Magnepan Service HORRIBLE???

My suggestion, based on a lot of professional experience in dealing with problems (as a lawyer): write a brief, and balanced letter to the President and a few other top executives at the company, explaining that you bought the speakers used, they were damaged in shipping, that the seller or carrier's insurance is covering, but that having gone to the trouble and expense of crating and shipping them to the company 5 weeks ago (or whenever), you have yet to get the necessary estimate. That you've called a number of times, and you need their help to get this sorted out quickly.
I presume you are going to have the company repair the speaker using the insurance money? You might want to ask them what the realistic timetable for that is, once you can have the insurance payment sent to them (in other words, encourage them to get you queued up for the repair quickly once the estimate is rendered and the payment for repair is made).

Thanks to everyone who responded (especially Brian). I bought the MG3.7's used from a very nice guy in New England. They were shipped via FedEx with ample insurance. I have a FedEx account and I arranged the shipping. When they arrived and we unpacked to set them up and quite literally the first thing my left hand touched was a completely loose aluminum trim rail on the top speaker. It appeared that the box was dropped on its side and on the corner and the other speaker appeared to not have been damaged.

I contacted Wendall and he told me that I definitely should send them both back to the factory to have them repaired and checked to make sure they are 100%. So, my wife and I had the custom wood crate made so we could lower the risk of additional damage going to Magnepan and to also lower the risk of damage during return shipping.

The cost to make this custom crate and to ship to Magnepan was close to $ 1K that we paid out of our pocket. This is the 5th week that the speakers have been in Magnepan's possession and they still have not even opened them for inspection. FedEx has inspected the damage and is ready to pay the claim but can't do so until Magnepan issues a repair estimate.

I am just so aggravated with Magnepan right now I can't stand it. As I said earlier I have talked to Wendall directly so he is aware of the problem I have.

What really blew my mind was when I called Shelia 3 weeks ago and she acted like she had never seen or heard of me before. This was after 4 or 5 previous calls to her.

This is week number 5 that Magnepan has had these speakers. I can not imagine it would take them more than an hour to assess the damage. We never unpacked the bottom speaker but there was no visual sign of damage.

I hope with this better explanation you can see why I am ticked. IMHO Magnepan should crate the 3.7's and 20.7's as they admitted to me that they experience the most shipping damage problems with the two larger models.

Here is a link to the pics of the damage if anyone is interested.

http://s89.photobucket.com/albums/k238/etmerritt33/FedEx%20Magnepan%20Shipping%20Damage/

Tom

Tom, in my experience, while a phone call is good for a nudge, there is something about creating a written record that lights a fire under people.
I haven't dealt with Maneplanar since the early days, but they have a good rep. I would write the letter I described.

To Davide256's comment....This has nothing to do with any litigation and not sure where you got that notion from??

I filed a damage claim with FedEx the night we unpacked and discovered the damage. FedEx sent out their independent inspector and she filed a report and FedEx took responsibility for the damage and is willing to pay.

This has all been explained in detail to Magnepan. Shelia knew to expect a reuseable custom wood crate with a specific RA number painted on it.

So, here I am five weeks later with no idea on when I will get the estimate or more importantly when I will see the MG3.7's again.

Tom

this may or not may apply...but I have heard from a former owner that Magnepan only produces one speaker at a time to avoid any confusion or defects...that is a production run of a particular speaker for x amount of time...i assume weeks...this may also affect repairs...also...I have visited the factory...this is a small company...and they simply may be backed up with orders...be patient...this will work out..all the best...pc