What's up with TMR Audio?

Love the handle there.
A Trekkie indeed!

I’m not an expert with credit cards dealing as a merchant, but I think if it is a disputed charge there are negative repercussions to the merchant. I think there is a fee they’ll have to pay, and their "reputation" will be hurt with the credit card company.

So I think the advice by georgehifi to immediately dispute the charge because "it doesn’t hurt anyone" is incorrect. georgehifi’s further basing on the technical " Saying bluntly "were [sic] closed" with no merry xmas/happy new year is a bit disconcerting" is in my opinion disconcerting. So now we not only need the information that they’re closed, during a time of year where it is very common for businesses to be closed, if they don’t say "merry xmas/happy new year" we’re going to be upset?

The Fair Credit Billing Act of 1974 gives people 60 days to dispute charges, so I don’t know why after two or three or even five days somebody would be in a panic, and posting on the Audiogon forum.

Hopefully the OP will come back and update us on the conclusion to this saga.

I'm not a big fan of TMR but they probably took the week off. It is the holidays, after all. Try to relax, I don't think they went out of business.

Unlike Amazon, TMR needs to sleep.  

I sent TMR a question on 12-20 via email about an item they listed. My question was answered to my satisfaction the same day by Lauren via email. Patience grasshopper. 

Happy Holidays George!

And it does not hurt to NOT cancel it yet either George.

And if the receivers are in? That's the dumbest thing anyone could say, but then your are a fuser.

About 4 days ago, I sent a PM to them about an ad.  They responded although it wasn't what I was hoping to hear.  I don't think there's a problem.

Bob

Somebody's home. Just listed...
Infinity Intermezzo C.M.M.D. 12" Woofer; CMMD; 4.1t; Mid Bass Driver (2/2) (16224)

Great point. Hope you don’t have any new customers that aren’t accustomed to your past  performance. 

Our business base was comprised of repeat and new customers, but the goal was to earn customers for life. Our customers/prospects had several suppliers from which to choose.

Many of our competitors were more mature in the business lifecycle and didn’t sweat the small stuff. They were the market leaders of course, no need in getting wound up over things. 

We loved it and thrived. As our business grew, the challenge became how not to follow in their footsteps. 

As a leader, one of my key roles was selling why we should be fanatical about making customers raving fans. It was time well spent.

Of course there are many reasons to not sweat it. It costs money, takes a lot of training, makes hiring the right employees difficult, and takes continual reinforcement. It’s the path of most resistance and takes strong leadership. Not that complex, just very, very hard. 

Sorry for the rambling, I guess I miss it more than I thought! 

I placed an order with TMR this last Sunday and it shipped Monday.  My guess is that my item had factory packaging to ship in.  If they have to create custom packaging for the OP it could cause a slight delay in shipment.

I have bought a PS Audio powerplant from them recently.  Tripled box, item came in exactly as described.  Highly recommended!

You know, I took a few days off from work and I think I may have forgotten to note on my email an automatic response telling everyone that I would be out of the office for a few days.  I hope nobody freaks out on me?  But they know that I have been doing my job for so many years now that I hope people have trust in me by now and figured out that I am just off for the holidays.  Just saying.

 

I don’t know TMR but i had experience with SoundstageDirect. They did go out of business. Agree that you are in good shape as you should have no problem getting your money back if they have gone out of business so wait until Friday to give them another call! They may well have closed for Christmas.

My perception is that TMR has a very good reputation. I tend to trust them, for what it’s worth, and I’d buy from them.

Not returning calls or communicating with customers is causing issues. (That’s feedback from customers-not me.) Unless they consider Audiogon members defending them a part of their customer service strategy.

I’ve NOT read of TMR selling bad gear, using subpar packaging, failing to pay fair prices for trade-ins, or otherwise not taking care of customers. 

Doing all those things right- it seems careless to struggle with communication. It’s not rocket surgery. 

Here are some ideas. Remember, free advice is worth the price! 

- Update the central or individual phone recordings to reflect Holiday/special hours/days.

- Teach the staff to set up auto reply, so emails are returned immediately letting customers know what is going on with hours, etc.

- Assign team members the task of checking spam folders once daily. (The root cause of another complaint thread.)

- Put a pop-up on the website that informs customers.

- Forward the office phone to someone’s cell phone.

I’ve been retired for a few years, but have used these tactics in the past.

So, for less time than it would take to make excuses, or blame paying customers for having exceedingly high expectations...just fix it.

Happy New Year!

Really, on Christmas? The message on the machine said that they are closed.

It's interesting no one from TMR has commented on this thread yet.

+1 ALMARG

And it does not hurt to NOT cancel it yet either George.

Have a wonderful evening.
👍👍

Jeez, just pick up the phone. 

mrbell OP

It doesn’t hurt anyone to cancel your credit card payment, just gives you piece of mind so you can sleep at night till they either respond or don’t to your emails and phone calls.

So just cancel and see what eventuates before it's too late.

Cheers George

Agree totally with uber, never a worry in the big picture, but kind of worry about the little niceties that define a class outfit.     

I am going to go out on a limb here and say what some have already hinted at here, myself included.
This thread is not warranted and tbh with the fragile nature of our hobby can only hurt matters for us all in the long run.
Lets be honest the OP was NEVER in any danger of losing his money, ever, period!
We all know how long you have to make a charge back on your credit card, why on earth just not relax over the holiday period and see what Thursday bought when they are back in the office.
There was no need whatsoever to start belly aching over this after just a couple of days considering the time of the year.
No satisfaction after normal business is resumed?
Sure THEN initiate the chargeback and blast them on the forums but this was premature.
Not affiliated with TMR at all, just a healthy dose of common sense.
My opinion and thank you.

George
TMR are not going to be going anywhere anytime soon, we both know that.
They are way too big and deeply involved in audio equipment both here and on eBay.
TBH I do sidestep both sites and order direct as you get a better price as no fees they have to pay.
But with their constantly revolving inventory they are busy people and combine that with the holidays....

Yes it is unfortunate that this has slipped through the cracks but I am sure thats all it is.

BTW, Merry Christmas to everybody!
Relax, eat mince pie, drink spiced rum, enjoy!

It's been 4 days.. $2700 purchase... no email confirmation, zero communication.

It's now been been 5 days Al, with sizable $2700 purchase.!
 I think he has every right to be worried, especially with a recording that just says "were closed"  and no communication whatsoever. 
I know I would be worried and would stop the card payment, till some communication was received. 

Cheers George

TMR could have and should have provided a prompt acknowledgement of the order, and could have and should have provided a more informative answering message on their phone system.

But the fact is that for whatever reason they didn't.  And IMO posting a threat to dispute the credit card charge in a public forum on the second business day following placement of the order, during a holiday period no less, is not called for based on those facts.  And if I were TMR I would be hesitant to do business with such a customer, as who knows what kind of actions such a customer might take if for any reason he is not satisfied with the product.

IMO.  Regards,
-- Al
 

mrbell OP

Saying bluntly "were closed" with no merry xmas/happy new year is a bit disconcerting.
I would reverse asap the credit card purchase, then send an email saying you’ll buy it once they’ve answered you, and made you feel confident in purchasing it again.

Cheers George

I am a little surprised that the buyer didn’t get an email confirmation of their purchase. In this day and age of automation that’s fairly common for online resellers to provide. Was the purchase made by PayPal? If so, they should have received an email confirmation.

Most credit card transactions are processed by third-party companies due to the cost and efforts required to become compliant with credit card processing laws. The buyer should be happy that the credit card transaction was processed immediately, as that is a good indication the transaction was handled by a third party. I would be much more concerned about my credit card number sitting on a retailer’s server waiting for them to process it. Much more opportunity for fraud.

Still, I’m more surprised by the lack of common sense and rush to go online and make a negative posting about a retailer. Or maybe I’m not.

From that other thread, it seems as if the owner is more concerned/motivated to keep all his customers happy than some of the employees.

While I agree that the Holiday season is most likely the culprit, TMR did charge the buyer for the items. In my opinion I think they could have at least given him some sort of confirmation of the order. A all of 30 seconds e-mail?

It's Christmas time. They're closed. Their phone message says they're closed. Sounds nefarious! Happy Holidays. 

Seems nobody is perfect.  ‘‘Tis the season for joy and forgiveness.  All is and will be good around this transaction. Enjoy family! 

OP
I understand your concern and yes TMR should have altered their voicemail message and maybe even auto email response to reflect their closure for the holidays.
But that is all I see wrong right now and they are NOT going to run away with your money and deliver nothing!
Not meaning to demean your $2700 purchase but it is not going to make them rich by robbing you of it and compared to some of their deals is on the smaller side.
Again that is NOT trying to say it is a good reason to treat you unfairly or that your purchase and business is not as important as say a $25000 sale but just some extra rationale.

Interesting, a quick look at your AudioGon feedback indicates you made a previous purchase from TMR in August 2017. How did that transaction go?

I've done business on audiogon for years.  Communication is key and I always keep the buyer/seller fully informed.  TMR took my money and went dark.  If it was my business I'd have an automated email response and voicemail indicating they are closed for the holidays.  Instead my emails go unanswered and the voicemail says "call durning our regular hours" - which I was.  This is not about being impatient or expecting special treatment.  Their behavior is outside what I consider normal business practices. 

I am about 25 minutes from them. They are a great company. The owner has treated me very well. Off season when they are there, at times I get a response in a day or two. They are off a few days, and they have been very, very busy. And it seems to me they take the time to do things well, it does take time. I am glad they don’t have the mentality of a fast food place.

Never ceases to amaze me how the "someone failed to return my call" threads are always the longest.

I bought some cables on Monday and sent a message on the selling page asking when to expect shipment. They responded that they’ll be back on Thursday and my item will ship by Friday.
I’ve had great experiences with them in the past and would recommend them to anyone!

If you are dissatisfied with the transaction, go to your credit card company and ask to reverse the charges.  That is your right. 

The lack of communication is most likely explainable, but if you don't wish to chance it ... have the charges reversed.  That is your right.  

There is no need to 'slime by alluding' on a web site that sells to their core market.  Too late now.

There has been enough jumping of the gun on this site.  

Can't wait for the almost obligatory retraction when it all works out just fine and the Naim components are set up in your home.  

Rich   

+1 jetter, should have been done.

What part of that didn’t you understand?

The part where the OP may not understand why a business which purports to be well run would not take 30 seconds to record a voicemail explaining they are closed for the holiday week. Every business and individual in a position of responsibility would normally do so as SOP.

No issue, it’s the holidays. You will get your piece of gear as they are the real deal and sell to many, many happy customers.  You are right about how they should have messaging stating when they will be back from vacation.  I suppose they felt we all get its that time of year again 🙂

Great buyer and seller, the owner is on the Recent TMR thread, try sending him a Merry Christmas PM

i am guessing the NAIM gear is worth a bit of a wait...

You've still got plenty of time to reverse the charge on your credit card.  Enjoy Christmas and wait till next week to try contacting them again.  They have a good reputation (not perfect).  If it was someone with no known dealings, that would be different.

You said their recording said "we're closed". What part of that didn't you understand? 

I'm sure they are closed for the holidays, both Christmas and Hanukkah are this week. Many businesses I deal with are closed.

If you read the thread to the link I posted it will give you a bit better idea.
Ok 4 days, still no need to go ape so soon.
IMHO of course.
I understand it's a fair amount of cash but trust me TMR are not going anywhere anytime soon.
Did you check their feedback here and on eBay?

Although not really relevant, I purchased from them a Phonostage last Thursday, shipped Friday, received Monday.
Colorado to Florida.
Cannot complain one iota.

They will come through for you I am sure.