Cary Audio Design

Company shipped a defective item and not willing to pay the return shipment charges.I ordered a brand new unit (model-[redacted] $3995.00) from authorized dealer, which was delivered factory sealed on July 18th. When I opened it to use, it was found to be defective and required immediate shipment back to the factory. I spoke to service team [redacted] who said if it is verified to be defective, they will reimburse the shipping fees. They indeed found it defective and repaired it and shipped back to me on July 26th. When I inquired about shipping fee refund, it was denied because it is not the company policy. Desired SettlementI don't care about the $50 shipping fees but treat your future customers better when you ship defective items by offering prompt shipping refund.Business Response On July 2, 2016, we received an order from the customer through [redacted], our online website, for a DAC-200ts. We shipped the unit to the customer on July 5, 2016 at our expense. On July 11, 2016, we received a DEMO order of a DAC-200ts from our dealer. Our demo program is for the purpose of the dealer keeping the product on his showroom floor for audition to potential customers to generate sales. It is offered at a significant discount solely for this purpose. It is not to be sold as a customer sale. This unit was sold to the customer. On July 25, 2016 we received (2) DAC-200ts from the customer under RMAs. One was the DAC-200ts the customer purchased from [redacted] on July 2. We gave a full refund on July 26, 2016 in accordance with our policies. I even had my Sales Manager, [redacted], call the customer to discuss the reasons for the return. We wanted feedback so we can be better at our jobs for future sales as well as have the opportunity to discuss keeping this sale. The customer indicated at that time he was auditioning various other products. The other unit purchased from the dealer ( which was a demo model not to be sold ) was to be returned to the customer. There had previously been no discussions with the dealer regarding any issues with this unit. Although sold to the customer when it should not have been, we serviced the unit under our warranty program. This program states that the customer send the unit to us at their expense, we repair and return it to the customer at our expense. This is exactly what we did in this situation. As a matter of fact, we performed a "free" upgrade of the unit while it was in the factory. This upgrade would normally require the customer returning the unit to us at their expense, cost of the upgrade, and return shipping. None of this was charged. We did everything in accordance with our policies, gave a free upgrade, and did not say anything regarding the circumstances surrounding the purchases, returns, etc.. I think we performed excellent customer service. I have had e-mail conversations with this customer. I told him if he believes his actions were just then we would refund him the shipping charges to his account in exchange for dropping the complaint. He said No. Consumer Response I ordered a brand new unit ($3995) from an authorized dealer. Dealer never revealed to me that he is ordering a "demo unit" from the company to make more profits. He shipped a factory sealed unit to me which was found to be defective. When I called him, he should have been smart enough to ask me to ship the unit to him for repairs. Instead, he made me call tech support and I ended up shipping it to the factory for service. Tech support was convinced it is my system fault, till they heard it and immediately replaced the board.Below are my issues with Cary Audio:1. When you sell overpriced audio, please back it up with good customer service and don't act cheap for small shipping fee reimbursement. We get better customer service from [redacted] for a $10 item.2. You should have a better quality control for an internationally well known brand. 3. End users (like me) have no way of knowing if dealers sold us a demo unit if it comes factory sealed. Your service should not differ based on how the dealer deceived you.4. Customer service hours should be better than Monday to Thursday 1pm to 5pm. Final Business Response Please see below for comments to each point raised by the customer:1. Cary Audio does not sell overpriced audio. Our products are high quality and represent excellent value. Our customer service is also excellent. We value all of our customers and we do the best we can to fully service their needs. The customer failed to mention that he previously purchased the same unit a week or so earlier direct from our factory. There were no issues with this unit according to our records. The customer then bought the same unit a week or so later from a dealer. He then proceeded to return the first unit purchased for full refund and then wanted the second unit ( one purchased from the dealer ) serviced. We serviced it according to our policies, including a free update we were under no obligation to perform. I do think this was excellent customer service. If the initial unit shipped to the customer purchased direct from our website had had an issue from its receipt by the customer, we would have paid for shipping to us, the repair and return shipping. However, since the second unit was purchased by a dealer as a demo model at a deep discount, then the repair should have been reported by the dealer. It would have been handled accordingly. 2. We have excellent quality control.3. True. However, I would feel differently if the first unit had not been purchased direct from us and then returned for full refund. 4. Noted.