Hey - What Happened to the Beware of Viking Acoustics Thread

Sorry to be so late to this post. David outright ripped me off for a pair of $10K speakers. I thought they sounded horribly thin and emotionally un-involving. Best to do escrow; learned too late. 

Build time- 18 to 20 months, 275,000 dollars. yep, the check is on the way! 😏

 

They are gone. Like my friends Montgomery Gentry said Viking is

Gone like a freight train
Gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the Civil War
Bang Bang!
Gone like a ’59 Cadillac
Like all the good things, that ain’t never comin’ back

I bought trade-in Tubemasters from David on eBay in December. I was very fortunate to get them after much delay and bullspit excuses. I was warned he was hanging by a thread and probably was foolish to pull the trigger. He was still soliciting $25k deposits for speakers it was clear he wasn’t ever going to build. I heard from a good customer of his that David called him and said he’s out of business. No inventory, no money. Adios.

Just Gone. Not good.

They are gone. Like my friends Montgomery Gentry said Viking is

Gone like a freight train
Gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the Civil War
Bang Bang!
Gone like a ’59 Cadillac
Like all the good things, that ain’t never comin’ back

I bought trade-in Tubemasters from David on eBay in December. I was very fortunate to get them after much delay and bullspit excuses. I was warned he was hanging by a thread and probably was foolish to pull the trigger. He was still soliciting $25k deposits for speakers it was clear he wasn’t ever going to build. I heard from a good customer of his that David called him and said he’s out of business. No inventory, no money. Adios. Just Gone. Not good.

Evidently they have risen from the ashes…

They have an ad on USAM and their website is functional.

USAM Classified

Viking’s Website

🤔

What could go wrong ?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/364288029324?hash=item54d142328c:g:vj8AAOSw0ElkdgMo&amdata=enc%3AAQAIAAAA4Mq1O3cBYiP%2Fzvj4AVyz84x%2F3Lbrh2pUOQNs1teHORurKlFmxyl1M9EQ3xZXwcS1L2%2FKUM6Rs47XOOdDo4M3Up2XF0nkets%2B8eVGJer%2Fvce%2Bpox9GS8wKfUgPgspUW%2B%2BR7t9OPuYjdO7a0HixncL2rKCvBgP8jXIdzwTGLPp0WhfZpgS9WtTkpJN%2BCuBxXcb6gXSmSrNb6VKAMNU0t%2B9WEkm61slVxnUkt9EBEHDLowgjlDbVVb5j6d7sN89mH2YzDTxDmarN07897KMc0PYeJYIhbSvwJcsfW4PYUqVwX4T%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4i3iOqiYg

Vortrex, did you see all his current ebay ads? 

For those that doubted my story, several other customers have had the same experiences since I posted. This includes a good customer like me who also had his speakers stolen and sold to someone else. I’ve heard Viking is now out of business. 

@vortex 

I know that it won't do anything to compensate for your financial loss and your terrible experience, but I just wanted to say that I believe everything that you said, and I'm glad that you had the guts to stand by your story. Best of luck to you.

They are gone.  Like my friends Montgomery Gentry said Viking is

Gone like a freight train
Gone like yesterday
Gone like a soldier in the Civil War
Bang Bang!
Gone like a '59 Cadillac
Like all the good things, that ain't never comin' back

I bought trade-in Tubemasters from David on eBay in December.  I was very fortunate to get them after much delay and bullspit excuses.  I was warned he was hanging by a thread and probably was foolish to pull the trigger.  He was still soliciting $25k deposits for speakers it was clear he wasn't ever going to build.  I heard from a good customer of his that David called him and said he's out of business.  No inventory, no money.  Adios.

Just Gone.  Not good.

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....

@souljasmooth the closure is Viking stole my speakers. 

@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.

@rdk777 Wrote:

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.

vortrex05-23-2022 11:39pm

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?

Any closure to this deal?

@woodsage is 100% correct. I have no connection to either the company or the OP. But you make it right with your customers or you go out of business. Just as customers (current, past and future) have the choice not to do business with you, you have the choice to be successful or go out of business. It's your decision, not anyone else's. By the way, it's never to late to make it right, but it sounds like your ego won't allow you to.

The sad saga of Viking Acoustics pillaging a customers wallet continues. 
 

Total lack of ethics and integrity.

May 25th Viking said they refunded my CC. However, Viking doesn’t even have my CC number. Then they said they mailed a refund check. Nothing has been received by me. 
 

How long before Audiogon deletes this thread as well?  At least WBF had the courage to let the discussion stand.  

@nonoise + 100

There's more narrative on WhatsBestForum

@rdk777 I stand corrected. I really don’t know what to think now. I don’t have any relationship with the manufacturer in question, and agree very much with @woodsage that he he should never have gotten himself in the spot he’s in. But as curious as I am about other people’s business (when they post in a public forum), I really shouldn’t be reading about it here. The matter should be handled privately, or, if necessary, in court. It is ‘business,’ not news. Or, I suppose, a business failure, which I guess is news. 

Viking should just refund the buyer $ even if he was slightly in the wrong a manufacturer of specialty products should always take care of customers or things like this happen and now you losing customers, your reputation, and thus may be gone soon. Vikings fault they could have nipped this in the bud. Could have taken care of a repeat buyer something any builder values highly.

Maybe Viking should have not responded after all. What a mess! 

So @vikinghorn had my post deleted so I will stay this again. I will never buy a thing from them and this will be a topic of discussion at our next audio club meeting.

Enjoy.

@ozzy62 - Links were provided above, but for whatever reason on WBF after you click on the main speaker forum 'menu' , you then need to click on the following page the , if you will, submenu for speakers to find those 2 threads

This is sad Vortex seems enjoying Viking products , David , Derek is happy with your product, I truly believe you  can settle this between the two of you, just calm down both of you, Talk calmly you will be surprise , you will end up winners at the end.iam sure there is solution on this.

There are two since the reply came in another thread. 
 

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/viking-acoustics-buyer-beware.34959/

https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/viking-acoustics.34979/

I think @vikinghorn should post more!

In no time they would end up losing WAY more money than just doing right to the OP.  

I can’t find the thread on WBF. Can you link to it?

I just want to address these cables Viking mentions. Back in guessing around 2016 I had all Allnic electronics and cables. David asked to send me his speaker cables to try if I paid up front. I did that, tried them for a couple days, preferred my Allnic cables, sent them back, got a refund. David asked me to try them. I did not buy them and then complain. I have no idea why this is being brought up as it was somewhere around 2016 and absolutely nothing to do with this issue and there were no problems from either side of this transaction. This is getting weirder.

I agree, perfect solution.  I'm not sure I would've done the same, but you're a better man Gunga Din!

@facten +1

@vortrex I think your last post is an excellent solution.

I will make @vikinghorn an offer. Donate all the thousands you owe me to my local animal shelter. That way you don’t "lose" by giving me the money back. I’ll even let you have the tax deduction.

And I will reiterate for the umpteenth time that obviously lots of bad things were happening in the world with COVID-19 so I never pressured you, never got angry with all the delays, never once said one thing!

This post was to tell my experience so others can be aware of it and decide if they want to risk going down this path with you.

Thank you for posting it!

Mike

No, I did not change my mind. Let me remind you of what actually happened with the TubeMasters. I said I wanted solid color cherry front baffle (as in no blonde streaks or crazy grain) and you said no problem. You built those speakers and the wood on the front wasn't as I requested. You made the comment "it's hard to get good wood now". I said ok, no big deal, there was no fuss. The plans switched to the Berlin because you said you could do the baffle in maple and the wood planks would be consistent. So that's how all that went down.

And no, there was nothing custom with the TubeMasters. This was your standard build. Same goes for the Berlin, it was your standard option. I am not sure why you keep saying everything was custom like you were going well out of your way to make me a one-off speaker. These are both listed on your own website as the standard base model build. I think you are getting confused because the speakers that I traded into you were a highly customized model with silver voice coils, silver wiring, silver binding posts, and big Duelund caps. These are the ones you sold years ago and made money off at my expense.

+1 woodsage

Vikinghorn , I have no skin in this game, nor like anyone else besides you and vortex privy firsthand to the real facts. That said, you’re not doing yourself or your company any favors with the tone and content of your responses which is unfortunate

@vikinghorn there were no inflammatory remarks. You are lying AGAIN. If anyone wants the exact email PM me and I will fwd it to you. This is insane.

@vikinghorn notice how I never have said your speakers don't sound good? I won't, because they do. However, can anyone look at those pictures and tell me that is what is expected of a $15k retail speaker? It's horrible, garbage. I am baffled how you can think that is a "beautiful speaker", full of gouges and the paint falling apart.

 Viking your hole gets deeper by the day. 
 

All you had to do was play nice...

This comment by you says it all. I was in manufacturing my whole career including shipping heavy, custom, high dollar speakers all over the world.  The way to have handled this would have been the following:

First off, don’t get yourself into a position like this. If you are shipping delicate, high dollar speakers make custom wood crates for them. My God man, get a freaking grip, I never once shipped speakers in cardboard boxes.

Secondly, immediately on seeing your unhappy customer’s posts contact him and ask him what YOU need to do to make it right. Yes, even if you don’t make a cent on the deal in the end.

Then sit back and watch a once unhappy customer post how well you handled the situation, how happy they are with your products and how they highly recommend your company.

 Business 101 for a company like yours in an industry like this. 

 But you didn't remove your incomplete and inflammatory remarks...this has turned into "sport" for you and at that... I'm out.

Derek,

Wow, now it's garbage product.... The hits keep coming from you. What's next? 

Email received 3 days ago from @vikinghorn 

Derek,

Please remove inflammatory posts on A-Gone and What's Best.

Correction:  boxes were from Bubbles and Boxes not Home Depot.

You didn't mention that the speakers were returned broken.

We are going to pay you less shipping and repair as soon as we can but if you let the posts stand we're going to call it even.

Thank you.

David - It took you 1.5 years to build a pair of speakers. I never once complained. I rarely even checked in with you. That's called an easy going customer but I don't appreciate your lies or stealing my money.

Drop the speakers?! I have no idea what you are talking about. OUTRIGHT LIE to cover yourself. You are really stretching now. Disgraceful.

I realize there is no way you are going to pay me what I am owed. If you were going to return my money and not steal it that would have happened long long ago. This post was to tell my experience so others can be aware of it and decide if they want to risk going down this path with you.

Bottom line is you shipped a garbage product and now you're trying to spin things every way possible to cover yourself. You are a liar.

@vikinghorn if my partial refund was all I was supposed to get back then why for 6 months did you keep telling me more money was coming? I have all the emails which show you stating this over and over. Also, why did you lie and say the speakers were not sold to a new owner when actually they were sold months earlier and the check was cashed by you in Dec? I can get copies of that cashed check if you like.

@audition__audio you should also read my first post which clearly states Viking sent me a partial refund check. Not sure why this is so hard to understand. I have nothing to hide.