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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
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,247 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.
dolphin
142 posts
 
Amazing that we havent heard ANYTHING from the distributor at this point. I think their silence speaks volumes!
ozfly
887 posts
 
Zaikesman, I couldn't agree more. My post pointed to the reality of the day, not to an ideal by any stretch of the imagination. Onhwy61's comments reinforced those observations. Manufacturers are often handcuffed by their distributors because the distributors drive revenue growth. Whenever a company relies on independent and exclusive distributors, it will lead to an inevitable decline unless the distributors are very customer-centric or unless the manufacturer took great pains in framing the right types of contractual obligations. It doesn't appear that either of those conditions are met in this instance. (We've yet to hear from EC though ... so there's some hope left) While I understand the business and economic realities of the situation and am very empathetic, my primary obligation as a consumer and audiophile is to exert pressure on the distrubutor via a personal boycott. I remain committed to that. I don't expect the same price in each region of the world. I don't expect free warranty service on clearly gray market units (in this case, that wasn't made clear nearly soon enough). I do expect some hint of common decency towards customers.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Onhwy61, the manufacturer's customer is the consumer. The distributor's customer is the consumer. The dealer's customer is the consumer. Audiophiles are the consumers - if the consumers stop buying the product from the dealers, then the distributor and the manufacturer are out of business.

The manufacturer's policies concerning aftermarket service are directed toward the consumer. The manufacturer is in the business of attracting and satisfying customers, so that they will attract even more in the future. Those customers are the audiophile consumers; the manufacturer is not in the business of trying to attract ever more distributors. If they direct all of their energies toward satisfying the distributor, it does not mean he will purchase any greater amount of product for distribution. If, on the other hand, they direct none of their energies toward satisfying the consumer, that does mean that eventually the distributor will be purchasing less product.

You say that Ernie has a problem because he purchased what had originally been a gray-market unit. That is not accurate, because it is circular reasoning. Make no mistake: Ernie has a problem because the manufacturer's and distributor's policies are set up to give him one. Ernie had no problem with his unit because of its provenance. It is the manufacturer and especially the distributor who apparently have a problem with Ernie's unit because of its provenance. The unit's provenance is not Ernie's fault, and it shouldn't be his problem.

Merely saying that the rules are the rules doesn't make the rules smart or fair, and if the companies involved don't make rules that are smart and fair, the consumers will retaliate with the power of their pocketbooks. Then the manufacturer and the distributor will be left with just their rules, instead of customers. It is not Ernie who needs to rethink his decision to buy his CDP as being a mistake, it is the distributor and the manufacturer who need to rethink their decision not to offer their services for sale as being a mistake.

Ozfly, agree to what extent we may, nevertheless your second-to-last sentence implies that in this case, it was free warranty service that was the issue. It was not, though on your last sentence I think we can all agree, and for more than merely "some hint".
84audio
175 posts
 
Dolphin, what can the distributer say? First he says he will do the upgrade, then he tells Ernie to sell it and dump the problem off on some other unsuspecting person, then he says he will do the upgrade for twice the price, then he says he won't do the upgrade at all. Wow! Call me a fool--I purchased a dac a few months ago. This is beyond unacceptable and everyone should consider this before buying EC. Tortching the resale value of my dac is industrial strength stupid but right is right.
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