[Chris T]

On the Etymotic site they have stopped listing the U.K. importer who seems to be having "technical problems".

I have sent the importer an email asking if they still have any stock as being in Southampton U.K. I could easily get to Ringwood to collect them. So far no reply

Does anyone know (Duncan in particular -

) a retailer or anyone who supplies these in the U.K. ?

I see I can order them from Headroom in the USA and even Etymotic themselves but I wonder what duty I would end up paying. Has anyone in the U.K. experience of this?

Thanks!

 

[Duncan]

Hi Chris...

Unfortunately I don't... I got my ER4Ps from a fellow head-fier

The only advice I can offer... go to someone like HeadRoom, or else Etymotic directly, to see what they can suggest

As to duties, that'd be quite a lot.. standard 17.5% VAT, and also a customs charge... unless, as has happened with me importing things, you can get the company to send them to you as a 'gift' (never as a sample... because they are able to be legally destroyed by customs!!!)... No promises, but... in my case, I didn't have to pay any excess at all

Sorry I can't be of much help

 

[puppyslugg]

Hi Duncan,

If Chris T. were to purchase the ER4s from a headfier/headwizer, would he still be hit with the vat?

 

[Magicthyse]

There's a company in Southampton I think which imports them - didn't you mention that once, Duncan?

 

[Duncan]

Puppyslugg...

Quite correct, if Chris T were to get a pair from a fellow headfi-er, and they were to put the customs invoice through as 'gift'... then, no VAT is duable (I don't know if there is a limit on value before this is overidden though)

MagicThyse...

Chris T was saying that the company in Southampton is not available for taking orders (at the moment)

 

[evolushun]

you could try http://www.pjbox.co.uk/ , they have etymotic earphones, mostly in stock and deliver within 2-3 days.

 

[Chris T]

They are the company that Etymotic removed from their listing due to bad service. I ended up buying them from Headroom.

However my Etymotics have developed a fault and I have been trying to contact Etymotic by email but I have had no reply since sending the first email on 22 November 2002. Looks like my worst fears about buying something from abroad have been realised.

 

[Duncan]

What is the problem Chris?

something we can diagnose here???

 

[john_jcb]

Quote:

Originally posted by Chris T However my Etymotics have developed a fault and I have been trying to contact Etymotic by email but I have had no reply since sending the first email on 22 November 2002. Looks like my worst fears about buying something from abroad have been realised.

I would try emailing them again. Etymotics has been very good about servicing their items. A member of Head-Fi Don Wilson (D Wilson) works for them and you may also try contacting him.

No excuses for them but you emailed during the week of our Thanksgiving Holiday. Many people here take the whole week off.

 

[Chris T]

Hi Duncan & John,

Thanks for the info about Thanksgiving. I have sent another email this Friday so maybe I will get a reply soon. I am aware of Etymotic's good reputation for service and was disappointed when I didn't get as quick as a reply as I did when I was enquiring about buying the earphones.

The fault is a weird one. It has also turned into a disaster.

A few weeks after getting these superb earphones (ER 4P's) in August, The sound became very distorted in the right earpiece, so I replaced the filter. No difference. Then the sound disappeared completely. It returned if I slowly removed the earpiece from my ear (using white tips). I quickly surmised it was a "pressure" problem (after swapping the cables over and finding that the same earpiece was affected still). When I put the earpice in the sound would completely disappear and then reappear if I jiggled it around in my ear.

If I used the foamies instead, the sound usually remained working when I put the earpiece in my ear. I decided I would return the phones at some stage but was enjoying them too much when they were working so I kept putting it off. Every so often the sound would disappear and I would have to put a white tip on and jiggle it around to get the sound back. I did this quite a few times with no problems. Then one day while removing the foamie, disaster!

I was always *extremely* careful when removing the tight fitting foamie tube and was amazed when the shaft of the earpiece cracked and part of it stayed in the foamie tube.

I have asked Etymotic if I can return the phones in the hope that they will repair them under guarantee but I am fearful that they will say the snapped shaft is my fault. I really wish I had returned them when they first went wrong. I can only assume the housing was faulty and maybe that is why the earpiece stopped working in the first place.

I hope they will reply this week. I really miss these phones and have reverted to my Sennheiser HD600's which are not really a substitute in my opinion.

 

[HappymaN]

Chris T: Don't worry about a thing mate. I am from Australia, and purchased some ER-4P's second hand from a Head-Fi'er. After the barrel of the left transducer cracked a few weeks after I bought them, ER replied immediately, and paid shipping both ways for repair. You will be well looked after.

 

[mtillman]

I bought mine from a Canadian company. Sadly Headroom screwed up on replying to my emails. I say sadly, sadly for me, because I could have returned them to Headroom - they were just awful. Complete pants. Oh, and the British company was just a joke, a bad joke.

Anyway, they were declared as a value of 80usd (nice!), and I paid nearly 17ukp in VAT and duty.

 

[Peddler]

I have just received some filters for my Ety's from Graham at UAS Enterprises http://www.pjbox.co.uk/ with no problems regarding delivery.

I got the Ety's from headoom and got away without paying duty on them. If only that would happen every time.

 

[plainsong]

Being in the EU and wanting some Etys, the first place I went was the Etymotic-recommended pjbox.co.uk. I placed my order (a flackey insecure java-script kind of thing. Grrr), and waited a couple of weeks. They didn't charge my card but I was kind of curious as to what the deal was. So I emailed them. No reply. A week later, I emailed another pjbox address. No reply. The next week I called, no answer. Finally I send them a small flame of an email asking how exactly they expect to make money, and what do they sell? That of course got an answer, but a rude one. They asked me to fax my identity information, ID, and front and back of the credit card. Their reasoning was that since I was "chasing down" the transaction, and because my email address was different, then I must bea fraud.

Now folks, I won't post that address here, but I was using my husband's card at the time, and let's just say the last name in the !"#€ing address is the same. I also pointed out that perhaps customers wouldn't have to chase down transactions if the company had better communication skills. I informed them I would be complaining to Etymotic, and taking my business to The Headroom. I did both, and saved some money even with the added duties. Etymotic never responded, but Pjbox dissappeared off their list. Mission accomplished.

Since then I tried to order some replacement filters from them. That was months ago and nothing ever came of it. No email, no nothing. So I wouldn't bother with them. Who knows why they bother being in business.. and who knows how they plan to make any money. Some companies just deserve to go belly-up.

Sadly, I think that at least on-line, you'll have to go outside of Europe to get ety stuff. They have some Eurpean distributors on their site, but they're all net-unfriendly.

 

[plainsong]

Pretending I was going to buy a PJbox, I was clicked on the link to Europe and was directed to a Pjbox site in Switzerland. So apparently it seems UAS Enterprises lost their two seemingly biggest accounts, or perhaps really is out of business. Well, they got their wish.