Caveat about the Cable Company return policy

I think they have gone downhill indeed. If you go to their site and fill out their cable recommendation page, they never get back to you. I haven't bought from them in 10 years. Don't plan to either.  

I've bought things from the Cable Company in the past also.A month ago I bought from them  a digital coax that so impressed me that I bought an interconnect of the same brand - Voodoo.So I inquired a few days ago about a loan of other Voodoo products or an equivalent brand they might recommend.The person that got back to me offered to send me a loom of Kimber or WireWorld and told me I should never buy silver cables again. Huh?I politely answered that I'm not interested in solid copper cabling at this time and wanted to further investigate silver cables. Crickets....

Thanks, I guess I didn't recognize the abbreviation that was used.

I have bought many items from the Cable Company through the years and although they don't discount much it still seems to be a painless way to get some items. I think it is Steve that I have dealt with the most. 

ozzy

@ozzy 

The Cable Company

I started doing business with them back in 1990 when Robert Stein owned this company and had a good sound business model for us audiophiles. It is no longer the same company as everything does eventually does change and I do believe that Robert Stein has sold the company to another entity. If this is incorrect my apology. I saw the decline over the past say 5-7 years as they never have any of the cables ( or model to be more correct )  in their library that I am looking  and too obsessed with Synergistic Research. If I mention any cable it always seems to come back to Synergistic. There has been a huge turnover of their staff and their pricing is ridiculous and their customer service is not the same as it was years ago and with 33 years behind me in dealing with them I can say that with some conviction. The Cable Company can still serve a need but I have moved past them years ago and work with others.             

In more resent times I’ve purchased a lot of cables from these guys. I’ve always dealt with Jason who recently was promoted to president of the company. Jason rocks. Since then I’ve been dealing with Ethan and have zero complaints. These people are my go to for cables. 

Have never made a purchase from the The Cable Company but I do utilize their website for information, then I shop around a bit. For the most part I am a Transparent Cable user and have a guy that gives me a deal most of the time, if not I just go direct. 

What is TCC?

I'm going to guess The Cable Company.

stuartk,

What is TCC?

ozzy

@fsonicsmith1 

Yes; Steven was great. I'll forfeit a couple hundred dollars in unutilized deposit fees but won't be buying anything more from TCC. 

For many years I bought thousands and thousands of dollars worth of gear from Steven and then he suddenly stopped responding when I had an order pending. I complained and was told John would be my salesman from now on. I figured maybe John was replacing Steven but now that I read this thread I see that maybe something else was going on. My three Symposium racks alone cost me more than 10K. 

@fastfreight 

I have had nothing but good service and good experiences with Steven at the Cable Company.  He guided me through several shipments from the lending library, and I ultimately bought nice B stock Audience cables.  Ken

This had been my experience with Steven as well. I purchased cables, Symposium platforms and footers from him and he was always very pleasant , patient and helpful. I never felt pressured by him to buy anything. 

However, my most recent cable borrow will be my last. I don't know if I was just freakishly lucky in past interactions or what. Apparently, Steven was too busy to respond to my phone messages. I got handed off to some guy named John with a really snooty attitude who completely  ignored me. Never again -- they just lost a once-loyal customer. When I called to complain about this, they showed absolutely no interest. I guess they're so successful they don't need to worry about how they treat their customers. 

totally agree with mstrauss about Jason. Jason has been advising/selling me cables and equipment for at least a couple of years now, and I'm no easy customer either, mainly because my system has evolved and therefore my needs change with them. Jason works with me through my changes and within reason does all he can for me, and I know he's had to incur the wrath of his boss for me on several occasions. But most importantly, he is always willing to spend time advising me even when I have general audio questions not even related to a purchase. All of his suggestions are detailed and reasoned, and backed by knowledge and experience. And if he thinks some idea or some product is, lets say, less than worthy or ideal, he will certainly tell you.

So while I won't dispute any of those who've posted their negative experiences dealing with cable company salespeople, I will say they should give the cable company another chance, just make sure you ask for Jason Ressler, and be prepared to have to wait, or to have him call you back because he has plenty of folks like me, that only want to deal with him, and we're probably on the phone with him at the time you call. But he will call you back, and his advice and service has always been worth my wait.

This is totally unsolicited, but you know in today's world we're all so quick to call everyone out and emphasize the problematic situations, especially with the ease of typing rather than face to face confrontation, so I'm glad to have a chance to be quick to praise a salesperson that is worthy of praise.

I have had nothing but good service and good experiences with Steven at the Cable Company.  He guided me through several shipments from the lending library, and I ultimately bought nice B stock Audience cables.  Ken

Without telling me, they dropped me as a customer since I didn’t buy some of the Synergistic 30 day trial period items like fuses. I tried calling several times but was put on hold. Finally I was able to contact them and was told I’m no longer a valued customer. The ironic thing I had planned to by a used cable from them. Their loss!

I guess they were good back in the 90's, pre-internet, but no more.

So I did business with them once again. Needed a single speaker cable for my center channel and they had a used  one at a great price. It had the wrong termination but I intended to cut them off and run bare wire. It arrived and I did just that , but they sent a pair so I let them know to send a return label for the extra cable. Right brand and model, just a pair
They told me they sent the wrong cables and would send the correct one. They sent another pair that was incorrect. Finally got the right one and they then told me I had to pay to repair the one I cut the end off of. Got up in my face about it
Of course, that didn’t happen, but shows their arrogance to demand that I pay for their mistake

never again

@ehoz - I'm telling you they're like used car salesmen at the Cable Company.  I don't get why people still support companies like this.  Who cares about a interconnect library, especially given the fact that you have to pay full retail once you decide on a model?  I'm never going to pay full retail for an interconnect - that's my cardinal rule. There are too many good deals on interconnects here at Agon and likes (USAM, AA etc).  As for other products, you'll get better service by dealing directly with the manufacturer or trying other dealers. At the end of the day, customer service rules.

The Cable Company are a bunch of lying twats - shady return policies, pushy sales guy selling snake oil, pushing brands that benefit them.
its the kind of sales man that we have all come to detest. Go with the individual dealers - his hobby could do with fewer tossers.

you made it a long way without taking wood in audio.  it finally happened 
 there ok wires  keep them
 you get what you pay for
no more  

Yup.  I bought a component from them last year with a very clearly and explicitly return policy attached to it, and when I went to return it well within the return policy they squirmed and squirmed trying to get out of it but eventually had to accept it.  Not an experience I'll be repeating.  Music Direct was a breeze in comparison.

I’ve also found them difficult to nearly impossible to deal with. 
I’ve stopped dealing with them. 

I’ve been auditioning & buying a variety of cables and a few components for about a year, and have been very pleased . Admittedly, the main reason for my contentment is working w the same salesman/advisor; an extremely knowledgeable, patient, and pleasant gentleman named Jason Ressler. His advice & customer support quite simply, couldn’t be better.....& I’m no easy customer. Almost every item he’s recommended has delivered  a substantial(sometimes dramatic) improvement to my system. Their prices are def not cut-rate discount, but I’ve found them to be quite competitive. The very few minor problems I’ve had w them have been resolved quickly & amicably to my satisfaction. YMMV.

I just demo'd 2 different products from them and had absolutely no problem at all. Great service...

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.

Would never buy from Cable Co as they have crappy service.There is only one guy who is always on the phone.They charge almost full list as well.I certainly would never buy anything from them.Some people love them not me!! I  once purchased b stock Still point panels from them than i got a set from Music Direct at 10% off plus free shipping they turned out to be much cheaper.They also had much better service as well.

I also was frustrated as they seem to stock very little and have  long lead times.  I have moved onto other vendors that can turn my orders around faster. 

Devil's advocate.  The amount of cable offerings at "The Cable Company" is just absolutely huge.  I don't know of any vendor that would have several hundred to thousands of cables in stock when sales are unknown.  Unless they have a specific item in stock, they will usually have your cables drop-shipped directly from the manufacturer/supplier.  Their restriction on return cable lengths are exactly the same restriction as their "lending library".  They can accept returns on these since they are the most popular lengths and can "re-sell" those when other people like them during their "lending library" experience.

I hate to say it but as many of you have stated here, things have gone south at The Cable Co.  There was a time in the not so distant past that they DID stock what was on their site and you would be serviced rather quickly.  I've had much better luck with places such as Parts Connexion. 

Same thing happened to me and I ended up getting store credit.  I would order stuff (stylus gauge, cleaners etc) and it would take twice as long (~two weeks) to get the order.  Not worth it. Eventually used up all my credit and won't deal with them again.  Only use their site for prices.

I noticed this while I was contemplating a purchase.  The 8 ft vs. meter thing also bugged me.  Prior to a purchase, I would feel compelled to get an email reply from them specifying which items are returnable.

Also, after 2 prior purchases, the items later proved to be not in stock.  This was not shown on any screen during the purchases.

When I found this out (after I followed up), and after repeated queries, I wanted to cancel the order.  This was a struggle.  Each time (presumably by the same guy) I was told (condescendingly) that 'this was a high end cable and you just have to wait for a high end cable'.  Well, not necessarily and no I didn't. 

But their return policy needs to be clear at the point of sale.

to be fair.. it is posted on their website and I am at fault for not reading it. 

I do understand them not wanting to accept returns on “non-stock” items

I get that too, however, the 5 meter cable I bought is listed as a standard length on the manufacturer's website and is a choice on the drop down menu on the CableCo website. It did not occur to me that they might have a "no refund on anything other than 1 meter" policy.

I have used the lending library many times and that has been a great help in buying cables, I find that they price with a fair discount which would bring me back for future purchases. However I did buy a cable that was a closeout at the salespersons strong recommendation and when I tried it I found it too bright. Then tried to return it and that became a challenge as the salesman was bent on me keeping that cable out of their inventory. The persistence reached a level of I should practically rebuild my entire system around the cable. Well being persistent myself, I did finally get a return authorization. And my solution was to find another salesman within the company and have had good luck on purchases since that one transaction. That said, I do understand them not wanting to accept returns on “non-stock” items, as a business they must maintain profitability and at best a re-stocking fee or credit towards another purchase could be a fair compromise for both parties. But they know what they need to do to stay business, profit is not a four letter word, and the decision is theirs on acceptance of returns and our on doing business with them. They have yet to give me reason to cut them off. But their return policy needs to be clear at the point of sale.

They don’t stock many items. Products I’ve ordered have been drop-shipped.

And 4-6 weeks is unreasonable. Products from China are delivered faster than that.

to continue.....with other dealers carrying same products. 

Last year, when I wanted to try few USB cables, Peter gave me a run around for 4 weeks saying cables I want to try are not in stock.. As soon as they do, he will send them over. I never heard back, when I approached him again, he said he forgot as he was too busy.

On another occasion, I placed an order for acoustic panels including shipping charges. Then I get an email next day saying there will be additional $100 shipping fee because of the oversized box. When I called to inquire why I wasn’t quoted the correct shipping price at the time of order, he goes ‘didn’t you read the fine print’. We have the right to review every order and revise shipping charges. It wasn’t an pleasant conversation, when I asked him to cancel the order he got belligerent.

Many items on their website have 4-6 weeks wait. They are good source of information on products they ‘pretend’ to carry, personally I would never buy anything from them.

I have nothing but good to great experiences with 

Just a caveat to all to completely understand what the policies are

This is important. The return policy of a particular product is usually found on a different page.

That's a really lame return policy on the cables.
I've used their lending library and made several purchases.

I purchased a component on sale last month and read the fine print to make sure it could be returned. I auditioned it, then returned it with no problem. 
Because they charge full price on many items they're not my "go to" dealer. But I've had only good experiences with the company.

the lending library may be a fine way to audition cables. but they didn’t have what I wanted to audition available to lend. Just a caveat to all to completely understand what the policies are

Thanks for the info.  I am thinking about using them to compare cables.

I think The Cable Company has gone down hill.  I had bought from them years ago and found the experience to be good.  2 years ago, I ordered an Acrolink cable listed on the web site.  I got a message the next day to call them.  I called and was told they didn’t have current pricing and the cable wasn’t in stock but they would call the distributor and get the info for me.  Over the next 6 months, I followed up with 6 email messages and not one was answered.  When I called them again, I was told the salesman was busy\still looking into it etc. 2 years later I am no longer waiting and purchased direct from Japan at a very good price.   They lost out on a couple of grand worth of cables as I now have 3 Acrolink cables.