issue and how to fix it. Unfortunately, I am not technically inclined nor do I own a Torx screwdriver. To render those fixes I would have to pay a technician to do so. This is rich considering that I had paid for a new and finished product and was shipped a used and/or damaged one. I wrote back to insist on a replacement unit being sent to me and that Uptone arrange to cover the return shipping costs to themselves. Again, Alex refused steadfastly and got hostile, saying that I was taking advantage of them. How exactly am I taking advantage? I paid full price for a new and finished product – that is all I expect, no more and no less. Alex also stated that he did not wish to lose any money on this sale even though Uptone offers the best customer service possible. His final offer was that I return the LPS 1.2 to them at my own cost and that he would refund me the US$250 I had paid meaning I would have to write off the US$185 credit value on the disposed LPS 1 which he is contractually obliged to repair but had refused to assist me with.
In this whole experience with Uptone, Alex strikes me as someone who is simply full of excuses. He pays lip service to providing good customer service but it is really just marketing talk. When it comes to the crunch, he fails to deliver but instead makes excuses and puts the blame on anyone but Uptone and himself. Outrageously, he even believes in his own self manufactured press. I recall earlier correspondence with him on why the Uptone ISO Regen would disconnect from my DAC for no reason, requiring that I unplug and replug the DC cable from the Uptone LPS 1.2 for it to work again. Not knowing that I was powering it with a LPS 1.2, he began by questioning the power supply I used. When told it was a LPS 1.2, he blamed the issue on the Silanna chip Uptone used in the ISO Regen – after all, it was an Uptone supply and he could not blame that anymore. I mean you manufactured this product, sourced and supposedly tested the parts and then sold it to the customer as a finished product for good money. The sheer lack of responsibility, ethics and professionalism!
As an example of Alex being purely a marketing act, you can see on the Computer Audiophile forum how he derides Sonore’s optical module and Optical Rendu, since Uptone now makes a competing product. Recall, Uptone came into existence making derivative products such as USB fixers and power supplies to be used with Sonore’s series of streamers – the hypocrisy of it all.
I appreciate that others may have had a good experience dealing with Uptone Audio but unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case with me. Uptone strikes me as a bucket shop. There are lots of cottage industries and artisanal products in hi fi and that is fine and good, so long as they are run with honesty, integrity and professionalism and not at the expense of unsuspecting customers. Pete of Triode Wire Labs is a great example of a fine one man show company who provides great customer service. Uptone is definitely NOT - YMMV!
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Copy / Paste, Alex reply: ——- I just now replied over in the Audiophile Style forum. Below is what I posted. I guess I can expect that Mr. Cheah--who never even purchased any products from us directly (other than the new upgrade we sold him at below our cost)--is beginning a multi-forum campaign to defame our reputation. So I'll get out in front of this with the complete facts. ========== WOW. As anyone who has ever conducted business with me knows, honesty, integrity, and giving clients the benefit of the doubt--even to the point of loosing money--is how I conduct business. Yet once every few years, despite best efforts, there are clients for whom no effort is enough. And Mr. Y.A. Cheah (mikey8811) in Malaysia is our example for 2019. Leaving aside his specious summarizations that UpTone is unprofessional or not to be trusted--which hundreds of others who have dealt with me would dispute--there are facts of our interaction which he misrepresents. I could spend a couple of hours unpacking his long post and replying point-by-point, but instead--for full transparency-- am going to paste the entirely of our 10 month long exchange. First a few intersting facts that may not be apparent from the e-mails: a) With the exception of the new UltraCap LPS-1.2 we sold to him as an upgrade ($250 including FedEx shipping), all of the UpTone products Mr. Cheah possesses were obtained by him second-hand. We find no record of him ever having purchased ISO REGEN or LPS-1.2 units from us. So although he has never purchased anything directly from UpTone, we of course still honor our generous 3-year transferrable warranty and treated him with respect throughout more than a dozen e-mail exchanges. I think in total we have lost more then $600 with this gentleman. b) Checking the order record for the second-hand 2017 LPS-1 he had, we see that it was originally bought from us without any "energizing"/charging supply, and the unit he originally sent to us looked like it had been severely over-voltaged, though I never said anything to him about that. c) As noted in the e-mails, the LPS-1 board we used for his first replacement was from a customer trade-in, not from a repair. d) The LPS-1 he shipped to us arrived poorly wrapped and packed loose in a envelope; As I recall, the dings suffered by the casework were so extensive that we substituted other 'B'-stock casework before shipping his replacement. e) I was very clear that the heavily discounted $220 upgrade (what we receive after taking away our FedEx cost)--which is actually below our cost for a complete UltraCap LPS-1.2--would be in lieu of any repair to the original LPS-1. Despite that, he persisted in taking my time to provide him with part number details so he could attempt repair of the original unit locally. e) In the end he was dissatisfied that the black end-panel screws on the new UltraCap LPS-1.2 showed some silver in the points of the Torx bit sockets, and that if the unit is shaken (who does that?) the 0.1mm too-short PCB in his unit would move slightly in the case. So we offered to refund his $250 if he would send it back. Instead he chose to open a dispute with his credit card company. So now we have lost another $250. ================= Below is our ENITRE e-mail chain--with not a single word changed. Please read from the bottom up to be in ascending date order. I will attempt to remove all private details such as e-mail and physical addresses. Anyone is free to ask me questions. I have zero to hide. Please judge for yourselves. Thanks, ALEX CRESPI -------------- October 28, 2019 No. You can pay for the return of the new and perfectly functioning LPS-1.2 and we will refund $250 upon receipt and inspection. That is our only and final offer to you. Goodbye, Alex Crespi UpTone Audio LLC --------------- On Oct 28, 2019, at 8:37 AM, Yeong Aun Cheah wrote: Dear Alex You have shown yourself and Uptone to be a manufacturer who produces shoddy product who further refuses to be responsible for said product it has shipped. Please make arrangements for FedEx to collect the UltraCap LPS 1.2 from me for return back to you at your expense. I will gladly return it. Also, in lieu of the warranty value you have imputed to the faulty UltraCap 1 which is still under warranty, please make payment of US$185 to me. Sincerely Yeong Aun Cheah ----------------- On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 11:20 PM Alex Crespi <[email protected]> wrote: Dear Y A: You have shown yourself to be a person with expectations beyond what is reasonable. We will not loose ever more money in dealing with you. If you will ship the new UltraCap LPS-1.2 unit back to us, we will refund your $250 and this relationship will be over. Goodbye, Alex Crespi UpTone Audio LLC Mariposa, California Phone: 1-209-966-4377 -------------------- On Oct 28, 2019, at 8:09 AM, Yeong Aun Cheah wrote: Dear Alex You shipped me a unit that is not up to par. It is perfectly reasonable of me to expect a replacement at no further cost to me. It seems that you are not willing to be responsible for something you manufacture which escaped your seemingly poor quality control standards. You sell a finished product which is not up to scratch and you wish for a customer to open it up himself and put a strip of electrical tape inside? This is rich. For all your talk - it is simply marketing. Your response is plainly unprofessional and unethical. I reasonably expect a replacement at no further cost or inconvenience to me, failing which I will be forced to take action against Uptone. Sincerely Yeong Aun Cheah ----------------- On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 10:55 PM Alex Crespi <[email protected]> wrote: If you wish we will mail new screws to you. When you remove the face plate you can put a strip of electrical tape across the inside so that the edge of the PCB will contact that—effectively making the board longer and insuring that the end plates press the edges of the board to eliminate movement. Beyond that we are done. I an not shipping you another unit. There is nothing wrong with the new one we sent. Good day, Alex Crespi UpTone Audio LLC ----------------- On Oct 27, 2019, at 9:48 PM, Yeong Aun Cheah wrote: Dear Alex Thanks for your reply. While I appreciate your reassurance that the unit is indeed new and the rattling noise doesn't affect the functionality, I have the following reservations. Firstly, I have plugged in the unit since I wrote to you and upon subsequent inspection after it heated up, the rattling noise still remains. Secondly, the heads of the Torx screws are pretty scratched - it is very obvious to the naked eye. The scratch as I mentioned is faint - I noticed it only upon looking closely at the unit after hearing the rattling noise. I understand that there are lapses in the assembly of units and faults but if my setup configuration changes and I should intend to sell the LPS 1.2, then a buyer will not. For buyers of audio equipment concerned about miniscule things like vibration, the rattling would certainly be difficult to explain away. Ditto for the cosmetic effects of the scratched Torx screw heads. This would be to my detriment. As such, I would appreciate that you replace the unit with a new properly assembled one. Kindly make arrangements for FedEx to collect it from me to be sent back to you and send me a replacement when available. Sincerely Yeong Aun Cheah ------------------- On Mon, Oct 28, 2019 at 10:22 AM Alex Crespi <[email protected]> wrote: Dear Y A: Glad to hear that the package with new UltraCap LPS-1.2 was successfully delivered to you. I guarantee that the unit you received was 100% new. We assembled 50 new units immediately upon receipt of the aluminum cases, and then packaged them up. You received one of these units without our looking to make any differentiation versus all other customers. Perhaps the Torx T10 screwdriver tip my assistant was using to assemble was a bit worn. After many uses we throw away the bits if they start to mare the black of the Torx-star screw. But those screws are b now means “stripped.” I can not see from the photo the scratch you mention, but it must be very small as we do let scratched units go out. We do try hard to pay attention to these details. Any rattle you hear is only from the entire circuit board not being held firm in the slots by pressure from the front/back plates. The PCB has close +/- tolerance for length, and sometimes a few are just 0.1mm short—enough to keep the end plates from holding it steady. We have a trick to fix that (a bit of electrical tape along the inside of the front plate is enough thickness), but perhaps we missed your unit or the temperature is different in your environment—when it warms up it may become tighter. In any case, there are no loose parts inside and your unit will function perfectly. With kind regards, Alex Crespi UpTone Audio LLC Mariposa, California Phone: 1-209-966-4377 ------------- |
@thyname Regarding your preceding post, I believe it is in bad form and may also violate Forum rules to "out" the name and location of a member. Unless you have his permission to do so. Do you? It’s good to have both sides of the story. In this case, it would be far better for Mr. Crespi to step forward on this, and represent himself. I also find sharing of email chains distasteful, but that may just be me. |
