Anyone have problems w/McIntosh warranty

As Cyclonicman mentions, "How does Mcintosh know the buyer didn't walk into the store, and buy over the counter?"

With that being said, and since McIntosh supposedly doesn't ship goods to private end users, only thier dealer network, then how, and where did this particular Unit come from?

This is almost like saying, that while I was on vacation in another state, I decide to buy a pair of MC-501 Amps, drive home, send in Warrantee Card, then find I have no Warrantee because I could have bought it from a closer dealer in my own home state?

Something still doesn't sound kosher to me? Mark

I agree with the above comment, also how far is too far. I live in the Northeast, you can drive through 5 states in less than 2 hours. If you buy a mac amp in mass, and live in Rhode Island, do you not get the warranty because it is a different state, could be 20 minutes away.

In the 70s manufacturers used to have a policy about pricing, that did go to court and was quickly overturned.

again, how in the world does a manufacturer know how you bought it,drive by or ups,to that end this kind of policy makes no sense to me.

You can buy Mac gear from any dealer - local or not, it simply doesn't matter. What does matter, however, is that you must pick it up or the dealer must deliver it; no shipping as per the Mac warranty policy.

Now, obviously, only you and the dealer know whether the item has been shipped, picked up, or delivered. Mac doesn't have spies out there.

In this case, the OP got screwed because SOMEBODY told Mac the unit was shipped. I buy Mac stuff from dealers half way across the country all the time. They ship it and I fill in the warranty card and no problem. But I have a receipt from an authorized dealer and as far as anyone knows, I picked the stuff up while on vacation.

End of story.

You probably won't have any issues with the performance of a Mac unit. I had a 7270 amp for 18 years, sold it, and heard from the buyer that it still runs strong. McIntosh used to put (maybe still do) the name (s) of the inspectors and the builders on the circuit boards, so they know who was in charge of quality control. Sorry to read about your situation, but you should just kick back and enjoy the music. Too bad companies protect their dealers, to protect the all important RETAIL price. Again, the unit you bought should last a very long time. Good luck to you.

I did a dealer search for a short radius around my zip code(not in a metro area) and was surprised how overdistributed Mac is, even into some very small retailers of scant significance to the market. I would venture to say that Mac might have the largest dealer network in high end audio. Mac goes as far as to award dealers with several levels of status, probably based upon stocking levels and volume. Their warranty policy is obviously crafted to minimize competition among dealers & probably violates interstate commerce rules as well as consumer protection regulations.