Best and Worst customer service?

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

Jadem6, You must of got john on a good day?: When i talked to JOHN DUNLAVY it was 5 min and all get back to you on the tweeter,s. 3 weeks later still nothing, so i called back again and adrew was supposed to take care of me NOT.....
It finally took six weeks to get my tweeters. Now dunlavy,s are good but, I won,t buy another pair just because of my experience. There are too many good speaker co. to choose from to put up with that crap.

Steve that stinks. Yours and my three experiences with Dunlavy are so different. It just goes to show you, life is strange! J.D.

I'll comment on Martin Logan, Magneplanar, Linn and Klipsch. I called ML on crossover points for my CLS and about getting Arcici stands. They told me what the slopes and crossover points should be and the address and phone number of Aricici.

I also have a very old set of Magneplanar Tympani's. I have lost the manual and was hoping for an upgrade. Maggie had upgraded a friend's MG1 for a very low cost. They told me not to upgrade the Tympani it would cost too much. Further from the serial number I gave them they sent me a manual at no cost.

On Klipsch a friend had blown a tweeter in an old pair of Heresy. He sent the speaker back to them to be repaired. (it was out of warranty. Klipsch fixed the speaker and sent it back with no charge for the repair or shipping.

Linn on the other hand was similar to the other negative responses others have given about Linn. I needed a box for an LP 12 and a dustcover. They wanted to charge me $60.00 for the box. (Didn't get it.) They charged me something higher than what I expected for the dustcover. I asked them some questions about a Linto and there answer was so non-committal as to be useless.

J.D. You said it. Experiences our different, that doesent mean that my opinon stinks. What stinks is the way dunlavy handeled a customer service problem.