[PolloLoco]

I agree with MaoDi above. How can Shure (or any company for that matter) be sure that their product is within the warranty period when it was sold by John Smith on EBAY to Joe Blow? They can only take Joe Blow's word for it. This is all avoided by having contracts with approved suppliers. That appears to be the concern in the latest e-mail that Mister Big attached - not being able to rule out a second hand purchase.

Besides - did anyone else note that Mister Big's description of the e-mail varies greatly from the e-mail he actually attached? Mister Big - did you attach the wrong e-mail? You stated that the legal department wanted to review your headphones for being a potential knockoff - but the e-mail mentions nothing of the sort. Their concern is that you may have bought a second hand unit - and the warranty no longer applies because you don't have proof of the original purchase.

That said, I think there's a good probability that when they do inspect your unit - they'll send you a replacement just to quiet you down.

 

[HeadphoneAddict]

When Shure USA fixed my E500 with the broken sound nozzle in 2007, I had bought them for $259 from bobsound1 on eBay and sent my paypal receipt with the phones and all the packaging. Shure shipped a brand new SE530 PTL back to me the day after they received mine. They never complained that they were sold too cheaply or that my name wasn't on the receipt.

 

[ClieOS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HeadphoneAddict /img/forum/go_quote.gif ...They never complained that they were sold too cheaply or that my name wasn't on the receipt.

Perhaps that (practice) is what cause Shure to harden up their warranty policy.

Imagine if Shure will repair every of their IEM no-question-asked, then what is the point of becoming an Shure authorized dealers in the first place where your business is guaranteed to be undercut while you are bound by contract to maintain a higher-than-(grey)market MSRP and still required to provide customer service?

What was a good gesture (for Shure to take care of their grey market customer) eventually came back to haunt the business as a whole, and the action to correct the issue (on protecting the authorized dealers' interest) blows back in forum like ours as charge of ripping people off. Well, if you are Shure director, what is the right thing to do?

 

[mister__big]

@MaoDi: I'm sure that if Shure, or any other manufacturer in the world, would consider warranty to be null and void if they were to discover their products were dipped in acid or any liquid. Plus if I had purchased a DOA earphone on eBay, my first course of action would be against the eBay seller, not the earphone manufacturer. In my case, the E500 worked fine for 22 months before the cable split happened, and Shure has acknowledged that this is a manufacturing issue, so of course I'd expect Shure to fix it.

@PolloLoco: The email I attached is the correct one. When Francis says, and I quote, "Due to the above findings, we cannot rule out that the earphone you purchased is not a second-hand product" and "...we suggest that you send your earphones direct to Shure Asia in Hong Kong marked for my attention so that your earphones can be examined", that means they want me to send in the E500s to make sure it's a legit one and not a counterfeit.

 

[PolloLoco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif @MaoDi: I'm sure that if Shure, or any other manufacturer in the world, would consider warranty to be null and void if they were to discover their products were dipped in acid or any liquid. Plus if I had purchased a DOA earphone on eBay, my first course of action would be against the eBay seller, not the earphone manufacturer. In my case, the E500 worked fine for 22 months before the cable split happened, and Shure has acknowledged that this is a manufacturing issue, so of course I'd expect Shure to fix it. @PolloLoco: The email I attached is the correct one. When Francis says, and I quote, "Due to the above findings, we cannot rule out that the earphone you purchased is not a second-hand product" and "...we suggest that you send your earphones direct to Shure Asia in Hong Kong marked for my attention so that your earphones can be examined", that means they want me to send in the E500s to make sure it's a legit one and not a counterfeit.

You are incorrect about the definition of second-hand. Second-hand means "used". As in someone else purchased it new before you. The only other possibility is that he's not a native English speaker - and meant counterfeit.

 

[mister__big]

@PolloLoco: Yes you are correct in that second-hand means used. However, I'm not sure how Shure can conclusively verify if the E500s I purchased were second-hand considering I've used them for nearly two years. Plus it makes no sense whatsoever; If the earphones I purchased from bobsound1 were second-hand, I would've immediately dealt with him upon receiving the earphones and asked my credit card company to void the charge, instead of waiting until 2 years later when it broke to contact Shure.

 

[iriverdude]

If you aren't the original purchaser the warranty won't pass onto you. Some products allow this - Bryston - but the excetion to the rule. You've had them 2 years and you're the second owner, purchased from non authorised seller and you want them to repair/replace free of charge? lol.

 

[PolloLoco]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif @PolloLoco: Yes you are correct in that second-hand means used. However, I'm not sure how Shure can conclusively verify if the E500s I purchased were second-hand considering I've used them for nearly two years. Plus it makes no sense whatsoever; If the earphones I purchased from bobsound1 were second-hand, I would've immediately dealt with him upon receiving the earphones and asked my credit card company to void the charge, instead of waiting until 2 years later when it broke to contact Shure.

That's exactly my point. They'd have to take your word for it that you didn't purchase the headset used. When you buy from an approved supplier - they know that based on their relationship and contract with the supplier.

You'd have to be lucky to have Shure replace your headphones. The fact that they're asking you to send them in is a good sign. My guess is they'll just verify that the headphones weren't badly treated or beat up.

 

[mister__big]

@PolloLoco: I see your point. However, Shure can see from the price on my receipt that it's most likely not a used unit. I know the saying "There's a sucker born every minute" but I don't think anyone would be dumb enough to buy a used unit at only a few dollars less than a brand new set. And if it were a scam, they'd most likely take it up with the seller immediately rather than with the manufacturer 2 years later.

 

[mister__big]

@iriverdude: May I suggest that you spend a few minutes to read the thread and fully understand my beef with Shure before you make disparaging comments?

 

[Cyric]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif @PolloLoco: I see your point. However, Shure can see from the price on my receipt that it's most likely not a used unit. I know the saying "There's a sucker born every minute" but I don't think anyone would be dumb enough to buy a used unit at only a few dollars less than a brand new set. And if it were a scam, they'd most likely take it up with the seller immediately rather than with the manufacturer 2 years later.

Bro, actually, if you consider exchange rate and shipping costs, plus GST, the price you got for your set, is something none of the local resellers can ever sell it at. Not because of price control, but because if they sold it at that price, they make a loss.

The local MSRP is set by Shure, not because we choose to up it. Take a look at the US$MSRP and convert it to SGD with GST. It's about there (sometimes less or more $1, but usually we ignore the $1 and round it down).

By the way, I did try to check for you, but at the moment my current contacts and resellers are just too few. Not many resellers willing to take Shure in Singapore these days. Not sure if it's due to quality or what-nots, but I'm probably gonna get really busy with marketing stuff, and won't be able to check back here too much.

If anyone still has anything to feedback to me, just feel free to drop me a mail : rank@grandtech.com.sg

And please, look for me direct. Don't call my customer service line and look for me there. I am NOT customer service, I am marketing. I've had a few forum users call my CS hotline and looked for me, unable to find me. Since I'm not in office most of the time, just drop me a mail and I'll respond once I can check my inbox.

Oh, this applies to people in Singapore only please. If you are in other parts of the world, I will still reply, but chances are I would be unable to be of much help. =/

 

[mister__big]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyric /img/forum/go_quote.gif Bro, actually, if you consider exchange rate and shipping costs, plus GST, the price you got for your set, is something none of the local resellers can ever sell it at. Not because of price control, but because if they sold it at that price, they make a loss.

Cyric you might wanna reread what I posted:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif BTW, Francis' claim that the price I bought the E500s at is far too low for any market is not valid, as I did browse several other distributors' websites (Earphonesolutions.com and Headroom) before I made the purchase and the prices were less than 10% apart IIRC. But if he had said that the price is far too low for any ASIAN market then I'd agree, seeing that the same E500s were being sold in retail stores in Singapore for over 150% the price I bought it for.

 

[Cyric]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif Cyric you might wanna reread what I posted:

Bro, I read that. I'm not stating the selling price. I'm talking about MSRP set by Shure. I don't set MSRP (and I'm not allowed to anyways). The prices aren't exactly marked up by the retailers, they're just following Shure's recommendation. Of course, there could be certain dealers who "mark up" the price. Last I checked though, most of them sell the stuff below MSRP. Although not much below.

What I'm trying to say here is that the main problem with pricing lies not on the local side, but the root (manufacturer side). We don't get to set the prices, although we can choose to lower prices accordingly for particular promotions (which we do). End of the day, it's Shure's call on pricing. I do hope that with the increasing feedback from consumers that there will be some changes, even if slight.

From what you posted, it seems to me that you can't believe that the local retailers make a loss should they sell it at the price you got it for or at least close to your price. Like I said, it's entirely up to trust. Because there's no way I can make anyone believe.

Of course, it'll be my job to look into the pricing as well. We'll see what we can do about that. But no promises, from the looks of it, $450 ~ $500 SE530's aren't going to show up in local stores anytime soon.

 

[mister__big]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyric /img/forum/go_quote.gif From what you posted, it seems to me that you can't believe that the local retailers make a loss should they sell it at the price you got it for or at least close to your price. Like I said, it's entirely up to trust. Because there's no way I can make anyone believe.

That is definitely not my point at all. In fact I was agreeing with Francis that the price I bought my E500s at was below any Asian market's MSRP, **BUT** I disagreed with his statement that the price was too low for **ANY** market. As I have pointed out, the price I bought at was definitely low for Asian markets, but not for US markets where the prices are lower.

 

[Cyric]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mister__big /img/forum/go_quote.gif That is definitely not my point at all. In fact I was agreeing with Francis that the price I bought my E500s at was below any Asian market's MSRP, **BUT** I disagreed with his statement that the price was too low for **ANY** market. As I have pointed out, the price I bought at was definitely low for Asian markets, but not for US markets where the prices are lower.

I spoke with the Shure regional sales manager, the view I shared was share with me by him. His take is that Shure hasn't directly sold anything to stores like Amazon and various other online stores in the states. If one takes a look at the amazon website, they state a MSRP and their actual selling price. The MSRP, when converted to SGD, is roughly the SGD MSRP.

Which is also one my my concerns. Since Amazon DID place a MSRP, did Shure sell it to them directly or not? My guess is that some of these MNCs, being huge, have problems disseminating information downwards and sideways. It's weird when the distributor starts investigating the practice of the principal, but I've done it with my previous company, I will continue to do it with the current one.

Amazon.com: shure se530

Take this link for example. Amazon is selling the Shure SE530 for US$304.95, when converted to SGD with shipping and GST, it is at most $520 or so. But that is the amazon price. If you look beside it, there is another price that is struck out - US$499. That is the MSRP or usual selling price. Converted to SG$ and with GST and shipping added in, it adds up to about $718 or so.

Now here's my concern - Shure Asia told me Amazon isn't one of their authorized reseller. I find that hard to swallow, but at this point of time there is nothing much I can really do about it. I will further investigate though.