Blown Momo tweeter.. eBay vs warranty..

BryceB

Hmmm.. Where to start. A few years ago I purchased 4 sets of Polk Momo 6.5" components for a large project I was working on. The project was put on hold, until recently when I started working on it again. I hooked up 1 set (woofer/tweeter) of the Momos alongside a set of Boston Acoustics just to compare the sound. After less than an hour of moderate use, the tweeter gave out. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

There are a couple of issues here. First off, they were purchased from eBay. A quick glance through the forum and I have found mixed opinions. While some actually recommend buying from eBay, most seem to compare it to throwing your money away. Before anyone starts preaching on why I should never buy Polk products from eBay, I have used 2 sets of db components and 2 sets of Momo 6x9s, purchased through eBay, in daily drivers with zero problems. Not to mention the various other brands/products I've purchased through eBay with no problems. Even refurbished units. Although all of the Polk products I purchased through eBay were listed as 'new'.

Another issue, which I guess relates to the first, is how would Polk products sold through eBay be so consistently bad. Unless either, (a) Polk is incapable of consistently producing quality product, and knowingly dumps defective products on eBay at the expense of the unsuspecting buyer, or (b) out of pure vengeance, Polk purposely produces crap to punish cheap **** whom refuse to pay retail. Not likely. Either way, It seems like it would tarnish their reputation more than it's worth profit-wise. Kind of like reverse advertising. I guess that's just my .02 in defense of eBay specific purchases, and Polk in general.

Lastly, in this particular situation, warranty is irrelevant. These speakers are likely beyond the warranty period either way. Purchasing retail would not have helped me here. I guess I feel robbed regardless, and browsing through Polk forums to find people flaming eBay purchases was of no comfort. Actually, it irritates me. The same people who speak about Polk as if they were God, turn around and imply that Polk knowingly sells defective product. It seems a bit ignorant, to think that Polk would put out product that they know will fail, be it via eBay or any other vendor, even if they know they won't be expected to replace said product.

I like Polk products, and have generally had good experiences with them. I've purchased a few of my own, as well as recommended them to quite a few people which did in turn purchase Polk products. On the other hand, what's up with this faulty POS tweeter you guys sold me . I'm debating whether to dump the rest of these speakers before I waste many hours forming fiberglass for them to sit into, only to find after an hour none of the tweeters work. The Bostons may not be as pretty, but they sound great, not to mention, they work!

In the event that I decide this particular tweeter was simply a chance defect, and decide to keep them, how much is the replacement tweeter going to cost me?

Flaming and drama is welcome, provided you can at least answer my 'cost' question, or better yet, you can send me one of your spares .

Thanks a bunch!!


PS - Referrals to Polk's Customer Service are not necessary, I am aware of their existence. Unfortunately, after years of dealing with various companies' CS reps with an IQ below 80 and/or ESL, I've acquired some sort of CS phobia. They are generally only good for frustration, and are only to be utilized as a last resort.

royalty

Im not going to flame you. You should just realize that you are dealing with electronics and even with quality control its not really possible to stop all defective products from entering the market. You will always have failures no matter what so.....there you go. In addition how do you know this ebay seller isnt the one that screwed you over? Now for a final solution....you hate CS but have you dealt with polk CS? I can honestly say that polk CS is the best CS I have EVER dealt with. So I am telling you to contact polk's CS I really dont think you'll be disappointed phobia or not.....
-Royalty



Oh an welcome to Club Polk!

treitz3

Purchase Polk products online or elsewhere ONLY under a Polk Authorized dealer. That way you have a warrantee and the awesome Polk CS that comes with it. You want cheap? You get what you pay for without the CS. Simple as that.

comfortablycurt

Call Polk CS!:D


Seriously, Polk probably has THE BEST CS that I've ever dealt with, from any company.

Plenty of people have successfully bought Polk items on ebay, I haven't really heard of too many complaints, aside from used products that didn't perform as advertised. That can't be blamed on Polk though.

As far as new or refurbished products go, I can only recall a few times where people have had problems. Keep in mind that the faulty tweeter could be due to one of numerous different factors, one main one being shipping damage. The box could have been dropped, and the tweeter could have been damaged.

Polk, like any company, is bound to have a few units slip through quality control from time to time. You'll have that with any product.

That being said, you should always buy Polk products from authorized Polk dealers. Polk has their own ebay store where they sell refurbished items...never once have I heard of anybody getting anything less than what appears to be a brand new product from Polk Direct. I link to their ebay store can be found at the top of this page in the "Where to Buy?" tab.


Now, go call Polk CS and see how quickly your problem is resolved. Mention that you're a Club Polk member, and you just might get a little discount even.;)

royalty

well said comfortablecurt

BryceB

royalty wrote: »

You should just realize that you are dealing with electronics and even with quality control its not really possible to stop all defective products from entering the market. You will always have failures no matter what so.....there you go.

This is what I figured.

I will be contacting Polk soon as I have some time. Thanks for the responses, sorry if I came off wrong but was a little frustrated at the time. I have been testing a couple of the other tweeters and they seem to be fine after a few hours so was probably just a bad tweeter.

-

As for 'wanting cheap' I don't want cheap. I want the good stuff, unfortunately I don't have the funding to back up my desires =D. Even online these things are not exactly 'cheap'. On this purchase alone I probably saved almost $800 vs retail. Not to mention other purchases. I guess that more than covers the one bad tweeter I will have to replace.

royalty

I can see where your coming from, I purchased half of my momos from an online source for like 70% of the retail price. By the way, none of my tweeters or mid- drivers have ever had any problems. So its just likely that you were unlucky for the tweeters. CS should be able to fix you up for a reasonable fee.