I've lost the left earpiece on my trusty ER-4P's. So I emailed Etymotic Research and asked if I could purchase a replacement and have it sent to me here in the UK. However, they insist that the headphones be returned to their HQ so they can check them over and do channel balance checks etc (I was surprised about the channel balance stuff as my understanding is that ER-4P's produced in recent years did not have these checks performed at the time of production).
If I was in the US then I'd have no qualms about sending my headphones in as the job can be done for $85 service plus $9 ground shipping. But I am prepared to forfeit that service at my own risk due to the extra costs that would be incurred as a result of me being overseas - postage across the pond and probable liability for import duty when the headphones come back. It makes the exercise fairly uneconomic relatve to the value of the headphones and I also can't see the point when (a) replacing the drivers is a cinch (b) they are prepared to charge no more than $85 for servicing and replacing both drivers if required.
Why not just supply them if that's what the customer explictly wants? I'm happy to pay $85 for one or both driver unit replacements (both would be ideal but one is absolutely fine) and a pretty steep $50 for delivery back to UK but they simply aren't interested.
I don't think I'm being unreasonable so I can't really understand their indifference here. Have had the same response from two different agents
Other Head-Fi'ers outside the US might wish to bear this in mind when considering the purchase of ER products. At least with the Shure range, you can buy these parts without this kind of hassle!
