Returns

I've had numerous dealings with both Music Direct and Crutchfield over the years. I have nothing but praise for both companies.

Everything I purchased from them worked perfectly, was packaged and shipped exactly as expected, and I was able to confer with knowledgeable staff about each purchase beforehand.

As a matter of fact, the most expensive component I purchased from either was the LG C8 77" OLED television purchased from Crutchfield in 2018. That is a huge TV in a huge box, but it arrived in perfect condition and has worked flawlessly since day-1.

I'm a fan of both companies..

I did not mind buying open box or B-stock gears as long as they are in mint condition from the retailor until the most recent purchase. I bought a B-stock S400 Mk ii from Buchardt. Cosmetically it looks like new. One or two pieces of minor accessories were missing but that did not bother me. However, after throwing in at least 150 hours of burn-in, I still felt the bass region is lacking some weight and sometime I heard distortions from treble that I did not hear from my other speakers. I start communicating with Buchardt and the service manager, Daniel, who is very knowledgeable, caring and efficient professional advises S400 Mk ii is a neutral sounding speaker so the bass is not boosted as most of the bookshelfs, they are supposed to be placed a bit closer to the front wall, etc. These are all truthful advices but the aforementioned issues were still outstanding. He is further suspecting one of the treble driver is bad so I did a one-at-a-time listening and found out one of the speaer has issue. Buchardt arranged the return and I repurchase a brand-new pair of S400 Mk ii. Problem is solved. What a wonderful pair of speakers like so many reviewers / users appraise and attest.

My point is you never know what the previous buyer does to the gears. The manufacture will most likely only perform visual inspection when they get the stock returned. Although I had many success buying used equipments, one time snake bite experience like this will make me think twice from now on in buying delicate equipments. In my case, I was saving only 150 euros but the time I invest is enormous. Not worth it.

Crutchfield And Music Direct are very good company to deal with.

I never purchase used gears from Crutchfield before but only a pair of brand new speakers one time.  You will think what bad experience you could possibly get from buying a brand new set of speakers?  Well, here was the story.  I found out the speakers were labeled LEFT and RIGHT because of the off-center positioned treble driver.  However, the serial numbers were not sequential which might later affect the resell value.  So I called back and the salesman named Steve (Steven?) answered the phone.  After hearing out my complaint, he actually treatened me that I can not sell the speakers otherwise I will be banned forever from making any other purchase from Crutchfield.  First of all, I do not intend to resell the speakers, rather I was saying IF I want to resell them many years later, non-sequential serial number will hurt the resell value.  What kind of customer service is that?  I ended up with keeping the speakers because I like them and do not want to bother with the return.  But I was threatened and humiliated and I chose to do nothing.

One of the reasons I asked is certain products like say the McIntosh MC152 for example never has an open box for sale that Ive seen and I'd say that some have mostly likely been returned?