In reading this and the WBF forum thread, I consider myself a reasonably neutral party. One big thing that stands out to me is that Viking keeps blaming the broken speakers they received back on the customer when the customer says he used the very same shipping boxes originally used by the manufacturer. I have not seen Viking deny this.
As someone with over 40 years in the commercial insurance business, if they were properly packed and damaged during shipment, there should be a cargo insurance claim. The only way that doesn't work is if the packaging was inadequate. The thread seems to indicate that was the case.
My question for Viking is: why is it the customer's fault for inadequate packaging if it is the same set of boxes you used to send them out? What am I missing?
Just wondering what happened to the thread detailing Viking Acoustics' recent poor customer service tactics. Poof and its gone.
See below:
Mike
Viking Acoustics - buyer beware!
I hope the mods leave this post up since there have been a few people who have reached out to me about Viking Acoustics products since I owned 3 different pairs over ~7 years and had good experiences. When I placed an order for my 4th pair everything went wrong. This was roughly a half cash and half trade-in credit with my current pair. I paid the cash in Aug 2019 and sent my trade-in speakers shortly after that. To make a long story short there were some setbacks (original speakers painted wrong color), some changes of plans for various reasons (could not source good wood), and by the time things got on track COVID-19 hit. I was extremely forgiving of the situation due to what was happening in the world. Every few months I would try to check in but there was never any sort of firm ETA. In the spring of 2021 I started to doubt whether I would ever receive these speakers. I was now at the 20 month mark with no audio (shipped my trade-in pair in 2019) so I placed an order with another manufacturer. Of course as soon as I did this my Viking's were ready to ship...
Before the speakers even arrived Viking apologized for the poor packaging (this is important later). When the speakers arrived I was shocked they were not destroyed and even emailed Viking this. From my memory they were shipped in cheap Home Depot moving boxes which were barely big enough to hold each speaker. The delicate wood horns stick up above the top of the cabinet and were very close to the box with essentially zero protection. There was very little packaging inside the boxes, just some scraps of foam and whatnot that looked leftover from something else. The first stand I pulled from the box had a big ding in the wood. This was obviously shipped to me this way because the box had no damage and it was the center pillar of the stand which would have been impossible to hit once in the box. I then pulled the speakers out and saw the finish of the black painted cabinets was cracking all over. Also, none of the imperfections of the ply were filled prior to painting so there were voids and divots all over. Extremely amateur looking for a retail $15k speaker! I asked Viking about why these were shipped to me like this and their response was "it gives it character". The other issue was I use a specific set of speaker cables with a certain size spade and also a ground lead. I made it clear from the start that I needed the binding posts and ground lug to fit these cables. I even drew a nice schematic of it in Visio and sent it to Viking at the start. I was assured this would be taken care of and I reminded them at least a couple times long the way. Despite all my effort they paid no attention to it and my cables would not fit.
Viking refused to take the speakers back despite all the issues. They said I could ship them back, they would refinish them, then list them on their site for sale. They made it clear that I still own them. So, I re-packaged them back into the same boxes, using the same scraps of packing material, and shipped them back. Of course on the way back one of the horns gets destroyed and Viking blames me. They make a new horn for it and get it listed on the website for sale sometime in the late spring or early summer of 2021. In Dec 2021 I finally see the status change to SOLD on their site so I ask where my money is. Viking says they are not sold but will send back some of my money. After prodding them a second time for my money they sent a check for 90% of my cash payment, as in I am still out 10% cash plus the trade-in value of my original speakers. A few months later after more excuses and lies I became aware that a forum member purchased these speakers and indeed his check was cashed in Dec 2021. I confronted Viking on this who still continued to say they were not sold yet. When I pressed harder on where the rest of my money is Viking would respond with cryptic one sentence emails like "we're in the middle of a major hiccup" and "we're in the middle of re-organizing". They would not answer my direct question of "why are you not returning my money?".
In the end I am out X thousands of dollars, went without audio for almost 2 years, was delivered a laughable product, and have wasted so much time dealing with this company and their lies. There are many great speakers out there and trustworthy companies to deal with. Save yourself a major headache.
@mlsstl you are not missing anything. Speakers were shipped to me in thin cheap $3 cardboard boxes that were way undersized vertically. The top of the horn, which extends above the speaker, was literally 1” or less from the top of the box. When I unpacked the speakers outside my listening room I made a pile of the “shipping materials” for each package. It was random scraps of whatever was laying around their shop I guess. When I repacked the speakers I put the same scraps into the same boxes just as I received them. Also, keep in mind I did not ship the speakers back to Viking. Viking arranged all this on their shipping account and all I did was hand over the speakers to the driver when he came to my house. So no idea if Viking put insurance on them. However, no carrier would offer insurance payment when they saw the completely ridiculous packing for a $10k item.
I see the person who bought my trade in speakers just listed them for sale on this site. These are the speakers that Viking stole from me. Interesting that they have damage on them now too, maybe due to their wonderful shipping.
I have my own story about David and Viking that I wont mention in details on a public forum. But a warning for people considering his speakers. Be very careful....
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