Conrad Johnson Repair Issues

they have very bad service..and that is being polite! sent in a preamp for repair, and no response that was received and no approximate date to look at it and offer an estimate..

Piss poor service to be exact!

Wow how can they tell you the cost, then you paid, then later they said your unit is twisted,can't be repair, I agree with some post, it looks like it happen at the factory, I will not file claim to the shipping company, that's not right, you should hold the one that is really responsible here...

I had great support from c-j, in fact shortly after buying my Classic 2 SE I emailed them on a Friday night regarding a suspected faulty tube....Saturday morning I received an email from Lew Johnson ,  he is a class act.   They sent a new tube out and fortunately everything's been fine.   I love this pre and would definitely buy another Conrad Johnson product.

I do not know who was at fault, I truly do not, but I would expect if I shipped a product, insured, and it arrived damaged that the receiver would be obligated to notify me BEFORE doing work on it.

But again, I have no idea in what order things occurred.

Best,


Erik

I 've given this thread a lot of thought.  I have had many units sent out for repair or modification over the years and have never had an experience as the one described by the OP.  I did notify CJ of this thread last month as I was concerned that their reputation was being damaged by the perception of audiophiles reading this thread.  I did receive timely responses from CJ each time I engaged in a dialog with them.

 There are extenuating circumstances in this particular case (shipping a high end preamp with USPS!!! Who does that?  Second, apparently the dense foam protective side panels that CJ ships their gear with were not properly affixed.) I'd hope we would all agree that it is incumbent upon us to properly pack our items to ship and that they not be sent via USPS.  This is not USPS bash time.  Shipping sensitive audiophile gear is not their gig.

So...IMHO conrad johnson design has treated a careless? customer in a very reasonable fashion.  I am a current owner of a CJ preamp and will continue to consider future purchases of their fine equipment.

It is still an odd situation?

My personal experiences with c-j service went so well, that I would add that to the plus column for future purchase considerations.
"All's well that end well."

ummm the OP states that he hung up when they stated that there was damage done, then refused to respond to multiple phone calls and emails...then followed up with calling them and emailing them multiple times?  kind of curious the language used in these emails and calls.  i still don't feel like we are getting a true representation of the story but thats just me.

I would have to echo this comment from Jetter: "It does not seem ok to me that the owner of a major company has to become involved, and only after a public airing of what appears to be egregious behavior of one of his employees, if we are to believe the OP, in order to have the situation resolved".

It just seems to me like bad business for CJ not to resolve this situation right away. The resolution is fair but it should have been offered right away, not after it got to this point. I am more than a little disappointed in CJ.

I would like to apologize for my comments,and I'm glad the issue was rectified.

Much Thanks! pereza

Hope you are well and recovering from this whole issue. CJ will remain a stand-up operation in my book. Good to read that others have had shipping damage(s) in the past. No way could this have been a "1st time" episode.

Whom was the carrier that is responsible for said damage?
UPS? USPS? FedEx?

Scratches CJ Off my list no matter what.

They should never have accepted it to begin with, or notified you at the very start of the process, not afterwards. Also sounds like they overcharged you for a capacitor replacement.

Well, I'm a long ways from buying tubes again, but now I know.

Thanks for the update,


Erik

Pereza - I'm very happy to hear that you and CJ have reached a satisfactory settlement. It's also good of you to respond back to all of us that had taken an interest in your situation. Best wishes for much future musical enjoyment and high equipment reliability. 
Mike

I’m relieved to report that my CJ repair saga has come to a close. I was finally permitted to speak to Mr. Johnson & we came to an agreement whereby they would essentially purchase the repaired Premier 17 from me at a price that represents what I would have netted from
the sale of an undamaged preamp minus the repair charges for replacing a capacitor. Pretty much a wash dollar wise for both parties. He felt the unrepairable shipping damage would knock maybe $500.00 off the resale value. I was more pessimistic.
Mr. Johnson was very pleasant & once he realized what had happened seemed compelled to make things right.
He wasn’t there when the damaged shipment was received & he wasn’t the one who threw away the box making any insurance claim hopeless. He agreed that the whole thing seemed odd but added that CJ receives about 2 preamps & one amplifier per year damaged in shipping so it’s not unheard of.
I was fortunate that when I was first told about the damage I got a little agitated & hung up before giving my credit card info. Otherwise the whole affair would just have gone by the wayside.
Also If I didn’t have another preamp I would have just paid out of desparation to get my tunes back.
The repair manager initially just demanded payment & advised me that I could deal with any insurance claim on my own. When I didn’t respond to phone calls & emails requesting payment he offered to sell me some current CJ products at a discount. The U.S. Post Office confirmed to me that the party who receives the damaged shipment is responsible for filing any damage claims.
I understand that the repair of my 15 year old, out of production product is pretty far down the profit margin food chain but until Mr. Johnson got involved this was an unacceptably low level of service. My 2006 dealing with their repair dept. was so different. A comparison of the 2006 invoice, for the exact same repair, shows that the stereo repair industry has been hit very, very hard by inflation.
I may have started off the transaction poorly with multiple phone calls & emails asking about progress. I really did want to know what technically had happened. What specifically was damaged? Did I do anything that caused or contributed to the damage? Is there anything I could do or not do to help prevent future damage? My curiosity may have been misinterpreted as pressure or unhappiness with the estimated charges.
I know everybody’s busy but there was no chit-chatting with these guys.
But hey… “all’s well that ends well”… Mostly.
I came out of this experience without any monetary damage & still love the products. I will continue to be loyal to the brand.
My wife & I listen to it every day & marvel at the depth, detail & warmth it produces.
My wife is a classically trained musician who loves many genres of music. The quality of reproduced music took on much greater meaning after acoustic neuroma surgery resulted in loss of hearing in one ear. She might just be trying to make me feel good but she insists that a quality preamp provides a sense of depth she can feel even with only one ear.
We listen to it extensively every day. The preamp vs. no preamp discussion has to be one of the most argued over Audiogon topics of all time. I feel the current technology CJ preamp actually digs out more detail than the straight Dac to Amplifier configuration I tried while adding an element of warmth & musical soul.


I truly hope that my experience was an exception not the norm.

Cheers!

There are a number of things that could be going on, I think we should wait before condemning either party.

With the continuing passage of time and no response from pereza, it has become evermore clear that this post is either a hoax or an exercise in badly flawed judgement. Why then, should CJ choose to dignify it by entering into a public debate?  

CJ is a small company (I believe on the order of 10-15 people). Mega companies like BMW, GM, Apple, Microsoft, etc. and their dealers must receive thousands of such complaints daily. They also have huge staffs to deal with service, marketing and public relations issues. Nonetheless, something like this would be dealt with in the manner that CJ already has - directly with their customer. That's an industry best practice, why should they do more?  

Pereza via the original post initiated this plea for advice and presumably support to all of us. He's now missing in action. The rest of us are clamoring for more from him. His non response is deafening with its silence. We've been fooled and it's time to move on. Removing this entire post sense makes for the reasons I've cited, it's a sham, why allow it to continue?

Honeybee, my wife & daughters will tell you otherwise! Hey, I'm not saying that a long time should pass. Frankly, both should reply immediately! The OP, I suspect is a troll, and we'll never hear from him again. Any moderators reading this might want to investigate. 
But taking down the thread is what would hurt the small dealers. If CJ is ultimately cleared here, future readers should be able to read that when they hear a watered down recollection of this mess far in the future. Cheers,
Spencer

We have a CJ sales point here in Tucson.  Small dealer. working out of his house, I am certain he just loves having this thread stretch into infinity.  CJ has been called into question ........  small dealers cannot withstand claims of bad customer service.

@sbank and @almarg have  amazing patience, (saint like really) (boggles the mind) @rocray is more on point - looks like OP has a bad case of the trolls.

i join with @rocary in calling BS!

Sbank,
Thanks for shared wisdom.

OP, CJ & Agon owe it to the community to keep the thread up and get a response from both sides. Anything less will be begging for info. Cheers,
Spencer

@almarg, good point, but I do not believe we are going to get further information.
It has been to long.

Only a troll would start a thread like this,and not participate. I call BS.

If the thread is removed the many people who have either participated in it or viewed it (as of now the thread has been viewed more than 3000 times), and people who may come across it via Google’s cache after it is removed, will never find out what the true facts are. Also, as stated earlier CJ has been made aware of the thread and has an opportunity to respond to the allegation, should they choose to do so.

IMO. Regards,
-- Al

mfoley3, supra, has said it all. I vote to remove this thread.

This is a case where inoculation of fear would work. Man up

i'll wait one more month. at least some side should reveal either defendant or plaintif...-)

In my view this comes down to a personal determination of which of the following two scenarios is more credible. 
Scenario One: a serious vendor accusation is made by a relatively unknown poster who only provides a questionable story without documentation to support his accusation and, who then, follows that with two weeks of dead silence despite requests for further information by the very people whose advice and support he seeks. 
Conclusion: Low Credibility

Scenario Two: The vendor does not publicly discuss the accusation. However, numerous testimonials from current and past users of the vendors products and services are voluntarily provided. Further, the vendor is an industry stalwart with a long and deep track record for quality products, great customer service and high integrity. In addition, the dollar amount of the questioned transaction is comparatively small. Two questions: 1. Why would any rational business person compromise the integrity and reputation of their business over such a small amount of money?  2. Why would any rational business person choose to engage in a time consuming, public dialogue over such a comparatively small and flawed accusation?
Conclusion: High Credibility

In my view, this accusation is specious and should be removed from the forum. It helps no one, particularly pereza who comes across as either quite lethargic when it comes to follow-up or, more seriously, disingenuous. 

Odd situation indeed.

It sounds like we should think twice before believing a troll. 
If this is the case.  I would still purchase Conrad Johnson gear. 

Now im not sure if the complainers accusations are true of horsesh*t



hopefully we will find out.

ME; I don't honestly believe him

Very sad that this issue has not been explained / resolved.  I would think twice about any purchase of a CJ product.

Cue the crickets, the silence is deafening.

It is good to read about so many CJ fans. Where did the OP (Mark) go?
Strange indeed.

I've dealt with CJ many times and they have always been very professional.  One time even giving me extensive advice that saved me the need to send it the unit and helped me diagnose an issue.

No update from OP for some time now.... 

Two scenarios

either CJ is trying to pull one over on hm, and being a top notch company, they will get away with this, as they have more money, and it's their word against the consumer, and we all know cops/lawyers will ALWAYS favor the one with more money/status. 


Or the consumer is trying trying to get something free on CJ's dime/ offering a hush piece for this to go away. 

Either way, I wish this would end, I hope we hear from the consumer or CJ rep shortly.  This has dragged on too long. 

I have been in audio since about 1982-83, I have never owned a CJ product til recently, and I must say I am extremely pleased with their products. It's a crossover piece made my CJ with another guys name on it and designed by the other guy. Yes..........that guy

i have yet to hear a bad word, report, article with CJ Involved. 
They have always been on top 5 list of quality brands/service. 

Lets ST hope CJ and the guy get this sorted, and we get the truth. 

There is the consumers story*
there is CJ's story*

**then, there is the truth**

lets hope we get some truth from both parties. 

I think we need to hear from pereza aka Mark. It has been 10 days at least and he has not even given any more facts. My dealings with CJ have been great so I am curious what the story is all about.

If the facts are true... it could be labeled as shameless corporate greed and deception at its worst.  Conrad Johnson needs to clear the air on this one. 

I am a very long term CJ customer having owned and enjoyed many of their preamps and amplifiers over the last 30 years. I've had several upgrades and repairs performed over that span. In all cases, CJ's service was exemplary. Thus, 
I was both surprised and disappointed to read the original post, as it is so contrary to my own personal experiences with the company. Given the seriousness of pereza'a accusation, someone is owed an appropriate response. Either pereza is owed a satisfactory settlement and apology from CJ or pereza owes CJ a sincere, public apology for wrongly accusing them. Let's hope the facts are soon forthcoming.  If not, I think this post should be removed. 

As a long-time owner of multiple Conrad Johnson products, I feel that I have a stake in the outcome of this situation. 
  The Original Poster asserts that he wishes he could post the pictures,  and that he would rate the condition as a One on the Audiogon  condition scale. These assertions, taken together, would seem to imply one of three possibilities: 1) that he currently has possession of the damaged preamp, and thus has or could easily take pictures, 2) that he has received photos of the damaged unit from Conrad Johnson, or 3) that he took pictures of the preamp BEFORE sending it off to Conrad Johnson. 
    The implied assertion that he can not, in fact, post such pictures does not make any sense. He could post pictures in the "Virtual Systems" section of Audiogon, and/or in an ad listing attempting to sell the damaged unit. Although said ad would probably have a low probability of selling the preamp, it would be another possible vehicle to use to display the pictures.
    In my opinion, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark", per   Marcellus to Horatio in the play "Hamlet"! We'll find out soon, hopefully...
      ---Steve

Hi all,  I do not know the current management situation as my experience with CJ is over many years. Nothing in the past 3-4  years. 

Has CJ been sold to a third party? 

From my personal experience I have enjoyed CJ gear for many years. PV12a, LS 17, LS 17 II, LS 16, LS 16 II.

All of my Equiptment has been serviced or upgraded over the years. 

I have dropped off some of the gear and have met Jeff F several times as well as Mel, who handles the administrative duties. 

Jeff is very to the point and has always worked on my gear.  His work and his advice has always been excellent. 

Mel sent me some cool posters and works long days.
As far as billing, I have found them equal to Audio Research.

2 great American companies. 

Maybe this helps?

since we have not heard from the OP about the status of this issue, here is the exact reply I received from CJ this past Tuesday, 10/25.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for all your input and valuable assistance. I am fully aware of all the facts ,and we are anxious to conclude this service incident. I will keep you posted on our progress. I’m sure you and other CJ fans will be interested in our side of the story, including photos of the unit.

Thanks,

Jeff Fischel
General Manager/Senior Technician
conrad-johnson design inc.

I for one look forward to a disclosure of both sides of this issue so we
have context in which to judge the actions of both parties.

czarivey / Marco1.   Agree, but remain concerned

honeybee2012,

As far as this discussion goes, CJ is aware of this post and if there was a scam-attack or later on identified as such, they would chip-in, ID themselves and respond as with other large number of businesses dealing with hi-def home audio/video products. So far the problem being worked on and there's no point speaking of any kind of attack on reputation via web. Just stay tuned and see where it goes.

hb2012, I think summary judgement on your part is without merit and unless you know something the rest of us don't, uncalled for at this time.  Why don't you just wait to see the outcome.  CJ is on notice as of Wednesday by hifiman5.  They've had enough time to look into this and post an answer if they so desired.  Do you have experience with CJ?  I do and for the past several years it ain't what it used to be.

Cheers.

I think our OP (pereza) has some issue which he does not want to disclose.  I would recommend that this thread be pulled from the web.

If CJ is blameless, then this thread could be considered as an attack on the reputation of a honest company.

This attack could have an adverse impact on sales.  If there is no update, soon, this thread should be reported

pereza-

an update on your situation?

+ 1 @ arcticdeth.     I am hoping for a full explanation of this situation.

@ marco1 - Kudos for being a gentleman.

If cj did the damage, and are trying to do a cover up, and forcing the purchaser to pay, and screw him over (hopefully a good co wouldnt do this, but its been done to consumers for 100 years)

lets hope a longtime co like cj WILL remedy this situation properly, and find out what really happened.