Pete, from your previous post I see you've also had a bad experience with Martin Logan. I presume there are some people who have had positive experiences with ML (even though I don't see any positive comments about ML mentioned in this thread). But I wonder how many dissatisfied ML customers and "woulda been customers" are out there. I agree ML makes some nice speakers, and that's why I bought some (despite their extremely finicky nature and B+ build quality). However, like you, I can't understand the company's attitude. They exhibit a kind of arogance (which is also manifest in their refusal to allow ML stuff to be offered by dealers at reasonable sale prices). The ONLY person I spoke with at ML who seemed like a real person was Jim Power. He understood my situation and told me I could hire a shipper to pick up my speakers at the Kansas factory. After I made a bunch of long distance phone calls and finally found someone who could pick up the speakers and deliver them to me in Wyoming, I called ML back to get the speaker box sizes for the shipper. Jim wasn't around, so I was transferred to David Penrod who promptly (and rudely) told me I had wasted my time. Of course, ML's Dennis Chern was polite to me at first, but only until I reinstated my order and accepted delivery of the speakers. Then he woundn't give me the time of day. In any case, I wonder if Martin Logan's arogance somehow creates a false mystique that leads people to become a ML customer despite being treated like crap by the company -- maybe like dating a fashion model despite the bad personality or visiting Paris knowing you will be thoroughly fracked by the locals for not speaking proper French. Whatever the reason, I've learned my lesson. There are many other audio companies making great gear who actually CARE about their customers, and I will be cautious to only do business with such companies in the future. This thread contains some very useful information about the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I for one will be using it to help guide my future purchasing decisions. Thanks ElDragon for starting this thread, and thanks to everyone else for posting your experiences here -- I hope the list keeps growing. After reading through all the foregoing comments, I now wonder if it would be worthwhile to develop some sort of system here on Audiogon for rating the customer service of different companies AGers deal with -- perhaps something like the ebay user feedback system? I'm sure every company has a bad day now and then, which might explain a few of the negative experiences posted above. Though if enough people say a particular company has treated them poorly (e.g., ML, UPS), this would provide a more reliable indication of which companies to stay away from. Food for thought. By the way, does anyone have any tips to keep long-winded pedants like me from rambling on and on and.... Don
