Shocking Polk Service on parts delivery

[dave harris]

Dear all

I am writing to complain about the very poor parts service offered by Polk on its RT7 speakers.

I put a speaker in for repair in June 2004 and it is now October 2004. Polk has not yet issued a part MW8002 for the repair of that speaker and I now find that they are on back order with no determined delivery date.

This is the poorest service performance for parts I have ever come across and I will certainly never buy Polk Audio products ever again. I will also make sure everyone I speak to about music systems knows about this bad experience and gets my advice not to buy Polk based on my experience that they are unreliable.

I think as many people as possible should be made aware of this appalling waiting time.

Polk's poor service has resulted in my having to purchase new speakers which will cost me hundreds of dollars at a minimum. I suggest Polk improves its parts performance considerably as customer service does not just end at the time I pay for the product.


Dave Harris
Melbourne Australia

[dcarlson]

Dave, sorry to hear about your troubles but I've had to contact customer service for repairs on 3 different occasions and they were absolutely outstanding each individual time.

[fireshoes]

Sorry about the problem. That's really the first time I've ever heard of someone having anything less than stellar service from Polk. Did you talk to anyone directly about the issue you were having?

[dorokusai]

Dave - I am sorry to hear about your "poor" experience. Polk CS always has and always does its very best to remedy all issues in a timely manner. This includes the CA and MD crew, both of which work very hard for Polkies.

I don't know the circumstances of your particular service request, but have you followed up with them recently?

You won't find many, if any, non-supporters of the CS crew in this forum. They always take care of the customer IMO. I've never been let down or known someone that was not squared away.

There always comes a time when every need cannot be fulfilled to the satisfaction of the customer. Relax and use the information below, and you should be able to establish a resolution.

Contact polkcs@polkaudio.com and ask for assistance or call them directly: 800.377.7655

Good luck.

[Mjr7531]

Dave sorry to hear about your bad experience, however, I would like to point out that my experience was wonderful, I got grilles for RTi6s no questions asked, I guess it was that one unlucky time,
Matt

[shack]

Are we talking about warranty repair (since that speaker was last sold in 98 I believe)? From your description it sounds like you sent your speaker to a repair shop instead of contacting Polk directly. Polk will deal directly with you even if it is a warranty issue. Since you were able to find this site to complain to us, you obviously have the ability to get the information from Polk as to the availablity of the driver in question. If it is in stock then I feel certain that Polk would sell you the driver (or replace if under warranty) and you could fix the speaker yourself (not talking rocket science here). If not in stock they could give you the status of when the part should be available. Who knows, maybe your repair shop dropped the ball and is at fault here. As I said since you able to find the site and the SERVICE AND PARTS tab is not terribly hard to find, I suggest that YOU contact Polk before you come here to complain about their service.

[Emlyn]

Hi Dave,
Are you referring to the RT7 bookshelf speakers Polk made in the mid-1990s? It's my understanding that Polk does not keep every driver from every old model in stock but does go to an extra effort to get replacement parts for speakers if there's enough demand for them. The MW8002 was used only in the RT7 and RT10 speakers and I don't think they were on the market for long, so demand for replacement parts is probably pretty limited, especially since it is rare for Polk's mid-woofers to experience failures. I'd also suggest contacting headquarters customer service directly to see if there are any alternative drivers that could be used.

The RT7 speakers appear on Ebay occasionally. Since the MW8002 would cost $95 for a non-Club Polk member, and the RT7's seem to sell for $150 or less on Ebay, that may be an option to pursue, even if you have to ask the seller to strip out the drivers and just send them to you in Australia to save shipping costs.

[TroyD]

I echo shack's sentiments.

It sounds like this guy hasn't even contacted Polk, just his repair shop and we all know that those guys NEVER lie.

Fact is, Polk CS is second to none.

BDT

[dorokusai]

I'll add a comment....nothing like being able to pick up replacement parts for a speaker from the early 80's....that's Polk Audio honcho.

The definition of Customer Service is Polk Audio for me.....if only everyone gave a ****, we might be normal.

[PolkThug]

Originally posted by dave harris
I think as many people as possible should be made aware of this appalling waiting time.

I'll help you out. I'll make sure to send an email to 15 of my friends, and I'll tell each of them to send it to 15 of their friends. We have to do something.

WWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[cdubya]

I have to agree with the guys on this one. I think you might find its your distributor whos dragging the chain on this one.
I replaced an rt12 driver (from the same line i might add), and the shop i dealt with sent them to be reconditioned. On talking to another shop, was told that that wasnt their policy. To cut a long story short, 2 days later i recieved 2 brand new ones. When the next shipment arrived i got another 2 and an apology for what had happened.
At this end theyre always willing to help, and from my dealings with Ken and co, well, i've never seen better.

[gidrah]

I'm so shocked and amazed that I don't believe it. I asked for a speaker (driver) for my 13 year old speakers and I had it two days later.

I would have to say that there are 2 possibilities: one is that his supplier dropped the ball, the second is that he is full of BS. I've seen both scenarios before and they are both sad.

[Jstas]

I think you guys are too kind to asshats like this.

I had a whole response written out and it was more threapuetic than anything. What this moron really is is not a disgruntled customer but nothing more than a troll. His rant is too knee-jerk and inflammatory to be an unsatisfied customer.

[Frank Z]

Anything is possible folks. Could be he is venting because of poor service from a local cat, or he's a troll.

I'm sure Ken will chime in at some point and do what he does best. Untill then, let this one go.......

My $.02

[TroyD]

Originally posted by Jstas
I think you guys are too kind to asshats like this.

I had a whole response written out and it was more threapuetic than anything. What this moron really is is not a disgruntled customer but nothing more than a troll. His rant is too knee-jerk and inflammatory to be an unsatisfied customer.

Hey, shouldn't you be honeymooning or something?? ;)

BDT

[amulford]

Originally posted by TroyD
Hey, shouldn't you be honeymooning or something?? ;)

BDT

Cutty CAN'T HANG.....:p

Mr. Harris:

No disrespect intended, but you're crying to the wrong audience, Mate.

Polk Audio's CS Dept. is OUTSTANDING, to put it mildly. I know for a fact you have not contacted them directly, for if that were the case you would not be posting this comment.

Perhaps a little more care for your equipment, as I have a pair of Polk's that are as old, if not older, and they work as well as when they were new. If you thought the solution was to buy other speakers, that is your decision. I'd like to see the responsivity of the brand you have purchased.

Besides the fact, you must not be very educated to audio, or you would have realized what Emlyn mentioned.

Don't let the doorknob hit ya in the ass....

Anthony

[brettw22]

Dave,

While no one can say that a company is 100% flawless 100% of the time, as you can see the overwhelming consensus is that Polk does indeed care about their customers, and will do what they can to make sure their customers are taken care of.

The reason that you've received the responses that you have is because your first post isn't detailed enough to warrant a pointed finger at Polk. There is no mention of who physically has your speakers. There is no mention of who has contacted Polk regarding the status of the driver. There is no mention of CS indicating that there may have been a parts substitution for your speaker. This does happen, but also Polk (as with ANY other company) can have parts outages that they are waiting to have manufactured.

I'd suggest that you gather/post more information if you want to have a 'gripe post'(your very first post on this forum) taken seriously. People have given you email addresses and phone numbers above....use them.

If you have ultimately just had your speakers sitting in a shop in Melbourne and are going off what they tell you without doing your own homework, then shame on you. That's your decision to be led by that leash.....

Good luck,

[danger boy]

you all raise some good points about Polk CS. I have never had to use customer service before..

but lets at least not to call the guy names like Troll, etc.. give him the benefit of the doubt at least.

it'll all be cleared up in the end..

[Jstas]

Originally posted by TroyD
Hey, shouldn't you be honeymooning or something?? ;)

BDT

Did that. Only took a small one right now. I have an apartment to furnish and bills to catch up on. We'll get to our real fancy vacation soon enough.

[Kenneth Swauger]

Dear Mr. Harris,
I'm certainly sorry to read of your difficulty with the RT7 driver. If you can email me at kswauger@polkaudio.com giving me your Australian address and telephone number (required for overseas shipping) I can immediately send the necessary driver, directly to you.
Regards, Ken

[RuSsMaN]

There ya go, now wasn't that easy?

[TroyD]

Ken is THAT guy.

BDT

[exalted512]

Originally posted by RuSsMaN
There ya go, now wasn't that easy?

no crap, im with the guys that posted at the end of this thread
"Polk screws up once in 20 years, they must suck ass! im going to tell all of my friends that im a dumbass and that polk sucks"
get a life dude...as someone said, dont let the door hit you on the way out
-Cody

[dorokusai]

It's hard to get customer service, when you don't contact them in the first place.

Cody - I doubt we'll hear from him anymore anyways, no big deal.

[VR3]

Only drivers that I know of that Polk no longer carries is the Tri Lam from the RTi series...when you blow those things they send you a Silk replacement...

NVM - I see Ken has done tried to hook you up -- Freakin people need to use their brains...

Sorry to hear about the shortage, I am sure they are trying to replace it with the best possible replacement they can. Usually when Polk gets replacement drivers it is for the better...

[danger boy]

no more tri lams? what will i do if one of mine goes out in a RT800i or a CS400i? i'd have to replace all three tweeters.. so they'd match.

[VR3]

From what I understand,
They no longer carry the Tri-Lams, SILK-O-RAMA

Maybe Ken can help us out here if this is true or not...

[Tour2ma]

Dave from Downunder...

If you took your RT7 to an Authorized Polk service center, please let Ken know their name. I'm sure he'd love to have a chat with them...

If it was a non-authorized repair shop, well, now you know better. Don't you?

G'day...

[amulford]

Originally posted by danger boy
no more tri lams? what will i do if one of mine goes out in a RT800i or a CS400i? i'd have to replace all three tweeters.. so they'd match.

Sad, but true. It's not that they won't carry them, they can't find anyone to make the material any more. I just about cried, I like them alot and have built a HT around that tweeter, too.:(

[Joelsbass]

does anyone here honestly think davey boy is watching this thread? it sounds like he either came in here to vent or cause trouble and then left....