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Denafrips offer to replace my faulty Pontus 15th, for a replacement fee?

My Pontus 15th has developed an issue with the right channel output so I reached out to Denafrips to hopefully get it sent to be looked at/fixed (still under warranty)

However, they don’t have anyone here in the UK to look at it; instead they’ve offered to replace my current Pontus with a brand new replacement for a replacement fee of 400 USD but free shipping.

I would have to pay for shipping my Pontus, back to China which I don’t have a problem with.

I can’t decide in my mind whether this is a good offer or not, considering my Pontus is just over a year old and within warranty.

On the one hand, I can see this is as a decent compromise by Denafrips and a show of good will, as they will send me a new unit without verification of the fault, but on the other hand, is the replacement fee a little unreasonable considering the circumstances/the issue with my unit, and valid warranty?

I’m unsure if I’m honest; if I’d recently bought the unit and were sending it back because I didn’t like it, I’d understand a fee, but returning due to a fault, I’m having difficulty coming to terms with the fee.

Is this a generous offer and I’m being unreasonable, or is the fee unreasonable?

 

painter24
helomech
2,005 posts
 

If they confirmed the 3 year warranty, it is indeed a poor offer. The replacement should be free. You should only need to pay return shipping for the faulty unit. Yikes. 
 

Some of the cheap Toppings sound better than Denafrips anyway. Good riddance. 

arafiq's avatar
arafiq
1,790 posts
 

After Vinshine/Alvin stopped being the distributors for Denafrips, I wouldn't touch that brand with a 50 foot pole. OP’s experience further solidified my resolve. 

elliottbnewcombjr
7,711 posts
 

OP,

I think you were wise to be realistic regarding the limited choices you had, best of luck getting a good price selling it. Congrats on winning the last round with them. It's no way to run a business, but they don't seem to care it seems.

sns
4,218 posts
 

First off, what is percentage of faulty Denafrips equipment? In perusing the web I see faulty/defective products from manufacturers based all around the world. Furthermore, see bad servicing, support of these products. So I'm supposed to write off purchasing these products based on some finite set of dissatisfied customers. 

bartmannm
11 posts
 

I have been having an issue with noise bleeding into my system from the optical inputs on my ARES II. I'm not seeking TS advise. Don't want to go down that rabbit hole lol. 

I tried to get support from Denafrips. here are the actual 2 email messages I received from their support department.

Dear William, If the issue only occurs when the machine is paused, you can unplug the ARES audio source to check if the problem persists. Have a nice day!"

WOW WHAT INSIGHT!

Followed by this!

Dear Bill, 

Do you have any other audio source? You can try switching to a different one for connection. Based on your description, it should be that your audio source is interfering with the DAC. Wish you a pleasant life!

Yours sincerely,

Denafrips Audio LTD (Guangzhou China)"

Thank you captain obvious! I will have a nice life. The team at the other end of the cable has been much more helpful. The Denafrips is the only component that has this issue.

I am going to have a nice life. With another company's DAC.
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