[KLJTech]

I ordered and just received a new (?) pair of AKG 701’s from J&R.com and was surprised that though they were shrink wrapped in the box with J&R’s scan stickers (that all checked out with Customer Service) the white plastic around the phones were marked up in several places and there was a single hair sitting in the base that comes with them. I thought that the white had been roughed up and was worn off but after several minutes with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (being very careful to only touch the marked up spots) I was able to easily remove all the marks and they now look like a new pair.

Another concern is that when first I saw them and it appeared that the white was rubbed off I really looked them over (under my very bright Halogen work lamp that I solder under) and also noticed on the outside of the headphones where you have all the white plastic with hundreds of tiny holes that a couple of the holes had something stuck in them. This could be just from the manufacturing process and no big deal but I’ve never seen nor heard anyone mention this before. I would probably never have noticed these two plugged up holes had the outer edges of the cans not been marred up in the first place.

At first I was pretty ticked off assuming that someone had treated them rough and then returned them only to have J&R re-shrink wrap the package and sell them to me as new. I have no way of knowing if this is what happened or not but I called J&R and they couldn’t have been nicer about the situation and they’re offering to send a call tag for these headphones and as soon as they receive them send me out new ones PLUS credit me $10 for my trouble. With the credit from J&R I will have paid $255 for the 701’s and that includes shipping.

I’d love to hear what any of you would do in the same situation. Once you see that they’re cleaned up and there’s no damage, I assume that nothing mechanical is wrong since they sound fine, would you send them back to get replacements or just move on? The mini plug adapter was already on the ¼” plug when I opened the box, did yours come the same way or was the adapter in the plastic bag that the cable goes in? It states on AKG’s website that they listen to every pair before shipping them out so is it possible that they were new but marked up from AKG? Keep these (life’s too short) or send them back for new ones?

Thanks very much in advance for any feedback.

P.S
I'm sorry that this was such a long post, I'm over tired from being up all night with my little boy.

 

[lucky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLJTech /img/forum/go_quote.gif The mini plug adapter was already on the ¼” plug when I opened the box

So was mine.

 

[KLJTech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lucky /img/forum/go_quote.gif So was mine.

Cool.
Well that’s a good sign, any blackish looking smudges on yours that could be cleaned off?

 

[Oggranak]

Wow, that's kinda weird. But if they (now) look and sound as good as new, why worry about it?

If they're at all marked up or otherwise cosmetically damaged, if you can get a free replacement that might be worth pursuing (if you go to sell them on Head-Fi or something, you'll be able to claim that they're in mint condition, assuming you take good care of your headphones).

 

[KLJTech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Oggranak /img/forum/go_quote.gif Wow, that's kinda weird. But if they (now) look and sound as good as new, why worry about it? If they're at all marked up or otherwise cosmetically damaged, if you can get a free replacement that might be worth pursuing (if you go to sell them on Head-Fi or something, you'll be able to claim that they're in mint condition, assuming you take good care of your headphones).

I got them to look brand new with a little help from the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, just wondered if anyone had ever had the same problem. I didn't expect them to have the blackish marks on them right from the box. It looked as if the white had been rubbed off but luckily it hadn't.
So, they look perfect now but since they were marked up should I assume that they were a return (not handled with care) and exchange them for another pair or just move on and enjoy them?

 

[rds]

Just move on and enjoy them =)

 

[KLJTech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rds /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just move on and enjoy them =)

I figured that if others here also had smudges/marks on theirs that it may have come that way from AKG and was nothing to be concerned about since they did clean up. Extra money is hard to come by so it's a downer when you need to clean up your brand new cans. They're very neutral/clean sounding.

 

[rds]

Yeah, they're great phones.
In the end you have to do what you feel most comfortable with. From what I've read it doesn't sound like anything is physically wrong with the phones. A factory worker may have got grease on their hands - that's very possible.
Mine came spotless, but it wouldn't be too surprising that some worker touch something with grease while they were working on yours and thus the condition you observed.

 

[KLJTech]

I thought that maybe someone bought them, handled them rather rough (the marks around the edges) and then returned them to J&R who then repackaged them. I was surprised that all of the marked up places cleaned up perfect since it looked like the white was rubbed right off. It's kinda odd, I just wondered if anyone eelse had marked up phones that they cleaned up as well. They do appear to be fine.

 

[Oggranak]

If you take anything away from this, it's this: buy from the for sale forum. If you're willing to clean the headphones anyway, it's a great way to save a bunch of money.

 

[KLJTech]

You're right about that but I was expecting these to be brand new and not require cleaning up. So much for that.

Something being shrink wrapped means almost nothing any longer, a couple years ago I bought a pretty expensive soundcard at a local store got it home and found a several year old card inside. Someone had taken the box home, removed the nice new card, put in an old sound card and did a wonderful job of shrink wrapping the box back up and returned it to the store.

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLJTech /img/forum/go_quote.gif I ordered and just received a new (?) pair of AKG 701’s from J&R.com and was surprised that though they were shrink wrapped in the box with J&R’s scan stickers (that all checked out with Customer Service) the white plastic around the phones were marked up in several places and there was a single hair sitting in the base that comes with them. I thought that the white had been roughed up and was worn off but after several minutes with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser (being very careful to only touch the marked up spots) I was able to easily remove all the marks and they now look like a new pair. Another concern is that when first I saw them and it appeared that the white was rubbed off I really looked them over (under my very bright Halogen work lamp that I solder under) and also noticed on the outside of the headphones where you have all the white plastic with hundreds of tiny holes that a couple of the holes had something stuck in them. This could be just from the manufacturing process and no big deal but I’ve never seen nor heard anyone mention this before. I would probably never have noticed these two plugged up holes had the outer edges of the cans not been marred up in the first place. At first I was pretty ticked off assuming that someone had treated them rough and then returned them only to have J&R re-shrink wrap the package and sell them to me as new. I have no way of knowing if this is what happened or not but I called J&R and they couldn’t have been nicer about the situation and they’re offering to send a call tag for these headphones and as soon as they receive them send me out new ones PLUS credit me $10 for my trouble. With the credit from J&R I will have paid $255 for the 701’s and that includes shipping. I’d love to hear what any of you would do in the same situation. Once you see that they’re cleaned up and there’s no damage, I assume that nothing mechanical is wrong since they sound fine, would you send them back to get replacements or just move on? The mini plug adapter was already on the ¼” plug when I opened the box, did yours come the same way or was the adapter in the plastic bag that the cable goes in? It states on AKG’s website that they listen to every pair before shipping them out so is it possible that they were new but marked up from AKG? Keep these (life’s too short) or send them back for new ones? Thanks very much in advance for any feedback. P.S I'm sorry that this was such a long post, I'm over tired from being up all night with my little boy.

I would contact JR and demand they e-mail you a call tag for that set and send you a new pair, you paid for new right?

 

[KLJTech]

Yes, I ordered a new pair by phone and made sure to ask if they were in fact new.
I called J&R today just minutes after opening the box and they said that they would send out a call tag and once they received the 701's back they would send me out a new pair. I think that these were returned and shrink wrapped again and resold. I understand that people return things all the time and those products are re-sold but somebody messed up on these by letting them go out looking as if the white had be rubbed off in several places and with a hair in the base.

Maybe someone put on over on J&R, I don't know but they seem very willing to take care of the problem. I'd rather not wait around for all that shipping back and forth but what can you do?

 

[olblueyez]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLJTech /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yes, I ordered a new pair by phone and made sure to ask if they were in fact new. I called J&R today just minutes after opening the box and they said that they would send out a call tag and once they received the 701's back they would send me out a new pair. I think that these were returned and shrink wrapped again and resold. I understand that people return things all the time and those products are re-sold but somebody messed up on these by letting them go out looking as if the white had be rubbed off in several places and with a hair in the base. Maybe someone put on over on J&R, I don't know but they seem very willing to take care of the problem. I'd rather not wait around for all that shipping back and forth but what can you do?

Be patient and never have any remorse or doubt concerning your headphones. Take a deep breath, a week from now you will be glad you returned them. If you like them you could have them for a couple decades, start fresh.

 

[KLJTech]

Quote:

Originally Posted by olblueyez /img/forum/go_quote.gif Be patient and never have any remorse or doubt concerning your headphones. Take a deep breath, a week from now you will be glad you returned them. If you like them you could have them for a couple decades, start fresh.

You're right, I was considering just keeping these but as my girlfriend said she was in the room when I asked the salesman if they were new or not and was assured that they were new. I don't think that it's too much to ask to get what you paid for. Also I have no way of knowing how long these have been run in. Are these broken in with 300 hours of music or 30 minutes? Now that I've thought about it most of the day I'm going to send them back and have new ones sent to me.

Luckily I have Grado 325i's to listen to while waiting for all of this to work it's self out.