I thought this might be a good category for our community to share experiences with customer support for different gear purchased. No matter if it was good or bad , I thought it might benefit us for purchases from companies who our community has had experiences with. This may or may not aid in making better informed decisions of buying. I know that experiences can vary between buyers interpretations of products recommendations and interpretation of support’s intention.
I would liken that to the same as the varying opinions of all of us in the audio community regarding likes, dislikes, impressions and so on with audio equipment.
For example recent experience for me would be a purchase I made right here on Headphone.com. My interpretation of a piece of equipment was not as I expected.
Immediately Andrew and Taron stepped up and made everything right. In fact they exceeded my expectations in their remedy. Extraordinary customer service and support, thereby highly recommending them to anyone. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to anyone on this forum.
2nd Example . I recently bought another system. I bought the entire Nativ Audio system, which I really loved . https://www.nativsound.com/en/ craftsmanship, quality and design that went into this system was nothing short of extraordinary. The main issue I had was it did not play well with my dac, where some blame could be partially mine for lack of research. Nonetheless Kevin and John bent over backward to help me and after some expense to them, refunded every single penny from their Chinese location . This lends me to recommending their commitment to excellence in their company. With customer support being an important part of that to them. Once again I recommend them and will follow them for their future projects.
Sorry this topic has been wordy, but we seem to live in a world where customer support seems to less important as in the pass. Maybe this topic will encourage our community to pass on experiences with each other and possibly help each other to avoid what for us can be costly mistakes.
Good thread and hopefully others will be able to benefit from the experiences found here. There are a couple “go-to” sites I use without hesitation: Newegg, REI, Mushkin. When I had purchased from the original Headphone, they were the same…very knowledgeable and completely backing their gear; I think this “Headphone” will follow suit.
Audeze customer support were also fantastic when I had a need to deal with them. Always helpful, polite and professional.
Chord is another company that’s been great too. I live in the UK so this may have made it easier to deal with them. I say this because I’ve heard some people from other countries say they’ve had problems in regards changing the battery of their Chord Mojo. Again this is only a few negative experiences I’ve come across but for me they were great.
I second that. When I got my LCD2C, the stuffing on the ear pads wasn’t exactly evenly matched. Silly complaint I know, but at the time, it was by far the most I’d ever spent on headphones. So, I contacted Audeze about it and they promptly sent me new pads!
I can detail two recent experiences that displayed some true colours. On CAM (Canuck Audio Mart) I saw an ad for an open box/demo ad for an iFi amp. It is an amp that I used to own and wanted to re-buy. GREAT price. I paid Acoustic Technologies in Quebec. The amp arrived shortly and was DOA. I tried everything but it would not boot up. I contacted the company. He sent me a shipping waybill to return the amp. He confirmed it was broken (PCB) and issued an immediate refund. As it should be and very polite. I would shop with them again.
Saw another ad on CAM for Burson amps (from Parts Connexion) at an AMAZING price. I orderded a FUN with Classic opamps. It took me ten minutes to get it working initially. Seemed like a connectivity problem. Next day was better but on the third day it wouldn’t work at all. Contacted the seller and asked for a replacement (loved the sound) or a refund. He sent me a new unit and covered the return. This one works like a charm!
Two problem situations and both were handled great. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy from either again. Which is good because I live in eastern Canada and the local selection is non-existant
Hifiman - Yes definitely suspect quality sometimes, but each case was handled extremely fast and got replacement parts within 2 business days. (3 times for the headband issue)
Cambridge Audio - The cheapest product I’ve bought from them was one of their bluetooth speakers and it stopped charging and failed to start, and they sent me a brand new one quickly. I even asked to change out colors and it was no questions asked.
Hawthorne Stereo (in Seattle) - Great little shop that sells hifi products both new and used. Always great to talk to and have parts available for various products – I need some turntable parts for my Pro-Ject turntable and they had it and helped make sure it worked right. I also recently used their consignment used sales thing, and they sold my product quickly and sent me a check, which I have now misplaced. hmm.
Headphones.com - Wonderful and personable. Haven’t needed to use their return policy yet but it’s an incredible showing of customer service to even offer it. Quick shipping. Nothing bad to say about them at all. Just sad I didn’t get a chance to meet them in person the other day.
The Source AV - I randomly stopped by their store on a business trip in LA and Alan graciously let me go into their headphone room and let me play for over an hour without any pressure. Really nice guy and easy to talk to. I felt a little uncomfortable trying out some really expensive gears but he really wanted me to listen to some of their crazy setups they have just for fun. I didn’t end up buying anything from them but would consider it in the future.
Radsone - Their EarStudio product is really great, but their customer support on HF was excellent until HF decided they shouldn’t talk anymore since they’re not a paid sponsor (or something like that) and that he posted a comparison technical data of Fiio vs their product. Anyway, prior to that, they provided very good detailed answers to their products, and actually listened to the feedback provided and incorporated pretty much every software/firmware change they could into the device and it’s associated app. They continue to monitor the site and add more features in as they see fit based on feedback. I’ve PMd WS Lee on a few occasions and he’s been very quick to reply with very sound answers. Really have enjoyed this level of enthusiasm for their product.
They have published a lot of technical info on their website. They also used to provide a lot of technical responses to questions on their head-fi thread too.
I have read a few complaints about Focal customer service but my experience with the North American distributor, Plurison, was surprisingly pleasant. The headband adjustment notches on my Clear were not clicking properly into place. I brought the headphones to their head office just outside of Montreal and the rep did not even open the box to verify my claim. He disappeared into the back and brought out a brand new pair in an unopened box. Plurison also distributes SPL and when I ordered my Phonitor X from a local dealer, Economik, they delivered an XE instead by mistake. When the X finally arrived, in order to make up for the inconvenience caused, they charged me the price of the less expensive XE - and they threw in a pair of Mogami Studio Gold XLR cables!