Horrible Customer Service Experience

jrcorwin31

Let me apologize in advance for a bit of a rant...

I placed an order last Friday for a replacement tweeter for my CS2 Series II center channel. With the forum discount, it was a total charge of $51.36. I have now been charged for this single tweeter 7 times for a total of $359.52 and the item hasn't even been shipped yet! I have called multiple times (while dealing with substantial hold times) and haven't gotten even a basic apology. No one takes responsibility and no one seeks to resolve the issue. Nothing but silence each time while they look into it and then come back to tell me that it should be fixed soon. I want to pay for the item, but I only want to pay for it once. Had it been shipped last Friday, as I was told it would be, it likely would have been here either today or tomorrow. Now I have no idea when I will get the part, I can't seem to get it anywhere else and I have a non-functioning Polk speaker sitting in my living room. I haven't even disputed the charges with my bank yet because I don't want to do anything to further delay the shipment.

I noticed that it was mentioned in another thread that Ken might be able to help. I am hoping he sees this. Thank you in advance!

Order# 141090
Case# 00131004

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Welcome to Polk's forum, sorry for the unfortunate situation, however. Let me bring this to Kim Jasper, Polk's CS manager.
Regards, Ken

jrcorwin31

Thank you!

[Deleted User]

I believe you have spoken with someone from Polk, correct?

jbohemier61

My customer service has been equally as bad. The rep informed me that LSi25’s are “vintage” speakers, therefore they no longer support them. These speakers were sold by Crutchfield as new as late as 2008. I purchased mine in 2005 (the service guy tried telling me that they’re 2 decades old when they’re NOT even close). When you talk “Vintage” equipment, you’re referring to something built no later than the early 1980’s. The Rep then told me that cars are no different. But I worked for Ford, so I’ve got bad news for him...parts are available for cars that were built as far back as the early 90’s. When Ford stops supporting one of their products, they contract those parts out to an aftermarket company so the parts continue to be available. I wonder how many LSi25’s are collecting dust because POLK no longer supports the onboard amplifier? If you’ve got $200 - $400 speaker’s that have partical board enclosures, I would expect the support to end. But when you’re speaker’s are built using furniture grade enclosures and cost into the thousands, I expect customer service to be there for a long time to come. And when its pulled, there needs to be a company contracted out to continue that support, ESPECIALLY WHEN THOSE SPEAKERS CONTAIN POWER AMPS, as they’re a high failure item. That’s because there’s nothing disposable about such speakers. With reasonable care, they should last longer than any car, as speakers are subject to environmental abuse from the great outdoors. No, they’re sitting in our homes protected from the elements. I didn’t spend literally thousands on a full array of Polk’s flagship speakers in a 7.1 setup to be told that they’ve outlived their expected lifetime and are therefore no longer supported. LSi25’s are still incredible sounding speakers who’s sound is any less relevant than back when they were made. And their quality is such that if customer service is based on their expected lifetime, than that customer service needs to be for more like 25 years, NOT 10.

The customer service rep could’ve at least said that there’s a guy on eBay that rebuilds to amplifiers at a reasonable price. But he didn’t even bother to mention that. Sorry Polk, but I don’t take my high end speakers out to the trash when they hit their 10th birthday or just because you made an upgrade to your product line. Customer service is just as important as cost and/or the product itself when it’s an expensive item. And when you build them to last, then I don’t think it’s too much to ask to expect the customer service to last as well.

Replacing LSi series speakers is an expensive proposition. Not only are the latest flagship speakers expensive, but if you’re using them with an AVR, you’re most likely going to fork out money for an Amp as well, as the LSiM 707’s really need to be bi-amped to get the most out of them. That wasn’t an issue with the 25’s due to their internal amp. And it’s not really a matter of replacing just the fronts due to the change in impedance, going from 4 to 8 ohms.

So what’s wrong with my speakers? Well, the power amp of course. Not only in one of the LSi25’s, but also in the separate subwoofer, PSW1000 (again, they’re flagship model). A lightening strike too out my Home Theater system taking out the aforementioned speakers along with a SONY 70” 4K HDTV and SONY AVR. I’ve replaced the receiver with an ONKYO TX RV820. I’m replacing the TV with a Samsung Qdot 4K HDTV. And I had already planned (before the lightning strike) on replacing the speakers with the LSiM 707’s and matching surrounds, but those were to be last, still a few more years down the road.

Thank God for eBay.

F1nut

So, no repair available for the newer TV and AVR, yet you're complaining there isn't one for the speakers?

As for the car/speaker comparison. Federal law requires car manufacturers to supply parts for 10 years. After that it's a crap shoot. There is no law requiring speaker or any audio company to stock replacement parts past the warranty period.

the LSiM 707’s really need to be bi-amped to get the most out of them

False. They are an easy load.

I could pick apart a few other comments of yours, but I'll just say there's more that doesn't make sense.

FestYboy

You could also take it up with your insurance company... Since it was a lightning strike that did the damage. On the other hand, the circuit running your rig should have been protected as well...

rooftop59

Sorry for your bad experience @jbohemier61. But the LSiS came out in 2001. It’s 2018. Pretty close to 2 decades...

Emlyn

What I am gathering from this is that Polk does not maintain replacement amplifiers for the LSi25 model and the PSW1000 subwoofer. I know it can be a disappointment to find that out. It may be worth double checking again with Polk to see if that is the case and there is no work around available.

Can Ken or someone in customer service confirm that?

Since the electronics are long out of warranty, it would likely cost quite a bit to replace or repair the amplifiers in all three. A lightning strike can do all kinds of wild things, so there may be more extensive damage to the crossovers as well. Given that the market value of the speakers is now pretty low, I would be thinking about purchasing something to replace them with anyway. The idea above about working with the insurance company may be a sound one.

It is semantics, but technically any Polk model that is not currently produced is considered a vintage product.

[Deleted User]

Hello,
Let me contact Polk and see if there is some help to be offered.