I dont expect for these guys to survive in the long run with this attitude.
Jpr
Jpr
How Harmonic Technology has fallen.........
Recently had an issue with my Harmonic Technologies Crystal silver phono cable in which the insulation of one of the ground wire had become broken. I called their phone number and their phone is disconnected and no forwarding number is available. So, I sent a message thru their contact page and requested to send the Interconnect to get re-terminated at my cost. This is the reply I got:
"Thanks for your picture, it looks very old model.I like to tell you that HT had changed the ownership 5 years ago and also changed the products.Sorry we do not have the details about the very old model. "
I insisted that this is not an inexpensive cable and a reference for me for a long time but they replied:
"This cable was very very old model maybe 10 years . We changed all the specification and the previous ownership didn’t leave any information to us.We don’t have the part and our engineer can not guarantee to repair it.Beside, our repair department is in Taiwan, not economical to you to pay the shipping cost. "
And with that, the stopped communications.
It seems that a once high line brand has now fallen off the cliff. It is the first time in my audiophile life that a cable manufacturer has refused to service one of their products, at the clients cost.
Jpr
"Thanks for your picture, it looks very old model.I like to tell you that HT had changed the ownership 5 years ago and also changed the products.Sorry we do not have the details about the very old model. "
I insisted that this is not an inexpensive cable and a reference for me for a long time but they replied:
"This cable was very very old model maybe 10 years . We changed all the specification and the previous ownership didn’t leave any information to us.We don’t have the part and our engineer can not guarantee to repair it.Beside, our repair department is in Taiwan, not economical to you to pay the shipping cost. "
And with that, the stopped communications.
It seems that a once high line brand has now fallen off the cliff. It is the first time in my audiophile life that a cable manufacturer has refused to service one of their products, at the clients cost.
Jpr
17 responses Add your response
So if Apple does it, it must be OK?Rolls Royce has only a 4 year warranty. $400k doesn’t get you much nowadays. |
"This cable was very very old model maybe 10 years . We changed all the specification and the previous ownership didn’t leave any information to us. We don’t have the part and our engineer can not guarantee to repair it. Beside, our repair department is in Taiwan, not economical to you to pay the shipping cost. "This reply makes perfect sense to me. I respect their honesty. Apple doesn’t support their 10 year old Snow Leopard OS or their 10 year old Ipod Classic anymore either. |
Jim was great to deal with. Had lots of respect for him. As soon as he retired and the prices jumped up across the board, we stopped dealing with Harmonic Tech. They were good value for the money, but when the price increases kicked in, we had better options at those price points. Surprisingly, I see we're still listed as a dealer! We haven't purchased a thing after the new ownership. |
I remember talking to the old owner (Jim Wang?) a few years back when I bought an HDMI cable from him. Pleasant and helpful process, liked their products and have a few. He would explain his thinking on the cables and their design compared to others. He told me he was selling the company on and retiring, and I suppose a lot of the intelligence in the old products went out the door with him. That said, sure sounds like the new owners are far less customer oriented, can't imagine Jim ever leaving a customer hanging like that. |
