Here is an excerpt from an interview with Tufan Hashemi, Co-Founder and owner of Roksan Audio (HifiChoice June 2015)
Tufan talks about his club for Roksan owners 'They pay a nominal £100 fee every year and we will regularely update, set-up and service the product at no (extra) charge and keep it going. - I set this up because I want Roksan products to sound their best wherever they are in the world and we now have a lot of members. If somebody trusts my taste, they like my music, they like the way my equipment sounds, then I am for sure going to look after them for the rest of the life of their equipment. - I don't actually feel ownership of Roksan, I really feel that Roksan would be nothing without all the guys; some of my staff, they've been here forever!'
I assume the above includes repairs. I would guess that a fair number of Roksan customers are probably owners of one of the companies turntables which, although not super service intensive, clearly benefit from the odd oil/belt change and set up after cartridge replacements and/or a move. Amplifiers are arguably less service-prone but still benefit from the odd check-over and may need parts replacing to bring them back up to spec.
Do you think more hifi companies should take that approach or is it, in your opinion, just another way of making profit?
Cyrus, for example, charge around £200 to have a component serviced/repaired but that includes several other things such as re-packaging, cleaning, bench soak testing and replacement of parts that are below spec or out-dated ones with newer, better ones. - Its another take on the maintenance theme.
Personally, the way I see it, the first (Roksan) option may be worth for someone that tends to keep his/her equipment for a long time. £1200 over ten years may seem a lot but if you love your equipment and it tends to be at the higher end of the portfolio, you may feel different about it.
The second way (cyrus), although also expensive, may be an option for folks that tend to change equipment more frequently but still outside normal warranty times.
What do you think should companies realistically offer to customers?
Tufan talks about his club for Roksan owners 'They pay a nominal £100 fee every year and we will regularely update, set-up and service the product at no (extra) charge and keep it going. - I set this up because I want Roksan products to sound their best wherever they are in the world and we now have a lot of members. If somebody trusts my taste, they like my music, they like the way my equipment sounds, then I am for sure going to look after them for the rest of the life of their equipment. - I don't actually feel ownership of Roksan, I really feel that Roksan would be nothing without all the guys; some of my staff, they've been here forever!'
I assume the above includes repairs. I would guess that a fair number of Roksan customers are probably owners of one of the companies turntables which, although not super service intensive, clearly benefit from the odd oil/belt change and set up after cartridge replacements and/or a move. Amplifiers are arguably less service-prone but still benefit from the odd check-over and may need parts replacing to bring them back up to spec.
Do you think more hifi companies should take that approach or is it, in your opinion, just another way of making profit?
Cyrus, for example, charge around £200 to have a component serviced/repaired but that includes several other things such as re-packaging, cleaning, bench soak testing and replacement of parts that are below spec or out-dated ones with newer, better ones. - Its another take on the maintenance theme.
Personally, the way I see it, the first (Roksan) option may be worth for someone that tends to keep his/her equipment for a long time. £1200 over ten years may seem a lot but if you love your equipment and it tends to be at the higher end of the portfolio, you may feel different about it.
The second way (cyrus), although also expensive, may be an option for folks that tend to change equipment more frequently but still outside normal warranty times.
What do you think should companies realistically offer to customers?