Magnepan Service HORRIBLE???

Markpao is right in..As a buyer use paypal.They have an unconditional 45 day return policy and if damaged in shipping have the carrier come get it.Its the sellers that has to deal with making them pony up.As a seller I now only use postal money orders or wire transfer,that 45 day return policy is retarded.I also find it odd that fed ex is actually paying the claim,I forget who their underwriter is but they say "decline" to everything so you may feel this deal is going now where but it could be a whole lot worse.

Please take 3 points away from Phasecorrect for ruining my drought humor thread. Also, I had UPS (insured) actually lose a sweet guitar amp I'd sold on Ebay...they were nice and STILL took about 3 weeks to pay me. For everything except the shipping...I guess they were being ironic.

Magnepan needs to recapitalize its business so it can offer exceptional customer service, otherwise it will ruin the band. There will be little left to sell as the need to fund Jim's retirement. Get with it.

Buconero117, I agree completely. Magnepan has just let itself evolve at its own pace but has not kept an eye to the times. They are set up so they can not deal with repairs in a timely manner but don't seem to recognize the problem with that. They could easily charge a little more for the speakers and add staff to deal with repairs. Just saying they are a small family owned business doesn't necessarily cut it in today's world.

I have a Merlin VSM-MXe based system which is extremely good. The only reason I was contemplating going back to Magnepan as my last system was due to my infatuation with Magnepan that started in 1975. I have only owned two pairs of conventional speakers in over 35 years of doing this. The Merlins and the Quadrature DSP-5a's. Lots of Magnepans, Soundlabs, Martin Logans and Acoustats in my past.

Magnepan told me on the phone that their primary shipping damage problems were with the 3.7's and 20.7's. The speakers have gotten progressive heavier over the years and IMHO the factory packing is not sufficient. I don't know why they just don't ship both the larger speakers in a reusable wood crate like Soundlabs? It could not cost that much more to have someone make them in Minn.

Never thought I would be this ticked with Magnepan.

To the person that asked why I just did not make the seller deal with this I don't have a good answer. I was just so stunned when we unpacked them to find the top speaker damaged that I was looking for the most expedient path to getting them 100% and really did not want to undo the deal. But, I knew after it registered that the box had been dropped and at least one speaker was damaged that I was looking at a long and aggravating process. It took a couple hours that night for it to sink in. In over 35 years of doing this I have never received damaged items until now.

Etmerritt,
I think anyone who has experienced the kind of frustration you have described has a right to expect more and every right to be angry. It is really a moot point that you should have made the seller deal with this in the first place. Magnepan needs to do right by you regardless. I think most of us recognize the value of customer service and get pretty frustrated if our repairs aren't handled in a timely fashion. I agree with many of the comments above and encourage Magnepan to rethink the value proposition associated with better packaging for shipment, good 5 way binding posts, better jumpers etc.

That said, I very much appreciate the net result of Magnepan's frugality. I've been running maggies for over 20 years, going from SMGa's to 1.6's to 3.7's. In each case, I could not find anything at 2x the price that matched sonic performance, and in all that time I did not need service once. I avoided shipping issues by either buying new or buying locally, and sold both the SMGa's and 1.6's locally. That is just a downside that I am willing to accept given the unique value of Magnepan products. I expect that when I replace the 3.7's, a likely path will be trade in at the local dealer for new 20.7's. If I went in another direction on replacements, I would likely only sell the 3.7's within a reasonable driving distance so I could personally deliver them to the buyer. I think it is just the nature of the beast.

In the end I do hope Wendel gets involved and makes this right for you.