This is my first post here in a long time, and I seriously considered not writing it, but the situation I'm about to relate to you has reached a crisis point, and I feel like I have little choice now but to call a manufacturer out in public for shockingly substandard customer service.
The company in question is Canadian firm PurePower, maker of an acclaimed line of AC power regenerators. I've owned their APS 1050 for several years now, and until recently it functioned flawlessly and made a decent improvement to my system's sonics. However, at the very beginning of June, a power surge blew out the input side of the unit and made it nonfunctional. (Interestingly, my other regenerator, a Chinese-made Dussun, escaped unscathed.)
I called PurePower and spoke to a gentleman named Damian. He gave me a repair quote over the phone and told me to send the unit in. It arrived at PP's Niagara Falls facility on 6/11/15. Damian said it would be a quick repair and would be back to me within a week.
Real long story short, by the middle of July, I had yet to receive my unit back. PP stopped answering my phone calls and emails and repeated requests for a tracking number. Damian's story had changed any number of times over the month PP had my 1050. First he said, "It's going out tomorrow" (that was around the 16th-17th of June), then "It has gone out" (he told me that a couple of times), and then "It's at UPS" (his penultimate lie). Having finally exhausted my patience, I threatened to take this whole thing public and consider legal action if I didn't get a straight answer. Only then, less than half an hour before my deadline to him, did Damian return my call. He said that the company had been on vacation for the past two weeks (though this wasn't reflected on their answering machine or their email, and he even admitted he had been in the office several times during the break). He said the unit was fixed and would go out Tuesday, July 21. Again, he promised me a tracking number.
As of today, July 31, I still have not received my 1050, and the company again is not returning emails. In fact, even more disturbing, their phone number is now out of service. What bothers me most of all, they cashed my check three weeks ago, and I have NOTHING to show for my expenditure. I'll stop short of calling it outright theft, but it sure feels like it.
I am now afraid that I won't see my unit again anytime soon, if ever. It's hard for me to tell if this whole saga is the result of PurePower's utter incompetence or something more malevolent. But, whatever it is, I feel seriously taken advantage of. As I've said, it wouldn't be quite as much of an issue had they not already cashed my check, but the fact that I did my part and paid them and they've completely reneged on theirs--and now refuse to answer inquiries . . . well, that pisses me off. And it won't stand. That's why I've taken to forums like this one to warn fellow audiophiles about PurePower's antics. After doing some research online, it seems that I'm hardly the only one to complain about their customer service in the last few years.
I hate to resort to a post like this, but the audiophile public deserves to know when a manufacturer clearly doesn't do right by its customers. And this, to me, is a case in point. With any luck, this situation will be resolved in my favor and I'll get my 1050 back, but until then, I'm damn well going to let my voice be heard. By its shoddy behavior, PurePower has forced my hand.
P.S. If anyone can suggest any consumer-rights organizations I can contact, I'd appreciate it. I've already reached out to the Ontario Ministry of Consumer Services, but have yet to hear back from them.
Update: I took both my PurePower units to the dump. I just cannot in good conscience subject anyone else to the shenanigans perpetrated on such a regular basis by Richard and Damien. They lie, cheat and steal from their customers on every level. I cannot count how many times Damien told me my units were repaired and shipped, only to hear some excuse months later when they finally answered the phone. I resorted to blocking my caller ID to get them to answer! I feel great now that the units are gone and trashed, as they should be. Maybe I could have sold them, but I just could not do to someone else what they did to several of us. I have a conscience and they obviously do not. I believe in Karma and it will catch up with them..... These two con artists have given a black eye to the Audio Industry and we are all affected. Fortunately they are part of a small minority `and the industry will prevail and overcome their transgressions.
WARNING about Purepower: If you just read in Audiogone the truth is very apparent and I do not need to go into it. Last year I had 2 of their units in for repairs and after many months of all the same type of BS, and getting nowhere, I finally reached them by phone. I told them I was interested in a 3000 unit, the most expensive. They said they could ship me one "right now". I said that sounded good, but I needed my 1500 and my 2000 back first and then they could have my money for the new one. I got both back within a week, after paying more for the Tariff ! Yes, I played them. Yes I feel crappy for resorting to this lie to get back my units, but nothing else worked for over a year. I now have both units which I will never use and I can't sell them because I will not subject anyone else to Purepower. Thinking about dropping them at the dump. I will read any comments here, especially any from those two weasels in Canada. I take that back.... I was unfair to the weasels, sorry.
I’m sorry to hear about their poor customer service of late. I’ve corresponded with both Richard and Damien about 3 years ago. Both were very proactive with prompt correspondence—even on weekends. After further reflection, I declined to obtain the tech as it appeared the battery packs had a limited lifespan. Those are the most costly aspects of their power conditioner tech.
I would like to further explain why I don’t believe Richard’s claim that solar power was to blame.
Before I shipped the 3rd unit (the ’new’ PurePower+ 3000 Gold) back to you, I had already received the PS Audio DirectStream P20.
I plugged the PurePower to the PS Audio P20 (i.e., PurePower getting its AC from the PS Audio), and the PurePower buzzed just as badly as when it was plugged in directly to a 20-amp dedicated wall outlet.
"functioned perfectly on initial build and later on return inspection."
Readers only have to go back to my earlier posting on 7/20/2018 at 12:55pm to know what you said is total lie.
On May 23, 2017, at 3:31 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
We have found that an entire batch of 3000 motheboards have noisy output filter circuits.
And in your email dated August 2017
On Aug 22, 2017, at 12:47 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
Sorry for our excessively long delay. Let me explain what we have been up to. Its a long email, but hopfully worth the read.
As you already know, the model 3000 120 volt unit shipped to you suffered from an excessively noisy cap and coil in the output filter.
We unfortunately shipped 2 units with this problem.
I attach a photo of the offending cap and coil
We pot the coils in a special epoxy to prevent coil movement and keeps the coil silent.
We cover the capacitor in a sound absorbing clay material that is very effective in soaking up high frequency noise.
For three years this treatment has kept our filter boards nice and quiet.
Then we received a new batch of boards from our supplier and didn’t suspect a thing until you and the other customer plugged in your amplifiers.
Since then we have been trying to resolve this seemingly simple issue.
We did find an alternative capacitor - an oil filled cap - that is completely silent.
The unit with the new cap was tested by our dealer, and he decided it was quiet enough for normal audio listening. He shipped the unit back to the customer - who says he is perfectly happy and cannot hear any audible sound.
However, in your case we think we need perfection. It was not as quiet as it shoudl be. We needed a completely silent coil as well.
We did find an alternate supplier, who promised us that he could build us a perfect silent coil, but the timeline, and price were a problem.
So we decided instead to wait for the new PurePower Gold introduction.
Main take away from your email are:
1. shipped to you suffered from an excessively noisy cap and coil in the output filter.
2. and didn’t suspect a thing until you and the other customer plugged in your amplifiers.
Readers, please note especially the statement "YOU AND THE OTHER customer ..."
Your claim that my solar setup is responsible for your unit to buzz is purely YOUR conjecture (and frankly, I don’t believe that b.s, but that is beside the point).
Basically ...
your product does not perform or work well under customer’s environment
customer had your equipment for a total of about 10+ minutes before they were boxed and shipped back to you
you had every opportunity to tell me that you don’t think you guys can make it work and I would be fine with that (and would have great respect for you as a person and as a business man
you made me wait for 15 months then come back and told me you are, sort of speaking, doing me a favor by accepting my return after over a year
you claim you did not ’refuse’ to refund, but your not refunding me for nearly 3 months by now constitutes a refusal to refund me my money. You had no ground to claim that just because you don’t have the money that I have to wait for you to sell your next unit before I can get my money
The situation reported has been presented unfairly we believe and includes completely false information regarding PurePower.
We were working to solve a problem with a PurePower installation in California for over a year providing multiple replacement units and various solutions which were not effective.
All three units provided him functioned perfectly on initial build and later on return inspection.
After over a year, the customer finally disclosed that he had a solar installation with inverters attached to his home, generating high harmonics. Had we known he had a solar install, we would have had a solution almost immediately instead of trying to find a fix something that wasn’t broken.
There was no claim that the PurePower units did not provide perfect and isolated regenerated AC, or that the desired performance improvement of the connected components was not met, but the problem with the off grid solar power caused loud harmonic buzzing in our input filter circuits at a level we have never before heard.
Regardless, we will ensure that the customer receives full restitution as warranted. We did not refuse to refund his purchase price at any time. We simply promised to accept his return - after a full year - resell that unit to another customer and provide a full refund the minute it is sold. We feel that is eminently fair for a custom built and configured product.
(The unit in question, a lightly used PurePower Gold 3000 model with lithium battery pack and gold/silver power path and internal wiring is available for $5995 - compared to its MSRP of $10,700)
On the matter of “The Real” PurePower:
- PurePower began in 2003 with 100% North American parts, manufacturing and assembly with 1st Gen models. - In 2006 we outsourced some board production to Taipei for the 2nd Gen models with the remainder of production and assembly in Canada. - We slowly increased outsourcing of parts over the next 5 years until most of the unit was produced and assembled overseas. - In 2011 our primary supplier attempted an outrageous brand and product theft. This is fully documented in the court papers made available on our web site and was resolved completely in our favor (against the ProPower people) by the 6th Circuit in Florida with an award of $650,000. This award remains entirely outstanding. We maintain no relation with the former sub-supplier in any way and they remain under permanent court injunction. - 2012 was occupied with the above legal issues, and a full year of design of our 3rd Gen “Plus” models as well as bringing all production and assembly back to Canada. - A long and difficult period of recovery ensued. The disruption to the company caused by the attempted hijacking of our brand and products were severe with years of lingering effects. - 2017 through this year saw our development and release of the new 4th Gen. PurePower Gold product line – also with North American production and assembly in our Canada facility.
PurePower makes great AC regeneration products. We believe we deal in good faith and try to provide good and timely service to our dealers and customers. In this case we went well beyond normal support and incurred significant expenses, that it turns out were unnecessary.
let me illustrate the night and day difference I’ve had between auditioning PS Audio gear and PurePower gear.
No need to say more about my bad experience with this disreputable, or rather, this fraud and scamer PurePower.
Fall of 2017 I had an opportunity to audition PS Audio’s DirectStream DAC + DirectStream Memory Player. PS Audio took my credit card info and then sent me the equipment. Due to some personal commitments that came up unexpectedly, I was not able to spend the desired time to audition. PS Audio graciously provided me additional time. In the end, unfortunately I decided that I would stick to my current SACD player so I can put my money into other areas where my system is in more urgent need of improvements.
If memory served me right, I don’t believe that at any time during this extended trial period did PS Audio ever charged my credit card. And when I informed PS Audio with my decision, Kevin Jackson responded very courteously and professionally. He thanked me for giving PS Audio a try, and said that he hoped at least that I had fun with my auditioning (and comparing with my own SACD). He promptly emailed me the return authorization and shipping label.
=== When I realized that the ’new model’ PurePower+ 3000 Gold was buzzing just as badly as the two units I received last year, I called up Kevin Jackson of PS Audio and inquired about home trial of their new DirectStream Power Plant 20. At the time, I only had less than 2 weeks before family events would prevent me from playing with my audio system. Kevin remembers me, of course, but that does not prevent him from graciously offering to send the P20 to me right away so that I can try it out during this short period of free time, and he would extend the normal trial period so that when I become less occupied, that I would be able to continue my audition.
Shortly after I tried the PS Audio Power Plant 20, I was reasonably sure that I would keep it, but I didn’t call Kevin to tell him that. Several weeks later when I had more time I continued my audition. Our agreement was that unless I contact PS Audio and request to end and return the trial equipment, that means I would keep it. So I kept the P20, and it was only after this extended trial period had ended, and that I didn’t request to return the equipment to PS Audio, did PS Audio finally charged my credit card for the cost of that DirectStream Power Plant 20. == So there you have it, night and day differences between dealing with a reputable company like the PS Audio, versus dealing with the two fraudsters Richard and Damian Janzen who run the PurePower.
Well, well, it seems 24 Hume St. is the home of the Plattsville Grist Mill. Yikes! And then there is this.... http://www.purepoweraps.com/TheRealPurePower.htm It's pretty bad when you have to research an audio company to see if it's legit. Good Luck!
Stop calling me. I have nothing else to say or discuss with you.
I have given you enough chances and warnings to do the right thing and you simply ignored me, and continue to spew non-sense. I have wasted enough time and energy in dealing with your shenanigans.
You want to resolve this issue, like you said in the voice message you left me in my voicemail? Just refund my money. PERIOD!
Richard, regarding your email subject: "Why we need a new way to resolve your refund issue"
No, we don’t need a new way to resolve my refund issue
We just need the old fashion way - manufacture/distributor receives the returned unit, manufacture/distributor immediately refunds the customer his/her ’100% money-back guarantee’ money.
Richard, your attempt at blaming your unit’s buzzing noise on solar inverter is probably b.s. Google shows this:
Your solar system will turn off at night as there is not enough sunlight to sustain operation. Once the solar radiation is high enough the inverter will start to operate automatically again each morning – it will start off with a self test before feeding the grid with electricity.
But that’s really besides the point. Your statement about ’making demand .. ’ is ridiculous too:
Why did you make demands on the manufacturer that tried its very best to fix a problem we didn’t create?
I made no demand on you other than going out of my way repeatedly, wasting my time testing this and that for you, thinking that I am helping a small company to solve a problem affecting their equipment, so that they can survive in this highly competitive hi-end audio gear market. That, of course, was when I was still foolish to believe in that PurePower was a legit business.
My correspondence to you on May 11, 2018 made it very clear to readers around the world that I made no blames nor demand anything from you, other than helping you and giving you multiple chances to fix the buzzing noise.
Quoting Charles:
Hi Richard, By now you must have received the 3000 Gold that I shipped to you 2+ weeks ago. But I have not received any refund yet. Please refund me as soon as possible as I need the money to help pay for the PS Audio purchase. Thank you Charles
Begin forwarded message: From: Charles
Subject: Don’t think it is going to work out for us
Hi Richard, I am sorry but it looks like ARC and PurePower just don’t work well together. I think it’s probably time to consider a refund of my money. I’ll call you in morning so we can talk in person first. Regards, Charles
And finally, your outrageous claim OUT OF THE BLUE, that you would have to ’sell MY unit’ in order to refund me my money, and that b.s about unable to refund through PayPal, credit card, etc, and about sending me a check.
On Jun 19, 2018, at 6:59 AM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
I’ll call this afternoon.
I am having a problem with your refund, not of your making, that makes it necessary to resell your unit to generate your refund. I would normaly simply make the payment out of general revenue but we had a large and critical cash problem in May because a payment from a middle east customer failed as a result of Trump’s rejection of the nuclear agreement and the sanctioning of some Middle East banks. We didn’t expect to be victims of the US administration - but it seems there are unexpected conequences to politics. The amount was large enough to upset our finances - but I expect it to be overcome by the end of June.
I though I had a customer in San Diego all lined up for your unit - but he delayed an so did another sale in Boston. I should have it resolved soon. I have two other pending sales for 3000s. I’m just trying to upgrade them to Lithium and Furutech options.
We do not have a credit card facility so I have no way to create a credit on you credit card. The original charge was made on a PayPal account of another company who ran occasional charges on our behalf as a favour. As a manufacturer we do not normally offer a credit card payment option.
Here are just a few examples of PurePower constant delay in shipping me a ’fixed’ unit June 23, 2017, which is 2.5 months after I sent back their units due to buzzing noise.
On Jun 23, 2017, at 2:14 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
Sorry i missed your call.
We did resolve the noise problem.
We built a new unit with our silent capacitor solution - but there was a small amount of residual coil noise.
We think it is very quiet overall - - but in your case we were gun shy.
So we sent it to one of our audiophile dealers who listened critically and just called to tell us he was fully satisfied.
Therefore we are building a new unit for you with the same super quiet cap and it will ship next week from New York.
On November 14, 2017, still nothing from PurePower, except this, now from Damian Janzen.
On Nov 14, 2017, at 10:49 AM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hello Charles,
This is Damian here. Your unit is shipping with tomorrow’s pickups. It has been ready to go, but I held it back twice to apply the most recent changes and tweeks.
I wil forward tracking on pickup.
Thanks, Damian Janzen.
Quoting Charles:
Hi Richard,
What is going on? I have not heard back from you regarding my unit that you said was pretty much ready to ship …
On April 1, 2018, still nothing from PurePower
On Apr 1, 2018, at 11:47 AM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
You Lithium Batteries have been shipped from our supplier - Should be installed in your unit, tested and shipped to you April 6.
If they arrive late shipdate will be April 9.
Quoting Charles:
Hi Richard, Can you please let me know what is the status of my unit? When will you REALLY be shipping it to me??
@falconquest the two addresses advertised on their purepoweraps.com are probably bogus addresses. One lawyer told me that Niagara Falls address is a UPS location.
New Jersey state business license record for PurePower Partners LLC Richard and Damian Janzen names are nowhere inside that doc. https://www.audioasylum.com/forums/shady/messages/6903.html It's a defunct store, on Main Street of Hackensack, NJ. Owner was some Korean guy, selling audio/visual (TV, stereo, CDs, Records)
Oh my god, audiophile around the world, Richard’s non-sense continue to amaze me (and it should amaze you, too, after you read his email to me.
On Jul 22, 2018, at 2:53 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
I tried to explain our predicament as best I could. You seem to feel we have not been fair. That is not a fair assement by you.
I want you to understand clearly that our offer to refund your original purchase price after a year was based on our ability to resell the unit you returned.
Under normal circumstances that would occur almost immediately, since we require 3000 models to fill orders on an ongoing basis. The fact that it occured exactly when audio sales to the US market are close to zero during the early summer just made it worse.
We were even willing to reconfigure your unit to make is saleable in Europe or Asia, but that market is also extremely slow.
I do think you fail to appreciate the good faith efforts we made to resolve your problems.
Richard Janzen, let me make few points perfectly clear to you: 1. The units you sent me are YOURS, NOT mine. They are NOT ’my unit’ until I tell you that I am buying and keeping it.
2. Don’t bother me any further with your b.s, about new spins and new reasons why you do not have the money to refund me. Even if they are true, that’s YOUR problem and I don’t care to know. You have YOUR hardware back, so send me MY MONEY. I have given you enough of my ’sympathy’ and ’patience’.
3. The 3 units you sent me are garbage. First unit I operated it for 5 minutes and took it out of my system. Second unit I turn it on and turned it off, in 1 minute. And after waiting for more than 15 months, the third unit I operated it 5 minutes and took it out of my system. I refused to even call them ’audition’ time as they were making such loud buzzing sound that listening to and enjoying music was impossible.
Again, they are YOUR units, and were NEVER ’my unit’
I want you to understand clearly that our offer to refund your original purchase price after a year was based on our ability to resell the unit you returned.
4. How dare you making that statement. "Want you to understand clearly that our offer to refund ... after a year ..."
You were the one who kept me without anything to audition for 15 months.
You should have refund me after I sent the first 2 units back to you (within less than 2 weeks of my 'starting audition') The hardware are yours and never mine until I tell you I will keep it. You have no legal ground to claim that you have to sell ’MY UNIT’ before you can refund me my money.
We shipped three seperate PurePower 3000 units to you. Each one ot those units was carefully tested before leaving our plant. Each one was fully tested when it came back. Each of the three PurePower 3000s were perfect in their operation.
Two of them were sold as used equipment to other Audiophiles. Both of them are operating in high end audio systems and are delivering exactly the performance we promise. They all operate silently. The third unit would also have to be sold as a "demo" unit. Once we ship a new product out the door it is by definition a used product, and we reduce ther price by 25%. Add to that fact the original price included a substantial discount based on your membership in the Audio Society.
To be blunt, after a year of trying our best to find out why our product was making a noise in your system, when no other installation in the world has exhibited this behavoir in our 14 years of shipping regenerators, you finally explained the exact cause - and it was not a fault in our product. The problem is in your solar inverters - and you could have avoided the whole long saga if you had explained that you had a solar system on day one. In fact, the odds are we could have solved it in a couple of weeks. We have PurePower installations geared specifically to improve solar inverter power problems. (If you are still interested I can provide a technical explanation of why your solar system is guilty of creating the problem.) See this technical paper. Your solar supplier should have advised you of possible problems with harmonics. You should still be fixing this issue - it was probably your real problem all along.
5. Anyone reading this thread will only have to Google search for keywords ’PurePower buzz buzzing noise’ to see that the problem had been reported by many and over the past many years. I rest my case.
You have to have at least a little sympathy for our side of this issue. We delivered three of our best models. We expended countless hours trying to make your noise issue appear in our test room. We had to sell the first 2 untis at a 25% discount. We shipped 6 cartons to and from California. Our financial losses have been well past $5,000 - all in the name of trying to provide customer service above and beyond.
We could simply take the position that we would not accept the return. All three units funtioned perfectly. Our warranty and promsie of refund does not apply to a perfect product with not faults. We did not warrant your solar system.
6. You have just exposed yourself to the world what a fraud you are in above statement.
Huh? "Our warranty and promise to refund does not apply to perfect product with no faults". ANY offer on a FREE home audition/trial, by ANY audio manufacturer or its distributors, with 100% money back guarantee, NEVER hinges on prospective customer having to provide a valid reason - whether customer return the unit because it is defective, or whether the audio gear failed to perform as advertised (even just on sound quality, satisfaction ground).
Here are your own words back in March 1 of 2017:
On Mar 1, 2017, at 2:49 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
Yes to everything!
I would be happy to offer you, as a San Franciso Audiophile Society member, a return moneyback guarantee through Paypal. It can be 2 weeks or a bit more if needed, but 2 days is usually enough.
We love to direct compare with PS Audio. They are the only other true regenerator, but come a distant 2nd when you hear the difference in dynamics.
"But 2 days is usually enough" ... You are right, I didn’t need 2 days; only needed 5 minutes to know that I don’t want them.
Finally, let me wrap up by posting the remaining text from Richard’s most recent email, with subject line
"Why we need a new way to resolve your refund issue"
You could have sold it to another San Francisco Audiophile for $5300 and they would have had a fantastic bargain and truly great sound.
Why didn’t you take that route? I am sorry I didn’t insist on it. It would have been the fairest thing to do when there was nothing at all wrong with our product.
Why did you make demands on the manufacturer that tried its very best to fix a problem we didn’t create?
I certainly do not want to go onto the forums and attack your integrity - but I cannot accept your attack on ours.
I can think of a better way to satisfy everyone. Sell the unit as a used PurePwoer on Audiogon or another sales site.
As a manufacturer it is inappropriate for us to offer the unit for sale on audio equipment forums - but we can prepare the ad in your name and direct the proceeds to you.
We will provide full factory warranty and ship it to the buyer. I would suggest a sales price of $5900.00
If this works for you I’ll put together an ad with copy and pics.
But I must ask you to take down your negative comments. We do not deserve them.
Richard Janzen, Marketing Manager 716 777 3727
7. Are you *!@&* kidding me??!! Suggesting that I try and sell your junk to someone else so I can get my money??
I think you have again exposed your true, ugly self for the whole world to see.
8. Let me make it PERFECTLY clear ONCE MORE - and paraphrasing what you said - "If things don’t improve in 10 days, then maybe I’ll just have to find money outside of the company to pay you"
That should have been the first thing you do on June 6, 2018 when you received my return (which is already 3 weeks after I informed you about returning the 3rd unit for refund due to the buzzing noise), not 2 months later (and still just all talk but no action).
Want to mention PS Audio (reputable maker of true audiophile-quality products) here so that search engine can find this thread when someone is looking and considering AC regenerator ..... and know to stay away from PurePower
Yes,...this is a long-running and very bad/tragic story for many audiophiles here and elsewhere and I know several people including myself who were subject to their varying degree of b.s. over the years and for many, fraud. I luckily dodged the fraud aspect but my dealer did not. He died a few years ago with PP still owing him money for a PP3000+ unit after a string of broken promises. Bad mojo with these 2 fraudsters,..>STAY AWAY!!!
The first of his many lies and delay tactics, back in May 2017, 2 months after I had shipped the units back to them.
On May 23, 2017, at 3:31 PM, Richard Janzen <richard@purepoweraps.com> wrote:
Hi Charles,
We have found that an entire batch of 3000 motheboards have noisy output filter circuits.
We have been unable to figure out exactly why a stable design should suddenly have noise problems after 4 years - we think it is something the coil supplier did - perhaps a change in their production methods.
We have already found and installed a compeltely quiet capacitor - which makes the unit dramatically quieter, but we are concerned that you unit should be completely quiet.
We are having new coils built by a Boston company - who tell us they can abolutely guarantee success. We have sent them a complete 3000 so they can test their results.
I am not certain of their timeline, but I will get a firm date tomorrow and follow up.
Richard Janzen, Marketing Manager 716 777 3727
Quoting from Charles:
hi Richard, Damian,
It’s been a while … can you please give me an update on the progress of fix the PP3000? Am I likely to receive a working unit to audition soon?
This week we have sent out invoices for our first major set of orders for the new Gold products to dealers and distributors in Russia, France, Czech Republic, the Middle East, the UK, South Africa, the Carribean, Singapore and the US.
We have a pretty strong order list and are ready to begin shipments - so we are watching our Bank of America inbox in anticipation of transfers.
I have no control over their timing - but there are enough of them that we are hopeful for a quick influx and a return to normal revenue.
I am having a problem with your refund, not of your making, that makes it necessary to resell your unit to generate your refund. I would normaly simply make the payment out of general revenue but we had a large and critical cash problem in May because a payment from a middle east customer failed as a result of Trump's rejection of the nuclear agreement and the sanctioning of some Middle East banks. We didn't expect to be victims of the US administration - but it seems there are unexpected conequences to politics. The amount was large enough to upset our finances - but I expect it to be overcome by the end of June.
I though I had a customer in San Diego all lined up for your unit - but he delayed an so did another sale in Boston. I should have it resolved soon. I have two other pending sales for 3000s. I'm just trying to upgrade them to Lithium and Furutech options.
We do not have a credit card facility so I have no way to create a credit on you credit card. The original charge was made on a PayPal account of another company who ran occasional charges on our behalf as a favour. As a manufacturer we do not normally offer a credit card payment option.
So I am sending a cheque.
Your unit arrived and was checked out.
We ran it wirh various loads from 25% to 100%.
I just want you to know it operates absolutely silently.
The other units we received back from you were sold as demo units are behaved normally at other high end audio customers.
So we have to make the asumption that some anomaly in your house AC is the culprit - probably contained in the 5% harmonic distortion shown in your scope image.
This is the one and only case of noise in the PurePower power supply caused by the incoming power we have ever seen in 10 years of delivering PurePower regenerators.
It is also peculiar that harmonic distortion should cause noise in our coils. We have installed hundreds of regenerators in homes with very high harmonic distortion - some over 10% - and the only result is that the PurePower totally removes the distortion. So there is something very specific about your case - perhaps it is an unusual frequency.
We are working with a coll manufacturer to design coils that will remain silent - even with a resonating frequency - but it would help greatly if we truly understood what is lurking in your incoming AC.
It is also true that if your utility power contains high distortion it should be a cause for concern in your home in general. You may use a regenerator to fix the audio system - but other equipment througout your home is at risk of overheating and early failure.
I'd be happy to ship our power quality analyser together with our cheque for a quick analysis of the utility power. It is capable of revealing the problem in more detail.
check never came of course. Every call it's some different story/excuse why he cannot refund me, and the same delay tactics
and based on the posting by member jea48 on 8-2-2015, it looks like what Richard and Damian Janzen did was they defrauded ProPower by purchasing units from ProPower but never paid for them. Then Richard and Damian put the ProPower internal circuitry into a new casing and market as their own PurePower units.
Because, 3 reasons: 1. I know of two audiophile locally who have PurePower and were happy with it
2. I felt the idea of regenerated AC from stored power source (i.e., battery, as in PurePower) would be better than direct wall AC supply (i.e. as in PS Audio). There is no basis for that belief, just my own thoughts. With that in mind, choices are very limited. At the time I only know of PurePower (later I learned that IsoTek and ProPower) 3. I thought I was dealing with the ’real and legit’ PurePower (after the breakup and legal issue), and bought into the idea that production brought back to Canada (so that it is now in-house with quality control as opposed to contracted out to some Taiwan manufacturer) Yes, had I read through all the various thread, I would have realized that all the complaints reported were actually directed at the PurePower Partners LLC, Richard and Damian Janzen.
I just lost about $5200, after I returned a trial unit to PurePower, and Richard Janzen failed to refund me the money claiming that they don't have the money to refund me ... yet.
story:
1. got a PurePower+ 3000 on a 2-week 'money-back guarantee' in March 2017, paid by PayPal. It buzzed so loudly (reported by many online) I had to take it out of my system
2. got a replacement unit shortly, same problem. Richard gave me all the same sort of lies/non-sensical explanations that have been reported by others.
3. I was naive and stupid, and probably was too busy at the time to research further online so failed to realized others had all the same bad experience. I bought into Richard's lies about 'progress in fixing' the buzzing problem, and that they will send me one without issue soon. So the most stupid part here is that I failed to request a refund, which at that time I was still protected by PayPal should PurePower fail to refund me.
4. Days turn into weeks into months. Requests for updates (calls, emails) often went unanswered. Then was told they are working on upgraded model (PurePower 3000 Gold) and they decided to wait to ship me that new model.
5. Red flags all over and I should have seen it coming, but didn't react. But I suppose by this point in time I was already out-of-luck since I am no longer protected by PayPal. Was told 'new' model will be ready by fall of 2017
6. By spring of 2018 still didn't get a unit. Finally got Richard to send me the 'new' 3000, which by the way, I think they just repackaged the same circuitry inside a new-looking chassis, but replaced the older sealed-acid battery with lithium battery.
7. Received 'new' PurePower 3000 Gold on May 9, 2018. Hooked it up and OMG it made the same disturbing loud buzzing noise.
8. Richard then claims that they had 'misunderstood' what I told them when I first reported the noise (and sent them audio recording of the sound), claiming that they had focused on fixing this and that, but now he proceed to claim the source of problem is my home AC electrical system (power from the wall). WHAT??? Isn't that what his product is supposed to help improve or eliminate? Now he is blaming my home AC wiring for causing their coil to buzz (but that, in fact, was what he had acknowledge since day one and said that they were 'working towards a fix’)!
9. Again, I was naive, stupid, or at least totally UNINFORMED, so I continued to work with Richard to try and help him find the source of 'probelm' (in my own home AC). Finally, I was done checking, testing this and that for him, and I sent unit back to him May 30, and they received it on June 6, 2018.
10. As of today, July 13, I still don't have my refund.
11. Now seeing service of an attorney
12. At this point I've pretty much resigned myself to be out $5200 and don't expect being able to recover that. But I really think this scam has to come to an end so I am posting this to warn fellow audiophiles.
This was very informative. i was thinking of buying a new pure power pro or a PS audio P10. I quess this solves that question. I like to suppport Canadian or USA made products, but poor service and wworkmanship cannot be tolerated no matter where the place of origin is. Thanks to everyone who put in tbere comments. Once again very helpful.
There are more than a few threads on this company with more current issues going back over the last 3-6 months to 3-4 years ago. They would not know 'the truth' or the concept of it or good customer service and integrity if it walked up and hit them over the head. I know of 3 other audio hobbyists here and myself plus one dear friend/audiophile (also a PP dealer at one point before he died a couple years ago) that have all been absolutely screwed and/or lied to, misled, talked down to, maligned, etc...by Richard and Damian. They are not ethical businessmen or trustworthy in any aspect. Stay Away... Unfortunately, chasing people like this through legal and/or BBB-like channels is a true waste of time. At one point they built quality units (I owned a PP 2000 built in late 2010 that was amazing) but after the split of the company (also written about in various threads and on the internet), the people that remained with this form of Purepower up in Canada started to produce products with serious issues (also written about on various threads) and act in unethical ways. There is ample material on Agon about them including my own personal experience with them and that of others. Unfortunately for the poster of this thread if past history is any indication, the money will not be returned, the unit will not be returned and if the unit is returned 'fixed' it should be scruitinized for other new issues with it soon after due to probable questionable parts, build/repair techniques, etc...
I'm not familiar with PurePower or their products, but I did see a thread on Audio Asylum where a number of people complained of being badly treated or losing money.
Hell not just the money they are out shipping the unit back to the PurePower scammer in Canada plus the supposedly repair cost money up front, more than that they may never see the unit they shipped to Canada ever again!
Quote from AA post.
RE: Attention, PurePower owners! Posted by Aaron S. (M) on June 12, 2014 at 19:56:00 In Reply to: Attention, PurePower owners! posted by FrankC on April 4, 2014 at 14:09:33:
Our company was the manufacturer of the Pure Power systems, but have ceased to cooperate with the Canadian company owned by Richard and Damian. They ordered many units from us but failed to send us payment. In total, they owe us more than USD $150,000. We are also victims and understand how you feel.
Our new model, Pro Power series is out and available.
We take customer's concerns very seriously, so we strive to offer the best support of our products.
Again, I'm sorry that you had to go through the ordeal as we had. We hope that we can provide a better service to our customers!
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