This might shock many!
But the worst piece of Hi Fi that I've ever purchased would be Naim... Hard coming from me as I was a Naim fan for quite a while... But clearly that was the worst consumer experiece I have ever had from a product!
First with the Nait 5i-2, then the CD5i-2 as well...
Then the XS Series...
The Nait 5i Integrated amplifier had a very rare unusual problem of producing a crackle/buzz/static through the left speaker when the volume was increased by way of the remote control. The static was audible from the 9 O' Clock position and became unbearable from when it reached the 12 O' Clock position. Initially I thought it was the speaker after talking to my dealer who also thought it would be the speaker, however, a simple switch of loudspeaker cables from left to right revealed that it was the amplifier. I spoke to the dealer who clearly wasn't aware of the issue, nor was the distributor, and nor was Naim Audio in the UK. I confirmed this by talking to the Customer Service gentleman at Naim Audio himself, who himself was puzzled and mentioned he had never come across the issue before. The distributor then opened a new Nait and experimented the same thing, and realised that the problem existed with that piece as well. After a few days, I received an email from the dealer with an excerpt from who seemed to be an inner engineer at naim, who admitted that he knew about it and the problem existed in every Nait 5i manufactured! And also said that the problem affected a Nait XS as well and that it was the first time that a customer had complained of it, but it existed for god knows how long...! So as the email communication read at that time, it seemed that only he knew about it, and the other part of Naim had no idea whatsoever! I was honestly shocked at the way they seemed to work at naim! They were suposed to inform me when the problem was solved... I'm still to hear from them, I really wonder if the new integrateds still have the same problem!
The CD5i-2 had a skipping problem on random disks... and it just drove me insane! Because it was so intermittent, that I initially wasn't even sure whether it was the player! Then after a lot of elimination of disks, I knew it was the player... Told the dealer... the same thing all over again... "Haven't heard of it!". I gave it to my dealer, he also heard the skip, he sends it to the distributor, he checks it too... but doesn't hear it! I travelled to see the distributor, because he was in another city... he said he couldn't fault it and was going to send it back. At that point I had completely lost my cool! So I called up Naim, spoke to customer service again, and he said he would send down a PIC immediately... That was nice, but it took a whole lot of effort before it could be done!
Then (I have no idea why I was brave enough to purchase Naim again), went in for the XS series components...
they had these marks on them on the brushed metal finish... Told my dealer>Distributor>Naim... and I got a response which shocked me again... it literally said that they will not replace the products because even the new ones will not live up to the scrutiny and is too little to recognize it as a fault! I was really upset... But kept calm... A week later I was informed that Naim had cancelled an entire batch of 'FAULTY' facias... This was confirmed by the administrator on the Naim Forum... The problem was similar to the one I complained about, just 3 days before!
At that point, I really didn't know what to do... I then called up the highest authority at naim and told him what happened, and he assured that I would get a good replacement (I appreciate them for that)! Because of my dissatisfaction with the operations of my distributor and dealer, I asked for the replacement to be sent directly to my place, but it was refused... So in the end I just refused to take them and sold off my naim equipment! Even for the money I lost, I'm happy that I got rid of them!
Of course, there are a lot more intricacies to what happened (including a wee live cockroach in the box of my amplifier), but I was just so upset with the way naim operates internationally (in my opinion it completely loses its reputation for customer service outside the UK) that I just gave up! I have heard of and known several other incidents internationally, I'm almost certain that its because Naim's communication is just a complete breakdown outside the UK, in my opinion!
I could understand my dealer's frustration, because Naim kept all this a secret (as it seemed), and the communication among Naim and their representatives just seems to be appaling!
Im even ready to accept that this may have been one bad case out of several satisfied customers, but really the way these people deal with problems, every time, is shocking for me!
I wouldn't mind naim's arrognace if they delivered to me! But honestly this suggested anything but! Not because I'm the customer, but if it were my company, i would atleast offer a decent apology if not any part of a refund!
Worst experience ever!!!
, my biggest disappointment was a Slee Solo headphone amp. I desperately wanted to like it but it was no different to the headphone socket on a Yamaha AV amp I had at the time.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram