A Story about a Defective Signature Platinum

One more thing...

It is this, I believe that the mark-up on Japanese cartridges when sold in the US and in a number of other countries is---outrageous! 

Shipping expense cannot explain any of the added costs. Simply pure profiteering. IMHO. For MoFi or any US Japanese cartridge dealer/distributor to throw a consumer under the bus as they are apparently doing to you, says a lot about these folks!

@mijostyn Presumably you bought the MSL from an authorized dealer?

If so, this is where I think the ’pressure’ has to come from...and not from you dealing with MoFi ( the distributor). When I had a problem with my new Lyra, my dealer was all over it, and at the time, Audioquest were pro-active about the issue...so no problem for me.

If your dealer is unwilling to go to bat for you, then I think you need to find another dealer.

@mijostyn   I still have not heard why you did not involve your selling dealer more. This is where the push back against the distributor needs to come from. Is your dealer actually a MSL rep?

@mijostyn Depending on what state you live in, warranty laws may be applicable to you as to the minimum lengths acceptable. IOW, even though MD state what they do, you may have legal recourse regardless.

For a company to sell a $11K cartridge with a ninety day warranty is more than weak IMO. Particularly since this cartridge can be bought in Japan for less than half of that amount!!

@cleeds +1. I agree that it is odd that mijostyn continues to feel good about his dealer, given what you stated. That dealer would be the last guy I would use again, for exactly the reasons you pointed out. 

@mijostyn  Jim Davis and Mo Fi/MD have been in hot water recently. Their undisclosed digital step debacle ( with the lauded 'all analog' LP's) landed them there. The ethics displayed with the company and Davis is clearly lacking. They are now in the process of 'settling' a Class Action against them--not a good look IMHO. 

Unfortunately, you were a victim of their greed and avarice. I hope the re-build by Steven will be to your liking. 

There seems to be some misconception about the quality control of a lot of these ’artisan’ sourced cartridges. The assumption being that each one is looked at by the maker and determined to be good. In reality, I suspect this is not the case at all; instead the QC leaves a lot to be desired. In my instance, the Lyra cantilever was installed incorrectly, leading to a return visit to the manufacturer. But we have all heard of QC problems with these expensive cartridges, albeit less so seemingly from the manufacturer’s who are larger ..like Ortofon, AT etc.,

The key here it would seem, is to make sure that your dealer is willing to stand behind you in the event of a failure and/or a manufacturing defect. If that is not to be the case, move on to another dealer who is. Doesn’t excuse MD’s protocol, but perhaps we can all learn a lesson from the OP’s folly.

With the OP’s example, unfortunately his cartridge was one year old, even though it had only 75 hours of usage. The problem is that this same circumstance would apparently have occurred even if his cartridge was only three months and one day old...as the manufacture is only standing by a three month warranty! Personally, I think such a short warranty is unreasonable on a cartridge that not only costs $11K, but also gives the dealer/distributor such a large mark up. IMHO, for them to offer some kind of accommodation would seem to be appropriate.

@mijostyn   Should you had to have the attitude in your statement " as always it is consumer beware"?? With a company like MD and Jim Davis, based on just their non-disclosure digital step debacle, it is clear that you needed to. This industry seems to need a little cleaning of the house as far as the many bad actors that seem to inhabit it, IMHO.

@lewm  Actually the cartridge was about $20K+ in the US. 

Perfect opportunity for you to explain away your Company Policy to add $5k to the typical arrive at the door price for a Cart' and then for the $5K upcharge get a measly 3 MONTHS WARRANTY.

In the guise of being Transparent, why not have a Header on all Cart' Sales

                      3 MONTHS WARRANTY ONLY !!!!!! - BUYER BEWARE 

+1000

@jonderda Question....let us say that the OP had sent you the cartridge for inspection and you found that a defective wire ( and/or other manufacturing defect) was the issue. Would this issue been covered under warranty since the cartridge is now a year old? Or, would you have requested payment for the fix?

@cleeds I think there are a number of unfortunate issues here. Each of us has their priority. Personally, i would be concerned with the apparent initial non-disclosure of the warranty issue, additionally the cavalier attitude apparently given to the OP, and the complete apparent lack of customer care and service.

For their rep to come here and be somewhat oblivious is also not a good look, but as Whart suggested, perhaps reaching out to this rep may bring some form of compensation to the OP. This is where I was going in my prior post, but I suspect it will result in ’cricket’s’ as to a reply -if the general behavior of this company is to be believed.

A few years back, there was an ’American importer’ who was importing a cartridge from Japan, which was readily available over there, and adding close to five thousand percent mark-up for the uninitiated in the US. Interestingly, this chap was not that successful because he had underestimated the fact that a lot of his ’marks’ were going to be able to easily shop this cartridge pricing via the internet. Nonetheless, I understand that he made enough sales to be still considered as the ’go to’ dealer for this brand in the US. I happen to know of a fellow who was ’suckered’ in by this guy, to say that once he became aware of the ’markup’ that he was far from happy would be an understatement...to say the least! As for warranty, well as far as I now, it has not been needed, but the warranty from this ’importer’...also 90 days! Folks, like the OP is saying, one needs to do a little homework on these cartridges and their 'importers' before pulling the trigger on a sale.

@mijostyn Interesting that the VP of sales and marketing is now opting for a more ’customer friendly’ position than when you were apparently talking to his reps.

I wonder if the bad publicity that you were attempting to expose had an effect?

Presumably if your cartridge is still faulty, that the offer to repair it will be on their dime...and not yours?

@mijostyn  Good to hear that at least someone at MD is trying and willing to do the right thing. Pity that it took what was almost a public flogging to get that to happen. 

Nonetheless, I think MD were perhaps in a world of hurt after their MoFi One Step debacle and hopefully Davis and his ilk will soon be gone...

@mijostyn Here I have to disagree with you, I think the law suit was entirely appropriate and warranted. Why, because these bad actors ( Davis and MoFi) had essentially created a bait and switch scheme. All the while stating their AAA source as a benefit to the a’phile consumer ( to justify their price), while knowingly reproducing a digital product. To that, their ’limited edition’ due to AAA master tape source fragility, was complete hogwash, given the digital source of the release.

I recently acquired the MoFi One Step Mingus Ah Um, and while it is a good sounding release, it is absolutely nowhere near what I believe it could have been IF it was a pure AAA release. Knowing what we now know of these LP’s, it is pretty obvious of the source IF you compare to a release from Opus 3 or their ilk in SQ. The Mingus AhUm sounds good, but it does not compete with many AAA masterings /LP’s that i have from a pure SQ factor...not even close.