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Magnepan Service HORRIBLE???

I am now into my 5th week waiting for Magnepan to evaluate shipping damage to a pair of MG 3.7's. My wife and I paid Craters and Freighters to build a custom wood crate for them so they would not be damaged further by the trip from Richmond to Minnesota.

I know everyone will say they are a small company and I need to be patient but this is ridiculous to my mind. I have called 5-6 times and the seller has also called. The last time I called Shelia acted like she had never spoken to me before despite the previous phone conversations.

I know the MG 3.7's are supposed to be sensational speakers and I bought my first pair of Magnepans in 1975 but I am seriously considering flipping these if Magnepan ever inspects and repairs them. The aggravation simply is not worth it to me.

A month and I can not even get anyone at Magnepan to open the crate, inspect them, and give me a damage estimate to provide to FedEx who is ready to pay the claim. Unfortunately, they can't pay until Magnepan provides an estimate of the damage and then I have to wait for the actual repair.

I never thought I would feel this way about Magnepan but this current situation has changed my mind to a huge extent. This is just ridiculous the way I see it and I can see no good excuse for it.
etmerritt33
etmerritt33 OP
36 posts
 
Honestly, this morning I felt like she knew or someone has said something to her because her tone made me feel that way. I could have been imagining it but that is what my gut was telling me.

I love the company and the products. Audio Art here in Richmond was the biggest ARC and Magnepan dealer in the U.S. when I became involved in 1975. My first pair of high end speakers was the MG 2's. This is the first time I have ever needed anything from them relative to service.

But, this current experience has left such a bad taste in my mouth that I am not even sure if I will unpack them and set them up when they get back. I know that would likely be stupid but I just don't like being in this situation and not being able to do much about it. The problem is that I have other equipment sales and purchases contingent on these speakers so everything is on hold at the moment.
etmerritt33 OP
36 posts
 
Brownsfan,

Thanks for your post. I've been so angry recently that I started researching speaker alternatives and as you say there aren't any good ones for anywhere near the price. I am wishing I had not sold the Soundlab M-2's we had.

What makes this worse is that I bought a Conrad Johnson preamp at the same time and that arrived damaged also and it has been sitting at Conrad Johnson (I drove to northern Va. and hand delivered it to CJ) for 5 weeks and not damage estimate either. The seller has refunded my money so I will also be in the market for another preamp. I also have a pair of MG-1.7's at home and if the CJ preamp had not been damaged I at least could have run the CJ preamp, the Krell FPB-300 amp, and the MG-1.7's while waiting for the MG3.7's to be fixed. But, that all got messed up too and we were out about $ 10K with nothing to show for it when we should have been enjoying the MG3.7's and the C.J. preamp with the Krell. The entire thing just got hosed up.

Tom
steveaudio
328 posts
 
Some questions.....FedEx Ground? They are notoriously bad. Also, maybe I missed this, but did you not use paypal? Shouldn't the seller have been on the hook? And those are very large speakers--are the orig. boxes not sufficient, or appropriate? Seems not. I routinely "double box" much smaller speakers than that.

And $1K to ship them to Magnapan? But this whole mess is now their fault? I usually assume that buying used gear made by small companies, esp. big, heavy items, may be a big problem to get repaired.

I don't mean to pile on, but it seems like this this whole thing is a chain of bad packing, shipping, etc, & I'm not sure how Magnapan, no matter how slow their repairs, should be left holding the blame in all this.
chazro's avatar
chazro
575 posts
 
Wow. I've been following this thread with interest. I've been the plant manager at a few different companies and Magnepan simply isn't doing the right thing by you. I understand about rules and policies but if I were in charge I'd take the extenuating circumstances into account. They're making a bad call by treating you this way simply because you didn't buy the merchandise from them, which should be irrelevant. They've been paid for the goods, now it's simply a matter of standing by the product. I swear by buying used, I've done so many times, but you've been thrust into a worst-case scenario. Hell, the extant of things found wrong made me wonder if the spkrs were 100% when you bought them!
phasecorrect's avatar
phasecorrect
2,013 posts
 
Magnepan is old school in a sense they still use a tightly knit dealer network...unfortunately...since you purchased used...which comes with no warrantly...you are kind of relegated to "back of line" status...Magnepan...from what I gather...supports their dealer issues first...and since the OP speakers were purchased second hand...Magnepan technically doesnt owe him anything...they are simply doing him a favor....
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