A visit to the (Audio) Doctor


Looking at audio equipment can be a painful experience, sort of like looking at new (or used cars) or a trip to the dentist. I spent 4.5 hours at Audio Doctor in New Jersey. It was a great experience. Dave left a meeting early to see me. He knew that I was not looking at his very high end stuff, but he spent the whole day with me. No pressure, changing speakers many times and going back to a couple of them repeatedly. I have it narrowed down to two speakers, Vivid 1.5 or Janszen Valentia with air motion. Leaning toward the Vivids (pending wife approval). The shop is full of lots of incredible audio equipment at all price ranges. Clearly this is a business that is run out of appreciation of sound rather than maximizing profits.I am hesitant to go to small intimate shops like this out of concerns or pressure. This was just the opposite. Highly recommended.
crwindy
When I sold audio back in the 70’s and early 80’s, we also offered service for the equipment WE sold. Many times someone would come in to try to get their equipment repaired which was purchased from a local discount store across town. We flatly refused every person that came in to try to get a repair of such equipment. We had a sign next the the service department that stated “We service ONLY what we sell”. We pretty much stuck to that unless the person was a customer of ours who made many other purchases from us. In that case weather the unit was in or out of warranty, they were charged the same price. We also let it be known to them that we were doing the client a huge favor.

It is very expensive to run a repair service and it usually ends up being a losing proposition. You hopefully get your money back in sales, but not always. Audio Doctor had every right to refuse you service and if I owed the business, I would have done the same. I also question the persons motive for complaining about this in an open forum. Is the person deliberately trying to ruin Audio Doctors service? The bottom line is you bought something direct from Canada, skipping the US dealers and then you go to the local store for service and are told no. So, you throw a hissy fit and try to ruin a persons livelihood. Not cool. I’m glad you weren’t a customer in our store back in the day. I would have quickly escorted you to the door.
Being in retail is tough especially with the yahoo’s on the internet being able to say anything about a business. Take a look at the following retail extortion site for what Upscale Audio deals with. I like the way these guys are not taking it lying down.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/upscale-audio-la-verne

A mechanic friend of mine who owned a shop told me many online extortion stories via reviews. It is always good to have some doubt on everything you read online.
It's a really bad look when someone goes to the trouble to sign up on internet forums just to bash a dealer. Grain of salt.
@fjblair , 
Maybe they felt it their civic duty to report their experience. In this digital age, bad news travels faster than good.-And, perhaps that is better than being unaware.
If I discovered this thread and had the experience that jtrelin had, I would have probably done the same.
B
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