Von Schweikert Speaker Owners: Please Read.


I am sorrowfully writing this post to inform the good members of this board of a rather unpleasant recent dealing with the Von Schweikert Speaker company and their upgrade person, in particular.

I had contacted Albert VonSchwekert at VSA and Mr. Garner nearly 2 months ago regarding assistance for replacing a tweeter that is giving up the ghost on one of my speakers, requesting to either purchase a replacement from them or for assistance on finding a source for the unit. Near a month passed with multiple inquiries from me but not a single response from them. This prompted me to write about the events on a couple of websites for help finding the tweeter and wouldn’t you know it, I get a response with promise of a replacement tweeter to be sent out, free of charge, to make good on the whole mess. Sounds great, right? Well, wrong. A month passes and no tweeter, I inquire as to the status and get the run around and no further communication, finally I lose patience and send the following email a couple of weeks ago:

“Dear Mr. Garner:

It has been over a month since I had first contacted you regarding the blown tweeter, and though I understand you must be busy and this a small matter, communication has been very poor, slow to nonexistent. I am sorry to say that I am losing patience and have a need to restore my speakers to 100%, if I do not hear from you soon I will pursue a replacement tweeter through other sources, assuming you are unable to help, an you will not hear from me again.

Sincerely,
Michael Francis”

I do not wish to deter anyone from buying and enjoying these wonderful speakers, as they are quite amazing in their many virtues, but this is a warning to owners who may be thinking of upgrading their current VSA speakers, or even wondering what may happen if anything goes wrong with one of your speakers. The customer service for this company, in a word and put nicely as I can right now, sucks. I have corresponded with companies in the past with great customer service and do not expect all companies to live up to the highest standards, but by any reasonable account the service I have experienced on this matter has been quite poor, and as I’m sure most of you can appreciate, living with a sick tweeter for 2 months has not been pleasant! Personally, I had planned to move up the Von Schweikert line in the future and eventually setup a HT system using their speakers as well, now I will likely look elsewhere, sadly. Thank you for reading, I hope this account proves useful.

Signed,
A dissatisfied longtime owner.
socrates
They are a small company,and in most respects their customer service has been good.It seems you have fallen through the cracks,and you are better off talking to Kevin or Albert,as you would be talking to the people who get it done.Paul Garner is a middle man,has his own bussiness,and may have forgoten.This is not an excuse for VSA as they are in the wrong in this case.Call therm directly at 619-444-7136.
Paul Garner is the national sales manager for VSA and has his store, "In The Groove", located in Memphis Tn. I have spoken with him personally in the past. He has been very informative in my queries.
Albert and Co., in El Cahon Ca., are of impeccable character and obviously were not aware of your plight for a replacment tweeter. I agree in calling directly. If Albert is available in any way, he will speak to then and there on the spot. It would not surprise me if he did not Fed Ex you a replacment free of charge. Don't let this situation allow you to settle for less in your future HT project.
I have owned my custom modded VR-4 II's for years. They have outlasted all my "upgrades".
I say stick with Albert! Good Luck.
Mike Mills
Thanks for the feedback, I will try calling at the 619- number. I had ordered a tweeter from madisound.com but was sent the wrong unit, not sure if they have their numbers crossed or just a shipping problem. If nothing else I will try a local dealer I just found nearby in the yellowpages. I recently moved across country so the original dealer is pretty much out of the question, if even still around. Thanks again.