What’s up with Magnepan service?


I sent my beloved Maggie 3.7s in for upgrade in early May with  6-8 week return estimate. I’ve heard nothing since proof of their arrival there so I emailed my service contact multiple times and received no response. Nothing. That got me to worrying, which caused me to check the website tonight.

I found that Magnepan has posted this undated “Emergency Service Bulletin” on its website:  

“Effectively immediately, Magnepan is forced to temporarily suspend all future Return Authorizations for speaker repairs including parts orders for speaker repairs. We apologize for this inconvenience and hope to have our service department fully functioning soon.

This temporary suspension on service and parts requests does not apply to warranty service and parts.

Thank you for your patience.”

(http://www.magnepan.com/service_bulletin)

What can I say other than, Yikes!


gigabit
Supply chain and labor are major issues now days. People being paid to sit on their arse. It’s getting hard to get an Uber in some cities. 
Magnepan’s problems go back further than Covid-19 I’m afraid.  It’s either insisting on a shoestring operation to keep prices down or just a refusal of upper management to bring the company into the 21st century with improved efficiency and volume handling. You kind of have to admit that they have you by the guigunes with the incredible price to performance ratio. A wonderful speaker!
There are significant US supply chain issues for just about anything you can think of due to higher fuel costs and a shortage of truck drivers as well as manufacturing issues overseas. And the shortages of computer chips (I know not used in Maggies but their scarcity currently effects a lot of manufacturers) aren’t just the ones for cars and trucks. So any company that had slow turnover and long lead times will naturally be effected even more than larger ones that can more easily change sources and air freight parts.
I went to Home Depot to buy a ladder.  They told me they would have a ladder for me in MAYBE a month or so.

A LADDER! From a HOME IMPROVEMENT store.

Clearly Covid has caused some issues, but I suppose there is no reason to think anyone should be inconvenienced by it, right?

Home Depot is what I would call a rather large company.  They can't get me a LADDER.

I would GUESS that smaller companies are also having issues, especially those that might be in what we call "red" states since those citizens have chosen to spread the virus to others, get sick, and die rather than get a shot.  I was scared of shots when was 4 years old as well.

Both posters called and were eventually taken care of by this small company.  Could it be that Covid caused some issues there?

At least you were buying the most accurate speakers.  Smart!

Cheers!


Russ has it pretty much right, but there is another angle. By underpricing LRS they created a flood of demand, and even before the pandemic hit they were unable to keep up. Business 101 would dictate a hefty rise in the retail of the LRS to relieve pressure on production and generate additional revenue. Even at a $1K they’d be hailed as a bargain.  

Here’s my story.  Called and ordered 4 MMGWs and one MMGC center channel speaker for my surround system.  I was told i would get them in 4 to 6 weeks.  After 8 weeks I began to worry that the order had fallen through the cracks somehow as I never got a confirmation email after ordering.  I called and spoke to Eric who promised to look into it. He got back to me and told me the speakers would be going out within a few days (and they did). I received the speakers and, upon inspecting them, found a small hole in the sock of one of the speakers.  I called and was directed to the production manager who assured me I would get a replacement within 2 weeks. 2 weeks went by and….. nothing. I emailed the production manager who told me he would look into it. He got back to me and told me that he thought it had been taken care of but…..?  He assured me that the replacement would go out within a week.  I did get it soon after that but there is no excuse for the frustrating process I had to go through to get these speakers. There’s no doubt that these speakers are an exceptional value in regards to their performance but how much are you willing to go through to acquire them? 


It's a small company, even if one key guy doesn't show up for work, the system comes to a stop.