Any Bell'O rack owners? Danger Will Robinson!
John in MA
Posts: 1,010
Does Club Polk have any users of Bell'O racks? You might want to take steps to ensure this doesn't happen to you.
Disconnecting the speaker cables on my amp a few weeks ago and the lower shelf supports on my rack gave way and crashed to the floor. The amp's cables pulled on the preamp, and its shelf pulled down, which then PULLED EVERY OTHER SHELF DOWN. My entire system collapsed on my arm. I could barely pull it out from under all the equipment and I'm glad either me or the rig wasn't smashed up more.
It's a Bell'O AT-4203A, about 8 years old, the $650+ price of which doesn't seem appropriate at this point. These stupid shelf clips are made out of thin cast zinc (or something) and most of them appear to be deformed.
Total damage:
One bruised arm
One Kinergetics KCD-40 Platinum CDP with a scratched back panel
One Rotel RB-990BX power amp with a dented and squished top panel
One McIntosh C712 with some scratches
One damaged plastic toy
I wrote a letter with pictures to the company's president and got a letter back from customer service rep saying they only covered products under warranty. I called her today, and was told it obviously wasn't their problem since it didn't fail within the warranty period, and something to the effect of you can't expect things to last forever. She is going to be sending me new clips but I'm a little scared of the thing at this point, and losing a customer didn't seem to bother them.
If anyone has had problems with these things, you might want to give the company a call, since they apparently have heard only positive feedback.
Oh, and my equipment does all fit within the advertised weight limit per-shelf.
Disconnecting the speaker cables on my amp a few weeks ago and the lower shelf supports on my rack gave way and crashed to the floor. The amp's cables pulled on the preamp, and its shelf pulled down, which then PULLED EVERY OTHER SHELF DOWN. My entire system collapsed on my arm. I could barely pull it out from under all the equipment and I'm glad either me or the rig wasn't smashed up more.
It's a Bell'O AT-4203A, about 8 years old, the $650+ price of which doesn't seem appropriate at this point. These stupid shelf clips are made out of thin cast zinc (or something) and most of them appear to be deformed.
Total damage:
One bruised arm
One Kinergetics KCD-40 Platinum CDP with a scratched back panel
One Rotel RB-990BX power amp with a dented and squished top panel
One McIntosh C712 with some scratches
One damaged plastic toy
I wrote a letter with pictures to the company's president and got a letter back from customer service rep saying they only covered products under warranty. I called her today, and was told it obviously wasn't their problem since it didn't fail within the warranty period, and something to the effect of you can't expect things to last forever. She is going to be sending me new clips but I'm a little scared of the thing at this point, and losing a customer didn't seem to bother them.
If anyone has had problems with these things, you might want to give the company a call, since they apparently have heard only positive feedback.
Oh, and my equipment does all fit within the advertised weight limit per-shelf.
Post edited by John in MA on
Comments
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The actual failure spot is the clips that hold the shelves. They're made out of brittle cast metal and most of the ones on my rack are now broken or deformed. It seems that weight over time will cause them to bend and eventually fracture.
This problem is compounded by the fact the shelves aren't actually held into the clips by any positive means. It's a friction fit with a plastic setscrew. When the clips or screws go out of spec, the shelves are just free-floating with only about a 1/2" of support keeping them from falling.
In my case, the lower ones broke and the tension of the IC cables pulled all the other shelves out. Most of them got their clips bent, although a few clips just pulled out since the friction fit isn't that secure.
Here are some pics.
Before:
After:
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....looks like "EARTHquake" damage to me. File a claim.
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That poor poor McintoshHT setup
Panasonic 50" TH-50PZ80U
Denon DBP-1610
Monster HTS 1650
Carver A400X :cool:
MIT Exp 3 Speaker Wire
Kef 104/2
URC MX-780 Remote
Sonos Play 1
Living Room
63 inch Samsung PN63C800YF
Polk Surroundbar 3000
Samsung BD-C7900 -
Amazing none of the glass shelves didn't break:eek:I love animals, they're delicious!
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Probably tempered glass and the rate it fell on each other. At one time I thought about getting a Bello rack. Looks like the equipment took a few licks ,but came through fine. This is the reason I always put the power amp on the bottom shelf(wood ,not glass) and the lighter components on the glass shelves.
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I used to have a bigger power amp on the bottom-most shelf, and the little Rotel above it.
Tempered glass apparently doesn't count for much when it's Bello:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/television-parts-services/bell-o-international/bell-o-international-corporati-47dd7.htm -
Wow, that picture looked awful, I have to wonder if the glass Bell'O was using on his tv stand was made in China??? Every so often it seems that Chinese made stuff is found to be inferior. Remember that Chinese made sheet rock and wall outlets or something a couple of years ago?
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release the Kraken on them...come on guys....a Polkie is getting offed here, unfortunately, they sure as hell dont give a crap, so lets give em a buzz by and let Bello know our displeasure.
i have had a Bello rack for years...it has a different type of support, its spherical and looks more stout than John's pic...so could be they reduced quality of the support..whatever the reason that should not happen.
RT1 -
+1, definitely looks like a defect Bell'O dropped the ball on.
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Sent to Bell'O -To whom it may concern,
I was considering Bello racks since I had read positive reviews about build quality. A member of our forum recently had a very bad rack collapse and told of the response from your company, I'm very disappointed. I would think that an A/V rack company would understand the flaw in the product and address it. If you we're a true A/V furniture supplier you would understand that we buy equipment to last a long time, not a few years, electronics or not. I’m going to continue my search, but with customer service like this, I know to look elsewhere.
Sincerely,
Cody Clark
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=123383
All of this is true, after the addition of a hefty AVR, amp, and soon a new player I'm running out of room and capacity. These looked like solid racks, they may be, the response they have given to him is unacceptable in my opinion from an A/V based company. I will not consider their products in the future with a response like he received.
The Kracken has been released.
-Cody -
I would send them this link with a smile and make sure you post this on other forums that you are a member, and send those links also.
what a ****2-channel: Modwright KWI-200 Integrated, Dynaudio C1-II Signatures
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a -
Wow, that's messed up John. I'm sorry to read this for sure.
Let them know that Polk Audio Club Polk has formally removed them from the recommended brands, just in case.CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint. -
No disrespect but that looks like a really weak stand.
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But where else are you going to get active empathetic support like you do here, not kissin up, just the truth.humpty dumpty was pushed
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Those pictures are tough to look at, just glad nothing was damaged more badly and thank goodness there wasn't a small child playing with the cables when it happened.
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Conradicles wrote: »No disrespect but that looks like a really weak stand.
The stand itself feels quite strong. Not as strong as a Salamander or something, but enough to do the job. The combination of the defective clips and poor shelf retention is the real killer. If these guys don't make good on it, I'll probably end up machining a new support mechanism.
I appreciate all the support, guys. Just don't go too far with the vigilante justice. -
John in MA wrote: »I appreciate all the support, guys. Just don't go too far with the vigilante justice.
Polkies can get serious, watch out! :eek: -
Polkies can get serious, watch out! :eek:
I'm serious. I wish the company was more responsive but I'm not trying to start an uprising here. -
Conradicles wrote: »No disrespect but that looks like a really weak stand.
My thoughts as well. there is no way in hell I would even contemplate putting my remote on that stand, much less my gear, ever again. I don't care if the new clips are made from unobtainium and welded by the hand of God to the frame.The Gear... Carver "Statement" Mono-blocks, Mcintosh C2300 Arcam AVR20, Oppo UDP-203 4K Blu-ray player, Sony XBR70x850B 4k, Polk Audio Legend L800 with height modules, L400 Center Channel Polk audio AB800 "in-wall" surrounds. Marantz MM7025 stereo amp. Simaudio Moon 680d DSD
“When once a Republic is corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing evils but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost principles; every other correction is either useless or a new evil.”— Thomas Jefferson -
That's sad to look at. I'm surprised how tough my metal/glass stand is. Definitely a poor design.
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txcoastal1 wrote: »I would send them this link with a smile and make sure you post this on other forums that you are a member, and send those links also.
what a ****
It was posted a month ago in Audio Karma.
Sorry to hear about your equipment. That truly sucksWithout music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa -
Wow, sorry to hear that; the pictures really are quite painful to look at. I'm just glad that the equipment survived. When I look for an equipment rack in the future, it certainly won't be from Bello.
If they had simply responded in a more helpful and understanding manner, the situation would be very different. However, it is clear that they do not care about their customers after the equipment has been purchased.
On a side note (not really related, but sort of), Logitech has absolutely fantastic customer support. They've always been very helpful in taking care of defective products, including their keyboards/mice and the Harmony remotes. In fact, I had a problem with my Harmony 900 that I purchased used from this forum; the battery had expanded in the remote, and couldn't be removed. This was not only out of warranty, but I wasn't even the original purchaser. Nonetheless, they didn't hesitate to send me a brand new replacement remote, and they just had me discard the old one. I can't recommend this company enough! -
That's a sad sight.They're made out of brittle cast metal
That's what is known as pot metal. It doesn't get any cheaper or weaker and should have never been used in that application.
I've always thought they valued aesthetics over structural integrity when it's not hard to have both.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
bummer to say the leastJC approves....he told me so. (F-1 nut)
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Did you have the feeling that the parts were inferior when you assembled the rack?If you can't hear a difference, don't waste your money.
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That is a serious liability! If a young child was using that unit to help them stand up (which they tend to do) , a failure of that magnitude could have seriously injured, or even killed, a toddler! How much profit is a child's life worth?
Bad Business! Cheap pot metal crap probably manufactured in China! If my business was on the line, I'd be recalling the entire product line. Yeah, the cost of such an act may bankrupt my business, but at least I could sleep at night knowing that I was not responsible for the potential death of a child!Sources: Technics SL1200MKII | SME3009 Tonearm | Monster Alpha 1 MC cartridge | Oppo UDP203 disk player | Nikko NT-790 analog tuner | Musical Fidelity Trivista 21 DAC | Preamp: Threshold SL-10 | Amplifier: Threshold Stasis 2 | Speakers: Snell Acoustics C/V | Kimber 12-TC bi wire speakers | Analysis plus Oval 1 preamp to amp | Wireworld Eclipse 7 DAC to Preamp | Wireworld eclipse digital IC Oppo to DAC | Audioquest Quartz tuner to preamp | -
That's what is known as pot metal. It doesn't get any cheaper or weaker and should have never been used in that application.
I've always thought they valued aesthetics over structural integrity when it's not hard to have both.
I originally thought they couldn't have been that dumb and that it was something like MIM steel (injection molded,) but you're right. Non-magnetic and gray--it's a zinc alloy.Did you have the feeling that the parts were inferior when you assembled the rack?
I got it fully assembled, but I never liked the look of the shelf support method. My assumption was "well they sold this thing for years, so it must work."That is a serious liability! If a young child was using that unit to help them stand up (which they tend to do) , a failure of that magnitude could have seriously injured, or even killed, a toddler! How much profit is a child's life worth?
That was my first thought. I'm not dumb enough to have kids, but if someone's toddler wandered into the room and leaned on the amp, I'd be cleaning up more than stereo parts on the floor. -
That's just nasty and inappropriate at that 'price point'. Really, a few letters to the manufacturer are in order here.
I can't believe how delicate those clips are for a $650 dollar rack. Way out of my range. I have a $25 dollar glass unit (bought on closeout--regular price $100) that really doesn't look that different from what you have there. As said above, I keep the 51lb. Onkyo on the lowest shelf. Everything else is bearing less than 20 lbs. per shelf.
You actually seem pretty level-headed considering what happened. I'd be beside myself and ready to storm Bell'O Headquarters. lol
Hope you come to some resolution of this. It does look, though, as if most of the gear suffered mostly 'cosmetic' damage--which 'sucks' but at least it still works. That still doesn't 'excuse' what happened.
cnhCurrently orbiting Bowie's Blackstar.!
Polk Lsi-7s, Def Tech 8" sub, HK 3490, HK HD 990 (CDP/DAC), AKG Q701s
[sig. changed on a monthly basis as I rotate in and out of my stash] -
Great, now you have me looking at my bell'o tv stand and waiting for my 65 inch plasma to come crashing through all my gear on the inner shelves...
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You actually seem pretty level-headed considering what happened. I'd be beside myself and ready to storm Bell'O Headquarters.
+1 to that, but I guess in this type of situation a level head is best. If you go to there website you can hit contact and it'll link you to where you can leave a comment, I did as showen above. I just don't understand the response he got. At the VERY least they could have offered to replace his shelf holders so he could continue to use the rack, if not the whole rack because the shortcut they took led to his damaged equipment.
