Musical Fidelity Support, do they ever answer phone, why no email address?

[SergeAuckland]

You can add B&W to the lsit of great companys to deal with, i recently had 30+ transistors (for a fubared rotel) off them free of charge and have always found them excellent to deal with.

Echo that about B&W. I recently wanted some new tweeters for my 801s, and they were superb to deal with. Great that they still support their 'speakers after 30 years.

The problem with working through dealers, is that most products these days are software driven, and when the fault is logic-based, e.g. the box won't come out of Stand-by, it's not a case of repair, more of corrupt software or a failed PIC chip which may need replacing or reprogramming. Either way, without specialist tools and PIC programmers and the right software, there's not a lot a Dealer can do, other than to send it back to the manufacturer. As that's often all a Dealer does, it's easier for me to do that myself, if the manufacturer will let me. I can understand a manufacturer wanting to support their dealers and give them more selling opportunities, but doing that by discouraging repairs (or at least causing delays and difficulties) doesn't sit right with me.

S.

[lee1975]

I can second that with B&W when my amp ran DC a while back and took out the bass drivers. Good support from then. Also Audio note are very good. A few years ago my Otto stopped working so I sent it away to them for repair. keep in mind that it was second hand and 3 or 4 years old. I got it back fixed and the total cost was........Nothing !!! great stuff.

[rcook]

While talking about great companies to deal with, I have to mention Trichord Research. Graham Fowler is an absolute top man to deal with, had several dealings over the years, always a pleasure. Definitely one of the good guys

[Plato]

That name rings a bell! I used to get regular newsletters from MF, I think signed off by here. In fact I used to get Christmas cards too! Still have fond memories of my A1 all those years ago, despite the fact it was terribly put together.

Yep, we're taliking about the same lady, I too used to get newsletters and Christmas cards. I actually still have my MF pre and power amps as backups.
Plato

[Tozen]

have had superb service from arcam and cyrus both british so sounds like meridian etc need to learn from them

Likewise with Arcam - superb customer service. I have also found Quad to be good and I am just learning that the guys at Sugden are also super helpful.

[Tel]

I had the opposite experience with Rega.

A second hand item I had bought arrived damaged. A Rega dealer was more than happy to fix the product for free.

Me too, I happened to mention to my local Rega dealer that one of the spring loaded ball bearings in my Saturn mech had sprung off. They had a chat with Rega, a new mech was sent free of charge to the dealer who then fitted it, also for free.

Fantastic service from Rega and Audio-T in Brighton on a five year old machine

[dudywoxer]

I had a problem on a Apheta, rang the dealer, as thats the usual way to ''talk'' to rega. He rang me back with full details of the Rega contact. Posted the cart back to them direct, a nice new apheta arrived a few days later. Fantastic service. I have always found them very helpful if you call them direct for advise, although they always suggest that if possible go via the dealer network.

[MF 1000]

I've owned my MF A1000 amp from new in 1994. I've only needed to use MF for service twice in that time ...both times they were excellent.

I contacted MF last year for advice on the temp my amp runs at ..and they were very helpfull.

As regards support for older equipment ...they do support selected models - my 18 yr old amp can still be serviced/upgraded via the Fine Tuning service - now that's what I call long term support

Keith

[Cambs12]

Needed to get some replacement packaging for a trivista integrated i sold last year.MF were very helpful(Indra was who i spoke to i think),so was very happy with them.My Classe cdp-202 developed a fault a couple of weeks after buying.B&W(who own Classe) arranged for the unit to be picked up,and within a week it was back with a new drive fitted.Perfect service.
Before i bought the Classe,i looked at used Wadia cd players.Spoke to the UK distributor,who said they couldn't guarantee being able to repair a cd player 4 years old if it developed a fault after buying,as spares ight no longer be available.So i took that idea no further.

[johnniebaby]

I looked at used Wadia cd players. Spoke to the UK distributor,who said they couldn't guarantee being able to repair a cd player 4 years old if it developed a fault after buying,as spares ight no longer be available.So i took that idea no further.

That is totally outrageous, with kit of that price.

[nomismo]

Companies i've dealt with over time for customer support, repaires etc.,Quad:- excellent,Musical Fidelity:-excellent, Mission:-excellent,Linn:-excellent, Chord:-excellent, Isotek:-excellent, Abrahamsen:-excellent & Meridian:-Absolutely awful.

[pmac]

If you're looking for good Musical Fidelity support, I used to swear by "Ash Designs" when I had my MF gear

[It Cost How Much!?!]

I found MF OK, but very expensive as they have a minimum charge and more often than not do not have the parts, so their tack is to offer a newer product at a discount, which is not what I wanted to be honest.

EAR great support
Audio Synthesis great support
Anatek outstanding support
Mark Levinson OK, but push you towards very expensive options
Meridian useless
New Krell organisation, shockingly bad, the support doesn't even know what is on the web site or what products they have produced.

Most bigger manufacturers push you towards the dealer or the distributor.

Absolute Sounds - rubbish support when I have contacted them, unless you plan to buy £100K+ worth of kit. Don't return emails or phone calls, a waste of space.

[ob1]

SACD transport in my Tri-Vista has a problem, rang them up just to hear...Sorry we can't help you! It was a £4000 machine Anthony, what do you mean it can't be repair!

[artsenna]

Contacted Sugden for some servicing of my amp. No fancy customer service. Patrick Miller picked up the call himself and ended up chatting about their amps.

[topoxforddoc]

I’ve been very lucky with my kit over the last 30+ years.

Meridian - were great - my 206B broke back in the late 90s - fixed in a couple of days after a phone call - shame that has changed
Quad - used to be great - send it / drop into Huntingdon - fixed same day if you rang and made an appointment - not sure it’s the same now

TRON/GT Audio - great service - problems with my 7 year old TRON Meteor pre-amp (ended up being a valve on the way out) - phone call answered on a Sunday by GT himself - long chat over the phone and replacement valves sent in the post plus an offer to come out to my house if that didn’t sort the problem out (which it did).

[TheMinimalCriminal]

I do wonder how say a Wadia dealer (Wadia seem to be mentioned in these circumstances more than most) would handle someone throwing the Sale of Goods Act at them properly. He's going to have a bugger of a job trying to justify that a £4k CD player should last any less than the 6 year maximum laid out in the Act, that's for sure.

[sq225917]

Isn't Indra Nando's mrs?

[cossie0]

I phoned them on Friday at around 1630 hrs to ask about Fine tune warranty and they were very helpful

[smegger68]

I've had outstanding service from Exposure, Sugden, Audion and Ortofon in the past. Worth saying when companies do it right because as we all know, plenty do it wrong.