[WIJGALT]

At the end of December I posted a message regarding the purchase of a new RKV from Divergent Tech. The amp unfortunately was defective, loud steady-state hum & just general crappy sound. I immediately contacted Tash at Divergent requesting a replacement unit. He was somewhat noncommital, claiming he had none left in stock, but did offer to repair the unit I had on hand. I declined that offer, thinking I paid for a new unit & should not have to settle for an erstwhile defective, now refurbed one. I contacted Tash via phone & email countless times & the few instances when he did respond he would say something along the lines of "we'll see about a replacement, I need to look into it," or that he was waiting to hear back from Audiovalve. Of course I would never hear from him until I would call again. Meanwhile, I had sent a # of emails to Audiovalve regarding the situation. They too offered to repair the unit if I shipped it back to them at my expense (a mere $150 or so). They also told me they would see Tash at the CES show in January & discuss the situation with him & work out some resolution. Following the show, Tash told me he never saw Audiovalve. I also noticed for the first time that Audiovalve products were no longer appearing on his website. Finally, I had enough & told Tash I'd be returning the RKV to him for a refund (knowing there will never be a replacement because he was no longer carrying the line). About 10 days after he received the RKV I sent him an email about my refund which had not yet gone through. He responded that a refund was out of the question because the unit was damaged in transit & all he would do - even though he shouldn't - was repair the unit for me. The unit, incidentally, was shipped back to him double-boxed as opposed to the single box I had received it in. I finally got ahold of a woman who works at Divergent who agreed to give me the refund minus my ship costs ($30) because it cost them considerably more than that in duties. So, at this point I'd gone through the disappointment of having received a defective RKV, the aggravation of about six weeks of false promises, the hassle of repacking the unit & bringing it to my shipping service & I was out $30 for my troubles. Shortly thereafter I received an email from the woman at Divergent that she put my refund through but had "accidentally" recharged me the cost of the RKV before posting a double refund. This bit of handiwork resulted in a $50 shortfall on my account due evidently to the exchange rate. I emailed the woman requesting that she credit my account for
the $50 discrepancy. Bear in mind this $50 was almost completely the result of her "accidental" double charge. The response I received was that she was not going to put the credit through because the unit I sent back was not defective. And they received it back in "pieces" & had to send it to their techs for repair. Interesting to know that they knew the unit was not defective even though it came to them in "pieces". Well, that's about it. I will contact my Credit Card company to see if I can recover the $50. Meanwhile, I don't think I'll be ordering anything from Divergent anytime soon. Yech, this was one distasteful experience.

 

[shivohum]

Sorry to hear about your troubles! I guess this goes to show you the value of a good dealer who has a 30-day money-back policy like Headroom (though of course it doesn't carry the RKV, perhaps for build quality reasons).

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Yup, that's some lousy service right there.

I bought mine from Brooklyn Audio in Canada. Excellent service, excellent packing (a wooden particle board box, not this cheap corrugated cardboard ****).

The only problem I had with them, and technically it wasn't with them, was the wait. It took months. It was not their fault. They were out, and that's how long it took them to get more stock from AudioValve. They made it up to me, though, so I have no complaints even about that. And they kept in constant contact, repeatedly offering alternatives. I only mention it because I thought the "long time" problem analogous to yours, esp. WRT AudioValve.

 

[RickG]

MAN-O-MAN ....WIJGALT, that's savage! I think I might not be as diplomatic as you....under the cicumstances.....

 

[Driftwood]

hmm, this inspires an interesting idea I think. There is a buyer/seller feedback section, I think it would be helpful to add businesses (not just forum members) there so that people can see if a place is reputable before ordering.

Just a thought.
Driftwood

 

[Nick Dangerous]

Been there done that.

Stick with Headroom and avoid, avoid, AVOID Fedex Ground.

Nothing else to say.

 

[kelly]

I had ordered my MG Head OTL from Divergent and though it came out alright in the end, it was quite a goose chase to get the thing. "Just call us with your credit card info", "No wait, since we've never dealt with you send us a money order... and by the way, we're out of stock now." It was a bit of trouble to get one for $329 and I ended up selling it anyway.

If I'd gotten responses to the emails I'd sent Headroom I'd have probably gone ahead and ordered it from them but they hiked the price and didn't respond so I gave up and contacted Divergent. In the end, I'd have shipped it back to Headroom since I wasn't satisfied with it so it's probably to their benefit that they didn't get the business that time around.

That said, I'm sorry you didn't end up with a good RKV. I'm trying to contact AudioValve myself about some questions. We'll see how that works out.

 

[WIJGALT]

AudioValve always responded to my emails (they just never did anything to resolve my situation). I had a good feeling about them in terms of caring about their products & I am inclined to think they will be responsive to customer product inquiries.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by kelly That said, I'm sorry you didn't end up with a good RKV. I'm trying to contact AudioValve myself about some questions. We'll see how that works out.

What questions? There's a small amount of RKV knowledge on this board, y'know...

Unless it's, "where do I get spare new-stock tubes?" because I have that same question myself. No luck so far. If you do get an answer, I'll go in with you -- those Polamps are fine by me.

 

[bearwise]

God that is such a shame. I ended up getting a Mark II RKV on ebay and couldn't be happier. At the time i was getting it I got an offer from Divergent for a Mark III at a closeout price that was only a few dollars over what I paid for the Mark II. Looks like i doged a bullit.

 

[kelly]

I paid $800 for mine used from Vertigo and then in my searching found all of the threads on Headwize about cheap RKVs and felt a little like a stooge even though I know it would easily have sold for the price I paid. In the end though, the thing that gave me comfort was liking Vertigo a lot more than the guys at Divergent.