The Exogal saga continued....


As the owner of the Comet Plus/Ion combo, I have been a vocal critic of Exogal for fumbling the ball on the absence of applications needed to run them. They made the Comet without an illuminated window and reading it is difficult, and the remote, by their own admission, is inadequate. So the apps were indispensable, period. They have claimed for months that a new, improved remote "module" was in the making and about to be released immanently. I actually tried out a prototype they sent me and it wasn't very good. As time passed I tried to communicate with them via their website (on which they advertise a streamer line that they don't make!) and by phone, and was ignored.

So I chased down their sales manager here on Audiogon and he put me in touch with the CEO. The CEO admitted there was a problem and offered a range of excuses--a knee operation, a major internet hacking of their site, the pandemic, poor Chinese-sourced parts, an inability to get parts, etc. [In retrospect I am surprised that he didn't claim the same aliens who started the forest fires in California had attacked Minnesota] I said that I had the Ion packed up in a box as it was unusable and requested a remote for the Comet which he said was ready and would be shipped. He further stated that a new product line was in the making and that when it was released those who had the misfortune to purchase the Comet/Ion could trade those units in for "generous" credit toward the new line. Very well, I have spend thousands of dollars on this stuff so how long do I have to sit on it until I can change it out? There is no timetable for the new offerings--possibly by the end of the year, possibly not. Basically I got the old "trust me, I'm working on it" speech that they give everyone.

Two weeks went by--no remote. At that point I demanded a refund for the Comet and Ion which of course the CEO denied. He claimed he didn't send the remote because he assumed that I had packed both the Comet and Ion away until the unspecified time that he would so generously exchange them for his new products! He said he would send the remote immediately.

Yet another week has gone by--no remote. So I pass all this on to the court of public opinion. But it is ironic that the CEO of Exogal, in one of his own public postings right here on Exogal wrote: 
 "
Too many audio companies announce a product, start selling it, and then frustrate the paying customer with BS excuses. Meanwhile, they've got your money." That sounds remarkably like the situation I find myself in. 
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At the risk of beating a dead horse, the Exogal people know this criticism and others are here (the CEO in an email told the dealer that I "went off on Audiogon") so why don't they respond? If my company's credibility was questioned in a popular public forum I would respond immediately. This isn't a case of customer dissatisfaction, it is an example of a company not living up to its promises. The CEO knows very well that his remote and unreadable window are product defects and he has said as much on posted videos and quotes cited by reviewers. Without the now defunct applications these are fatal flaws. 

The CEO has stated that Exogal has "a loyal following" and implied that they are satisfied with the present state of affairs. Really? That's not what I'm hearing on my personal messages here.

It is peculiar to offer a trade-in, however generous, when the company has a history of ill-conceived products like the Vortex. So the Comet/Ion is problematic, the Vortex was advertised in detail yet never produced--so do we really need s strike three? If a company can't produce a simple thing like a decent remote control how can one believe they are going to start an entirely new and complex product line? Personally I've had it with Exogal.

I openly challenge the CEO and Sales Manager to respond here, not with a lot of excuses but with the truth. So far the silence is deafening. 
 
If this is all true, and I have no reason to doubt it, and I know companies are loathe to return money, that it would seem to me that it might be in their best interest to accept your return for a full refund.
I never expected a full refund, just some sort of refund for the more recently bought Ion which is useless in itself. I have been demanding a remote for the Comet for months. I suspect they don’t have the money to refund anything because they haven’t been selling any products to generate income. 
If it ever got out that they refunded money to me many others would make the same demand and they would be busted. A class action lawsuit would get their attention. 
In addition to the company’s failings listed above, they had a falling out with a major discount dealer active on Audiogon who initially distributed the Comet. In 2018 they were going to buy Core Power Technology but that deal fell through. I believe that CPT now has a close relationship with that discount dealer (who in my opinion is excellent in all respects).

People have been privately suggesting they lost a major financial backer, they are in the process of bankruptcy proceedings, or they are trying to sell out to another company. I urge other dissatisfied customers to come forward—you don’t owe these people any loyalty and they are just sweet talking you to gain time.