Quote:
Originally Posted by The Lost Bears
Kalvin quit on a Friday, He was unhappy with the new system and all the extra work it entailed. That Monday I called the service department to order a part. The person answering the phone was less than competent. I don't think he could tie his shoes on his own. He told me I had to send an email for parts. For the next week the service did not answer the phone or emails. Then I finally got a reply to my email a week and a half later. I have to order parts through my dealer. That was what the email said. I never had to do this before. I have been ordering parts and dealing with Audio Research for the last 30 years.
Long gone are the days when Leonard was head of the service department and the service was truly excellent. Don't get me wrong, Kalvin was very good. But it has been a slow and steady decline. Try ordering a part for an older piece. They most likely won't have it.
Audio Research use to be like a family. If you owned a piece you were a member of the family. It did not matter if you bought it new or used. They did everything they could to keep every piece working and sounding as good as when it was new.
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Sad to say my recent experience is similar to Lost Bears. In the past I could always get technical help and information on the phone. A few weeks ago I phoned Audio Research service to inquire about replacement tubes for my Reference 5SE. The guy I spoke to did not seem to know anything technical about the unit and ultimately told me he could not take an order over the phone. It has to be done via an e-mail request and they will respond with a special ordering Web page. So, I sent them an e-mail, telling me what I wanted, but got a response from somebody else who did not seem to understand what I wanted. After two more e-mail exchanges where I never got all the information I wanted, I gave up and ordered the tubes elsewhere (Upscale Audio).