Basis Audio - Exhorbitant servicing evaluation cost


I have lusted after a Basis Debut turntable for years, and recently was close to purchasing one used. That is until I explored Basis Audio's service policy. Service is not even a link on their website... I had to find the turntable policy, which explains they are a "victim of their own success" since they have such great sales success and excellent service, they can only provide very limited information about their older products. Then they say to know more you must send a table in for evaluation. The fees for evaluation are alarming to me (see below). $3400 just to evaluate a Debut vacuum table? I planned on spending just a little more than that to buy the table in the first place. I emailed Basis weeks ago to ask if I was understanding the policy correctly and whether the fee was applied to eventual repairs. No answer. 

Since this evaluation cost, and the general vibe I get from reading their website is "We don't want to service our tables so we will price ourselves out of most of the trouble," is preventing me from wanting to buy a Basis table, I thought I would ask experienced Basis owners here what they think. I've heard nothing but great things about their products over the years, but if I can't have it serviced if I need to, it just scares me away.

From the Basis website:

4. Basis turntables are extremely precise and technical tests and measurements are labor intensive. Pricing for the evaluation, based on model, is as follows:

1400: $500

2001, 2200: $1,200

2500: $1,600

2800: $1,800

Debut: $3,200

Debut Vac: $3,400

Inspiration: $3,500

Inspiration with Vacuum: $3,700

Vector Tonearm: $1,200

SuperArm: $1,600

montaldo

@OP - the solution it to buy your used turntable from a dealer who will sell it fully serviced. Having gone through the Debut's owners manual, I can see a number of areas where the turntable could be damaged by faulty disassembly/packing or in during the original installation if it was done by someone incompetent. So I'm not surprised that Basis charges high fees for service.

not to perpetuate this thread, but I'm not complaining about the cost of service. I just don't understand how they can charge $3,500 just to figure out what's wrong with the table? it's not clear but it seems the service for the table would not be in addition of that. 

Ms. Conti and Mr. Bourque responded quickly and never complained when I sent my turntable that needed "tuning/cleanup" to them with missing screws/spilled silicone, etc.

Great people. If I paid anything besides shipping, I don't remember. If anything, it was a small charge. I've used several Basis TT. The 2800, 2200 and Bravo haven't needed any other work, except for my mistakes with the first one.

They understood I was learning how to do everything myself and treated me with respect. We all have learning curves.

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