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Audio Aero hell - Never again!!!!! (long but a worthy warning)

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for a tale of darkness and deceit, customer service hell and unprecedented reliability issues. Put the kids to bed, gather around the fire and listen to the tale of the Audio Aero from Hell (creepy music).

A few month ago, by a clear summer day in France, I bought an Audio Aero Prima Mk2 (Sony transport) despite my audio friends all telling me that I was crazy, that Audio Aero had too many reliability issues. I ignored the warning. The sun was shining, the air was crystal-clear, what could go wrong ? Courtesy of the very long leadtime to get the wonderful Ars Sonum Filarmonia (no regrets, it twas worth it !) the Prima saw the light of day for the first time in February 07 (I didn’t have an amp before that so couldn’t use it). I plugged it and after a few hours… it checked out.

I called one of my friends and said « Remembered how you told me not to buy AA because they all break down ? » He answered « Yeah, and you’re going to tell me yours works amazingly right ? » Me : « No it broke down straight out of the box ». Man, could I feel his smugness down the line.

Ok, shit happens. It’s all about the way it’s dealt with isn’t it ? « They have terrible customer service » adds my friend. Uh-oh… This time I was more inclined to believe him. Damn him, he was right again.
I returned the player. First thing they say was « It’s not our fault, it’s Sony’s». Now a lot of you might have heard « It’s not our fault it’s Phillips » before... They’ve just changed provider so that they could lay the blame on somebody else.

Four weeks later, nothing. Five weeks later, nothing. Six weeks later… you get the gist.
After TWO MONTHS, I opened a law book and saw that the maximum amount of time allowed for a repair in France was a month. Past that deadline, I was allowed to ask for a full refund. so I sent a letter to Audio Aero and they suddenly, for the very first time, called me and said « Oh, we’re sorry, we thought your player was fixed…. » DUH!!! This is absolutely authentic. Keep reading.

So my legal letter did wonders and since they promised to send the player back the week after, I gave up on the refund, accommodating that I am.
I got the player, plugged it again. Very sweet sound. Very analo… Wait, what sound ? It stopped again. Oh no, it won’t start again ! What’s that clicking noise ? Why does it say NO DISC ? Why does it make those electrical noises in the speakers ?

Breathe in, breathe out. Anger won’t get me anywhere. (At this point I should add that I’ve had a variety of players in that system, from $100 to $7000, and none ever had a problem).
I very calmy sent an email asking either for a refund (as entitled to) or for a brand new player (once more, trying to be accomodating). I thought they would obviously settle for a new player, considering I’ve heard the Prima for two hours in the two months and a half since I took it out of the box.

Surprise surprise : I just received and email saying (exact quote) « There would be no reason to give you a fresh machine ».
I swear, I almost fell off my chair. I’ve been to French forums in the meantime and learnt plenty of equally interesting and alarming stories. The best one has to be the following one : a guy just returned his Prestige (12.000 dollars) to the factory because it had checked out too (80 Prestige went back in the last three months by the way…). They told him « Sorry, the Phillips transport is crap » (authentic). « Now you have two solutions : either we replace it by another new Philips transport, same model, or by a Sony transport which doesn’t have reliability issues (yet) ». The guy scratched his head « Ok, I think I’ll go for the Sony then ». Audio Aero : « Brilliant. It’s going to cost you 2000 euros as we consider this an upgrade ». This story is absolutely true and those of you who speak French can find it on www.homecinema-fr.com. The cost of the transport itself is 69 dollars online. Add a dedicated card and the total factory cost for AA must be around 200 dollars.

I am so glad I ONLY went for a Prima and « ONLY » spent 2000 euros (about 2500 dollars). Audio Aero have such serious reliability and customer service issues it’s just unbelievable. I would forgive the high failure rate (probably one of the highest on the market today) if I had adequate service. Don’t expect it, you’re going to have a better treatment if your 100 dollar Sony CD player bought on Amazon breaks down.

This is a very serious problem, and all the more regrettable since their players sound good. But buying an Audio Aero is like playing Russian Roulette. As for buying second hand, I wouldn’t recommend it… There are plenty of other manufacturers who offer stellar machines and stellar customer service (Ayre comes to mind), and I don’t even understand how AA hopes to survive their competition. Maybe I’m just naïve.
It is my understanding that the US are a little bit spared by that problem since AA’s distributor there does a good job of stepping up where AA fails. They do the repairs themselves and even improve the players with a mod that, for some reason, AA hasn’t « approved of » yet (AA’s own words to me), even though everybody says it’s a great mod.

In my case, I’m going to court with Audio Aero in order to get a refund, as per the French law. Unfortunately AA think they’re better than the law, and better than their customers. I’m done with the brand, and will stay away from everything Audio Aero in the future. I recommended you tread very carefully when considering buying their players outside the US.


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Topic - Audio Aero hell - Never again!!!!! (long but a worthy warning) - jbcortes 06:04:03 04/19/07 (12)

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