Hi, Benjamin from Mojo Audio.
Hopefully I can clarify some of this.
Let me start by saying, "there are three sides to every story."
I was a founding partner in Core Audio Technology with Ryan Mintz. According to our partnership agreement I was in charge of R&D and manufacturing and Ryan was in charge of sales, marketing, and customer service.
Though there were months of set-up prior to the first power supply being sold, we were only manufacturing and selling products for less than six months before I gave Ryan my half controlling interest in Core Audio in exchange for half the inventory.
A large part of the reason I gave Ryan full control of Core Audio had to do with customer service issues such as the one Glory described.
During the time Ryan and I were business partners we manufactured roughly three dozen power supplies total. I ended up keeping roughly a dozen of those power supplies that I ended up rebranding with Mojo Audio face plates and selling with a full Mojo Audio warranty.
Not one of the customers I sold a rebranded Core Audio power supply to wanted to return it and not one of those power supplies has had any technical problems to date that I know of.
One of the few customers I ever spoke with while I was a partner in Core Audio was Glory - as I stated, Ryan was in charge of customer service.
The only reason I ended up speaking to Glory was that Ryan wanted to withhold a significant portion of the money he paid us due to damages to the products that were returned. Later I will describe these damages.
Glory may have forgotten to mention that I acted as a sort of "go between" with Ryan and Glory and talked Ryan into refunding roughly 1/3 of what he originally intended on keeping and that Glory agreed to the $500 as a reasonable compromise.
The components Glory returned were in the worsts condition and packed the worst of any that I have ever seen in the nearly 10 years that I've been professionally selling electronics.
They were wrapped in bubble wrap that was so dirty you could hit it with your hand and a cloud of dust would rise off of it and you could shake it and a pile of dirt would literally fall out of it.
One of the chassis was so badly scratched that it had to be replaced. A second was scratched enough that we had to resell it with a substantial discount. For those two items alone most companies would not have allowed the products to be returned.
As for the DAC, it is quite possible that a Core Audio employee used the wrong silicone, may have forgotten to fully screw in all the mounting bolts, and could have made other errors in assembly. Considering the indisputable condition of the two chassis, it was not far off for us to believe that Glory had tampered with the DAC.
In any event, the $500 Glory was charged for damages to the products he returned was more than reasonable even without considering the DAC.
I was no longer a partner in Core Audio as of early July, 2011. Any customer complaints or fraud alerts since then could have nothing to do with me or Mojo Audio.
I have had several Core Audio customers approach me during 2012 who had problems with Ryan and products he sold long after I was involved with the company. These people claim Ryan didn't honor his warrantees and Ryan claims he did and that these people tampered with his products..."three sides to every story" and all that.
All I can state with certainty is the poor condition and poor function of the products when they arrived.
I've done my best to help these disgruntled Core Audio customers to the point where I have repaired some of the products. I've been asked to resell them for these customers with a warranty from Mojo Audio. Some time in the near future you should expect to see these used Core Audio products for sale on Audiogon.
Just like anyone else with a computer can do, I've done searches on Ryan and Core Audio Technology and I've found several negative posting on forums and fraud alerts that all happened long after I was associated with the company in any way.
One thing you can be certain of is that you won't find any fraud alerts or disgruntled customer postings for Mojo Audio. If a customer has any problems we simply return their full payment minus shipping. Period.
Since we have never had a customer request to return any power supply or DAC for a refund, and since we have never had any of them burn out in use, and since I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of our cable products that are returned each year, giving a full refund to the few customers that want one is a minor cost of doing business.
I had a brief lapse in judgement that made me a business partner of Ryan's for a few months roughly two years ago. During my time as a partner in Core Audio I was barely involved with customer service and barely spoke to any customers with the exception of Glory.
I hope that in making this posting my name and Mojo Audio would no longer be linked to Ryan or Core Audio.
~ Benjamin
Hopefully I can clarify some of this.
Let me start by saying, "there are three sides to every story."
I was a founding partner in Core Audio Technology with Ryan Mintz. According to our partnership agreement I was in charge of R&D and manufacturing and Ryan was in charge of sales, marketing, and customer service.
Though there were months of set-up prior to the first power supply being sold, we were only manufacturing and selling products for less than six months before I gave Ryan my half controlling interest in Core Audio in exchange for half the inventory.
A large part of the reason I gave Ryan full control of Core Audio had to do with customer service issues such as the one Glory described.
During the time Ryan and I were business partners we manufactured roughly three dozen power supplies total. I ended up keeping roughly a dozen of those power supplies that I ended up rebranding with Mojo Audio face plates and selling with a full Mojo Audio warranty.
Not one of the customers I sold a rebranded Core Audio power supply to wanted to return it and not one of those power supplies has had any technical problems to date that I know of.
One of the few customers I ever spoke with while I was a partner in Core Audio was Glory - as I stated, Ryan was in charge of customer service.
The only reason I ended up speaking to Glory was that Ryan wanted to withhold a significant portion of the money he paid us due to damages to the products that were returned. Later I will describe these damages.
Glory may have forgotten to mention that I acted as a sort of "go between" with Ryan and Glory and talked Ryan into refunding roughly 1/3 of what he originally intended on keeping and that Glory agreed to the $500 as a reasonable compromise.
The components Glory returned were in the worsts condition and packed the worst of any that I have ever seen in the nearly 10 years that I've been professionally selling electronics.
They were wrapped in bubble wrap that was so dirty you could hit it with your hand and a cloud of dust would rise off of it and you could shake it and a pile of dirt would literally fall out of it.
One of the chassis was so badly scratched that it had to be replaced. A second was scratched enough that we had to resell it with a substantial discount. For those two items alone most companies would not have allowed the products to be returned.
As for the DAC, it is quite possible that a Core Audio employee used the wrong silicone, may have forgotten to fully screw in all the mounting bolts, and could have made other errors in assembly. Considering the indisputable condition of the two chassis, it was not far off for us to believe that Glory had tampered with the DAC.
In any event, the $500 Glory was charged for damages to the products he returned was more than reasonable even without considering the DAC.
I was no longer a partner in Core Audio as of early July, 2011. Any customer complaints or fraud alerts since then could have nothing to do with me or Mojo Audio.
I have had several Core Audio customers approach me during 2012 who had problems with Ryan and products he sold long after I was involved with the company. These people claim Ryan didn't honor his warrantees and Ryan claims he did and that these people tampered with his products..."three sides to every story" and all that.
All I can state with certainty is the poor condition and poor function of the products when they arrived.
I've done my best to help these disgruntled Core Audio customers to the point where I have repaired some of the products. I've been asked to resell them for these customers with a warranty from Mojo Audio. Some time in the near future you should expect to see these used Core Audio products for sale on Audiogon.
Just like anyone else with a computer can do, I've done searches on Ryan and Core Audio Technology and I've found several negative posting on forums and fraud alerts that all happened long after I was associated with the company in any way.
One thing you can be certain of is that you won't find any fraud alerts or disgruntled customer postings for Mojo Audio. If a customer has any problems we simply return their full payment minus shipping. Period.
Since we have never had a customer request to return any power supply or DAC for a refund, and since we have never had any of them burn out in use, and since I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of our cable products that are returned each year, giving a full refund to the few customers that want one is a minor cost of doing business.
I had a brief lapse in judgement that made me a business partner of Ryan's for a few months roughly two years ago. During my time as a partner in Core Audio I was barely involved with customer service and barely spoke to any customers with the exception of Glory.
I hope that in making this posting my name and Mojo Audio would no longer be linked to Ryan or Core Audio.
~ Benjamin