has anyone had problems with wadia service?

Seattlehifi - I commend your willingness to help! What I am amazed at though is your continued defense of the un-defenseable. Wadia products have continued to be marketed via the same website; if your suggestion above is correct and it hasn't been updated over the last two years that speaks volumes about the lack of customer foresight and therefore service that the new owners have. Additionally, they continue to ship product with the same warranty information, my 171I is only a few months old. If the information continues to be incorrect one could ask why the dealer network hasn't pressed them to update it and shipping materials versus having frustrated and misinformed customers that they then have to deal with? Excepting for the direct slight you feel above, I think you're chidding the wrong people.

08-04-12: Seattlehifi

I will forward the link to this thread to the powers that be at Wadia as I would still like to see a resolution and because I believe Wadia, being the company that they are, would also wish to see Paperw8's issues handled professionally and expediently.


this would probably be a better way to go because there is a problem at wadia, and if making the higher-ups aware of the problem leads to improvement then everyone who needs service on a wadia product benefits. my thinking was that it would be better for you to post the information that you offered to share with me privately because anyone who attempted to contact wadia for service would almost certainly have a similar experience to my own. but i would appreciate if you would follow up and inform your contacts at wadia about this thread because what i am reporting is something that definitely needs to be addressed.

i have been attempting to contact wadia for weeks, so the audio show to which you referred is not the reason why i have been unable to contact anyone at wadia.

for your own information, i would suggest that you go to the wadia website and attempt to follow the service information posted there and you might better understand what my experience has been.

as to the warranty obligations, unless wadia declared bankruptcy before being acquired, the warranty obligations of wadia are now the warranty obligations of fine audio SpA so it doesn't matter that the warranty was written by the truewave llc (dba as wadia digital) entity. it may very well be the case that fine audio prefers the service model that you propose (where customers contact local dealers) but we as customers have to rely upon the information that is publicly distributed by the manufacturer.

Seattlehifi,
I want to make clear to you as well that I thought you were very considerate in trying to assist Paperw8.
I had no criticism for you at all. My point was simply that any business, especially one of Wadia's stature (and price points) should not make basic mistakes like the ones that caused his negative experience. What goes on in the back room (mergers etc.) is not the customers problem.
You tried to do a good thing, but they were negligent.

Facten,

I never said that there was anything wrong with the warranty cards or website info but that both were likely written by the previous entity. I never said that they should throw them out or that new ones needed to be issued.

Had I been in Paperw8's shoes, I would have called the wadia service # and if that did not achieve results my second call would have been to sumiko (assuming that you knew of the acquisition) or to an authorized wadia dealer to request a # that would get me through to someone. Why a dealer? Because they represent the product, have all of the contact info, and have signed agreements in place to assist current and future owners with the product.

Instead, he turned to the forum and the first response on the matter, from me (an authorized dealer), would have solved his problem. We (referring to authorized reputable dealers) exist to help...which I why I responded in the first place.

Sadly, we've been exchanging comments for several days and had Paperw8 contacted me, at the onset, he would certainly already have his RMA# and the unit could have been en route to Wadia. That would have been the end of it.

I had already fired off an e-mail to the head honcho at Wadia to investigate and identify if in fact a problem exists with the consumer warranty service process and, if so, to please correct.

One mans experience does not translate to a breadown of the system. So, rather than ASSUMING that Wadia has a problem, I asked them to look into it and in the meantime requested that Paperw8 call me so that I could assist him.

Within a few days I suspect Wadia will add their own comments to this thread - perhaps an apology to Paperw8 and a thank you to Seattle Hi-Fi. And, they will update us all on the consumer warranty service process.

Roxy54,

Thank you - I appreciate it - I'm just trying to be of assistance. Nowadays, people are quick to criticize or lay blame but I always try to think about logical means to reach a positive result prior to posting on a public forum "that something strange is going on (like, maybe wadia is about to go under)."

Knee-jerk reactions seldom accomplish much. Plus, with the Internet - any posting is usally there forever and such remarks could damage a company...even one such as Wadia which has an excellent track record spanning many decades.

The postings to this thread are slow to publish but I don't think Paperw8 even e-mailed Wadia's service department directly (the email is provided on Wadia's service page of the Wadia website) which to me seems more logical. Especially when the phone route failed to meet his expectations.

So, I'm here to throw things out there for all to consider such as e-mailing wadia's service department, or contacting a dealer for an internal number, or not phoning on a Friday, or considering the new larger entity which may require an extra step or some extra time for a response. I don't think that my suggestions are insulting or outlandish in any way.

I'm not vigorously defending Wadia but the experiences of one person, whom has explored few options, does NOT indicate to me that Wadia has a widespread problem.

Sure, in a perfect world the service person could have answered the phone or, in my case, when I call Accuphase in Japan I would be greeted in English but sometimes things require an additional step.