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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
subaruguru OP
1,376 posts
 
UPDATE:
I just got back from the spinal injection and feel wiped out, but thought I should put to rest the notion that there is ANY expectation on my part for a communal finacial pot-passing! I appreciate the expression of support intended, of course, and remain grateful.
As I said I have emailed EC to see if they can offer technical support, and of course read this thread so as to become apprised of the larger issues.
I must disagree with one poster re my responsibility to apply due diligence when purchasing a "nearly-new" item. Although I did expect to POSSIBLY be denied WARRANTY service as I would be the second owner (although this is illegal in Massachusetts), I didn't expect to have to ask if "I would be denied any and all paid services for this unit forever". There's a big difference. Heaven help any EC owners who decide to move to North America from overseas and bring their units (after determining that they're voltage-selectable) and thus thinking it would be worth carrying the load on a plane! Is everyone going to have to ship their units back to Norway for service/mods?...or "bribe" Alan by coughing up a lost $800-1k distribution profit? I'm sorry...I don't mean to fan the flames. I'm really exhausted, will await EC's reply (soon, I hope), and continue to thank you for your ideas and support. Ern
chichiuno
118 posts
 
I got it covered, dont worry , end of thread
dennis_the_menace's avatar
dennis_the_menace
467 posts
 
Zaikesman... I am in TOTAL agreement re: your response to Onwhy61. What is up with people that DEFEND an F-'d up system that treats customers like DIRT?

He was PAYING FULL PRICE for an upgrade, after HE HAD CONFIRMATION by the distributor that it would happen! and then DENIED??!

HELLO?! McFLY!!!!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,252 posts
 
Zaikesman & D the M, please point to the specific statement(s) where I am supposed to have defended the actions of the distributor. The intent of my posts is to state that any buyer has an obligation to themself to do their homework when purchasing expensive equipment. Please see my 1/1 posting to see what I actually wrote about the distributor's actions.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Onhwy61, I have reread your post of 1/1, and see nothing there to ameliorate my impressions of your positions on this matter, but you of course have your right to your opinions. What you basically say is that Mr. Warshaw doesn't strike you as being the "smoothest" of businessmen, that he should have stated his restrictive policies up front (duh!), but that you're not sure that Ernie really has "anything legit to complain about". Not exactly a searing indictment of the distributor's actions and policies. You obviously feel that Ernie made his own bed, and that he has not been enough wronged to warrant some sort of palliative remedy. We are still most emphatically not in agreement here.
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