I just had the most exceptional experience with an audio manufacturer of entry-level Hi-Fi gear -- Infinity Systems of Northridge, CA. I just thought I should share the experience and ask others if they've had similar "above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty" experiences with other hi-fi companies.
Basically, the story is this: I purchased a pair of Primus P362 speakers back in December from Fry's Electronics. These were to be used in my new home theatre system. I bought them because I so loved the Infinity Primus 360's (the predecessor to the 362) which are my main system reference speakers. The deal at Fry's was too good to pass up (basically one of their super-sale flier specials) so I brought them home and started breaking them in in my main system.
To my dismay, the P362's sounded just a bit brighter than the 360's and this difference didn't go away as I played the speakers in over the next month. However, I put off doing anything for awhile because, after all, these were speakers that I bought for under $200 a pair at a major chain store. How much claim to excellence can one expect under those circumstances?
But I'm an engineer and eventually, the issue nagged as more a technical challenge than as a pure feeling of having been wronged.
So after a few weeks of quietly stewing, I contacted Infinity Customer Support via email and asked politely if the new Primus speakers were different (other than cosmetically) from the original line. I also suggested that the email might be forwarded to Sean Olive, Infinity's director of acoustic evaluation, in an effort to quickly clear up the question.
The next afternoon, I received an email from a concerned Dr. Sean Olive himself and after exchanging a few emails, he arranged to have my speakers picked up by UPS for shipment to Northridge for measurement and subjective evaluation. A few weeks later (last week), I received an email from Infinity stating that they had tested my speakers, performed subjective listening with "a variety of music" and agreed with my findings. However, they stated that the differences I was hearing were within normal production variation. This notwithstanding, they then offered to match my speakers to their production reference pair, saying they would be "more than happy" to do so. A couple days later, my speakers arrived with new tweeters and adjusted crossovers, sounding nearly identical to my Infinity Primus 360's I know and love.
This was all done at no cost to me and with courtesy, speed, and professionalism on the part of Dr. Sean Olive. At no time did I feel like I was being talked down to or dismissively told to "go away" for whining about something like "bright treble" on a speaker with an MSRP of $600-$700.
During college in 1997, I used to work in a hi-fi store back in Austin, TX (one of the few that still exists despite the rash of recent hi-fi shop closings there) and my personal experience is that Infinity's customer service is exceptional, even when compared to the very high-end marques. It is remarkable to find a company that treats $200 dollar customers as if they were $20,000 customers. This kind of attitude -- a committment to quality and customer satisfaction -- is the essence of high-end audio and is a warm welcome to those of us in the entry-level waters.
Thank You Infinity and Dr. Sean Olive.
Has anyone else had a similar story with another manufacturer (or the same one)? I'd be interested in hearing about other companies with such a committment to customer satisfaction, particularly at the entry-level.
I just had the most exceptional experience with an audio manufacturer of entry-level Hi-Fi gear -- Infinity Systems of Northridge, CA. I just thought I should share the experience and ask others if they've had similar "above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty" experiences with other hi-fi companies.
Basically, the story is this: I purchased a pair of Primus P362 speakers back in December from Fry's Electronics. These were to be used in my new home theatre system. I bought them because I so loved the Infinity Primus 360's (the predecessor to the 362) which are my main system reference speakers. The deal at Fry's was too good to pass up (basically one of their super-sale flier specials) so I brought them home and started breaking them in in my main system.
To my dismay, the P362's sounded just a bit brighter than the 360's and this difference didn't go away as I played the speakers in over the next month. However, I put off doing anything for awhile because, after all, these were speakers that I bought for under $200 a pair at a major chain store. How much claim to excellence can one expect under those circumstances?
But I'm an engineer and eventually, the issue nagged as more a technical challenge than as a pure feeling of having been wronged.
So after a few weeks of quietly stewing, I contacted Infinity Customer Support via email and asked politely if the new Primus speakers were different (other than cosmetically) from the original line. I also suggested that the email might be forwarded to Sean Olive, Infinity's director of acoustic evaluation, in an effort to quickly clear up the question.
The next afternoon, I received an email from a concerned Dr. Sean Olive himself and after exchanging a few emails, he arranged to have my speakers picked up by UPS for shipment to Northridge for measurement and subjective evaluation. A few weeks later (last week), I received an email from Infinity stating that they had tested my speakers, performed subjective listening with "a variety of music" and agreed with my findings. However, they stated that the differences I was hearing were within normal production variation. This notwithstanding, they then offered to match my speakers to their production reference pair, saying they would be "more than happy" to do so. A couple days later, my speakers arrived with new tweeters and adjusted crossovers, sounding nearly identical to my Infinity Primus 360's I know and love.
This was all done at no cost to me and with courtesy, speed, and professionalism on the part of Dr. Sean Olive. At no time did I feel like I was being talked down to or dismissively told to "go away" for whining about something like "bright treble" on a speaker with an MSRP of $600-$700.
During college in 1997, I used to work in a hi-fi store back in Austin, TX (one of the few that still exists despite the rash of recent hi-fi shop closings there) and my personal experience is that Infinity's customer service is exceptional, even when compared to the very high-end marques. It is remarkable to find a company that treats $200 dollar customers as if they were $20,000 customers. This kind of attitude -- a committment to quality and customer satisfaction -- is the essence of high-end audio and is a warm welcome to those of us in the entry-level waters.
Thank You Infinity and Dr. Sean Olive.
Has anyone else had a similar story with another manufacturer (or the same one)? I'd be interested in hearing about other companies with such a committment to customer satisfaction, particularly at the entry-level.