A visit to the (Audio) Doctor

I had a very unusual but wonderful experience visiting Dave, the Audio Doctor. Unusual by means of his home and business in a Victorian home in Jersey City. I arrived 15 minutes early for an 11am appointment on Sunday and was greeted by his down to earth and friendly wife. We spoke for about 15 minutes discussing this old Victorian home while Dave was getting prepared for my arrival. She offered something to drink and I asked for a cup of tea in which she complied graciously. The house was set up with a large variety of top named components in different rooms ranging in prices from affordable to very expensive. I didn't feel I was in a showroom but in a friend's living room which added to the experience.

Next up, Dave himself, one of the nicest and enthusiastic person you want to meet. For the next 2 hours we spoke about audio equipment and his knowledge was quite impressive. He worked at some of the high-end audio shops in Manhattan I use to visit with my brother back in the 70s and 80s. I felt as if i was speaking to an old friend. I guess we both got caught up in our interest and enthusiasm of audio equipment that I almost forgot why I was there in the first place. Not once during this time period did Dave try to sell anything. The next hour we discussed music servers and Dacs and did some listening.

But what blew me away, Dave offered to bring some components we discussed to my home to audition. Wow, talk about great service! After over 40 years of auditioning audio equipment at many showrooms in the New York area, I cannot recommend a better experience and the hospitality of the Audio Doctor.

I find audiotroy very knowledgeable and informative, in this site. I learned when I read his post.Thank you for sharing your knowledge for free...

I realize this thread is a bit old, but saw it and felt the need to contribute my experiences with Audio Doctor.

I had an amp that required repair under warranty. The brand recommended and approved Audio Doctor  because they were the closest dealer.  When I wrote  AD they didn’t respond. After I wrote them a third time they finally wrote back insisting they did respond (although they were unable to forward that email). They then refused to help me because the item was purchased in Canada, citing the manufacture’s policy.  I showed them the manufacturer’s written approval. Still they refused. They then became aggressive,  questioning why I didn’t buy it from them. When I told them I couldn’t find a US dealer via an Internet search they implied I was untruthful or inept. Ultimately, I got the item fixed in the US in Florida, fully covered by the manufacturer. This was the second such incident with AD. Since that time I’ve literally bought $40K in equipment (much carried by them) and have refused to call them or visit, despite their convenient location. The friend who accompanied me to the audio show lives in Jersey City. After, he asked me where he should go for high end equipment.  I told him to avoid Audio Doctor. Audio dealers in the NYC area have a bad reputation, and these guys seem to be no different.

Dear Jtrelin,

What a lovely sentiment. Let get the facts straight.

First of all we do get a ton of emails some which get stuck in spam so it is possible that yours were ending up in there, we are also a small comany with two - three employess so much of our time up to this point is or was spent working outside the office installing systems for our clients.

Secondly, you miss one key fact, you purchased a product directly from Canada, for whatever reason, that makes it a "gray good" which is what a product that bypasses normal distribution is called, and you are acting as the importer.

We are not required by any dealer agreement to service a product you did not purchase from us, and that includes all dealers unless you are a service center which we are not. We sell and service equipment for our clients and our service to our clients is above board.

We secured a no cost a newer intergrated amplifier for one of our clients when their unit failed. we went to his house, picked up the unit, provided a loaner, has his unit repaired redelivered it. When it failed a second time we worked with the manufactuer to upgrade him at no cost to the next model which was more expensive.

We normally go out of our way to take care of many people even ones who are not our clients, however, some people rub us the wrong way and this is not a New York thing.

The fact that you think, " are entitled to service " because we sell the same product is ludicrious, and shows what kind of small minded person you are.

Good for you that you found someone in Flordia to take care of you, we being a small company do not have the latitude to service people that our not our clients, nor do we have the resources to be able to take in repairs from clients that our not our clients just because we sell the line, we sell over 60 lines of gear can you imagine the time, paperwork and shipping costs engendered if we just took in and serviced for free products not purchased from us and that were imported directly by the client?

Yes there are times when we started a new relationship with a client out of a service call, but most people understand civility and what is proper and what is not as well as what they are entitiled to receive.

Sometimes being nice works try next time to see things from the other side before you try to denegrate their business.

You are not entitled to anything a relationship starts with a covenant sorry we go out of our way for our clients, who have an understading of what is right and proper.

We have a 4.9 rating on Google no store in the A/V business in the New York metro region scores higher.

Our ratings are due to many satisfied and happy clients, who have all purchased products and systems from us.

Good luck in your future purchases.

Dave Lalin, owner

When I sold audio back in the 70’s and early 80’s, we also offered service for the equipment WE sold. Many times someone would come in to try to get their equipment repaired which was purchased from a local discount store across town. We flatly refused every person that came in to try to get a repair of such equipment. We had a sign next the the service department that stated “We service ONLY what we sell”. We pretty much stuck to that unless the person was a customer of ours who made many other purchases from us. In that case weather the unit was in or out of warranty, they were charged the same price. We also let it be known to them that we were doing the client a huge favor.

It is very expensive to run a repair service and it usually ends up being a losing proposition. You hopefully get your money back in sales, but not always. Audio Doctor had every right to refuse you service and if I owed the business, I would have done the same. I also question the persons motive for complaining about this in an open forum. Is the person deliberately trying to ruin Audio Doctors service? The bottom line is you bought something direct from Canada, skipping the US dealers and then you go to the local store for service and are told no. So, you throw a hissy fit and try to ruin a persons livelihood. Not cool. I’m glad you weren’t a customer in our store back in the day. I would have quickly escorted you to the door.