[bixby]

Looking for anyone else who has had problems with Stan's business practices?    If others have experienced problems, I would like to know how and what you may have done about it to resolve the situation.  If you have done business with him in the last year or so on a modification and experienced a long wait for mods or product that was not shipped.

Obviously the more others know about the a service the more it will help in the decision making process.

See my detailed post below for facts on what I experience.  This message has been edited from the original to ensure that one does not get the wrong impression.  Thanks for the input Borg and Carlman.

thanks

bixby

[Rocket]

hi bixby,

how long have you had to wait for your modification to be completed?

i did read a thread a while ago where another customer had waited a loooong time to get their cdp modded by stan.  from what i have read he has a good reputation for his mods and pricing.

btw my local dealer who is also a speaker designer, replaced the ribbon in my speakers (raven 1 ribbon tweeter).  it took him 4 weeks to replace the ribbon in my speakers and so the next time i tore the ribbon in the ravens i replace it myself.  it took me 10 minutes to do so.

regards

rocket

ps good luck.

[bixby]

Thanks for asking.   It has been 6 months so far.   I don''t know how people stay in business like this.  I am in business and  if I ever treated my customers that way I'd would not have folks clamoring to do business with me.  Perhaps this forum may be the only way to get the word out,  if it save others the pain and financial  loss.

I want others to come forward though.  I already know of two others who have had more than long waits.

Even if he would answer the phone or say oopps too busy, here is your machine and money back, anything.  I suspect that might be one of the reasons he is not is mainstream audio anymore.

cheers
bixby

[doug s.]

i woted "six months".  but this is reasonable, only if you agree to send yer stuff to stan.     i'm not saying it's right or wrong, yust how it is.  everyone sez he does great work & takes forever.  i'd recommend making sure ya have someting really nice to listen to in the meean time, if ya send him someting.  i decided to mod my aiwa xm37-c cdp myself, rather than send him mine, cuz i dint wanna wait...

regards,

doug s.

btw, stan isn't the only slo-poke.  i really like the work stephen sank has done on my mac mr65b & h/k citation 18 tunas.  average turn-around time was ~10 weeks.  but i knew that going in, & it was ok...

[mgalusha]

I sent him my Philips SACD 1000 in September of 2002 and was told it would be 3-4 weeks.. Knowing Stan's reputation for slowness I figured double that was about right and was OK with that.

Unfortunately I didn't get my player or my money back for nearly 6 months and that was only after I let Stan know I was contacting the Oregon Consumer Affairs Buerau. I was never able to get him on the phone and he did not reply to any of my letters. I sent repeated letters asking him to just return my player and money since the mods had not been done yet but never received any response until I copied him on my submission to the State of Oregon.  

Amazingly enough I received my player back 10 days later. As for the mods, it did sound better (I think, hard to say after not hearing it for 6 months) but from my point of view his customer service and response time is very poor.

Some will say the wait justified because his prices are so low and his work is exemplary. Perhaps for those people this is true, for me, it's not.


mike g.

[Beezer]

I was told 4-6 weeks and waited 3-4 months.  This was after waiting a month to send it in the first place because he was backed up.  I guess you get what you pay for, although in this case I question even that!  In hindsight, I'd look to Steve Nugent,  Dan Wright, Richard Kern, etc...

Beez

[Carlman]

.....Perhaps this forum may be the only way to get the word out,  if it save others the pain and financial  loss.

I want othesr to come forward though.  I already know of two others who have had more than long waits..............

cheers
bixby

I know you're angry about this but, coming to AC and starting posts like this is inconsistent with AC's goals.  We're not here to bash anyone.  

There's nothing wrong with starting a poll or being concerned with the length of time... but, starting a crusade with the sole intention of degrading someone's reputation has legal ramifications and won't be tolerated here.  I suggest editing your posts to remove the mal-intent or they will be moved to the wastebin.

i.e. if you'd started this post by saying, 'I've been waiting a long time for my mods to get done by SW, has anyone else had this problem?' there would be no issue.

[bixby]

Carlman:

I can appreciate your feelings and I have edited my post.  I also anticpated this response from someone.  

I also do not wish to use a public forum to libel anyone.  Libel is a false and malicious defamation of another, expressed in print, writing, pictures, or signs, tending to injure the reputation of the person and exposing him to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule.


One of the elements of a libel case is that the allegedly defamatory statement must be false. Statements of opinion can not be libelous. Only false statements of fact can be actionable.

My statements are facts.  My question posed to others who frequent this board are an attempt to discover how widespread Mr. Warren's questionable business practices run.  A forum like this is the RIGHT place to discuss this.  

Why you may ask?

Because lots of folks who are into audio and the quest for better sound frequent this forum.  And they learn about all sorts of new things that they cannot find elsewhere.  Like simple mods to a CD player that can make it sound much better.  And the recommendations and names of companies and individuals who provide products and services to this market are mentioned here frequently.  So it makes perfect sense, if you are trying to find out more about a company, the services it offers, their peformance, and reputation in dealing with other members, that a forum that promotes free factual dialog is the best place to gather information to make an intelligent decision.

Stifling the truth or condeming a post that attempts to do that does not help the community.  I wonder how many products and services are purchased based on the remarks in this forum.  Lot's I would surmise.  So the street goes both ways.  Perhapsl you have not been a victum of poor service or you would be appreciative of this information.  

I know if I had seen factual details of what one considered poor service that I might hesitate to send my hard earned dollars and equipment to someone across the country.  At least I would have weigted the positive and negative prior to making a decision.

I did not find as much negative because some folks are intimidated by your type of post. But when I sentprivate emails to several folks sho had publicly mentioned a mod by Mr. Warren to see how they were treated a differnt picture developed.  Unfortunately for me that was too late.

I have bought thousands of dollars worth of stuff partly based on good infomration I receive here.  I only hope people are free to hear about both good and bad opinions of service.  

Hope you have a better understanding now

Bixby.

[mattybumpkin]

I agree with Carlman, I think you should have presented it differently.

Caveat Emptor?? Buyer Beware??  What signal do you think that sends??

Legal Action??  Makes the guy sound like he is not on the up and up.

I understand your position and defend that such forums should be open for such, however, IF the topic is presented properly.

I do not feel your's was.

Regards,

"M"

[bixby]

Mattybumpkin:

I appreciate your views.  I have modified the original post.  Caveat Emptor means what it says.  I want to ensure that folks who are perhaps in the decision making process on what company to use for modification services or other products, have the opportunity to get others feedback on their experiences with that company.  If that bothers you, I am sorry.

I'm sure if you were in my shoes you would want others to know.  It is kind of like any experience in life.  If you are warned about something, you process the information and weigh that information against other information you have and make your most intelligent decision.  If there are lots of folks posting info on how positive an experience is, then you wiegh that too.

I wish you well.

Bixby

[Levi]

I never had mods done by Stan Warren.  I heard the same issues at Audio Asylum and other forums about him.  "Stan is a great guy and knows his stuff but had problems getting things done on time"[anon].

I have good experiences with Musical Concepts (John Hillig) for Amp mods.   I also have good experiences with ModWright (Dan Wright) for CD/DVD audio mods.   I am sure there are many more out there that does a good job on time and reachable.

In my opinion, Mr. Bixby has all the right to post here or maybe at THE COMMUNITY "fight club..."  You can say anything there...get it off your chest.

Have a nice day!

Levi

[doug s.]

I agree with Carlman, I think you should have presented it differently.

Caveat Emptor?? Buyer Beware??  What signal do you think that sends??

Legal Action??  Makes the guy sound like he is not on the up and up.

I understand your position and defend that such forums should be open for such, however, IF the topic is presented properly.

I do not feel your's was.

Regards,

"M"

awreddy, in one instance presented here, the threat of legal action WAS necessary to get mr. warren to respond...

nothing improper about how this topic was presented at all, imo...

doug s.

[theborg]

Yeah. Well, as Carlman states, this thread appears to have been started -- and continued after requests from me and Carlman to do otherwise -- with the express purpose of mud-dragging. This thread is locked until the 2ch mods decide what to do with it. If you want to discuss site policy, you can do so in the Town Square. Thanks.