A Story about a Defective Signature Platinum

@pindac- I don’t think @mijostyn is asking for a lifetime warranty. I’ve had stuff happen over the years with product defects. The ideal response would be-- gee, that’s too bad. Would you mind sending it to us for inspection-- and if the distributor isn’t capable of doing the inspection, get permission from the customer to send it back to the manufacturer. (I reckon DHL Express or Priority Japan might cost 50 dollars US, maybe a little more). Then see where things are, and maybe cut the guy a break on another specimen (if he wanted that) or something else. An inspection should also reveal any user mishandling causing the problem--not that I'm suggesting that is the case here. It's simply good business and if there was a defect in the wire or manufacture, wouldn't the manufacturer want to know about that too?

That, in my experience, is how you maintain goodwill. Instead, we have an unhappy camper, a thread which has roused peoples’ ire-- there is something about vicarious rage at a third party that is just so easy, and negatives about a product and its US distributor, which is never good for bidness.

I’m very curious to learn what Steve Leung says once he gets to it and hoping for the best.

@lewm 

The upgrade bearings are doing fine so far. The 997.1 was the last car with that design. It came with a much larger Intermediate shaft bearing. The 997.2 onwards do not use intermediate shafts. This means the heads, instead of being identical are mirror images of each other. The cars with intermediate shafts sound different and much more in keeping with the classic character of 911s. Porsche has always treated me well. 

@pindac ,

I cut loose with a four letter word somebody did not like. If you were to spend $11K on a cartridge and it did this and you were handled in the way I was I think you would be upset to say the least. With the exception of the diamond and cantilever cartridges are really very simple and quite tough. The Umami Red is the one to go for. 

@whart 

Exactly, I started this thread to warn others of the limited warranty on these cartridges and the corporate nature of Music Direct and MoFi. The grape vine will do the rest.  Steven has been ace so far. All I expect is a manufacturer to take care of problems that are obviously do to a manufacturing defect within a reasonable period of time. 

@rsf507 

I have direct experience with Soundsmith and Soundsmith cartridges are wonderful and the service is excellent. 

In my view the Distributor should have offered to have the fault evaluated by the factory. If it was a manufacturing fault - then they should come to the party. If they felt it was a user issue then they could stand by their warranty.

If I was the manufacturer and a cartridge was defective I would want to know what the issue was.

As far as cost goes, if the cartridge retails for $11k, then it probably cost less than $6k ex the factory, so in the remedy offered the distributor is not offering any contribution to @mijostyn 's loss. On the other hand we don't know if the original purchase included any discount.

I have had multiple top end bespoke cartridges fully rebuilt ( not re-tipped ) by the manufacturer at considerably less than the $6k quoted.

@whart There has been a suggestion that certain parts in the make up of a Cart' are given a lifetime warranty, hence my lengthy description about how this would be quite a offer, especially with what a manufacturer knows, and the evidence that can be seen of a Cart's deterioration. 

Additionally, my contributions have been to encourage a hold off on the contempt being expressed to a supplier, prior to the outcome of a investigation. At this stage it does not matter who does the investigation to discover the fault, the skill and experience about such matters is the concern. VAS is more than capable to carry out this assessment. 

.Making the per hour costings known, is a good practice for all to utilise as a number crunch. 

whart

The ideal response would be ... Would you mind sending it to us for inspection ... Then see where things are, and maybe cut the guy a break on another specimen (if he wanted that) or something else.

Exactly. There's no way to know what's going on here without an inspection and the distributor/importer and manufacturer are the best qualified to do that.

... if there was a defect in the wire or manufacture, wouldn't the manufacturer want to know about that too?

Yes, of course. But @mijostyn recently acknowledged this:

I cut loose with a four letter word somebody did not like. If you were to spend $11K on a cartridge and it did this and you were handled in the way I was I think you would be upset ...

That may explain the treatment he received, at least in part. There's little value in offering a customer accommodation if he won't be pleased with the result.