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ARC Support

FWIW, I'll relate my recent experience with Audio Research Corp. I've been a customer of AR for some years, on and off, including the purchase of reference gear over the years. I recently have had to place most of my system up for sale due to personal reasons, and this included a pair of Reference 300 MKII amps purchased new in Dec 2000. I accepted an offer from a gentleman in France at a fair agreed upon price. He asked that I ship them to AR to have them swapped out to 220 for use in Europe, and have them shipped on to him. The cost of the service was not an issue. Anyway, without going into the agonizingly frustrating details, heres what happened in a nutshell: AR told me basically they wouldn't do it because it would mean the possibility of losing a NEW sale for them and their European distributor. They were/are seemingly more concerned with selling a new product, in Europe, than supporting a long time customer who purchased this product at a local US dealer at 10% off list price of 30K. I explained the guy wasn't going to buy new anyway, it was beyond his price point. Didn't seem to matter. My point isn't to engender debate between AR supporters and detractors. This is merely my experience, take it for what it's worth. I personally am incredulous, find this to be in poor form, and certainly am not inclined to patronize AR in the future.
mes
john_l
782 posts
 
I think they should be willing to do the conversion for you without such trouble. ARC is sometimes a little piggy about these things. With them, I was a little perturbed to find that: A) My local ARC dealer does not stock fuses for their equipment. They told me to call ARC, and B) ARC charged me $6 (cost + shipping) to send me the A FUSE !. That's a little over the mark in my opinion.

There was a problem with another high end company. Their equipment was being brought in from another country and sold here at considerably less than retail. I notice this company's equipment sells for 35-40% of retail on the used market. Probably next to impossible to get anywhere close to retail for it, meaning dealer's cannot survive carrying this line. I think this kind of situation is what ARC is trying to avoid. Their approach of refusing a single, original owner, is just plain BAD customer service.
audiotomb's avatar
audiotomb
1,112 posts
 
I've owned ARC equipment and have called them for information about an older piece I was evaluating. The Arc rep skirted over it and promptly told me their newer equipment which wasn't even in the same league was better (old LS5 vs new LS16 preamp). And this with him knowing I had two ARC pieces in my system.

ARC is also notorious for expensive upgrades, that seem to come right after you purchase something. Always looking for that next buck, instead of offering reasonable mods.

You might try several ARC authorized repair people. I use Richard Gray (of Power Co fame) in New Orleans. Not sure if he does power conversions but I know he will replace hardwired power chords with plug in options and do a few other mods. I could check if you'd like me to.

Tom
3chihuahuas
108 posts
 
Mes~ It's unfortunate to hear how ARC's reponsed to your request. It seemed to me that they're missing the big picture by wasting time their time on a miniscule assumption that they might to loose a potential sale in Europe that wasn't going to happen anyway. They failed to consider that you're only selling due to a personal reason and that you're more inclined to purchase their products again in the future. You figure they would be more considerate after your fork out $30K.

Nick
jtinn
1,124 posts
 
ARC has done very similar things to many of their customers. They screwed me as well on an upgrade. Leonard, their "voice", is the "beware of this company" red flag. He is quite inept and has the personality of a rock. While the products are ok, they have the worst customer service I have ever experienced. Dave, their sales manager misled me when I was interested in buying one of their products. I called him and asked him specifically if there was an upgrade for the REF2 in the works and he assured me there was not. Eighteen days after I recieved my brand new REF 2, the company announced the release of the REF2 MKII. Dave then told me I would have to pay the full upgrade price. After I made a big enough stink, he agreed to drop the price of the upgrade down by 50%, but the damage was already done for me. Every time I have dealt with them it has ended in misery for me. They never return calls and do not care about customers.

I recommend people not support this company, they will not support you.
john_l
782 posts
 
Another thing that really bugs me is their tube prices !
From their catalog:

VT100, VT100MKII (8) MP6550 (8) 6922 $839.40

Other sources charge under 400 for these SAME tubes. These are bone-stock, modern day svetlana's and sovteks. You can buy them over the counter at over a dozen places in ANY major city. ARC's claim that their tubes are 'more tested' has little relation to reality.

I like their equipment. They use good solid engineering with readily available tubes and materials. (I also like the sound) It's some of their corporate policies that are just awful.
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