My terrible Customer Journey with the Line Magnetic LM-503PA Mono Vacuum Tube Amps

Based on favorable reviews from knowledgeable people, I really wanted to buy LM. But finding a reputable dealer and navigating through retail websites left me feeling concerned about getting into LM stuff. 

I next went with Don Sachs for my amp but it was delivered damaged due to poor packing and his response was less than satisfactory. 

All this scared me into buying a Primaluna. I was not happy with the sound of the dialogue series and I was allowed to return it after 30 days to try the Evo series which I liked a lot.

Upscale Audio is great to deal with and Primaluna is also on top of their customer service game. It's a 'one-two punch' of customer comes first and ultra reliable equipment. 

Not the sexiest brand but, man I am a truly satisfied customer. I wish everything was handled like this. Customer Service can make or break a brand.

I have had a LM 518IA for 5 or so years, zero issue. And as far as finding a reputable dealer in the US , Tone Imports is the distributor and I was directed by Jonathan Halpern of Tone to  Taylor  of GoldprintAudio in North Carolina . Both Jonathan and Taylor were easy to deal and communicate with. Service Center in Arizona

@steven365 Oh wow, thank you so much.

Thanks for all your replays. This means a lot to me.

Update January 6th: After another email to Line Magnetic in China, some of my questions got answered. (I added them to part 3 of my customer report) However, the majority of questions remain unanswered. They wrote they will ship my spare transformer from China to Europe today. There are still way too many open questions regarding the warranty and repair costs. 

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I am sorry to hear this and would never consider a product that self-destructs with a bad tube.   I would be concerned about an amp that overheated the way yours did.  The heat could cause expansion and damage to components, reducing the life of the product.    The manufacturer should send you a new matched pair of amplifiers and an apology, with a protection circuit for the tube issue.

Tubes can fail. Power tubes can fry transformer when this happens. We do not know if music was playing while it happens, but generally that sort of failure will cause loud noise in speaker, which is hard to miss even if you are not in the same room. Transformer does not burn out instantly - it takes at least few minutes for it to reach critical temperature when power tube is shorted (which is likely happened here). Some amplifiers have advanced protection from fault, but these will be higher tier brands like McIntosh or Audio Research. Generally I would not leave running tube power amplifier unattended.

When dealing with China based makers, I would not expect great customer service. In most cases it makes more sense to purchase product directly from China and forgo warranty support other than DOA. If device fails, use local independent repair shop to fix it. Or simply purchase a new one. In case of LM, price difference between ordering from China and EU distributor could allow getting a spare amplifier.