[DannyB]

Even it it was out of warranty would it be so difficult to deliver excellent customer support and take care of the problem?  I'm sure many of us have examples of how audio companies took care of problems for which they didn't even have a responsibility yet they simply wanted to make sure their customer was satisfied and would often do so at no charge. In my own experience companies such as Head-Direct, BAT, CARY, Woo Audio, Ray Samuels Audio, and Moon Audio come to mind. Perhaps we can start a separate thread of companies that have gone beyond expectations to serve our community and clearly deserve our support, verbally and with our wallet.
 
I know there are always two, perhaps three, sides to a story and I am anxious to hear Ultrasone's. However, the information regarding their very poor customer service is, so far, quite compelling.

 

[kingtz]

Screw over one of us over something really trivial, and you have already lost over 40 potential customers (and growing!) and tens of thousands of dollars in sales.
 
Great job, Ultrasone!

 

[yashu]

Yep... you are right about customer service elsewhere. I have dealt with a little company Grant Fidelity, and spoken to the head of NA offices many times personally, Mr. Ian Grant. Stand up fellow, more than worthy of a look.  
 
PS Audio, I had a problem with somthing that within their line, was cheap, yet they took the time to deal with the issue. Monarchy Audio, they worked with me on getting product in, and when I bought used, they still backed up their warranty.
 
NAD has great service, as does PSB speakers.
 
I have never heard something like this from Sennheiser, Beyer, AKG, even Grado will deal with your issue personally. I have not heart Audio Technica pissing people off like this. This is a unique story I am sure.

 

[DannyB]

"How do you know they know about this thread?"
 
I just sent an email with a link to this thread to Ultrasone so they, at least, have one and perhaps more notifications. Now there is no excuse for them to say they were not made aware.

 

[LevA]

well if its true that someone did email this thread to them, I hope they sent an email to Germany HQ as well.
 
I'm not sure how it is with Ultrasone, but usually I see some asswipe companies get dealership and distrubution rights, which might be the case here with Ultrasone US being a separate entity. Of course this does not excuse Ultrasone HQ for not setting up proper guidelines and checks on them. But I'm sure they won't be happy to see all their hardwork on R&D, advertising, sales, brand name etc. go down in the sh%$s for some idiots here in the US. 
 
It would be nice for Ms. Williams and others here in the US to get an earful not only from us customers but also from the other side of the big pond...
 
a resounding +45....

 

[AudioDwebe]

+46.
 
I was going to pick up the Edition 8's for my 46th birthday (how appropriate is the number?), but after reading this, and the horrendous customer service provided, will definitely stick to some other headphone for my purchase.
 
BTW, I've had the Proline 2500 and Edition 9 in the past and had absolutely no problems with them. 
 
But reading about this...yeah, that's just too pathetic on Ultrasone's part.
 
Whether they do right now or now makes zero difference in my book (for me).  The damage has been done as far as I'm concerned.
 
Far too many other quality headphones out there, with that list growing (it seems) almost daily.
 
(To the OP):  I sincerely hope you get a fixed, properly operating headphone in the near future so you can close the book on this nightmare.

 

[CodeScripted]

David where have you been for last 6 months? I thought I was the only one going through the painful Ultrasone warranty issues.
 
To cut the story short:
- Bought my ED8 Palladium on March 18, 2010. Used it for 5 hours, and the right hand side driver stop working.
- Called Ultrasone California immediately and asked them to fix it.
- Drivers and Cables were suppose to arrive around end of March, but ended up arriving in mid May. A 2 month wait
- Got the ED8 fixed and shipped back to me on June 19. (What were you doing for one extra month Ultrasone?)
- Received the box, I opened it and all I remember yelling was "WHHHHHAATTTTT?" (well, it was more like What)
- Horrible...horrible...horrible job at fixing. Earpads were not sealing, all the glue and and tape was visible.
- Immediately called Crystal, and asked them for Brand New Exchange unit. I even sent her pictures of it with a very distressed email letting them know that I am very dissapointed in this and there is absoultely no excuse for a $1700 headphone to go bad within 5 hours, and poor workmanship.
 
- Crystal agreed to exchange my unit, and  send my original pair to Ultrasone Germany.
- I sold my ED8 palladium to Sophonax, in late Septermber with the caveat that Ultrasone has agreed to exchange it for a new unit.
- Waiting .....waiting...waiting .... its been freaking 3 months, and no sign of Palladium.
- I called Crystal, and she said that Ultrasone is having issues with manufacturing Palladium ED8. Something to do with fininishing
- Finally Ultrasone California got Palladium last Wednesday and Crystal asked me to mail the ED8P back to her.
- Crystal claims that they received faulty earpads for ED8 and that was the primary reason for poor job.
 
Notice both of our dates (David and I) all align correctly. March, May, and October. Again, David where have you been (I wish I would have known about this earlier)? I completely stand by Sophonax (new owner of my ED8P), and if anything remotely goes wrong I am fully willing to provide a full refund to him, and taking up these issues with Ultrasone personally. Warranty is Transferable and 5 years of it from(first owner's date of purchase) 
 
David please keep us updated. There have been times where I felt I was taken for a ride. Whats worst about this situation is the type of response we receive from Ultrasone: "Oh as of right now I have no clue when ED8 pallidum will arrive, but I expect to have them soon".
What is that? You should get on the phone with the Headquarters in Germany and get a Estimated time. Don't give an open ended answer!!!!!
 
This is to echo on the type of response David also received such as "I really can't confirm anything but I doubt that will be the case" .  " "..I really fa
 
Now looking back, I really don't think it could have been faulty earpad issues, or delay in Manufacturing Palladium process because of fininishing issues. All those answers are just to keep us waiting. IMO Ultrasone California should take the headphones and ship them to Ultrasone Germany Headquarters at their own cost to take care of warranty issues. Once fixed, then ship it back to the original owners.
 
Edit: Forgot to add +47

 

[audiogamma]

Wow, what a story. I was considering the Edition 10 when released, but no way in hell I buy an Ultrasone product. I had a cable break on an SE530 and took it in to Shure's HQ in suburban Chicago. The tech was going to charge me $180 for the fix with the SE530s 2 months out of warranty. I asked to speak with the service manager and he promptly handed me a new pair with an additional one year warranty. I suppose the moral to this story is that it all depends on who you talk to. Often they're inept or simply misinformed on company policies. This Crystal person should be in the unemployment line.
 
One of the reasons I favor Shure is my proximity to their HQ. Too much can go wrong with these things to rely on poor CS/post-sale service.

 

[elwappo99]

+48
 
wow ton of posts in this thread running now. I definitely love my hfi-780, and was considering higher levels. Definitely not the case now.

 

[kesslerjesus]

I own Proline 2500s and have two more pairs of these within the control room in the studio where I work. I also use HFI 450s for commuting.
 
I was considering purchasing a set of Edition 8s this coming christmas for myself, but this thread has made me reconsider spending
that much money on headphones from a company that does this kind of thing to their buyers.
 
I will opt to wait and not take the leap on to Edition 8s until I hear that they resolve this problem.
 
+49

 

[Caphead78]

I emailed Ultrasone about this thread and got a response from Randy Fuchs, who says he is the new US director for Ultrasone. He said he is trying to get in touch with David to rectify the situation so hopefully we will hear something positive soon.

 

[reiserFS]

+50

 

[gngf123]

Quote:

I emailed Ultrasone about this thread and got a response from Randy Fuchs, who says he is the new US director for Ultrasone. He said he is trying to get in touch with David to rectify the situation so hopefully we will hear something positive soon.

This is good news. 

 

[TheGame21x]

Quote:

I emailed Ultrasone about this thread and got a response from Randy Fuchs, who says he is the new US director for Ultrasone. He said he is trying to get in touch with David to rectify the situation so hopefully we will hear something positive soon.

Wow, that's pretty awesome. Here's hoping David's situation is rectified soon.

 

[Tranducer]

I came here hoping to get some advice on a new pair of headphones, was even considering Ultrasone, now I'm not so sure.
 
+51