Poor customer service. Any other purchasers having issues?

plainscraps

Recently purchase a set of L800 legend speakers. Only the left channel was shipped and was shipped quickly. Who ships ONE speaker of a pair, the hasn't shipped the other. When asked why, they simply respond "they are trying to get an answer" yet it's been a week since my question was asked. I simply think I'll return it (unopened) since I can't get a response as to why. Simply unacceptable.

Poorest customer service I have ever experienced to date from and consumer electronics company.

VR3

Did you order off the website?

There are 4 color choices.... walnut Left, black left, walnut right, black rgiht.

Its super ambiguous and if you are not paying attention you will accidently order two left speakers.

Polk needs to update their website to be much more obvious or only sell in pairs

nooshinjohn

Might I inquire how much you paid? If it was less than 3k, you only paid for one speaker.

Emlyn

All four versions appear to currently be in stock on the Polk site.

VR3

the problem is if you are not paying attention, you add quantity two brown (not seeing the L for left) and hit add to cart and pay you are ordering 2 left speakers.

Of course Polk warehouse is on auto pilot so they just ship it!

SeleniumFalcon

I've sent your information to a friend at Polk, I'm sure he can straighten things out.

SeleniumFalcon

My friend has forwarded this issue to the correct person to resolve it.

plainscraps

VR3 wrote: »

Did you order off the website?

There are 4 color choices.... walnut Left, black left, walnut right, black rgiht.

Its super ambiguous and if you are not paying attention you will accidently order two left speakers.

Polk needs to update their website to be much more obvious or only sell in pairs

I chose one brown/left and one brown/right. The cart reflected same and reflected the correct price. An email was received 48 hours later indicating the left speaker was shipped. The right indicated no shipping. It was a Polk mistake. Thanks for your input. ☺️

plainscraps

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Might I inquire how much you paid? If it was less than 3k, you only paid for one speaker.

I paid the sale price (2) speakers. One left and one right per the order. Warehouse or website apparently is the issue. My order email reflects the correct information. Thanks very much.

plainscraps

VR3 wrote: »

the problem is if you are not paying attention, you add quantity two brown (not seeing the L for left) and hit add to cart and pay you are ordering 2 left speakers.

Of course Polk warehouse is on auto pilot so they just ship it!

Verified the order email. One brown left, one brown right were ordered and the correct amount was shown in the total. My credit card charge corroborates the order email total. Thanks

plainscraps

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

My friend has forwarded this issue to the correct person to resolve it.

Well it hasn't been resolved as of yet. The customer service rep who was "attempting" to resolve this issue had to escalate. Over a week later, nothing but excuses. Finally they responded saying I could expect my right speaker in 5 business days. There has been no order update to reflect that, nor a tracking number sent to me indicating shipment. I appreciate you assisting and doing this for me. It's only been 3 business days, so maybe by Tuesday it will ship. I sure hope so. What's funny is I currently own, Classe' equipment, Denon and the other manufacturers this company owns. Now my 6th set of Polks dating back to 1983 for my first set. I have never had issues until the company was "purchased." I must amend my original post in good faith and honesty. I mentioned "I have never seen such poor customer service" from a consumer electronics company. Well, McIntosh was actually worse. My "new" hybrid integrated was in service for 9 months waiting on parts before it was finally repaired. If Polk doesn't follow through, I will just do a charge back on my credit card and let them resolve it with the credit card company. I've tried, I was patient, and have been very nice about it. I'm just shocked at the poor service. 😔

Thanks everyone for the feedback and assistance.

Clipdat

I'm sorry that you had this experience, I hope they can quickly correct the issue and prevent it from happening to any other customers in the future.

Way to soil your first experience with your new L800s straight out of the gate. Again, hope they get you the right channel speaker in an expedited fashion so you can get them up and running soon and forget about the botched ordering process.

plainscraps

Clipdat wrote: »

I'm sorry that you had this experience, I hope they can quickly correct the issue and prevent it from happening to any other customers in the future.

Way to soil your first experience with your new L800s straight out of the gate. Again, hope they get you the right channel speaker in an expedited fashion so you can get them up and running soon and forget about the botched ordering process.

Hoping so too. These will be used to compare with my Cornwall IV's. I love the immediacy and sensitivity of the Cornwall's, but wish to explore the L800 imaging, as I hear it's very good. I haven't even opened the left channel as there was no need. I'll simply return it if this situation doesn't get rectified quickly. Thanks ☺️

treitz3

Hello and welcome to the Polk forum. I am sorry to hear that you have had such issues and I do hope for a quick resolution of this situation.

I just wanted to chime in to say that they will be worth the wait and a HUGE difference between these and your Cornwall's. Polk may not have their shipping right with this one but the speaker itself? They definitely nailed it with this one.

Best wishes for speedy resolution.

Tom

nooshinjohn

Just know up front that you will need to get at least 150 to 200 hours on them before they will start to come into their own. I was not expecting them to take so long to break in and was ready to send them back. I even had the FedEX labels but was unable to get them boxed up for about a week. In that time, they started to bloom.

Sending them back would have been an epic mistake.

boston1450

I don't see a issue here. I think that 1 speaker you have would sound better than the 2 Klipsch speakers you have Joking. I hope that you get your other speaker & you enjoy your new speakers. Congratulations on you purchase on 1 speaker

plainscraps

Lol. I really am interested to see if they are indeed better than the Cornwall's. We shall see. I'm more interested to see how they sound with the Primaluna EVO400 tube mono amps. I purchased KT150's just for these speakers. I should have more than enough power to drive them. If not? It will be the McIntosh I suppose. 😁

treitz3

That's some nice upstream gear. What are you using as a source(s)?

Tom

plainscraps

treitz3 wrote: »

That's some nice upstream gear. What are you using as a source(s)?

Tom

Thanks Tom. Several, actually. Turntable is a VPI prime with a Hana ML low output MC. Phono preamp is a PS Audio stellar, class A. Digital is a Sony HI-res. Mainly for lossless and DSD material. The other digital source is the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC and the Perfect wave SACD transport.

treitz3

Very nice, sir!

Tom

treitz3

Any update or word from Polk yet?

Tom

plainscraps

treitz3 wrote: »

Any update or word from Polk yet?

Tom

Hi Tom,

Yes, they shipped. I arranged for delivery with a trusted source for Friday. I will see them Monday. Still haven't received my credit, but at least I'll have a complete set of speakers... 😂

Thanks for asking..

Scott

plainscraps

plainscraps wrote: »

SeleniumFalcon wrote: »

My friend has forwarded this issue to the correct person to resolve it.

Thanks so much for guiding this to the right person! It's been mostly resolved. I'm still waiting on the credit they promised.

I finally got home today and unboxed the L800's. No damage. Got them in their proposed location. Will level them tomorrow, hook up the SDA cable and give them a go. My listening position is 12 feet from the speakers, so I'm placing them at 7.5 to 8 ft apart. 1 ft to 18" from the back wall. Any particular recommendations from the group on your placement and distances in your listening rooms?

Thanks again, SeleniumFalcon.

nooshinjohn

Mine are 56 inches from center of the speaker to the side walls and 8 inches from the back wall. I sit nine feet back in a room of 19 feet by 15 feet.

It took more than 200 hours for them to come into full bloom, as it were. I have had them for nearly a year now and they continue to impress and take me to places I cannot believe.

plainscraps

nooshinjohn wrote: »

Mine are 56 inches from center of the speaker to the side walls and 8 inches from the back wall. I sit nine feet back in a room of 19 feet by 15 feet.

It took more than 200 hours for them to come into full bloom, as it were. I have had them for nearly a year now and they continue to impress and take me to places I cannot believe.

Thanks for the response. Only an assumption, but I am assuming the speakers are along the 15 foot wall. Further assuming your speakers are approximately 4.5 to 5 feet apart from one another. Is this correct?

I have heard they take a bit to blossom. Unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to listen that long before the return time expires. From what I've heard? I won't be returning them 😊. Thanks again.

nooshinjohn

I have mine on the long wall...

treitz3

plainscraps - I don't know your name, so I will address you by your moniker...

How are things going with the new speakers? Have you experimented with placement or anything else?

Do tell bro'....inquiring minds (mainly me maybe) want to know...

Tom

plainscraps

treitz3 wrote: »

plainscraps - I don't know your name, so I will address you by your moniker...

How are things going with the new speakers? Have you experimented with placement or anything else?

Do tell bro'....inquiring minds (mainly me maybe) want to know...

Tom

Hi Tom,

I made a quick trip home from my father-in-laws house. We are living in another state helping take care of him (another story/time).

I unpackaged them and "generally" placed them. I'm in a 22x24 highly reflective room. I sit about 11 to 12 feet from the lead edge of the speakers. I placed them 10 to 12 inches from the back wall, about 7.5 feet apart from each other (a little over 8 feet from center speaker to center speaker) and more than 3 feet from the side walls.

First listen was with Chris Isaak's RSD album, recorded at Sun Studios in Memphis. I was quite impressed with bass capabilities, although most of this was the source material. The album is recorded and mastered quite well. Sound stage was pretty good, however, I did not experience the "way past the outside of the speaker" staging. This varied with each record source as expected. I listened to about 10 albums and overall, for 10 hours of off and on listening, I liked them. Floored with performance? No. What I did find is the Primaluna EVO400 mono amps with KT150 tubes installed, produced a better sound and more bass than the McIntosh MA352. The McIntosh is a hybrid with a tube preamp and solid state finals (340w into 4 ohms) I believe.

While listening I temporarily placed some foam along the right side wall to make sure there were no first reflections muddying the image. It made a slight difference. I've had the speakers 15" from the wall back to 10". Bass remained fairly consistent in either location. Next I will try to move the speakers laterally closer a few inches at the time with the "same" source to see if imaging improves. This will be in about 3 weeks. Overall? The only think I feel that is better, at this moment compared to the Klipsch, is the bass. I was indeed impressed with the actual first listen with Chris Isaak. Even at low level the bass was exceptional and a good sound stage. So, that being said. Quality source, quality output....or...crap in...crap out.

10 hours isn't nearly enough to provide any better evaluation. When I start closing the lateral distance of the speakers in a couple of weeks, I will use higher quality records to see if the staging improves. Once I feel I've placed them at their optimum location for my room, I'll look at a few more permanent room treatments in addition to what I have. If any others have input regarding their placement , I'd love to hear it. I know, this is a customer thread. We may have to move it. They still haven't resolved the credit. So my issue with Polk isn't complete yet. We shall see where it goes.

Scott

VR3

A review on request? All you need now are pictures and you will be a polkie pro

treitz3

plainscraps wrote: »

Sound stage was pretty good, however, I did not experience the "way past the outside of the speaker" staging. If any others have input regarding their placement , I'd love to hear it. I know, this is a customer thread. We may have to move it. They still haven't resolved the credit. So my issue with Polk isn't complete yet. We shall see where it goes.

Scott

Good morning, Scott. Nice to "meet" you. As far as the issues with Polk goes? So long as the issue has not been resolved, the thread can remain here until it is. We can move along out of this section after the credit is issued and Polk Customer Service has done what they need to do.

As far as the way outside of the speaker staging goes, take a look at this thread when you get some free time- https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/194443/carolina-polkfest-vol-5-oct-22-24-2021-north-charleston-sc/p3

When we first set them up at Polkfest out of the box, we were, shall I say, disappointingly "Underwhelmed". Bass and midbass were thin, they were bright and the sound stage was severely lacking.....or left a lot to be desired. This is what the first setup looked like...



These were setup on the long wall of the LR and this setup didn't last that long at all. We all seemed to be wanting more and the sound pretty much stayed within the speakers with the occasional appearance of sounds outside of the speakers (recording dependent).

The final and most liked setup was this...


As soon as we moved them into this location? Wow. All of us stood there in awe at what we were now hearing. The speakers came into fruition, the frequencies were now well blended across the spectrum and the soundstage all of a sudden woke the heck up. Sounds were now WELL beyond the speakers and the speakers disappeared. In fact, the sounds sounded like they were coming from Troy's backyard....beyond his wall that the previous day, the system was set up on.

We didn't change anything upstream, just the speaker location and the change was profound, not subtle.

Since then, many more people have purchased these speakers and can offer you more insight as to their findings. Something doesn't sound right if the imaging/sound isn't well beyond the speakers themself. I know what these speakers are capable of and it wasn't like we were using uber gear that the common man can't afford or obtain at Polkfest. We had them hooked up to a Cambridge or Auralic G2 streamer, a decent tubed pre (I forget the brand/model) and a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista integrated.

You are welcome to attend Polkfest this year in Charleston, SC (in about 3 weeks) and meet some of the members and listen to your speakers properly setup. That will at least give you a baseline/reference as to what they are capable of. Just a thought...

Tom

plainscraps

treitz3 wrote: »

Good morning, Scott. Nice to "meet" you. As far as the issues with Polk goes? So long as the issue has not been resolved, the thread can remain here until it is. We can move along out of this section after the credit is issued and Polk Customer Service has done what they need to do.

Yes Tom, nice to meet you. I appreciate the links and the Polkfest information. I would love to attend, however, as stated, I have a prior commitment.

Charleston is close to home and I have family there. It would be ideal, however, it just can't happen this time.

I just watched an informative review on YouTube regarding the L800's. It was almost an hour long and he was using live "miking." It answered a few questions I had regarding relative placement. Just visually mind you, as it was not part of his review. The first move I am going to make is to move the Polks forward a foot or two in my listening room, as I feel lateral placement is good relative to my listing position at this moment. I will then experiment with lateral placement. I have only moved the polks forward and back by a few inches at the time, with no negative impact. The bass was good in whatever location I chose. Hopefully it won't degrade too much, as I move them forward. Just hoping as I move forward, they will breathe better, especially behind and around them. I have diffusers on the rear wall behind the center of the sound stage. I may remove them long enough to be objective without treatments involved. You have a nice setup as well! I will be the first to say this; I certainly feel that you don't have to spend a ton of money to get great sound. If you are happy with the end result and pleased with how it sounds? Screw what everyone else has to say. Yes, some of my equipment is expensive, but I am not a snob about it. I. Fact my lesser system is still an analogue favorite of mine. It's a Sansui 9090 receiver, a Music Hall 5.1 turntable, Oppo SACD player, a Teac A-4300sx, and a Pioneer CT-1000 cassette. I simply love that system. It's "fun"!

Hoping when I get home in three weeks, I can get them positioned correctly and have the time to let them break in. I will have two weeks to do so. Until then, I won't have any new feedback. I will however, visit the thread you posted. Many thanks.

Scott