Buy tubes from Audio Research or not

At this point I would imagine Cyclonicman and Mofimadness wishes they would have never recommended Upscale Audio to Taters. Not because Upscale Audio screws the buying public but rather the bad experience Taters had with them.

Lets keep in mind on Upscale Audio's Web Site it clearly states they do not sell tubes for ARC VT100 amps.
Do they give a good reason why? No.... But what would you want them to say? Should Mr Deal say it is ARC fault for building an Amp that is not service friendly to the general public?

I am sure Taters feels he was treated unfairly by Upscale audio. He may have a legitimate reason to be pissed....
LOL, but who knows how many calls Upscale audio gets from people asking questions about re-tubing their ARC VT 100 amp. It says right on their Web Page, we don't do it....
Also we are not privy to both sides of the conversions that took place between Taters and the staff at Upscale Audio. Did Taters become argumentative? We don't know...
When Mr Deal got on the phone was he rude and tell Taters to never call again? Yes more than likely.... The archives on AA are full of such posts about Mr Deals temperament. Hey, different strokes for different folks. Does it cost Upscale Audio lost revenues? I am sure it does.

I once read a post of Kevin Deal's, on AA, where he said on average Upscale audio gets 200 to 300 phone calls a day.

Maybe the answer is to go to a recorded message answering service. Upscale Audio could then screen all calls and only answers those who they want to.
One thing for sure there would not be any more rude responses from Mr Deal.

Jea48, I do feel badly about those folks that have had a bad experience with Kevin. I guess the hassles he has with some amps is not worth it for him. I have no affiliation with Kevin except as a purchaser of tubes. I have to say I don't understand his logic because most business people do not refuse a sale, especially when it can be quite substantial. I would say that this shows that Kevin does have integrity even if it comes across as somewhat distorted.

Jea48, I agree with your last post. Taters could have gotten a little nasty as well but, for K.Deal to hang up on him.

I wasn't aware of K. Deal's statement on his website about ARC retubing until you pointed it out. That makes me feel a little better but still no excuse for being rude to a potential life long customer.

I'm in business myself and the customer is 99 & 3/4% always right. We sell maintience supplies to industry and with the economy like it is we're feeling the crunch. We can't afford to be pissing off customers. In our business, the customers buy from us every month. We're practically married to our customers. Does it get annoying? Yes, but we bite our tongues and keep counting those sales!

As far as 200-300 phone calls a day! Come on. I would be willing to bet a month's salary against that. We have 25 salespeople covering the state of NC with monthly sales in the 750,000 to 1,000,000 range and we don't have that kind of phone calls. LOL! If Mr. Deal is that busy then no wander the rest of the high end business is slow. Mr. Deal has it all wrapped up LOL!

Jea48, Nice posts - they should put some of this into prospective.

FWIW, I've got nothing against Taters, but do you note that he has NOT contested Kevin Deal's version of what occurred in the contact he made with Upscale which led to KD's rude hang up.

I think a lot of folks like to call KD for tube advise and exploration of possibilities that don't result in sales or could/would result in mis-matching and subsequent warranty issues for him. And it is advise that you often won't get from other dealers.

I don't know Taters amp, but I've owned ARC amps and they aren't a walk in the park to re-tube. When I had mine my dealer made me send them back to ARC for any servicing including the simple replacement of a resistor in the bias circuit which was burned out by a shorted power tube (ARC uses this resistor as a 'fuse' in most of its amps I believe). He also complained about the difficulty of the re-biasing procedure. Clearly he just didn't want to be involved.

I recall a dealing with a tube vendor, mentioned above, some years ago when I did my first re-tubing of my SP10. I was ignorant about the demands it placed on tubes and the tube types that had a history of success. He gladly sold me an advertised 'set' of tubes that were (as I know now)doomed for failure, and they did shortly after I put them in. You could sub that experience in for some of the experiences that KD was trying to avoid. BTW, I never bought tubes from him again!

In my experience Deal has a 'personality' which many will not appreciate. But if you NEED advise on what tube to use in your equipment, and he has personal experience and the tubes, he is an excellent source. And, his service is excellent. Now if you know what you want to buy and you don't want someone to challenge you, don't call. Others will be very happy to help you and save you a lot of grief. If you just want to bullshit with him, and expect differential treatment, don't be surprised if you don't get it.

Also, consider, how many B&M (or internet) dealers have tubes for sale and know what they are talking about regarding their proposed use. Lots of generic advise, perhaps, as is commonly given here, but not much more. Most equipment dealers I have run accross at least pretend ignorance about 'tube' selection issues. Makes life so much easier for them.

FWIW.

Interesting how this thread started as a question of whether to buy tubes from ARC or an independent dealer, and is seemingly ending as a Kevin Bash Fest.
FWIW, I have always had good experiences dealing with Mr. Deal. He is extremely knowledgeable and offers quality tubes. He may not suffer fools gladly and has chosen to totally avoid the hassel of retubing a particular amp which can be problematic for those inept at it. So be it. One should at least do some preliminary research online anyway before calling any tube dealer. Common sense.