Warning for Revel lovers


I have read these forums for some years, and have never contributed,  but feel I really must let people in on what is happening at Revel. I ordered a pair of Salon2's  in March '21 through the great folks down at USA Tube Audio in Scottsdale,  who I can unreservedly recommend for excellent customer service. After ordering the Salons, Revel estimated their delivery at the end of April. When that date approached the delivery was changed to end of June. Then it was changed to August, then November, then February.  '22. Just found out the new delivery date. It is August '22. Well, you might say, this is supply chain, pandemic related. Read on. During my year-long wait, Paul and Charlie down at USA Tube several times tried to find out what the story was for the delays. I also wrote to Revel to try to get updates; I had sent them 50% down to reserve the speakers. The most either I or USA Tube received back was a one or two terse sentences which shed no light on what the issues were effecting delivery targets. During this time, I sent some equipment in to Audio Research for factory restoration. It took them 6 months to get the job done, but they were excellent at keeping me in the loop, and I always knew when to expect them to finish the job. Just last week I canceled my order to Revel. I will receive a refund, but there was not one word from them apologizing or attempting to explain what happened. I have since ordered a pair of Aspen FR30's from PS Audio, and have already been contacted by them several times for updates and videos of in home installations. Anyway, they are delivering the first couple of pallets as I write this, and somehow are able to honor their commitments to their customers. Though I will have to wait for mine, I have high confidence they will arrive at my house when Paul and company say they will.

 

The point of my ramble is that the high end community is rather small, with many excellent companies competing for for business within it. It is sad to note that one of the absolute best, Revel, is now under the corporate umbrella of Harmon, which is under the corporate umbrella of Samsung. They have not been represented at the last two T.H.E. shows in Long Beach, home state for Revel. They sent me an email back in January, announcing a change in their management, along with no information on the status of my speakers. They appear to have had no interest in keeping a buyer of their flagship product either happy or informed, for an entire year. I am not a wealthy man. I've been trading and buying audio products for almost 40 years, and was excited to lay down a large commitment in capital for some amazing speakers. I am assuming that sometime in the recent past Revel, after having been absorbed by its corporate overlords, was "restructured" (read gutted), and is not currently equipped to supply a quality product to discerning audiophiles. It also appears that the parent company is content mass-marketing cell phones and "speakers that rock", but sound the same whether playing MP3, CD quality, or high rez. If anyone out there is thinking of sinking a bunch of money into a high end speaker, Caveat emptor! P.S. I own a pair of original Salons, and have always enjoyed Revel's products. Very sad

128x128bratscheboy

Another reason to buy used. Covid really screwed up a lot of things and I think revel sources all their cabinets from china. Maybe the boat sank? 
 

I can appreciate your disappointment with the ordeal. It sucks

Sorry for your experience. As has been said, Covid has revealed a LOT of flaws in our business practices and supply chain

Be glad you didn’t buy a Samsuck refrigerator. 1 1/2 yrs after buying it, the ice maker stopped working. I called them but it was out of warranty of course.. No help. I later discovered that this is common place among Samsuck ice makers. They freeze over and stop working until defrosted. But the problem gets progressively worse. I was defrosting it every 2 weeks til I got tired of it and bought some Ice trays and bucket which are in the freezer now. There is a class action suit against them now. One facebook group has dedicated to get them to recall these ice makers. But they have every excuse imaginable to play games rather than fix the problem They are on at least their 4th "fix" But none of them work because it is a known design flaw. In my case they ltook it apart and put it back together & said I had damaged the unit. The unit didn’t work after they left. Then they avoided my phone calls and never called back when I asked how to make it work again. I will NEVER own another Samsuck item.

BTW, they are still using the same ice maker but have relabeled it and said the problem is fixed. I’ve talked several customers out of this item when I see them in Lowes, etc.

This is a sad story. Lack of communication is a real loyalty killer as can be seen from another recent thread concerning Mytek. The simple act of keeping customers in the loop is worth the time that it takes in keeping the customer happy.

This is a strange story. I've often looked at the Salon 2 on the USA tube site and wondered how they were still selling these as they were discontinued over 2 years ago. I assumed they had some in back stock or something.  I see they have a floor demo which I can understand. Weird.