I bought a Teac NT-505-X back in November last year, got a good price, new model, everything rosy. The network player/DAC was okay…it just left me a little underwhelmed so I chose to return it within the approved 30 day window. Communications were with an Austrian company, a lady called Lisa was very helpful and they offered me a very generous 25% discount should I decide to keep the unit but it really didn’t scratch my itch and so I declined the offer and Lisa arranged UPS to collect. The unit was collected and I awaited the four weeks I’d been advised the refund would take to process but nothing, I mean total radio silence. It was not possible to directly reply to any of the previous emails, contact could only be made by logging a help ticket on the Teac website to which now no reply was forthcoming.
By the end of January I was starting to get concerned, I’d sent half a dozen help/support tickets but received no replies so I contacted my credit card company and started a chargeback claim. They were also worse than hopeless and it was only after getting really shirty that they refunded me my money in the beginning of March. To this day I have heard nothing from Teac since the email in December with UPS return instructions.
I’m generally a pretty relaxed/whatever kind of guy but this whole situation has left me incredulous how a bona fide, real company can operate in such a shocking way. I got my money back but if the unit had been faulty and needed to be repaired I would have been totally screwed. This is clearly a resounding endorsement for using a local dealer but with most transactions being online I was totally oblivious to how dramatically wrong things could go, the NT-505-X might well be Roon Ready but sadly Teac are certainly not customer ready.
Always use a credit card. If you have a complaint, they will credit your account on the spot and decide permanently in a few months. I’ve never lost a complaint. Companies would rather refund your money than take a chance of alienating the credit card company who, if they received multiple complaints, may decide to no longer allow their card to be used in making purchases from that particular company.
Somebody changed the headline of my piece. The item was bought from TEAC’s online website. Their aftersales is handled by an Austrian company ATC.
This is very much TEAC’s lap of dishonour.
I had a similar issue with a NAD shop. I sent in a phonograph to get a new motor. They snap a tonearm.
I get gaslit, what finger lift? Have a picture of one?
Oh yeah we kept that, send back the player, we will epoxy it back on.
They learn that is unacceptable as it was a 1 piece tonearm when it walked in . . . I jumped through their hoops for 6 months.
They are an “authorized” dealer. So, who authorized them?
It took me a few days but I found that person at NAD.
Called, said hi.
2 weeks later the record player was mysteriously repaired and they were most sorry for the hassle.
Everyone answers to someone. Some people just need to be reminded.
The internet certainly makes things very opaque but in my case the rogue seller was indeed TEAC. In my opinion the more concerning issue is the use of Mike Ashley(Sports Direct) type business operations whereby historically, kinda significant brands are resurrected to sell supposedly quality goods. This clearly is a deliberate marketing trick and from my experience I’ll certainly give the Donnay/Slazenger type audio gear a miss in the future. For me buying a TEAC NT-505-X was a Dunlop Green Flash moment that left me floundering on the court.