Not Authorized Dealers

abemiller

Hi All,
Has anyone had experience buying Polk products from a non
authorized dealer (such as sounddistributors.com, crazyeddie.com
etc.) ??? Is this a wise idea? Are threre any problems associated
with shopping this way? The prices can be sizeably reduced.
Please post if your experience was good or bad.---Thanks---

jcaut

There have been several posts lately about brandnamez.com. They aren't an authorized dealer either. Most have had good luck with them, and their prices are among the best. I would be afraid to take a chance on some of the others, unless you've heard good things from people who have actually bought from them.

I don't want to speak for Polk, but considering their teriffic customer service, I think they'd honor the warranty if you were the original owner of a speaker that turned out to be defective, no matter where you bought it. Un-authorized dealers might be less likely to help you out if you had problems with delivery or received a damaged speaker, or something along those lines.

I'm paranoid about stuff like that, so I usually prefer the authorized dealers, if the price difference is not unbearable.

Jason

wpaules

I bought my CS400i from Brandnamez last year. The price was the best I could find. They did not have the speaker in stock at first. It took about three weeks to recieve. When it did arrive it had a fair size hole in the box due to some rough handling in shipment. (It was not double packed) Luckily it was not damaged and I have been enjoing it ever since.

abemiller

Thanks, Brandnamez.com did have the cheapest price I could find
online. Your purchase seemed OK. It kinda sounds like you were lucky it worked out. If you had a damaged speaker, I would like to know how it would have been handled.

raycomics

Got another brand (Can I say Klipchs in here?) Subwoofer from CrazyEddie. Saved $125, paid no sales tax, got it in 3 days, and no problems! (yet) Can't beat their prices, but no guarantee as to condition when you receive it. (Shipping Companies are not always as careful as advertised)

abemiller

Thanks for the vote of confidence for crazy eddie. I was kind of
leaning that way. The prices are good and located not too far
away from me. Maybe this will help with the shipping. No guarantees though.

tonykiz

I have had experience with damaged speakers and BrandNamez and it was a good experience.

I ordered a complete Polk Home theatre setup (RTi38 Fronts, FXi30 Surrounds, CSi40 Center, PSW550 sub) from BrandNamez.com, for a total of $1300, including UPS shipping, a savings of about $600 from Crutchfield. I got all the speakers promptly and was notified of the UPS tracking numbers, etc. when they shipped. All the speakers were brand new genuine Polks, with serial numbers, warrantee cards, etc. I hooked them up and they sounded great! BUT, I noticed that the bottom corner of one of my RTi38's was chipped. I checked the shipping box and found a hole punched in it during handling in shipping. I emailed BrandNamez for a RMA to send them back with. BrandNamez gave me the RMA. I then called UPS to report the problem, they sent someone out to inspect it and sent it back to BrandNamez. BrandNamez promptly shipped a brand new pair of replacement speakers which arrived in fine shape. Their customer service was as good as any other good online merchant. I would definitely order from them again.

avelanchefan

Just an FYI, I have looked at buying electronics from various sources (Not speakers, cameras...etc..)through MySimon.com "Crazy Eddie's" was always one of the e-tailers that was dealing with that particular item I was searching for. MySimon always gives an Etailer rating from buyers that fill out forms basing on how well that particular company dealt with them.

Needless to say CrazyEddies was one of the worst to deal with. So like Paul said buy at your own risk.