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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
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Same level of service yes, Onhwy61, but I think we realize we may sometimes have to pay for it. No level of service at all is a totally different story.

Ozfly, I must agree with Leftistelf's basic contention (if I may paraphrase) that the notion of the dealer having to somehow persuade the distributor that the customer should be #1, and the distributor then having to do the same with the manufacturer, would be completely f***ed up if it were true. If a manufacturer can't be customer-driven enough to figure out and adhere to this philosophy on their own without being pressured from below, then they richly deserve their undoubted ultimate fate.

Ernie my friend, I'm afraid I have to say that your reluctant statement about maybe having to "quietly submerge (your) unit back into the open market" is, in light of this thread, beginning to look almost as wishful in its thinking as your provisional hope that you might find "a sympathetic dealer to sell (you) a new unit near cost".

As we surmised above, it's all up to Electrocompaniet now - let's hope they see the light and do the right thing. At the very least though, this is already a great thread for the ages - nice work, everybody! (And thanks to Ernie in particular for dilligently staying on top of keeping us abreast in detail, despite his handicaps of ill health, compromising medications, and lousy typing technique, not to mention general frustration. Hang in there buddy, and best regards for your impending surgery - get well soon. :-)
tireguy
1,964 posts
 
I just can't figure out why Ernie is even considering getting rid of his current EC player for the new EC unit, if had half the problems he did I would set the unit a flame and through it through Alan's window(he couldn't trace it back to me due to the lack of a serial number). And I would get a different player, maybe the Ayre, Audio mecca, audio aero or something and never look back. I know the EC players are suppose to be good, but I would be god damned if I would ever give this company a nickel of mine again. God forbid something happens to the new unit, you would have to deal with Alan again- though it would be a different location because his workshop would have burnt down. But that's just me, I understand problems and what not but this is blowing my mind, how this Alan is still able to walk under his own power is simply a miracle. Sell the cd player and never look back- and everyone remember this thread and tell everyone about it!! I have seen that happen a few times already since this has happened, if EC is this ignorant then they deserve the reputation they have gained/lost here.

On a more important note I hope you are doing better Ernie, it sounds as though you have ran through the gates of hell and back- remember when your down the only place you can go is up :) ~Tim
ljgj
955 posts
 
My friend has a new upgraded model and I have a 24/96 one. Together in the same system you cannot tell the difference on any regular basis. Kick in my Chord DAC 64 and that blows everything away - not even close. To think I almost bought the upgrade DAC and not the Chord is scary - of course then I wouldn't know how much better it could be. You have a great player and an even better transport. Life is good - save your 2k. Let Mike ship you a new one to even see if it is worth the money. If not ship it back - only cost you freight.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Y'know, I do feel compelled to add that if Mr. Warshaw or the folks at EC ever consent to view this thread, they shouldn't just stop there, they should also read the archived one entitled "Companies who have gone above and beyond", where I don't recall them ever being mentioned. My experiences I relate there, and those of so many other memebers, stand in stark contrast to what we've seen so far in this case.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,252 posts
 
EC's customer is not the consumer, but the distributor. It seems that they are putting their customer first.

Subaruguru has a problem because he purchased a grey market product. If he had an US authorized unit, then the distributor would have performed the upgrade. I think the real lesson here is when buying used, know what you're getting and do your research. A careful buyer should get the product's serial number and contact the manufacturer for their service policy regarding used products.
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