Not that you asked for it, but my advice would be to take this as a sign to continue with the chargeback, scrap the idea of buying an amp from these guys and buy one from a reputable dealer.

If you PM me, I can hook you up with and authorized Zapco dealer that will not rip you off and is 100% honest and will do you right. He's not a big name store but is well known on many forums...plus you will get a factory warranty.

Jay

 

Check your box, PM sent... I can't deal with this stuff from Woofersetc any more, I mean how long do I have to wait to get a good amp from these guys?

 

Dear Dan and all Forum Members,

This is Edward writing on behalf of WoofersEtc.com. We felt a reply was necessary and professional in this matter. We feel as though it's only fair for us to take a moment of your time and explain this warranty issue thoroughly. We hope that by presenting you with all of the facts everyone will understand that while Dan did not initially receive the absolute fastest service possible, our company had or has no intention of denying him (or anybody) fair and honest customer service.

Dan purchased a Zapco 1000.4 amp from us, and did call us to get an RA number, explaining that one channel of the amp did not work. The amp was purchased on November 8, 2008 and 4 months passed before Dan called us for warranty info. He was issued an RA # over the phone, and was instructed to ship the defective amp back to our Los Angeles address. For the most part, we will ask that customers ship warranty items back to us after the first 30 days of ownership, within the first month, we will usually issue a UPS pickup at our companies expense, and exchange for new whenever possible. Any manufacturer's defect in a product purchased from our company after the first month will be repaired under our 1 year warranty policy, at no cost to the customer.

The amp was sent back to us, and was sent in for warranty. Dan did call our office several times to ask the status of his warranty, he was informed that the amp was not ready yet, and his repair was taking a bit longer than expected. We also offered to send him back a brand new replacement amp for a charge of $150, rather than waiting for his amp to be repaired, had he opted for the replacement, a brand new amp would have been shipped the same day.

Our office received 2 more calls from Dan the next week, to inquire about any news on the return of his amp, we had not received a call back with any ETA yet, and did not yet call him back. At that point Dan sent us an email stating that he had filed a complaint with the BBB and had filed a chargeback. He had explained to the BBB that he felt we were trying to scam him out of his amp, and/or the $150. We took this very seriously, and immediately called him to clarify any misunderstanding he had about the situation. We explained that it is definitely an inconvenience to wait 40 days for a product to come back for warranty, but this is in no way equal to our company trying to rip him off. We explained that of the 40 days he mentioned, there are about 2 weeks worth of transit time coming and going from him to us and us to our distributor.

At this time, the decision was made to go ahead and ship the customer a new brand new amp from our own inventory, rather than having him wait any longer. The same day, April 8, a brand new amplifier was shipped back to Dan, with his own original parts, accessories, box etc. A tracking number was emailed to him that evening. We explained to Dan he had over-reacted when he called his CC company to place a dispute on the charge. We went on to say that chargebacks are reserved for situations in which there is no other choice, because the seller is absolutely not working with you. We asked him to reverse the chargeback before it went any further, because it would have made our situation much more complicated. He was even instructed to wait until he received his new amp, before he removed his BBB complaint.

Two days ago, the 15th, we were contacted again by Dan. He explained that the brand new amp we shipped him worked for about 40 minutes, then died. We discussed his installation, and issued him another RA, for another exchange to a third brand new amp. At this time we explained the fact that Zapco is one of the better quality manufacturers of amplifiers on the market, and it is very rare to see any defects in their products. All Zapco products are quality control inspected, and as a result have one of the lowest return rates in the industry. We explained that we almost never see any problems with Zapco amps, and that 2 problems in a row, with 2 different amps could potentially be caused by an external issue. It is always very difficult to trouble shoot these sort of problems over the phone, and I have no intention of doubting Dan, or his installation. Regardless, we told him to send the second amp back, and we will again send him a brand new one.

I appreciate you all taking the time to read this rather long post. For the past 10 years, as a company, WoofersEtc has made every effort to show the best possible customer service. A decade worth of sales equals hundreds of thousands of customers around the world, many of whom are members here. Even Dan himself has ordered from us a few other times, with no other issues. Considering this huge customer base, and each order averaging 3 to 4 products, there have been nearly a million products purchased from WoofersEtc.com. With this extremely high number of items sold, the chance exists that a complaint will arise, but our company will always be here to back every single product we sell.

We hope you all understand that while this is an unusual situation, we will work with Dan until he is completely satisfied. Customer service is extremely important to us, and we will continue our effort of pleasing every single WoofersEtc customer, as we've been doing since day one.

I again appreciate the time you've taken to read this post.
Edward R.
WoofersEtc. Management

 

I called Woofersetc the next day after the original amp was installed, you can see my installation log of the amp in the sound dampening thread I have here. It should not matter that I had to wait 4 months to install it as it is supposed to have a 1 year warranty. Also if the company is so concerned about this why did it take so long to do anything about it? Why did they ship a new amp in my old box? Why did it take a chargeback to get their attention? Why was I told all those ridiculous things that I mentioned in the first post, and asking me to close the chargeback before I get a good working amp is again ridiculous. I called to speak to their warranty department on a Monday, they said they would call me back, I waited until Thursday an no one called. I called about 10 times before I did the chargeback, emailed them with no response, and no one could give me the status of my amp. I can't say for sure why I got 2 defective Zapco amps in a row but I agree it is very strange. Since the chargeback Woofersetc has sped things up considerably. The time I had to wait to get a replacement is not even the biggest problem, its being told I'd get a replacement in 2 weeks then getting the run around until I filed a chargeback, that's the problem. They said they will get me a new amp when they receive the second defective one.

 

Also anyone that thinks this might be user error in installation, besides my log that shows the install, I fix amplifiers for a hobby, here is my bench:

 

To clarify, I don't think Woofersetc was trying to scam me now, I think it was poor communication and poor customer service. As I told Woofersetc on the phone, its not one phone call or one questionable response from them, but it's the combined responses I received over a period of many weeks that I got this impression, that I think any reasonable person would get. The final response, or in this case no response that made me do the chargeback was after I emailed them saying I need a concrete response to the status of my amp or a replacement in a reasonable time period or I will file a chargeback. They never responded and I took that as a sign that they weren't going to do anything about it, they later told me they never received the email. Now, after all this has happened and I file a chargeback and a BBB complaint and I have someone call me from Wooferstetc in a day or two, what else was I supposed to think? Even though I had this problem which is very frustrating I appreciate that they did end up doing the right thing and are not making me wait to get the third amp in.

 

What I think they should have done differently is when I first called to ask how long it would take to repair the amp they should have said it could take 2 weeks or a month or longer or we really can't say. When I called to ask for the status of the amp they should have called Zapco and asked what the status was, if this was not possible they should have said so. They kept saying they will leave a note for the warranty department but never gave any concrete answers. The employees there need to be on the same page. When you call one day and are told the amp is being repaired at Zapco, then the next day someone else says well we don't know what's wrong with the amp, let me write that down so it can get fixed, it makes you wonder. Also when I call and ask for the warranty department, if they are not in and you say they will call you back, have them call you back.

 

Woofersetc just said they will not give me a new amp or a refund!

"Dan we called you today to follow up with you and it does not sound like you even want to get this matter resolved. We have tried calling you and you won't pick up, we have asked for you to call us and you wont call. We give up!! At this point lets just allow the chargeback to go through and at that point you can see if your bank will even be able to get your money back since it has been 5 months from the charge date.

Thank you,
-WoofersEtc.com Staff
(213)239-8822
"

This is after I told them I will only talk to them by email as I want everything in writing.

Woofersetc's true colors show through after all!

 

"We have tried calling you and you won't pick up, we have asked for you to call us and you wont call"

Is this true?

 

They called once, this is after I told them I will only talk to them through email like we always have. After they were chastised on another forum for basically telling a bunch of BS they told me they wont do anything for me after I said I want to talk only through email as I want everything in writing. After they jerked me around so much I don't think that's such a big request. They just didn't want to be caught in another lie.

 

Ok, this situation might finally have a resolution. I talked to David on the phone again, and they will give me a refund. He, kept calling and really wanted to work something out. I don't think anyone wanted this to get as far as it did, but at this point I think a refund is the best solution and they gave me their word they will give it to me as soon as the amp gets back to them. When the refund goes through I'll post back on here and let everyone know.

 

Woofersetc came through today and did what they promised all along. They issued me a full refund of the amplifier and also gave me the option to receive a third amplifier if I wanted. I would like to put this whole issue to rest as I believe it has gone way too far. I spoke with management on the phone again and they explained every point that came up during the forum discussions. I want to say again that I do not think this company was trying to scam me, and I believe everything started from poor communication and a delay in receiving my amplifier. The company also assured me that any customer service issues have been investigated and corrected. I believe in letting people try to correct any problems a customer may have and this company did end up doing that. As heated arguments sometimes get, the end result may be forgotten and pushed aside. I'm a fair a person, and as I stated my opinions of what I felt was wrong with the situation, I'm not going to leave out what was done right. Every time I ordered from them I did get the items in a quick and professional manner with tracking numbers emailed to me. In the last few days management at Woofersetc has taken every step to try to resolve this and I am satisfied with the outcome. I also want to point out that even if some of my posts may seem to put Woofersetc in a bad light, I am convinced that they will take care of any issues you may have with them when purchasing from this company. In all honesty, I have never had a company personally call me and give the concern they did to take care of a customer after they were aware of the situation. I will not rule out ordering from them in the future as they did take care of the problem and to me that's what ultimately counts.