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HELP Electrocompaniet stole Christmas

What a mess:
After finally deciding that spending money on the latest EMC-1 parts mod, I contacted Electrocompaniet's distributor back in October to arrange to bring my EMC-1 MkII to him directly in PA so as to avoid RT shipping risks and expense for this 50 pounder. All was set for a Christmas week mod, as I was to be in NJ visiting my relatives that last week.
I called on Christmas eve to arrange a drop-off time, and was told that Christmas Day noon would be fine, but that I had to arrange the deal through a dealer! Yikes! So I remembered Fathers & Sons and called them, arranging for the paperwork and profit to be credited through/to them. Fine. So I drove 2 hours through a nasty winter storm to arrive at Warshaw's house, where he said he'd NOT perform the mod if my EMC-1 didn't have a serial number on it, as there was a grey-market guy in New York who sold a few of these this year. I assured him that mine indeed had a serial number, was produced in spring '01, and bought used by me in summer '01. He said OK, and lugged the player into his house, saying he'd call me in a couple of days to pick it up. Great!..............
I returned to NJ and watched the storm intensify....
Two days later I called to arrange a pick-up hour, and Alan told me that he did NOT perform the mod because the player had been originally sold by a Danish dealer, and NOT through him, so he had made a decision to NOT support any players not originally sold thorough him. No warranty repars, parts, nor mods!..............
I was stunned, couldn't convince him to make an exception since he had never asked me to provide a serial number beforehand, and I went through a total of a half-day of driving through a storm to accomplish this mod.
He just told me to come pick it up at my convenience. I glumly arrived on Saturday and retrieved my untouched puppy, where Alan said that unfortunately I had to share the victimization of the gray-market. I asked if I should contact a Danish dealer to see if a board-swap could be done (of course thinking he didn't really know the answer), but he thought that Electrocompaniet wouldn't support my player either! I asked with some incredulity what was going to happen with all the players that people have when they move from one country to another (!), but he said that this policy was the only way they have of penalyzing the gray market.... I suggested that in THIS CASE he should have installed the mod because of his lack of due diligence in assessing the production/sales history of this particular CDP, ESPECIALLY given my enormous effort in delivering it to his doorstep on Christmas Day.... I left sadly but gracefully.
WHAT SHOULD I DO? I contacted the Danish dealer but he's not responded. Should I contact Electrocompaniet directly and try to arrange a board swap or purchase the parts mod "kit" and instakllation directions (I'm pretty familiar with boards and soldering)? Should Alan have acted differently? Isn't the world getting small enough so that internationally-sold products should have protected lives independent of sales point?
PLEASE HELP!
A Happy and safe New Year to all!
Ernie
subaruguru
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Maybe I am missing the big picture here, but for those of you that are claiming you are no longer going to buy an EC product, you may be the real loser of this deal.

Generally when a post like this comes up, we have some pretty intelligent people play both sides to try to get the full story. From what I see, every one has crucified EC and we haven't even heard their side!

Is it possible this Danish dealer has been investigated and been dropped by EC? There are more questions that could be asked. In the end, somehow this player should be able to be upgraded and I would think there is a way regardless.

Why have we not heard back from Ernie?

EC has been around since the 1970's, we have this one post and now there is a "revelation" the company is questionable?

Come on. Again, maybe I am over looking something, but lets get both sides. Ernie himself stated the question, "Should I contact Electrocompaniet directly...?", implying he hasn't even conferred with them to find out their policy and yet everyone has blasted EC as if they have rejected him.
judit
217 posts
 
Brianmgrarcom,

I couln't disagree with you more. I think you have overlooked the fact that Ernie is not a stranger here.

However, if you think that EC has been misunderstood, you might be able to help Ernie out. Ernie loves his EMC-1 and would probably love nothing more than to find out he can get the upgrade he desires.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
Judit, I fully respect that Ernie is well known and knew this when I posted, I am simply saying that we have one side of the story, his! If EC is wrong, so be it, I am just amazed at the fact nobody questions anything on this, member or not.
ozfly
887 posts
 
Brian, you raise a good point but I believe F S Audio's response confirmed the story. Of course Alan has his reasons for what he did and he undoubtedly believes he did the right thing. Ernie and F S Audio stated those reasons very objectively. Many of us simply don't agree with Alan's rationale (especially in this particular circumstance) nor desire to add more money to his pocket.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,144 posts
 
Based upon the supplied info it's clear that the distributor is not the smoothest of businessmen. If grey market goods are such a problem, then he should have very clearly and at the beginning of the mod inquiry stated his restrictive policy. That being said, I'm not sure that Ernie has anything legit to complain about. He purchased a used item and presumably got it at a good price. As the purchaser should he not be responsible for knowing which manufacturers support purchasers outside authorized channels (used and grey market) and which do not? It's an added hassle finding this info out, but as this thread shows, it's worth doing.
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