I once used The Cable Company many years ago to try out some interconnects. They kinda messed up and I never used them again, but I saw where they could add value to a certain customer -- at least back then. Now I don’t need their advice, and the used market has become so fluid and there are now more direct sellers of cables who offer very generous audition policies that it’s pretty easy to see where The Cable Company’s business model could be facing headwinds. Given the level of service more recent customers have experienced it sounds like they may be having a tough time adjusting to the new and evolving retail cable market within the internet economy. But given the huge margins on most cables it seems they should be able to figure out a more viable and successful business strategy -- maybe they need to hire away someone from Amazon to get their logistics and cost issues under control and up to today’s high standards. Combine the high margins on cables with the ease with which they can be shipped relatively cheaply and you had perfect conditions for an industry that was primed for upheaval much to the benefit of us as consumers. I wish them luck.
Caveat about the Cable Company return policy
I naively thought they had a liberal return policy and bought a few ethernet cables thinking I could return them if they didn't work out for me. Turns out in the fine print of the return policy you can only return interconnect and digital cables that are 1 meter and speaker cables that are 8 feet. Anything else is by their definition "non-standard" and therefore non returnable. That is despite the fact they have numerous lengths you can choose from their drop down menus and the company I bought from (Chord) lists the 5 meter cable I bought as a standard length,
here's the kicker.. you can only return speaker cables that are 8 feet but they sell them by the meter, so it is impossible to return an 8 foot speaker cable because they don't sell any. Lesson learned, read the fine print
here's the kicker.. you can only return speaker cables that are 8 feet but they sell them by the meter, so it is impossible to return an 8 foot speaker cable because they don't sell any. Lesson learned, read the fine print