Arcam Support? AVR380

[Rendupm]

Hello, I wonder if anyone can help. Due to house move I have lost the calibration mic. and the FM aerial for my AVR380 so, I would like to purchase new ones. I have contacted Arcam distributor and SAT service in Spain, after few weeks I still have not received reply. Is there any other option to buy spares or to contact Arcam for support?

Their web page only mentions this e-mail account. I cannot understand that such expensive brand does not have proper, easy and quick ways to attend their customers, ex. telephone, chat, etc. My current AVR380 is under global 5 year warranty and was purchased in New Zealand so, calling the seller is definitely not an option. Very frustrating…

 

[insider9]

Sorry to hear that. I was going to suggest calling them. As an alternative I would contact a local dealer and see if they could help in short term.

 

[bigboss]

I would suggest you contact them through Twitter or Facebook. Companies usually respond faster that way.

 

[Dom]

Facebook is a convenient way to to access companies.

 

[Rendupm]

Thanks for the replies, I may give a try via Facebook.

 

[Greenwich_Man]

If you look on the web you can find a UK telephone number. You may be able to find one for other countries. The UK number is 01223 203200

 

[Rendupm]

Well, it seems we are making progress although very poor service in general. I contacted Spain tech support again and firstly, we found that the previous query was lost, therefore we started from scratch. Finally after 5 days I had reply. Results:

Microphone - They do not have mic from AVR380, but recommended to purchase one from 550 which they claim will work. So, I have done this.
FM antenna - They do not have FM antenna that I can purchase.

Reflection - My AVR had 5 year warranty. How can a company offering 5 year warranty not have spares for those products? I mean, what would have happened if instead of a lost, it would have been a malfunction of the mic? This is unbelievable really, I have no words. They tell you that you have 5 year warranty but they do not guarantee/keep spares.

Regarding direct support from them. Someone was telling about UK number, I could not find this in their official support web page, not even for UK. It is only a Form so this telephone number must be hiding some where in other section. They do show a telephone for US support thought.

You can see the options at the very bottom of the official support page:

Buying Advice | Arcam

To make the most of your investment in one of our systems, we'd advise you to talk to one of our specialist dealers.

www.arcam.co.uk

Again, I am very disappointed of companies who are very happy to take the money from their customers but then they do not want customers to call them and"bother" them anymore.... Going through dealers is NOT a solution because in most cases, they do not have detailed expertise about each product/brand. Just as example the other day I was talking to the most famous Hi-Fi shop in Spain and was asking them whether they recommended Bi-amping the fronts. The guy was saying that it was not possible to this with AVRs... funny enough, I told him that I already had mine bi-amped using the back-surround channels.

Final statement - We need proper customer service from the manufacturer and proper dedication to their customers about specific queries and support about their products.