Core Audio Core Audio Technology Ratling junk, deceptive terms, rude service, Internet

1. His desired product and desired application changed and so our arrangement also changed. At the time I was still refining my distribution plans and so he was aware that all distributor pricing was not nailed down. My terms for all distributors changed, not just my offer to him. He was notified of this change immediately and before spending further funds. His initial purchase would have been the same regardless of the change in distribution terms so it would not have impacted his decision. He was offered the same pricing as my original offer, but it was changed to quantity pricing instead of flat rate pricing. This was because we could not afford the discount on the unit he was looking to purchase unless he purchased in amounts greater than two at a time, and larger garnered bigger discounts. This is fairly standard in the industry.

2. The unit was damaged in shipping. A few nuts that hold the PCB in place came loose. We spent close to 8 hours troubleshooting his device. His technical knowledge was not sufficient to do any sort of repair himself. We were out of the office at the time and told him to ship it back for repair and we would cover shipping. This is our policy for all customers and we have covered the cost of any repairs and upgrades for all customers per our policies. He chose to ignore the company policies at his own risk.

Company policies have been clearly stated: http://www.coreaudiotechnology.com/policies.php . He was aware of them and reminded of them several times both via email and verbally before he opened our device.

At no time was I unreachable. We responded to all emails usually within one hour and answered all phone calls.

3. Opening and modifying our devices is against company policy and voids both warranty and right of return. When he modified the unit he was aware that this voided the warranty. He even sent an apology letter afterwards. Once he opened it he brought it subsequently to two other audio manufacturers to attempt repair on two occasions.

This was the damage done:
A. Board had permanent marker labels of where wires needed to be replaced.
B. Transformer wired out of phase.
C. Additional fuse added to transformer primary in addition to our thermal sensing breaker switch for unknown reason.
D. Traces burned up. Bare wire placed along traces, uninsulated.
E. Diodes burned up and replaced.
F. Regulator improperly re-heatsunk and consequently overheated and failed.
G. Output wires removed, relabeled, and replaced. 

Upon receiving the unit back it was beyond repair. Because he voided the warranty we offered to charge him our parts cost for this repair without labor, but he chose to ignore this offer. Had he sent the unit back without tampering with and causing such significant damage it would have been repaired at our cost. 

4. We made no suggestions as to the grounding or design of his products. He came to us asking for design advice and we specifically told him that he needed to do his own testing for his specific application. We can't offer much advice on competing products.

5. He is building a competing product. His company is trying to make music servers just like ours and was having difficulty designing a proper power supply for his product. He wanted to license our power supplies, but when I told him I wasn't licensing them he decided to purchase one retail and consider using our power supplies externally. When he voided the warranty he came back to me wishing to license them once more "since I've already seen the inside". But because so much damage was done, the unit was beyond the trial period, and the unit was tampered with by several people he just voided his warranty. We were under no obligation to refund him anything, but offered to repair the unit and gave him several alternatives and chances to remedy the situation. 

6. Power supply and other products have since transfered manufacturing facilities and are undergoing UL certification and are built by machines. We have improved build quality and assembly/testing to help prevent shipping damage and this kind of scenario in the future. 

We understand that he opened the unit after it arrived damaged, but our devices contain potentially lethal voltages and he could have been seriously hurt playing around inside. He lacked technical knowledge to troubleshoot. Our policies are in place to protect our customers, save them money should something go wrong, and protect our intellectual property. Impatience isn't an excuse for tampering, especially the number of times he attempted to have the unit repaired and the amount of damage he caused. As we asked from day one, he should have sent it back at our cost instead of going the route he chose and we even gave him that option several times. It was his choice to ignore it.

7. We would also like to point out that this customer, owner of Welsch Technologies, is located in Raleigh, NC and not Sacramento, CA as his ID seems to suggest. At the time of this writing we have no customers in Sacramento.

1. Terms were mentioned upon original purchase. His desired product and desired application changed, my terms for all distributors changed. He was notified of this change immediately and before spending further funds. His initial purchase would have been the same regardless of the change in distribution terms so it would not have impacted his decision. He was offered the same pricing, but it was changed to quantity pricing instead. 

The product he purchased was pictured exactly on the website and as described.

2. The unit was damaged in shipping. A few nuts that hold the PCB in place came loose. We spent close to 8 hours troubleshooting his device, while out of the office, and told him to ship it back for repair and we would cover shipping. He chose to ignore this.

Company policies have been clearly stated: http://www.coreaudiotechnology.com/policies.php . He was aware of them and reminded of them several times before he opened our device.

At no time was I unreachable. We responded to all emails usually within one hour and answered all phone calls.

3. Opening and modifying our devices is against company policy and voids both warranty and right of return. When he modified the unit he was aware that this voided the warranty. He even sent an apology letter afterwards. Once he opened it he brought it subsequently to two other audio manufacturers to attempt repair on two occasions. This was the damage done:
A. Board had permanent marker labels of where wires needed to be replaced.
B. Transformer wired out of phase.
C. Additional fuse added to transformer primary in addition to our thermal sensing breaker switch
D. Traces burned up due to transformer rewiring. Bare wire placed along traces, uninsulated.
E. Diodes burned up and replaced.
F. Regulator improperly heatsunk after their repair and consequently overheated and failed.
G. Output wires removed, relabeled, and replaced. 

We have pictures of the damage.

Upon receiving the unit back it was beyond repair. Per our policy we would have to build him an entirely new power supply. We offered to charge him our parts cost for this repair, but he chose to ignore this offer. Had he sent the unit back without tampering with and causing such significant damage it would have been repaired at our cost. 

4. We made no suggestions as to the grounding or design of his products. He came to us asking for design advice and we specifically told him that his testing for him, especially not on a competing product.

5. He is building a competing product. His company is trying to make music servers just like ours and was having difficulty designing a proper power supply for his product. He wanted to license our power supplies, but when I told him I wasn't licensing them he decided to purchase one retail and consider using our power supplies externally. When he voided the warranty he came back to me wishing to license them once more "since I've already seen the inside". But because so much damage was done, the unit was beyond the trial period, the unit was tampered with by several people he just voided his warranty. We were under no obligation to refund him anything, but offered to repair the unit and gave him several alternatives and chances to remedy the situation. 

6. Power supply and other products have since transfered manufacturing facilities and are undergoing UL certification and are built by machines. We have improved build quality and assembly/testing to help prevent shipping damage and this kind of scenario in the future. 

We understand that he opened the unit after it arrived damaged, but our devices contain potentially lethal voltages and he could have been seriously hurt playing around inside. He lacked technical knowledge to troubleshoot. Our policies are in place to protect our customers, save them money should something go wrong, and protect our intellectual property. Impatience isn't an excuse for tampering, especially the number of times he attempted to have the unit repaired and the amount of damage he caused. 

7. We would also like to point out that this customer, owner of Welsch Technologies, is located in Raleigh, NC and not Sacramento, CA. We currently have no customers in Sacramento.