“What if you think it's warranty, but an examination by the manufacturer finds you overdrove the speaker motor and it is fried?”
Easy. Nikon does this with their cameras. They pay for the shipping, but if they determine that it’s not a warranty issue, then the consumer has to pay for the repair and shipping.
There of course will be times when the manufacturer and consumer dispute whether the cause was abuse or manufacturer defect, but I’m going to assume the manufacturer knows their own product well enough to know.
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The warranty components that I've had to send back that I purchased through a reputable dealer, always had the shipping paid one way, and in a few cases both ways, dealer paid one way, manufacturer paid the other. I would expect no less. |
I believe in the quality of all of my audio components but also know that humans make them and that humans are not perfect. I was brought up to understand that there are no guarantees in life and that if I can't afford to play I won't. |
Just wanted to thank everyone that responded to this thread I guess I got my answer, I wasn't really asking it could or couldn't be done I know I'm not going to change anybody's opinion anymore than they can change mine which is if they believed in the quality of their product they wouldn't expect many warranty returns if any anyway thanks again |
Atmaspere got it right. Manufacturers can't control where their customers live and to cover shipping costs they'd have to plan on worst case scenario (cross country or worse) and then build that into their prices. I used to sell kitchen sinks and the mfr would warranty the sink in the event of a defect but would not cover removal/reinstallation costs because some sinks were sandwiched under megabuck granite countertops and the like. Like hifi shipping costs they couldn't afford to accomodate the extremes. |
Profit? I think I'd characterize it as survival.
I don't see many audio manufacturers with personal jets and sailing in yachts. Back when these guys bent over backwards, I suspect revenue and profits were much better.
If a manufacturer is going to live on small profits and low volume, then in order to cover the cost of future warranty shipping, you'd have to amortize that across all sales. Which means you need to charge more money per unit.
But with small volume, it's hard to have a good predictive model on what fully burdened warranty costs will be. And without regional representation, covering the cost of shipping regardless of where the customer lives, that's a tough proposition too.
LG has an advantage here. They're huge, they have regional support, they sell in large volume.
In a world where travelers will choose one airline over another because a ticket is 5 dollars more expensive, I imagine that manufacturers increasingly need to compete on price at the front end rather than sell on the promise of future customer service experience. |
Atmasphere, There are many companies who also charge for return shipping for items under warranty. Meaning from the Manufacturer's facility back to me. Your caught by the short hairs at this time. |
This is not how warranty is handled regardless of the field of endeavor we just had our LG TV quit working under warranty and it was repaired at absolutely no cost to us and am old enough to remember a time when audio manufacturers bent over backwards to make sure they had a customer for life so yes in my opinion customer service has been replaced by profit |
Terrybbagit, the fact that manufacturers don't pay for return shipping ('return shipping' meaning that the shipment is going from you to the manufacturer) is quite simple: they are not responsible for where you choose to live. Even so they split the deal with you; most manufacturers will pay for shipping back to your home.
This is how warranty is handled all over regardless of the field of endeavor. It is not a sign of poor service. |
OP, Don't know of any.
OP-inion, If there are any, they will have that built into their price structure. That seems counter-intuitive.
Against the competition, I would want to offer the best I could make for the least amount of profit that I need so it would make the business worthwhile.
I also see it as analogous to the "extended warranty" offered on many other products. You can tack that on to the price of the product if it makes you feel better but in the vast majority of the cases you will lose $ with it. In a few cases you win. At least, in the EW case, you have the option of paying more but think it would be financial suicide to add it automaticly to the msrp. |
Not sure how that makes any sense the manufacturer usually sells them to a dealer for for a wholesale price so their getting their money no matter what the dealer sells them for |
Agree that the dealer take care of the shipping if you purchased them at full price, not at 40 to 70 percent of retail, because that is not a reasonable arrangement.
Full retail equals dealer or manufacturer. Deep discount and you are on your own. |
Fine then how about a refund of shipping cost once its found that its the fault of the manufacturer why be penalized for something that is not your fault |
If you purchased the speakers at retail from a dealer, I would expect the dealer to take care of the return for you. Otherwise, I think it is reasonable to expect to pay return freight. What if you think it's warranty, but an examination by the manufacturer finds you overdrove the speaker motor and it is fried? If they have a free return freight policy they have already lost money on something that is not their fault.
Most speaker repairs can be completed in the field except maybe electrostats and planars. So, maybe just buy speakers from a local dealer and/or stay with conventional driver speakers. |
Its interesting I posted this thread just to see if anybody would be able to provide the name of a manufacturer that offers would I consider a full warranty so far nobody has I guess we've come to expect poor service |
It's standard practice within the audio industry for the manufacturer to only pay shipping one way regarding warranty work. If you think it's that big an issue, then limit all future purchases to those companies that are an exception. Or better yet, start up an audio manufacturing firm yourself and provide the high level of service and care you think every consumer deserves. From reading this post you might have at least two potential costumers. |
Why would they have to raise their prices are they making audio equipment that's so inferior that they expect to have enough returns to cut into their profit? I think anyone that believes they are making a quality product should not have any problem including return shipping costs on warranty repairs period |
I'm with you Ozzy unfortunately all manufacturers policies that I checked were all the same except for Salk speakers which will probably be replacing the Martin Logans |
All manufactures should pay if it's a warranty issue period, that goes for any product. |
"Actually, all items that are still under warranty should be returned back with no shipping charges. "
If that was done the manufactureres would have to raise their prices to offset this added expence to them. |
I was in touch with one of Martin Logans techs who was very nice he even sent a new crossover to see if that would solve the problem which it didn't so ultimately there was no other choice but to send them back to the manufacturer since there are no Martin Logan service outlets which ended up costing me almost 200.00 a hard pill to swallow when the value of the speaker is only 650.00 something I'll consider a lesson and in the future wont be purchasing another pair |
Terrybbagit, I completly agree. Actually, all items that are still under warranty should be returned back with no shipping charges. |
buy light speakers next time |
Why would they pay for shipping?? |
Some manufactures have regional representation for repairs to help cut down on shipping cost. Ak ML is there are any authorized repair facilities closer to your home. |
The reason I was asking is because I recently had this experience with Martin Logan one of the speakers no longer has any output and although its still under warranty I am responsible for the shipping charges to return the speakers and after looking at other speaker manufacturers warranty policies this seems to be normal I was thinking about a pair of Axioms until I found out they had the same policy and they're a Canadian manufacturer I can only imagine what costs would be to ship a speaker to Canada seems to me if they believed in their product they should back it completely |
Lean on the dealer that sold you the speakers. |
And you're asking this because.......? |
