HELP Electrocompaniet stole Christmas


What a mess:
After finally deciding that spending money on the latest EMC-1 parts mod, I contacted Electrocompaniet's distributor back in October to arrange to bring my EMC-1 MkII to him directly in PA so as to avoid RT shipping risks and expense for this 50 pounder. All was set for a Christmas week mod, as I was to be in NJ visiting my relatives that last week.
I called on Christmas eve to arrange a drop-off time, and was told that Christmas Day noon would be fine, but that I had to arrange the deal through a dealer! Yikes! So I remembered Fathers & Sons and called them, arranging for the paperwork and profit to be credited through/to them. Fine. So I drove 2 hours through a nasty winter storm to arrive at Warshaw's house, where he said he'd NOT perform the mod if my EMC-1 didn't have a serial number on it, as there was a grey-market guy in New York who sold a few of these this year. I assured him that mine indeed had a serial number, was produced in spring '01, and bought used by me in summer '01. He said OK, and lugged the player into his house, saying he'd call me in a couple of days to pick it up. Great!..............
I returned to NJ and watched the storm intensify....
Two days later I called to arrange a pick-up hour, and Alan told me that he did NOT perform the mod because the player had been originally sold by a Danish dealer, and NOT through him, so he had made a decision to NOT support any players not originally sold thorough him. No warranty repars, parts, nor mods!..............
I was stunned, couldn't convince him to make an exception since he had never asked me to provide a serial number beforehand, and I went through a total of a half-day of driving through a storm to accomplish this mod.
He just told me to come pick it up at my convenience. I glumly arrived on Saturday and retrieved my untouched puppy, where Alan said that unfortunately I had to share the victimization of the gray-market. I asked if I should contact a Danish dealer to see if a board-swap could be done (of course thinking he didn't really know the answer), but he thought that Electrocompaniet wouldn't support my player either! I asked with some incredulity what was going to happen with all the players that people have when they move from one country to another (!), but he said that this policy was the only way they have of penalyzing the gray market.... I suggested that in THIS CASE he should have installed the mod because of his lack of due diligence in assessing the production/sales history of this particular CDP, ESPECIALLY given my enormous effort in delivering it to his doorstep on Christmas Day.... I left sadly but gracefully.
WHAT SHOULD I DO? I contacted the Danish dealer but he's not responded. Should I contact Electrocompaniet directly and try to arrange a board swap or purchase the parts mod "kit" and instakllation directions (I'm pretty familiar with boards and soldering)? Should Alan have acted differently? Isn't the world getting small enough so that internationally-sold products should have protected lives independent of sales point?
PLEASE HELP!
A Happy and safe New Year to all!
Ernie
subaruguru
A man named Heinz Preiss located in Florida may be able to help you. He can be contacted at www.angelfire.com/biz/grundig or phone 941-776-9158.

I too have had my Alan stories being the owner of a CD player, phono preamp and at one time an amp that took almost a year to fix. I was about to buy the new DAC and called Alan to check on something about a dealer. I than remembered the horror of "him"and just changed my mind and went in another direction. During the amp incident I got a reply that EC stood behind the dealer and the distributor. Too bad they didn't stand behind the customer.
Ernie,

I am speechless. Have you contacted Audiogon directly? We live in times when international trade is what makes the world go round. The electrocompaniet policy sounds like an issue for litigation under international trade law. How would someone like to buy my new mercedes that noone in the world will agree to repair...

No more electrocompaniet gear for me. I usually inquire where a unit was purchased when I buy Audiogon, but apparently this is not enough.

Have you considered contacting the Danish dealer identified as the point of origin for this unit?

Judith
That stinks. I had been looking at getting an electrocopaniet DAC but this wises me up. I only deal with understanding people, period.

PS: I think I read you live near Boston. My relatives are in the Watertown & Belmont areas and get down a lot, I'm in Vermont.

Happiest of New Years and I hope your back is feeling a lot better.
George
Someone should drop this "Alan" an email pointing him to this thread. Let's see if he has the backbone to respond.
As a side note here, for as much as i have "bad-mouthed" Bryston amps, i have to state that their warranty and customer service under ANY circumstances are quite excellent. Too bad other companies can't / won't / don't follow their lead. Sean
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