[Tassie Devil]

Back again with good, no great, NEWS. My damaged Focal Utopias are to be replaced under guarantee

Possibly I have you posters to thank for that as Focal did not like your negativity about lack of support of their expensive product. Mine went back in August but are due to come here this month so I'll be fascinated to hear the difference between them and the, very comfortable, Sennie 800S which I've become very acclimatised to. In that context differences should be much clearer.

I'm speculating that Focal might have experience a production problem early in the peace and mine broke down because of that. This seems likely as few of you have had problems so currently they are as reliable as any other brand. It also means my suspicion a visitor drove them too hard was misplaced.

But I'm embarrased to confess the audio itch has prevailed and I have other gear on the way, much more than originally envisaged. Sucked in by the praise being heaped on the MIT Vero heasdphone cable, I made enquiries to a number of sources. They are sold here in Australia and also in New Zealand and I had just about settled on a purchase here when a NZ dealer came up with an special lot deal because he had decided to quit the headphone side of his business. He offered me a 50X headphone amp, something I was not even contemplating, two vero cables and two dongers, at an irrestistable price. It broke the bank and was an impulse buy which I hope I will not regret. I'm suspicious of the MIT hype about their technology but proof of the pudding will be when it all arrives and the Focals are back here. I will have to silver solder Focal plugs on one of the cables and try to sell the other (an Audeze cable) & the dongers, although might keep one if it does what is claimed. As for the amp, an unattractive item IMO, and one which does not use the balanced technology I've switched over to lately, but it is the AQ which is important so my criticism should wait in reserve.

Last year I went through a trial of the Schiit YGGRASIL but preferred the LKS DA-004 so much I sold it and now have two LKSs and naively thought that would be the end of audio madness until the Focals returned.

Interesting times ahead.

 

[xxx1313]

Back again with good, no great, NEWS. My damaged Focal Utopias are to be replaced under guarantee

Enjoy your new pair of Utopias, one of the best headphones on this planet! Well, to be honest, I expected that the guys from Focal would do that (in case that you are not responsible for the defect). They are nice and competent people! The HD800S is good too, but except the size of the soundstage, you might experience that the Utopia is better in every respect, imho. Enjoy!

 

[AverageGuyNC]

I traded my hd800 for a Focal Elear last year and got with it the receipt from when it was purchased (for $999) from a company that sells on Amazon. I only had them a short time when the left side quit working! I called the seller and they said to call Focal. Had to call a few times before I finally got through to warranty dept.

I sent in the receipt as requested which had a sells date of 1-27-17 and my headphones were only 4 or 5 months old at that time. Still almost new! And she said that it was not my name on the reciept and the warranty did not transfer! She did say that she could maybe get me a discount and that she would call me back. I waited but no call. I would have even paid for repairs but had no idea where to send them! never got a return call and the couple times I tried to call her I always got voicemail. They have just been sitting here for months now. Is there an email address I can use to try to get this resolved? Any help in what to do is appreciated! (Warranty is almost up!).

 

[bflat]

I traded my hd800 for a Focal Elear last year and got with it the receipt from when it was purchased (for $999) from a company that sells on Amazon. I only had them a short time when the left side quit working! I called the seller and they said to call Focal. Had to call a few times before I finally got through to warranty dept.

I sent in the receipt as requested which had a sells date of 1-27-17 and my headphones were only 4 or 5 months old at that time. Still almost new! And she said that it was not my name on the reciept and the warranty did not transfer! She did say that she could maybe get me a discount and that she would call me back. I waited but no call. I would have even paid for repairs but had no idea where to send them! never got a return call and the couple times I tried to call her I always got voicemail. They have just been sitting here for months now. Is there an email address I can use to try to get this resolved? Any help in what to do is appreciated! (Warranty is almost up!).

Who is the named seller on your Amazon receipt? Only a few of them are actually authorized resellers. Assuming you bought from one of them, you should contact the seller for help.

 

[TSAVJason]

Who is the named seller on your Amazon receipt? Only a few of them are actually authorized resellers. Assuming you bought from one of them, you should contact the seller for help.

It doesn’t much matter if that person isn’t the original buyer. 1st, the warranty is 2 years for the original purchaser but 2nd and more important is Focal is changing distribution so getting the new Focal going won’t be slow since it’s the same Focal that also does Pro & Home audio but it’s going to take a little bit of time for Focal to get set up for servicing in or out of warranty for headphones in North America.

 

[bflat]

It doesn’t much matter if that person isn’t the original buyer. 1st, the warranty is 2 years for the original purchaser but 2nd and more important is Focal is changing distribution so getting the new Focal going won’t be slow since it’s the same Focal that also does Pro & Home audio but it’s going to take a little bit of time for Focal to get set up for servicing in or out of warranty for headphones in North America.

Ah I didn't catch buying used. However, are you basically saying that even 2nd hand Focal headphones will get serviced for a fee in the near future?

 

[TSAVJason]

Ah I didn't catch buying used. However, are you basically saying that even 2nd hand Focal headphones will get serviced for a fee in the near future?

Service has always been available in or out of warranty here in the North American market. I can’t speak for other markets. I would imagine it’s similar to NA.

As a result of the location transition and consolidation it will likely have a slight delay in those services as they assign personnel and get organized.

Make no mistake, parts and services are available in or out of warranty.

Edit: it’s my personal opinion this transition/consolidation is for the better for NA customers and I think many aspects of this genre of their products will be more consumer centric. You can’t win them all but you can try your best!

 

[PeteSTRADAMUS]

It doesn’t much matter if that person isn’t the original buyer. 1st, the warranty is 2 years for the original purchaser but 2nd and more important is Focal is changing distribution so getting the new Focal going won’t be slow since it’s the same Focal that also does Pro & Home audio but it’s going to take a little bit of time for Focal to get set up for servicing in or out of warranty for headphones in North America.

Jeez loueez run on sentence man lol

 

[AverageGuyNC]

It doesn’t much matter if that person isn’t the original buyer. 1st, the warranty is 2 years for the original purchaser but 2nd and more important is Focal is changing distribution so getting the new Focal going won’t be slow since it’s the same Focal that also does Pro & Home audio but it’s going to take a little bit of time for Focal to get set up for servicing in or out of warranty for headphones in North America.

So I still won't be able to get it serviced under warranty? Since I'm not the original buyer? I almost want to pretend I'm him so they will fix it. And I'm not even sure what the problem is for sure, it shouldn't blow a speaker that is only a few months old that easily? But the wires seem to be conneccted fine. But I've got a $1k headphone and I've maybe listened to it for an hour total! What should I do? Just try to call Focal again? Thanks!

 

[cskippy]

You might be able to send it back to him, have him get them serviced and return them to you. That would probably be the most hassle free way to get them repaired under warranty.

 

[TSAVJason]

So I still won't be able to get it serviced under warranty? Since I'm not the original buyer? I almost want to pretend I'm him so they will fix it. And I'm not even sure what the problem is for sure, it shouldn't blow a speaker that is only a few months old that easily? But the wires seem to be conneccted fine. But I've got a $1k headphone and I've maybe listened to it for an hour total! What should I do? Just try to call Focal again? Thanks!

If you’re in the NA territory you’re right. Only the original owner receives the warranty.

But don’t give up trying. You probably won’t get much help until the first of February.

Why haven’t you asked the original owner to help you out?

Good luck!

 

[AverageGuyNC]

You might be able to send it back to him, have him get them serviced and return them to you. That would probably be the most hassle free way to get them repaired under warranty.

It was a guy in NYC. And I'm not 100% sure he got them new. But im kinda scared to send them off and never get them back. I'll keep that in mind tho.

It's been a little while since I contacted Focal, is their number on the website easy to find?

 

[TSAVJason]

It was a guy in NYC. And I'm not 100% sure he got them new. But im kinda scared to send them off and never get them back. I'll keep that in mind tho.

It's been a little while since I contacted Focal, is their number on the website easy to find?

Haha no that won’t happen. They won’t hijack your headphones. They will fix them for you, you’ll just be charged for the repair.

 

[cskippy]

Jason, I think he means having it go through the original owners hands to ship off for repair. It takes some faith or some kind of collateral to make things like that go smoothly.

 

[TSAVJason]

Jason, I think he means having it go through the original owners hands to ship off for repair. It takes some faith or some kind of collateral to make things like that go smoothly.

Yeah I picked that up. He also said he’s not sure if the seller he bought from is the original owner. It’s a pickle he’s in.

So his only choice is to bite the bullet and send them to Focal for repair ....and pay the repair costs unfortunately. Let’s hope that doesn’t sting too badly.