RonyPony
New Head-Fier
I'm a big customer of Focals headphones, I own the Utopias, Stellias, Clears, Focal Arche, and Radiance, probably in the top 10% of their headphone customers.
My first interaction with Focal support was about a year ago trying to sort a replacement stock balanced cable for my Stellia's, I was living in Ireland at the time and was told consistently that I needed to go through Cloney Audio in Dublin as they are the Focal dealers, called Cloney, said they would order one and would phone me back in about 2 weeks, well that was close to 2 years ago now and got fobbed off when I phoned them back for an update, I called multiple retailers around Europe but due to Focals strict exclusive distribution agreements no one would ship them outside of the country, so i decided to email Focal in regards to a replacement, and I'm still waiting for a reply nearly 2 years later...
But I'm currently facing an issue with my Utopia's where the ear pads have melted into a chemical goo destroying the headphone and possibly the driver, after some research, it was a chemical reaction defect with some models of the Utopias, you can see for yourself if you search on here and on head-fi.
I sent Focal an email via the website on On Fri, 16 Sep at 10:28 PM
And I received a reply from Naim on Wed, Sep 21, 10:08 AM
"Hi Ronan,
Thank you for reaching out to us I do apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused.
This is not something I have heard happening before and due to this we would have to get the headphones back in to review to find out the root of the issue.
If I were to speculate it could be linked to temperature changes."
I described in explicit detail the issue that was very common on the Utopias at the time so I would highly doubt they never heard of this happening before, I sent a reply on Wed, Sep 21, 1:42 PM
"Hey ---!
It definitely wasn’t temperature changes they are kept in a sealed hard case in a room that’s always around 17°c
After some Googling I’ve found a lot of other people with this issue on the Utopias, if this helps to narrow it down here’s some links to Reddit and head-fi
It was exactly like this persons Utopias
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/hnjjm1/the_utopia_goop_issue_has_been_solved_by_focal/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-890
Some of the the goo did seep behind the left cup, I managed to get most of it off with raw alcohol but I can still see the goo between the plastic lip.
Kind Regards
Ronan"
And here we are on the 29th and still no reply, I've a strong feeling I'm going to be fobbed off by Focal/Naim and be left with a 5k brick of plastic and carbon fiber.
After some more reading, everyone who had the issue got theirs replaced under warranty, even some out of warranty as it was a product defect.
As you can see from my post history here I'm no stranger to high-end headphone gear, out of all the gear I own Focal is my favorite, but the level of support is shocking.
I don't expect to get preferential treatment due to my purchase history with Focal but if I can't get a reply from them via email for a 5k pair of headphones that's melted and trying to get a cable for a 3k pair of headphones then what's the hope of someone on the lower end of the scale having an issue with a purchase?
If anyone is considering getting a pair of Focals I would avoid until they sort out their distribution and support, it's bollix that they place strict geo restrictions on distributors for cable/earpads, especially when they have no way to purchase spares directly like Sennheiser, or respond to an email.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Focal? I know Jude posted about Focals support before "A Letter From Focal: A Lesson In Customer Service" but seems to be just Focal doing some PR ass licking because it's Jude, end users are treated like crap.
If anyone from Focal or Naim does read this you should be ashamed at your level of service selling such premium products at premium prices.
My first interaction with Focal support was about a year ago trying to sort a replacement stock balanced cable for my Stellia's, I was living in Ireland at the time and was told consistently that I needed to go through Cloney Audio in Dublin as they are the Focal dealers, called Cloney, said they would order one and would phone me back in about 2 weeks, well that was close to 2 years ago now and got fobbed off when I phoned them back for an update, I called multiple retailers around Europe but due to Focals strict exclusive distribution agreements no one would ship them outside of the country, so i decided to email Focal in regards to a replacement, and I'm still waiting for a reply nearly 2 years later...
But I'm currently facing an issue with my Utopia's where the ear pads have melted into a chemical goo destroying the headphone and possibly the driver, after some research, it was a chemical reaction defect with some models of the Utopias, you can see for yourself if you search on here and on head-fi.
I sent Focal an email via the website on On Fri, 16 Sep at 10:28 PM
And I received a reply from Naim on Wed, Sep 21, 10:08 AM
"Hi Ronan,
Thank you for reaching out to us I do apologise for the inconvenience this may have caused.
This is not something I have heard happening before and due to this we would have to get the headphones back in to review to find out the root of the issue.
If I were to speculate it could be linked to temperature changes."
I described in explicit detail the issue that was very common on the Utopias at the time so I would highly doubt they never heard of this happening before, I sent a reply on Wed, Sep 21, 1:42 PM
"Hey ---!
It definitely wasn’t temperature changes they are kept in a sealed hard case in a room that’s always around 17°c
After some Googling I’ve found a lot of other people with this issue on the Utopias, if this helps to narrow it down here’s some links to Reddit and head-fi
It was exactly like this persons Utopias
https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/hnjjm1/the_utopia_goop_issue_has_been_solved_by_focal/
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/focal-utopia-general-discussion.811273/page-890
Some of the the goo did seep behind the left cup, I managed to get most of it off with raw alcohol but I can still see the goo between the plastic lip.
Kind Regards
Ronan"
And here we are on the 29th and still no reply, I've a strong feeling I'm going to be fobbed off by Focal/Naim and be left with a 5k brick of plastic and carbon fiber.
After some more reading, everyone who had the issue got theirs replaced under warranty, even some out of warranty as it was a product defect.
As you can see from my post history here I'm no stranger to high-end headphone gear, out of all the gear I own Focal is my favorite, but the level of support is shocking.
I don't expect to get preferential treatment due to my purchase history with Focal but if I can't get a reply from them via email for a 5k pair of headphones that's melted and trying to get a cable for a 3k pair of headphones then what's the hope of someone on the lower end of the scale having an issue with a purchase?
If anyone is considering getting a pair of Focals I would avoid until they sort out their distribution and support, it's bollix that they place strict geo restrictions on distributors for cable/earpads, especially when they have no way to purchase spares directly like Sennheiser, or respond to an email.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Focal? I know Jude posted about Focals support before "A Letter From Focal: A Lesson In Customer Service" but seems to be just Focal doing some PR ass licking because it's Jude, end users are treated like crap.
If anyone from Focal or Naim does read this you should be ashamed at your level of service selling such premium products at premium prices.
