Are you having problems with Upscale Audio?

Hey guys

I thought I would add some details to this gentleman’s post:

The cartridge: You were sent a draft on September 3rd to pay for your new cartridge, but did not want to pay until we received it. We received it into inventory on Sept 18, but you had not paid the draft we sent you, and frankly, we could have called you. I’m sorry for that.  You paid Oct 22, and we expedited shipping, which was attempted on the 23rd. Bill called you once and emailed you later to check and make sure you were happy. 

This thing on the tube question baffles me.  You called and talked to Joel yesterday to ask him questions, but you had to hang up. You chatted, you wanted a call to ask questions, and Chris asked you what the questions were to get you answers.  You refused. He sent you our tube FAQ, which is pretty robust.  You chatted us through the website at 4:44 wanting a call by 5pm.  

But after all this kerfuffle, I end up calling you today to try to answer your question.  Again, you were busy and could not talk. I said I would try to call you back, which I did.  I was ready and waiting to answer this very important question, which turned out to be: 

“Do you send out matched pairs?” 

That answer should be obvious, but it’s in the tube FAQ.  Chris would have answered had you simply asked.  Of course, do we match pairs.  A  lot of Audio Research owners buy their tubes from us. I think the factory folks think kindly of us because we are so careful with their clients, and a couple ARC people are dear friends of mine. 

I told you we would send out a matched set of six (or seven).  You seemed to feel three matched pairs would be better.  I explained it’s better to have six matched, in case you mix them up.  I know this is your first time re-tubing your preamp, but I’m telling you the truth. 

As to any claim of "Don't Call Us and We Won't Call You"  I’m not fond of any website chat feature, but young people don’t like calls and use chat to make purchases.  At least we usually answer live.  Chat’s too one-dimensional.  But I'm old.

At every turn, I tell my staff to TALK to people and get to know them.  We record calls and keep every chat and email.   This is helpful to keep the record straight when people bend the facts.  

We have robust systems to determine whether or not our customers are happy, and they are. We've now gone up to 4.8 stars with over 34,000 reviews. Do we make mistakes? Of course. Do we have to say no sometimes? Of course. But if there is anything I can do to create a better outcome, I'll do it if it makes sense. This is my hobby and I've been in it for over 50 years.

They are a decent dealer  and Kevin is a cool guy even though his music taste is basically boring classic rock that sounds like crap like Doors and Zeppelin albums...

But they don’t have the best service, I bought a Aurender N150 a couple years back, first I was gonna get it from TMR audio for a couple hundred off the $3500 MSRP...

Then I thought I can go pick it up locally at Upscale and get to spend a little time hearing their demo rooms and nerding out with fellow audiophiles and supporting local business... 

I told them that when I called to see if they had one in stock.

I drove out there to go get it  thinking I’ll probably hang a hour and they will demo some cool stuff etc, when I showed up no one had anytime to talk or want to engage at all. After waiting for someone to get my order, they just came out asked for payment, gave me a invoice and said go across the street to the warehouse and they will pull it for you.

That was it, I started looking around a bit at some of the rooms but they could care less to show me anything.. I guess a lowly $3500 walk in client isn’t good enough for anyone to do the sales man routine and show off their high end demo rooms.

I’ve bought some NOS tubes from them too, but just on the website and it was fine, fast shipping, no problem.

But if you want to go there and shoot the shit, they won’t make any time for you, unless maybe you pull up in a Rolls Royce and are a whale client.

"They are a decent dealer  and Kevin is a cool guy even though his music taste is basically boring classic rock that sounds like crap like Doors and Zeppelin albums..."

If we did the "sales man routine" would we get slammed for being pushy? Hey sorry if you felt that way, but we allow people to look all they want.  Nobody works on commission ’cause I don’t want that vibe and salespeople fighting over deals. But Saturdays and Mondays are busier than we like and  during the busy season we don’t have the coverage we’d like. We’re hiring. 

Lastly, we’re in La Verne....not West L.A., and we sell gear that, for the most part, is high value. No whales and not a single Rolls Royce here.  

We have events here several times a year.  They are a gas and there is food and drink.  You should be on the list.  

Called twice and just plain rude! Not a company for me to deal with.

I have no experiences to add here but I admire Mr. Deal making his case in real time. Seems to me that someone who doesn't give a sh!t wouldn't waste his time.