My Radikal 2 upgrade kit included installation for the retail price, no additional charge. The dealer took his time installing as it was his first. It may have taken 45 minutes.
Time for a new dealer.
Unless your deck is a total birds nest then I’m sure a reasonable margin is built in for upgrade installation.
I Certainly haven’t ever incurred more than upgrade price.
- May 20, 2014
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- HiFi Trade?
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How far is he travelling for $800? As has been said above, it’s not “standard procedure”, certainly not in the UK, but dealers in the US seem to be a mixed bunch and law unto themselves. The only thing that springs to mind, is did you buy your existing Radikal from that dealer? He may be trying to recoup some of that “lost” profit margin, if you didn’t.
’troll
That's what I thought. From this dealer in the last two years, I bought a Klimax level, except for the Lingo 4, LP-12 and Wilson Sabrina X speakers.Time for a new dealer.
Unless your deck is a total birds nest then I’m sure a reasonable margin is built in for upgrade installation.
I Certainly haven’t ever incurred more than upgrade price.
Yes, it certainly seems like it's time for a new dealer.
I'm bringing it to his shop in NYC! And see above for what I recently bought from him.
In my case, I had purchased the Radikal from the same dealer as upgrade. But I really don't think this should matter at all. I think the purchase of the upgrade kit includes installation.
- May 20, 2014
- 3,516
- 4,525
- 148
- HiFi Trade?
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- No
If changing dealers is an option, I’d certainly be having words with him, reminding him what you’ve bought, asking him to justify the charge, then drop him anyway. It’s not a sellers market…
’troll
I'll be blunt and say, this is outrageous. In my 36 years as a Linn customer, I've never experienced something like this. And since I've moved around a lot, I've had a few dealers. My current dealer travelled 535 km one way to install my Klimax Radikal/2 and didn't charge me anything. As you said, time for a new dealer!
Linn insist that all LP12 upgrades be installed by a dealer. Their implied policy is that this is included in the price of the upgrade. There are plenty of other dealers in the NYC area - check in with them.
And you may want to post the dealers name so that others can take his "policies" into account when buying their expensive audio equipment!
And you may want to post the dealers name so that others can take his "policies" into account when buying their expensive audio equipment!
No problem doing so, since none of this would be outside of his publicly available information: Innovative Audio
Interesting. From their web site:
"Very few partnerships in high end audio last the length of time that Innovative has been a Linn dealer. We were among the first in the United States in the 1970’s when Elliot Fishkin first heard the legendary Linn Sondek LP12 turntable at an early CES trade show. Now after nearly 50 years of partnership, Innovative is your best resource for Linn."
Apparently not!
"Very few partnerships in high end audio last the length of time that Innovative has been a Linn dealer. We were among the first in the United States in the 1970’s when Elliot Fishkin first heard the legendary Linn Sondek LP12 turntable at an early CES trade show. Now after nearly 50 years of partnership, Innovative is your best resource for Linn."
Apparently not!
I'll be even blunter - This is an absolutely outrageous try on by the dealer. This would be the case even if Ron P hadn't previously purchased any Linn gear from there. Installation is built into the cost when you are taking the deck to the dealer. The fact that Ron P has already purchased high level Linn gear from them before - well as I said, an absolutely outrageous try on.
Absolutely shocking treatment especially as a previous and current client.
I’m very lucky where I am in the UK toI have Cymbiosis as my dealer of choice and he travels hundreds of miles to fettle my deck.
I’ve never been charged for extra deck work.
Obviously he’s not a charity and I recompense his expenses etc.
The deck would have to be in very poor condition for a dealer to charge extra than the upgrade price for an install.
The figure mentioned is outrageous.
I think Cymbiosis has just returned from a USA trip and might be into next year before he travels back.
But for a guy walking in with his deck to they’re shop that’s a shocker.
I’m very lucky where I am in the UK toI have Cymbiosis as my dealer of choice and he travels hundreds of miles to fettle my deck.
I’ve never been charged for extra deck work.
Obviously he’s not a charity and I recompense his expenses etc.
The deck would have to be in very poor condition for a dealer to charge extra than the upgrade price for an install.
The figure mentioned is outrageous.
I think Cymbiosis has just returned from a USA trip and might be into next year before he travels back.
But for a guy walking in with his deck to they’re shop that’s a shocker.
We do not charge for installation at the store of any Linn upgrades purchased from us, certainly including a Radikal 2 (one of which I just did this morning). Radikal 2 installation is actually relatively simple and should take no more than 1.5 hours no matter how meticulous you are (and I do precision adjust all torques on motor, sensor board and PS). Most Linn dealers I know follow the same policy. Linn does require dealer installation of upgrades but I don't know how hard they are about not charging for the labor.
I think the issue with Linn dealers who can work on the LP12 has little to do with the cost of the installation...and far more to do with the fact that they are far and few between!! For instance, in the state that I live in, California, which is one of the most populous states in the whole of the US ( maybe the most populous)...we have a total of three (3) dealers ( and it may even be less by now!) who can work on the table!!! Three!!!!
To that, and i say this in the nicest way, one of these folks are " in their retiring years"!! Then we talk about the distances involved between these dealers ( remembering that Calif alone is the size of the whole of the UK)...and it is not a pretty sight, IMHO. So, when you complain about a dealer asking for a margin to install the upgrades ( which I agree with you is simple price gouging)...at least you have a flippin' dealer!!
To that, and i say this in the nicest way, one of these folks are " in their retiring years"!! Then we talk about the distances involved between these dealers ( remembering that Calif alone is the size of the whole of the UK)...and it is not a pretty sight, IMHO. So, when you complain about a dealer asking for a margin to install the upgrades ( which I agree with you is simple price gouging)...at least you have a flippin' dealer!!
99.9 % of CA population don't know anything about the British HIFI, let alone Linn.
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