Kevin gets the

I only called Upscale. One time only and talked to Kevin. He was quite rude and conducted himself as a smart ass brat. After we could not agree on a number in which I thought he was way out of line, he kept calling me back with a few dollars off , saying is this how you want to haggle?
He probably needs someone to bring him down to earth, or have his ....beat.

Well, I said I talked to Upscale one time and will never again.

Goldenear,

This is the first I am hearing about these "dead tubes" on this thread.

Not sure what the problem was there, but the Upscale website clearly states: "Vacuum tubes are warranted for 90 days against defects, except in cases of abuse, and replaced with like-item only."

Still waiting on any evidence to suggest that Kevin and Upscale isn't ethical.

Let's stay away from these types of claims, along with insinuation and conspiracy theories without having proof to back these up.

YEP! With Kevin; price is a, "No-Fly Zone!" I've only ever dealt with him on octets of power tubes(since 1994). When he was carrying NOS 6550 Sylvanias; his prices were not out of line. Ditto with his new 6550 Winged 'C's. A year ago, I called about an eight year old NOS Clearaudio Sigma Wood(not a highly regarded cart, anyway), for which he was asking close to original list. Very friendly conversation, until I hinted at price flexibility(based on age). Glad I purchased an octet of NOS, 70's, 6550C GE's elsewhere, before that call. But, hey: It IS his business, after all!

At upscale, where is that nice polite lady that sometimes answers the phone. Maybe Kevin should let her handle the phone calls and he could spend his time in the back room packing and shipping and or screwing tubes in the tube tester for the purpose of evaluating and matching.

Roscoeiii...Kevin did finally gave me a charge credit after implying that it was my fault ( somehow ) for the dead tubes. Before he gave me the credit, he tried to hustle me into the "deal of a century" on a preamp that he no doubt wanted to unload. I think that the hustle bothered me more than the initial belligerence re: a charge credit. The odd thing is that on several earlier occasions he couldn't have been more helpful and informative.