I am afraid that I must add my own account of my recent experience trying to order a new PurePower+ 1500.
My history with PurePower started in 2009, when my ExactPower EP15A self-destructed, the company that bought out ExactPower serviced the unit but did not solve the problem, and the new company then refused to support what they termed “legacy units”, since they lost a lot of money on the buyout and found numerous problems in design and manufacture. I needed to find another solution to protect my music system.
After doing some research, and exchanging E-mails with PurePower, I ordered a PurePower 1050. It arrived promptly, and did everything it was supposed to do: it dramatically improved the sound of my system, and protected it from anomalies on the AC line, including blackouts. I was very happy with it.
After 5-1/2 years, the batteries in the 1050 were depleted and stopped protecting my system from blackouts. When I saw the literature on the PurePower+ 1500, I decided to investigate it rather than replace the batteries in the 1050. I had several E-mail exchanges with both Damian Janzen and Richard Janzen of PurePower; their replies were always prompt and informative. They sent me a list of recommended replacement batteries for the 1050, and battery replacement instructions in PDF format, in case I decided to stick with the 1050. They also offered me a trade-in discount against the purchase price of the 1500, and offered to have me keep the 1050 until the 1500 arrived. Their positive approach convinced me, and I decided to order a 1500 with Wattgate 381 Ag receptacles and the premium long-life battery option.
Since I had had a positive experience with PurePower when I bought the 1050, I had no reason to suspect that I would have problems when I ordered the 1500, since I had not yet seen all of the posts on AudiogoN and elsewhere discussing the negative experiences that others had had.
Here is a timeline of the progress of my order for the PurePower+ 1500.
— Monday, June 29: I wired them $3740. In retrospect, their inability to accept credit card purchases and their requirement of wired pre-payment should have been a red flag, but, as I mentioned earlier, my previous positive experience led me to believe that I had nothing to worry about. If I had seen all of the negative posts, I probably would not have gone ahead with the order.
— Monday, July 6: After hearing nothing from them, I E-mailed them. They responded and acknowledged receipt of the wire transfer, and said that the unit would ship at the end of that week.
— Monday, July 20: After hearing nothing from them, I E-mailed them. They responded and said that the unit had been built and was ready to ship, and that shipment had been held up by a late shipment of batteries. They said the unit would ship the end of that week.
— Tuesday, August 4: After hearing nothing from them, I E-mailed them. They responded and said that Customs red tape had been holding up shipment. They said that I would receive tracking information by the end of that week.
— Tuesday, August 18: After hearing nothing from them, I E-mailed them. I recapped the specifications of my unit, my shipping address, and my contact phone numbers, and I asked them to ship as soon as possible. By now, I was getting a sinking feeling that perhaps not all was right with PurePower, and that I might have made a mistake in placing a pre-paid order for a 1500. On a hunch, I checked the AudiogoN forums, as well as other forums, and when I saw all the negative posts, I realized that I had a problem.
— Friday, August 21: After hearing nothing from them, I sent them a respectful but strongly-worded E-mail, saying that my patience was exhausted after all the unfulfilled promises and the failures to ship my unit on time, and offered them the option of immediately shipping my unit (which, by their own statement, had been built and was ready to ship for five weeks) or wiring me a refund. I provided my account information for their use if they opted to send me a refund. I also told them that if I didn’t see decisive action from them in a week, either to ship my unit or to wire a refund, that I would contact the American and Canadian authorities and issue a complaint of fraud.
— Friday, August 21: That afternoon, I got a terse reply, saying that I would have tracking information by Monday, August 24.
— Monday, August 24: I sent them an E-mail, reminding them that they had promised to ship my unit that day. I again provided the specifications of my unit, my shipping address, and my contact information.
As of this posting, it has been seven weeks, and I have heard nothing from them. I don’t understand what is going on over there. Sometimes my E-mails were answered, and sometimes they were not. Whenever they answered, they promised shipment by the end of that week, but not only did they never follow through, they never kept me informed by E-mail of any changes or delays. Is it lack of communication between management, sales, production and shipping? Is it quality control problems in production? Is it gross incompetence? Is it an impending bankruptcy? Is it a calculated effort to mislead and ultimately to defraud their customers? I don’t know. I can only say that four times I was promised shipment of a 1500 within a few days, and four times I heard nothing for two weeks or more; I had to E-mail them to get information, and if I got an answer, the excuse for non-shipment was different each time.
After seeing the negative posts on AudiogoN regarding PurePower customer service, and given the succession of unfulfilled promises from them, I decided that I cannot rely on them to provide appropriate or timely customer service in the event that they do ship the 1500 and I have a problem with it. I realized that I had better keep my 1050 as a backup instead of shipping it to them as a trade-in. Following on this decision, I then did what I should have done originally: I ordered a set of three replacement batteries for my 1050 from a separate battery supplier, not from PurePower. I received them in two days; they have been installed in my 1050, which is back on-line and working properly.
Another consideration: even if they ship me a unit, I might not know what I’m getting. After it was built, if in fact they ever did build a unit for me, my unit may have been cannibalized to provide parts for other units that had been sent back for repair, and then reworked. From my experience in electronics, reworking electronic circuits may introduce problems that did not exist in the original fabrication, such as poor solder joints and lifted eyelets and circuit traces on printed-circuit boards.
I can empathize with Dagordon, the previous poster, who said that he doesn’t like being stolen from. I don’t like being swindled, and I don’t like being lied to or given promises that they apparently don’t intend to keep. I also don’t appreciate the fact that the quality of their customer service dropped precipitously once they had my money. At this point, however, the money that they got from me is not worth the aggravation, the lost time, and the legal expense of trying to force them to provide a unit or a refund. I sent them a registered letter, telling them that I had purchased new batteries and had installed them in my 1050, and that I no longer needed a 1500. In the letter, I told them that since they had defaulted on our purchase agreement, by failing four times to meet a promised ship date after receiving payment, I was canceling my order and requesting a refund. So far, I have not heard from them. I sent a follow-up E-mail, repeating my request for a refund, and expressing concern that the way they are conducting business might destroy the company’s reputation and ultimately the company itself. So far, I still have not received a response. I might follow up with additional E-mails, and I might contact the American or Canadian authorities, but ultimately I may have to chalk this up as an expensive lesson. I would appreciate any other advice fellow AudiogoN-ers may have to solve this issue.
An unfortunate aspect of this situation is that, as far as I know, PurePower is the only company that manufactures (or, possibly, manufactured) an AC regenerator that not only is designed specifically for audio systems, but also incorporates the functions of a UPS. Some posters have had problems with the 1050, but I seem to have a good unit; the only problem I ever had with it was some audible vibration of the top cover from the internal fan, which I solved by putting an issue of Fanfare on the top cover to damp the vibration. After the unit was broken in, though, that problem went away, and the fan now runs more quietly than it did when the unit was new. The 1050 makes a substantial difference in my music playback system, which sounds as good as ever, and the 1050 has already protected my system from a power outage with the new batteries.
I hope my 1050 never fails, but if it does, I will look elsewhere for a replacement rather than sending it back to PurePower for service. I would welcome information on any other company that sells such a unit, and that could be an alternative to PurePower.
I would advise anyone contemplating the purchase of any PurePower products, or the return of any product to PurePower for service, to exercise caution.
