McIntosh - Bad reliability and service

[Tullman]

I've had my MR78 for 15 years and all of the lights still work. It sounds like you need a good dealer. If I spent that much money at a dealer the least they could do is replace the lights.

I have a Convergent Audio Technology pre amp, the lights went out after several years. CAT replaced all of the lights and a switch that I busted off, for free.

Krell replaced the entire laser drive on my 20i that I bought used, For Free and the unit was out of warranty.

Shame on you McIntosh.

 

[Number 9]

Now I'm realy confused ...

Whose responsibility is this ultimately (in this case)? That of the dealer or McIntosh?

That people have had good/bad service with McIntosh or other equipment makers in the past is irrelevant IMO.

 

[ron-c]

Number 9,

In Russia? The Russian distributor of course if the unit was purchased in Russia. Each distributor prints their own literature, stocks their own parts and manages their own market. That is what distributors do.
Anyone can buy lamps from the service department where the solder in lamps are about $1.00, the small twist in about $2.00, the old style large automotive bayonet mounts $1.00 to $2.00 depending on model, and the festoon fuse type the old tuners used at about $5.00 each.
If a bulb is out replace all of them when the face plate is accessed and use a low heat iron to solder in the new ones. Solder wick with a 40 watt iron will clean the board up nicely before the new ones are put in.

Ron-C

 

[ron-c]

Carl,

If you are a small company like McIntosh and want to have your product available in the export market you use a distributor in the local market.
The distributor in the overseas country will structure the business as per the local customs. Some distributors may be more successful than others but this model is working for McIntosh. You can actually buy a New McIntosh system in Tehran Iran, Moscow, Thailand, or Beijing China just to name a few.
Your warranty card is only valid in the US for domestic models.

Ron-C

 

[CarlV]

I pulled my "outdated" post.
I did not understand, actually know about the distributor network
as I now do. I had felt all along it was a problem with his dealer.
I will remember this if I take a job in Moscow. :
As braillediver posted to the aa link I will post a link to hassel's post there but not here today:

http://www.audioasylum.com/forums/amp/messages/44671.html

Carl

 

[Number 9]

Originally posted by ron-c
In Russia? The Russian distributor of course if the unit was purchased in Russia.

Thanks. Good to know - not that I'll be planning to move to Moscow- but you do are providing some very useful info: in that the onus is on the distributor in some countires.

So how's it work here in the Great White North?

In regards to lamps, that is exactly what I did, I ordered them from the Mac service department. Great and fast service.

 

[ron-c]

Number 9,

In this case Canada is considered part of the domestic market which is the US and our Canadian brothers! That is until you try send samples across the border but this is a topic for another day. Ha.

Ron-C

 

[WhiteSE]

I dont know what the complication...if legally the responsability is with the dealer, that doesnt mean that McIntosh cant step up to the plate and help. Given that McIntosh failures are probably statistically very small, they could help the guy out.

Given that a great part of their clientele are repeat and long term loyal customers, why loose one?

 

[Bill Allan]

Ron-C
I can't help thinking that the McIntosh name is what is at stake in a situation like this. Foreign distributors want to sell your product for very good reasons but their inabilty to perform inevitably reflects on you rather than them. You didn't see the name of the Russian distributor mentioned in this thread did you?
Thirty years ago a foreign distributor could screw up and the only negative impact was on himself and his local dealers. Today the Internet and forums like this have changed all that. Surely your dealer/distributor agreements set standards of performance for these people! Its certainly not unreasonable to impose some demands beyond sales volume on them. Its quite commonly done in other industries. Granted McIntosh is a small company but your products have a legacy that is quite exceptional for any company in any field of endeavour. You can't just pack up a load of product and ship it off to some other corner of the world and not be concerned about customer satisfaction. If the distributor in the overseas country "structures the business as per the local customs" and the local custom is to give the consumer the short end of the stick does that make it acceptable for McIntosh? I can't imagine that it does. The fact that your reputation in North America is so good makes something like this even more baffling.
Regards
Bill

 

[hassel]

Ron-C,
my experience with your distributors is different from what you say. "Each distributor prints their own literature, stocks their own parts and manages their own market. That is what distributors do." Neither your German distributor Audio Components nor your Russian distributor, Absolute Audio, prints its own literature, e.g. They simply distribute the English-language manual of McIntosh. Your Russian distributor, Absolute Audio, distributes your warranty-card with all your units, too. IMHO this is where McIntosh´s responsibility comes into play. Why do you include them with these 220-volt-shipments if you know that the warranty is void in the country the customer like me buys it? As I already stated: A customer who opens the unit, sees a card that cries out: "Three year limited warranty" thinks that "limited" means he should not hit the unit with heavvy whiskey bottles. He does not go on to read the small print on the backpage that says: "Valid only in the US and Canada". What is more, I was openly lied to by your distributor, who assured me that this was the valid warranty for me as well. You say a little company like McIntosh needs distributors. Right. Still, I do not understand why McIntosh does not oblige its distributors to adhere at least to the same service standards like in the US. Other small high end companies do, like e.g. not only Bryston, but your competitor Accuphase, too. You say, the spare lamps cost only a few dollars. Right again. What you miss to say is that a distributor charges up to several hundreds dollars for the repair itself. I have just brought my MA6500 to the service, because I have given up hope on McIntosh, in about two weeks time I will get the probably high bill. And finally, as you can see from my original post - and what I told and wrote your service department, too - I am a customer who has invested more than 16,000 dollars in McIntosh-gear within less than three years. A little bit more help from McIntosh - and indeed, at least a response to my several inquiries - is the least I could expect.

 

[bolly]

Hi there hassel, Wouldn't you just like to strangle someone?

Greg

 

[ron-c]

So Hassel, how did the repair turn out?
Ron-C

 

[hassel]

Mr. Cornelius, so far I cannot tell. Tuesday last week, I gave the MA6500 to the authorized repair shop that does McIntosh repairs for Russia-distributor Absolute Audio. I was told the repair would take at least two weeks. The master there, by the way, was astonished to hear that I had received one year warranty only. "They used to do three years for McIntosh - that´s the norm". Whether Absolute Audio decided to economize on all customers or played a trick on me only , I do not know. Thursday morning last week, the same salesman and Absolute Audio-representative who had lied to me when selling the unit (named Albert of their sales shop Coliseum), and who had later explicitely told me I would have to repair the unit on my own cost, called me. He said that he had received an order "from the very top" of Absolute Audio - undoubtfully after a call from McIntosh - that they would now repair the unit on warranty, that he would instruct the repair shop to do so, and that he would get back to me after a few minutes with the details. That he did not do, nor on Thursday nor on Friday. When I called myself, I was told that Albert was not working now. As here in Russia May 1 until May 4 are public holidays, I did not have a chance to check with the repair shop or Absolute Audio. I thank you, Mr. Cornelius, for your work, although I do not understand why McIntosh could not notify me with a short e-mail about this new development. After the tricks Absolute Audio has played on me so far I will believe that they do what they promised to do now when I see it - that is, when I have received the unit repaired, without having paid, and when they have granted me, in writing, the three-year-warranty they promised me when I bought the unit. This is why I have not posted so far about a - maybe - good end to a bad story. I will certainly do so as soon as it has happened. In the place of McIntosh I would take out of this experience the lesson to oblige all distributors to oblige to minimum-standards, if only for the reasons Bill Allan has pointed out. The three-year-warranty McIntosh offers is a minimum anyway, I think. Let me in the meantime congratulate you to the TAS-review, as I share the musical joy, being a MC402 owner myself. As you can see from my posts on audioreview or the gon, I have continued to praise your products where it is due.
Florian Hassel

 

[Tullman]

There ya go Hassel, mission accomplished!

 

[hassel]

Update: It seems that a bad McIntosh-story is finding its good end. The repair shop confirmed that they have been instructed by the distributor to repair my amp on warranty. Thank you, Mr. Cornelius, and your collegues at McIntosh, who finally decided that there is nothing better than a nice kick in the ass (of the distributor) to get things going. And most of all, thanks to all forum members who took the time to read and comment - otherwise there would have been no kick at all, I guess.

 

[dwmann]

Originally posted by hassel
Update: It seems that a bad McIntosh-story is finding its good end. The repair shop confirmed that they have been instructed by the distributor to repair my amp on warranty. Thank you, Mr. Cornelius, and your collegues at McIntosh, who finally decided that there is nothing better than a nice kick in the ass (of the distributor) to get things going. And most of all, thanks to all forum members who took the time to read and comment - otherwise there would have been no kick at all, I guess.

Glad to see your story had a happy ending, especially since my own experience with McIntosh service has been nothing short of stellar. I purchased a C-34 preamp new about 1989 and 11 months after the 3 year warranty ran out it went dead. I took it to an authorized McIntosh repair center (I did not ship the unit to McIntosh Labs) and was told the power supply had shorted. Cost of repair about $400. I was unhappy, to say the least, as I thought equipment with the cost and reputation of McIntosh should be more reliable. However, I authorized the repair, and waited for the service center to order the parts from McIntosh.

About a week later I received a call from the service center informing me that when Mcintosh received the parts order they contacted the repair center to inquire about the unit. When told there was no sign of abuse and that I was the original purchaser, McIntosh decided to pick up the bill for parts AND labor. So my 4 year old unit was repaired for free, 11 months after the warranty expired.

I only wish more companies provided that kind of service.

 

[hassel]

Postscriptum: The amp has been repaired allright. It took two tries at the repair center and six weeks time, but finally they have managed it. Thanks again to McIntosh and especially Ron-C