Denafrips offer to replace my faulty Pontus 15th, for a replacement fee?


My Pontus 15th has developed an issue with the right channel output so I reached out to Denafrips to hopefully get it sent to be looked at/fixed (still under warranty)

However, they don’t have anyone here in the UK to look at it; instead they’ve offered to replace my current Pontus with a brand new replacement for a replacement fee of 400 USD but free shipping.

I would have to pay for shipping my Pontus, back to China which I don’t have a problem with.

I can’t decide in my mind whether this is a good offer or not, considering my Pontus is just over a year old and within warranty.

On the one hand, I can see this is as a decent compromise by Denafrips and a show of good will, as they will send me a new unit without verification of the fault, but on the other hand, is the replacement fee a little unreasonable considering the circumstances/the issue with my unit, and valid warranty?

I’m unsure if I’m honest; if I’d recently bought the unit and were sending it back because I didn’t like it, I’d understand a fee, but returning due to a fault, I’m having difficulty coming to terms with the fee.

Is this a generous offer and I’m being unreasonable, or is the fee unreasonable?

 

painter24

Showing 3 responses by painter24

The warranty has been honoured for 3 years as i bought it on the cusp of the break up. I've already confirmed this with Denafrips 

Thanks for your thoughts guys. At the moment, I'm leaning toward taking Denafrips' offer, and selling the new unit once received (I was looking to sell the Pontus in any case). Whilst I don't have a problem with Denafrips per se, I think this issue highlights the inherent issues involved; while are European distributors, seemingly there are no facilities for repairs.

I think I'll cut and run; I have a more than enjoyable DAC in my streamer so will carry on using this. 

Thanks again 👍

@audphile1 I've thought about it over the last few days, taking into consideration comments left on the thread, and I feel your take would be the "right thing" for Denafrips to do. I will be responding to them today to see what arrangement we can come to

Moving forward, I won't make this kind of purchase again, due to the lack of repair and maintenance facility within the UK/Europe area.