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I wrote to McIntosh and here is their reply, for what it's worth.

Posted by Big Dave (A) on February 26, 2004 at 13:37:39

In Reply to: Mac warranty thread... posted by rp1@surfnetusa.com on February 26, 2004 at 12:40:16:

Thank you for contacting McIntosh and for your comments.

The McIntosh non-transferable warranty is not a new policy as many contributors to these message boards think. Our warranties for electronics (3-years), speakers (5-years) and car audio (2-years) are the same as they have been since 1996. This is when they were last reviewed and updated. However, these established McIntosh warranties have recently been brought into the spotlight as the result of misrepresented internet sales. Many, many consumers purchase McIntosh equipment via the internet which is fine. However, the problems arise when McIntosh products sold over the internet are listed as new or never opened with warranty. This just isn't true as these units are not new, they've been purchased once, and often include text that the warranty is transferable, the unit is still under warranty or assumed so by omission. McIntosh will respect the warranty of any of our products from the original purchaser when purchased at an Authorized McIntosh Dealer. Our Authorized Dealers are conscious of the McIntosh warranty policy as it is contained within the McIntosh dealer agreement. To alert the public McIntosh posted consumer notices on our web site within the Service area, as a link from each product page and appears as a pop-up window upon entering the website. This was done 19 months ago. It's amusing to read from the audioasylum link that McIntosh should post this information on our web site. Well, we have, and it's been there in black and white, in several locations for 19 months. The information is also printed on our literature for the past 2 years.

All we have ever asked from those who choose to sell McIntosh products via the internet, phone, classified ads, etc., is that they clearly state, for the benefit of potential buyers, that the warranty is non transferable. You can't imagine the number of buyers who after an internet purchase approach us under the assumption that their product is under warranty and we must tell them that it is not and direct them back to the seller. We're not implying that all sellers are misleading but there are those who create issues for manufacturers and buyers. This is where our attorney steps in and has in this case. This isn't the first instance where our attorney and e-bay, etc., suspended an auction. This is only done when legal issues and implications are compromised. However, this is the first instance where we've received so much attention for it.

Thank you again for your e-mail. We've been inundated with comments and are responding to them. Anyone is welcome to phone the factory and speak to any one of us, including the president, if they wish to. Our president, Charlie Randall, has personally answered several e-mails regarding this and invites anyone to phone him directly at 800-538-6576 / 607-723-3512.

Sincerely,
S. A. Goff
Marketing & PR Manager
McIntosh Laboratory, Inc.

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My Inquiry to McIntosh
Subject: Roiling Controversy on Audio Asylum

There is an immense amount of back-and-forth discussion on the Audio Asylum
website about an e-mail message that was allegedly sent by one of your
attorneys, a Mr. Wayne Cooper, to someone who had listed a "like new"
amplifier on eBay. The person who got this message claims that he was asked
to specifically mention that his amp did not qualify for warranty coverage
from McIntosh, even though he never said (or even implied) that it did.
When he refused, your attorney supposedly contacted eBay and had them delete
the ad.

I have no axe to grind one way or the other, but I'd like to know if this
story is true. So far there have been nearly 400 messages on a Audio Asylum
site about this situation, with no end in sight.

Did one of your attorneys in fact try to coerce someone into changing their
ad to say "no warranty" or words to that effect? If so, why? I've always
heard that McIntosh gear is of the highest quality; why would you refuse to
honor a warranty just because a nearly-new item has been re-sold?

As I said, I have no axe to grind on this ... but given all the bad
publicity you're receiving on this, you might want to offer a full and clear
explanation of your warranty policy, and post it on Audio Asylum.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Schiit Audio

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