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In Reply to: RE: Here you go posted by Norman M on June 20, 2017 at 12:59:20
They run their service department at cost, as a service to customers.
An old-fashioned way of doing business where you didn't screw the customer, and I've actually complained to Wendell that the service department prices are too low (I don't see how they could possibly cover their overhead with what they charged me for the parts for my IVA's), but it is nice.
As to hiring more people I think two things have to be considered. One is that large expensive planars don't sell. They'd have to turn into a boutique operation like most of the remaining planar manufacturers (I think Martin Logan is the only one that stills sells speakers in quantity).
The other is that in an operation of Magnepan's size, having a backup for every skilled operation would mean hiring two people instead of one! And labor is the biggest cost for just about any company. Now consider that a consumer electronics product has to sell at 4 or 5 times the cost of making it. This kind of policy would send the price of Maggies into the stratosphere and likely kill the company (as well as those of us who buy them). So they have to work with what they have, and try to find ways to minimize these problems.
Follow Ups:
Running their service department at cost seems the equivalent of giving their service away for nothing, as if it were charity work. As a business model isn't that doomed to fail? It's a miracle that it's survived as long as it has. Is there any place on earth where the service department of an auto dealer does that? IMO, as things stand anyone wanting to own a large planar (e.g., 20.7 or 3.7i) has to be crazy. Perhaps there should be a clause in their product warranty that states if the one and only individual capable of repairing your speaker leaves, get's sick or is otherwise incapable of coming to work, you are out of luck until someone is hired to replace him/her.
I think the reason they do customer support at cost is because they represent an earlier ethos in high end audio, which originally was (and still is) a labor of love rather than a cutthroat take the customer for what he's worth business.
In fact, that's one of the reasons I like Magnepan, they take me back to the days when audio was a hobby and it wasn't all about $100,000 this and cables marked up 10,000 percent.
But I agree completely that their service department should charge a fair markup, not the take the customer for all he's worth markup of mass consumer goods but a fair one. After all, the company has to survive and they aren't making any money off Tympanis sold 35 years ago, in fact every time they help a customer restore an old Maggie it means they've lost a potential sale of a new one.
Otherwise, I think, in all fairness, their customer service is usually top notch. They offer a level of support that is almost unheard of these days. Just look at other speaker manufacturers -- if your IRS loses an EMIT, good luck, you're going to have to have it refurbished by a third party. But when I needed some felt for my 35-year-old IVA's I just called Magnepan and wham.
By way of contrast, my 1-1/2 year old, $650 smart phone doesn't even have a replaceable battery, and Android will only be supported three years from date of purchase!
And don't even get me started on waiting an hour for tech support from most companies these days and then talking to someone in Bangalore who barely speaks English and knows less than I do.
So while I hope Magnepan can find a fix for some of these issues I think on balance their service is light years ahead of most companies these days.
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