has anyone had problems with wadia service?

If you want results you have to use the systems that are already in place. Dealers are not the middlemen - they are the front lines. And repairs are not marked up in any way by a dealer so there should be absolutely no hesitation to contact a wadia dealer in your time zone and put them to work for you. Wadia dealers exist to serve the needs of existing and prospective wadia customers.

Even the largest and most profitable manufacturers, say for example the B&W group, don't allow direct contact between consumers and the corporate office. If a consumer chooses to handle their own service they can download a form from the company website (which requires a bit of navigating), complete the info, and email or fax back. At a later time, the consumer will receive an email or fax response with instructions.

No live support outside of the dealer network. This type of structure is quite commonplace and efficient for all parties involved. Many times dealers can troubleshoot or offer solutions / quick fixes which would save the customer time and tmoney.

Sorry, I do not understand the logic in thinking that wadia is at fault because they have an established dealer base but then should also be set-up to handle consumer direct issues when they do not sell consumer direct. I think some people would just prefer to complain than solve the problem. When I contact Wadia I can contact my account manager, regional manager, or corporate officers.

However, even with the offer to supply those contact numbers paperw8 has yet to contact me.

No one is at fault here and I am simply offering assistance. I haven't seen anyone else jump in to help as of yet - am I wrong?

No where on Wadia's website does it suggest that the customer is to contact the Wadia dealer network for repair support; rather it directs the customer to them. Additionally, when Paperw8 called them, if they in fact wanted him to contact his dealer then either the individual answering or the automated messaging should have advised him of such. Customers shouldn't have to try to figure out what the company wants you to do, it's the company's job to give you the information directly.

Below is verbatim from Wadia's website including its service mission statement

"Welcome to the Wadia Service Center. Use the navigational menu (upper left) to find answers to your questions and/or the forms you may need for service and support.

Answering your questions and understanding your needs is at the heart of our service mission.
Email service@wadia.com
Call 763-577-0593

Downloadable (PDF) Service Request Form

Wadia Service Policies
• Wadia only performs factory authorized service and currently-available updates. Custom modifications will
not be performed.
• Wadia will refuse to repair any product with modifications not approved by our company or deemed by our
technical staff to affect its safety or reliability. Please check with our service department before sending in
a modified unit for repair.
• The customer sending in the unit pays round-trip shipping on all non-warranty service and updates, and is
solely responsible for payment of any charges. Second-party payment is not permitted. Information about a
service unit is only available to the customer sending it in, not to second parties.
• Wadia does not convert products for use with a different A.C. line voltage.
• For units more than 12 years old, or those which have been unused for a year or more, please contact Customer
Service for preliminary advice on possible additional charges that may apply to these special cases.
• Certain repair parts are no longer available for these older models. To avoid the expense of needlessly shipping
a non-repairable unit, please be certain to call or email Customer Service beforehand."

excuse me "jwmazur":

seattlehifi posted questions about why i didn't contact a dealer with my service issue. the point of my subsequent post was to answer the questions posed by seattlehifi. if you think that my comments constitute "bemoaning" then you don't have to read them.

aside from the fact that the wadia website says to contact wadia for service, as i explained, it did not occur to me to contact a dealer from who i did not buy the player for assistance in getting service. what you may not know is that there is a fair amount of turnover among wadia dealers in illinois, and it makes even less sense for me to contact a dealer for service on a product after he is no longer dealing in the product line.

i wrote the next post to explain that i did not fault seattlehifi for defending the reputation of wadia. since the guy is a dealer it made sense to me that he would do so and i thought that it was a nice gesture for him to make the offer. but if i am going to contact dealers from whom i did not a product, it makes more sense for me to call a current local dealer since they would presumably have the same information that i could get from seattlehifi.

I have a Wadia 171i transport and the warranty section also speaks to warranty issues being handled between Wadia and the customer. So what any customer should expect from them is that they handle things on their end as they proscribe.