ethics within this industry

[bass-boy68]

Hello everyone , I am writing this post as a result of frustration and anger.

In sept 2015 i purchased several items made by Audioquest after ringing their dealer here in NZ to be told that the Dragonfly 1.2 would work with the setup I was considering buying.It was either a Turntable or a DAC introduced to my HiFi and Home Theatre setup.So I was told yes it will work and be a great setup to which I said "great!"

With that statement from them(ONLINEAUDIO NZ) I went ahead and purchased a new pair of Sennheiser Momentum wireless headphones and also a Ipod 5g , also a 5 meter cable and a dragontail which I believed would connect the Ipod to the D/F 1.2.

I had issue as soon as I plugged it in, I heard a terrible hum that took away from any chance of having good audio quality so from then on I called the dealer and also the sennheiser dealer too.I had just recently bought a Anthem MRX700 which has lifted my listening experience up quite a few levels from my Yamaha RXV1900.

So fro 10 months I have tried tpo get these guys to help me and have been ignored or given lame excuses that they dont have good computer skill and it must be my faulty setup etc etc!

So after all the wasted energy and no resolution I decided to contact AUDIOQUEST in the USA and got a hold of ALASDAIR PATRICK who is the customer service manager in California Head Office AudioQuest.Great I thought.

so he said in his email to me, " you were told it would work didnt you!

'well it will not!will they swap it for the black or red?as they do work! , WOW OMG...yes I was told and no they have not asked to swap out.So he then said he will contact Jake Tai who is the Australasian regional manager for Audioquest.Great I thought.

so then i get an email from the retailer/dealer who sold to me in the first instance and they gave me pricing for a new Dragonfly and accessories that bought along with the D/F.WTF is going on here I thought, not again am I getting shafted by the dealer on behalf of Audioquest.So now tjhe want me to buy all over again, insulting considering they sold to me under their advice?!...so their you go so far.I have all the emails of him telling me exactly what happened and he just told them to charge me for their error, shameful...their is a 2nd half of this and it is disgusting the further behaviour of this company towards myself.

 

[matthewpiano]

Audioquest has no control over how the retailer deals with this. Your contract is with the retailer and it is they who gave you the seemingly incorrect advice. That is where your fight lies. In these situations the manufacturer is powerless. They sell the product to the retailer and it is then the retailer's responsibility to advise the end user correctly.

 

[ellisdj]

Have you tried threatening to contact trading standards or what equivalent type governing body you have and reporting the retailer to them. They are being very unreasonable but really at the start you should have returned the kit for a refund not kept it

 

[ID.]

Audioquest has no control over how the retailer deals with this. Your contract is with the retailer and it is they who gave you the seemingly incorrect advice. That is where your fight lies. In these situations the manufacturer is powerless. They sell the product to the retailer and it is then the retailer's responsibility to advise the end user correctly.

This. In fact, it sounds like Audioquest tried to help resolve the issue even though they have no responsibility/liability.

Your issue is with the dealer, and if they won't sort out the problem arising from their misrepresentation (either intentional or negligent).

If you are in NZ https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/consumer-law-and-your-rights/consumer-guarantees-act/

https://www.consumerprotection.govt.nz/report-or-resolve-a-problem/faulty-products-or-services/faulty-products-and-services/

Or try the Consumer Protection Hotline for guidance.

 

[Frank Harvey]

Agreed. A change of thread title would be in order to more accurately describe the content.

Mod - Title changed to remove potentially defamatory statement.

 

[bass-boy68]

sorry ellisdj but they do so , they have the right and the capability to contact them and to make sure their conduct is in line with the conponies ethical standards , most companies do have ethical standards so they do and can via contracts that maintain that standard.I would have thought you guys would value honesty above legal issue, their is alot of fairy dust and magic around lately, cheers

 

[ID.]

sorry ellisdj but they do so , they have the right and the capability to contact them and to make sure their conduct is in line with the conponies ethical standards , most companies do have ethical standards so they do and can via contracts that maintain that standard.I would have thought you guys would value honesty above legal issue, their is alot of fairy dust and magic around lately, cheers

i know you're angry, but you're also wrong. The dishonesty, if any, has been on the part of the dealer. Not Audioquest. There has been no dishonesty by that company and you've been going about this completely wrong if you are trying to get a solution to your problem.

The corporate code of ethics has very little it can do about their distributors. Perhaps they can exert pressure or threaten to cut the distribution agreement.

The dealer bought the kit and then sold it on to you. Any repairs or warranty, etc. issues are meant to go through the dealer. It was the dealer that have you did advice, not Audioquest. You're barking up the wrong tree or trolling. You would have gotten much better results by using the consumer protection mechanisms in NZ to resolve the issue with the dealer

We're not arguing legal grey areas, we're telling you the best way to get your problems resolved, which you should've done rather than dicking around for ten months and the trying to get one company to force another company/trader that is neither a subsidiary or an affiliate to do something.

 

[BigH]

I agree its sounds like the dealer missold you a product, it's with them you need to resolve it.

 

[Native_bon]

Write a letter to the sales person or manager of branch saying the product is not fit for purpose. Send it registered. Give them 2 weeks from date of letter, stating if you do not get full refund or replacement you will file for small claims court. It always works for me.

 

[MajorFubar]

I agree its sounds like the dealer missold you a product, it's with them you need to resolve it.

Re-read his opening post: he hasn't clarified yet if he bought it from the same people who gave him the advice. That's somewhat pivotal.

 

[MajorFubar]

Did you buy it from the same people who gave you the misleading/wrong advice, or from elsewhere? If you did buy it from them, why didn't you just march it back and ask for a refund ten months ago?

 

[BigH]

I agree its sounds like the dealer missold you a product, it's with them you need to resolve it.

Re-read his opening post: he hasn't clarified yet if he bought it from the same people who gave him the advice. That's somewhat pivotal.

Its true it's not very clear although he does say Audioquest NZ dealer. If he got advise from one dealer and then bought elsewhere then he has no hope.

 

[MajorFubar]

I agree its sounds like the dealer missold you a product, it's with them you need to resolve it.

Re-read his opening post: he hasn't clarified yet if he bought it from the same people who gave him the advice. That's somewhat pivotal.

Its true it's not very clear although he does say Audioquest NZ dealer. If he got advise from one dealer and then bought elsewhere then he has no hope.

No he said he phoned the dealer, he never said he bought from there. Maybe I'm out of order to think there's more to this than we've been told, but if you'd bought something from a dealer who told you it would work with 'x', but it didn't work with 'x', surely you'd just take it back. Not sure if he'll post again to clarify the issue. In his later posts he seems to have taken the huff.

 

[ID.]

I agree its sounds like the dealer missold you a product, it's with them you need to resolve it.

Re-read his opening post: he hasn't clarified yet if he bought it from the same people who gave him the advice. That's somewhat pivotal.

Its true it's not very clear although he does say Audioquest NZ dealer. If he got advise from one dealer and then bought elsewhere then he has no hope.

No he said he phoned the dealer, he never said he bought from there. Maybe I'm out of order to think there's more to this than we've been told, but if you'd bought something from a dealer who told you it would work with 'x', but it didn't work with 'x', surely you'd just take it back. Not sure if he'll post again to clarify the issue. In his later posts he seems to have taken the huff.

good point. I was thinking that he hasn't really made his story clear, and the issues may be different to my assumptions depending on where he bought it and whether he got bad advice from one shop and then bought it online or something.

 

[thewinelake.]

Msybe got advice from somewhere that answers the phone and bought it from the cheapest online source?

 

[matthewpiano]

It's quite simple.

If the OP got bad advice from a dealer and subsequently purchased from that dealer, there would have been a case with that dealer in the time period immediately following the purchase. 10 months on? Not so much. The case should have been addressed formerly with the dealer at the time and if there was no satisfactory outcome it should have been addressed through the applicable local retail laws.

If the OP took advice from one dealer but purchased from another dealer, the latter has no responsibility for the advice and there is no contract with the former.

In both scenarios Audioquest has no case to answer and would only do so if their own advertising promised the product would do something that it doesn't. They can bring a concern to the attention of the dealer involved, but how that dealer handles the situation is their own decision and not governable by Audioquest.

I say all this from a point of knowledge. I have years of retail experience and I now work for a manufacturer (outside AV or hi-fi) with a wide dealer base.

 

[Al ears]

It's quite simple.

If the OP got bad advice from a dealer and subsequently purchased from that dealer, there would have been a case with that dealer in the time period immediately following the purchase. 10 months on? Not so much. The case should have been addressed formerly with the dealer at the time and if there was no satisfactory outcome it should have been addressed through the applicable local retail laws.

If the OP took advice from one dealer but purchased from another dealer, the latter has no responsibility for the advice and there is no contract with the former.

In both scenarios Audioquest has no case to answer and would only do so if their own advertising promised the product would do something that it doesn't. They can bring a concern to the attention of the dealer involved, but how that dealer handles the situation is their own decision and not governable by Audioquest.

I say all this from a point of knowledge. I have years of retail experience and I now work for a manufacturer (outside AV or hi-fi) with a wide dealer base.

Hear,hear. You are right.