Paradigm Praise!!! (was Paradigm poor customer service)

[krisg]

I have changed the 'Paradigm Poor Customer Service' thread to this one. I wanted the other thread to stop and have it directed here.

So on with the story.

Today was an interesting day. More details have come to light regarding my situation with Paradigm. Frustrated that I had heard nothing from Paradigm, I was still waiting for a return phone call from Les Steven. I proceeded to call another Paradigm dealer to get a different viewpoint. I called and talked to Mario the owner of Audio Workshop in Bradenton, Florida. When explaining my situation to him he stopped me in mid sentence and told me that this makes no sense. He stated that Paradigm is an excellent company and you couldn't meet a nicer group of people. He said if I were to get the sub from Sensuous Sound he would make sure it got repaired under warranty. He was singing the same song as I. Agreeing with me that it would take quite an extreme deal of abuse to hurt this sub. He said that he felt as others mentioned on this thread that there must have been a problem with it before I became the owner.

I proceeded to call Les again at Paradigm. I was on hold for few minutes and was greeted with a hello from Les. I mentioned that I had a warranty issue with a PS-1200. He said, you must be the sub from Florida. I chuckled and said so you've heard of my situation. He said yes and that the call he was on when I called (the one I was on hold for) was regarding my situation. He took my phone number. Stating that he didn't want me to feel he was putting me off. He told me that he needed to contact another individual and that they would get back to me with a call this afternoon. He sounded sincere, I told him thanks I'll be waiting.

A few hours later I received a call from Jack the regional rep. He filled in some details. Yes, Paradigm originally stated they would not repair my sub. As Paradigm looked further into the situation. I believe the follow-up emails and phone calls helped. I was informed that my subwoofer was a ten year old unit. I almost wrecked my truck. This why the original repair was refused. They questioned how Sensuous Sound could sell me a subwoofer two years ago that was this old. Apparently this is a breach of their contract as a Paradigm dealer. Jack spoke to the owner (he is a new owner) and determined that salesman that sold this unit to me was fired for other incidents similar to this. Jack felt that Sensuous Sound dealt with the situation will be allowed to continue as a dealer.

The resolution... Are you sitting down? Paradigm had Sensuous Sound pull a brand new boxed PS-1200 from stock, They placed my name on it and all I have to do is pick it up. It will have a full five year warranty from todays date. Jack agreed that I should never have seen a failure from a Paradigm sub like this. He said it would have to be cranking to full power at a block party to hurt it like this. He apologized for taking so long to resolve this and said to give him a call if there are any problems with the arrangement. I thanked him and told him I apologized for starting a negative thread about Paradigm. They didn't deserve it. I told him to visit AudioHolics and check out the thread that I will amend.

I need to retract any assumptions made regarding Paradigm. They have proven to be an upstanding and honorable company. They were very thoughtful and I can't thank them enough.

I also need to apologize to anyone reading my thread that I may have offended or sent negative reports of Paradigm to.

Feel free to comment and ask any questions regarding this situation. I will do my best to clear up any questions or right any wrongs regarding my posts of Paradigm.

If you are reading this Les or Jack... Thanks again. It's been a pleasure to do business with you.

[Sheep]

Excellent!

I knew they would come through. 10 years old!!! Thats insane! I hope they broke that guys legs too.


I'm glad to hear that your situation was resolved. Now about all those mean things others said about paradigm.....excuse me, need to break some legs :D

SheepStar

[HookedOnSound]

I was reading your previous thread (poor paradigm customer service) and thought the same as others about advising to contact the manufacturer...Glad to hear things will end on a positive note.

Persistence pays off...sometimes. :)

[krisg]

Excellent!

I knew they would come through. 10 years old!!! Thats insane! I hope they broke that guys legs too.


I'm glad to hear that your situation was resolved. Now about all those mean things others said about paradigm.....excuse me, need to break some legs :D

SheepStar


Maybe a bruised shin. I tried to temper my responses with the idea that Paradigm could change my perception and they did. Also, some on the thread accused me of abusing the unit which Paradigm themselves said as of today was not the case.

10 years old!!! Thats insane!
Ya, I was driving when the guy form Paradigm (Jack) told me that. I about crashed my truck.

Thanks for the input.

[anamorphic96]

Nice Job !!! Going to the source and persisting never hurts. I had a feeling they would come through on this one.

Enjoy the new sub. I have heard there have been substantial improvements to this sub over the years. Let us know how it sounds.

Cheers!!!

[Sheep]

Nice Job !!! Going to the source and persisting never hurts. I had a feeling they would come through on this one.

Enjoy the new sub. I have heard there have been substantial improvements to this sub over the years. Let us know how it sounds.

Cheers!!!

Heres some Measurements of the PS-1000 for you guys to chew on.

http://www.avtalk.co.uk/forum/index.php?t=msg&th=13931&start=0&rid=0&SQ=0

SheepStar

[gene]

Nice Job !!! Going to the source and persisting never hurts. I had a feeling they would come through on this one.

Yea and posting this on one of the industries most visible home theater forums doesn't hurt either :eek:

[wilmeland]

Last night I perused what appeared to be a 9 page rant against Paradigm, fueled mostly by negative vulture types eager to sling mud at a brand. There were some positive suggestions to ask for an answer directly from the manufacturer & fortunately this guy persisted with his efforts to get through to the manufacturer (I personally felt that no response to an email within a couple of working days was a little early to be freaking out).

Anyway, glad it worked out. Too bad more folks hadn't offered productive suggestions, rather than fueling the fire with disparaging Paradigm comments. I don't own Paradigm, but have auditioned them a couple of times and do like their sound.

Glad you posted though since I've been a customer of Sensuous Sounds in the past and would approach any future dealings with them very cautiously. I mean anyone can make an honest mistake, but the tech at sensuous sound had to know that this was a 10 year old product. Further the owner or manager or sales staff at the store should have seen a receipt from 2 years ago & some communication should have occurred between sales and tech & the realization that "hey, this was another of Dishonest Joe's sales & we had better cover this to maintain some credibility - Damn glad we fired him".

Oh well mistakes happen. What was the name of the other Paradigm dealer in the Tampa Bay area?

[ht_addict]

Krisg, glad to see things worked out in the end, though personally I think the dealer should have up the offer to a PW-2100 or 2200 for all your troubles.:D

[JES14]

Glad to hear things worked out well. I like the Paradigm sound but would have definatly shyed away had they not backed their product.
That being said, These clowns sold you a 10 year old unit, Then knowing this, they try to blame the problem with the unit on you???????? All Paradigm obviously knew was the unit was 10 years old, fair enough no warranty left. Senous Sound OBVIOUSLY knew when you brought the unit in what happened, they knew and they let their supplier, Paradigm, get a black eye to hide their under handed dealings! I knew I smelled something rotten and it surely is Senous Sound, not just 1 bad salesguy. Where did this 8 year old unit(when you purchased it) come from?? Obviously the tech who gave you a hard time knew how old the unit was and when you purchased it, yet he kept the lie going!
Not only should the word be spread about these bandits at Senous Sound, but I seriously question why Paradigm would keep their agreement with these crooks. DOes Paradigm allow this BS to happen and only go into damage control IF they get caught? Hope not, I would not expect the rep. to tell you they are pulling the plug on SS, but I would exepect to not see Paradigm in that store in the near future.
It would be interesting to see, but a little far for me to follow up.
Anyhow enough ranting for me, I'm going to EHR and audition some Studio 20's...:)

[MacManNM]

Great for you. Now that all the facts come out, we can see the truth. Glad that jacka** got fired. Too bad they didn't mention the age of the sub to you earlier, might have saved some heartburn.

[Takeereasy]

I'm also glad things worked out for you. That really was a shady dealing, and not to go over the top with Paradigm praise, but they took care of the situation in a great way. And I'm sure Gene's right, they'll make their money back in droves from the positive press on this site due to this thread. Now maybe they'll send some review samples too, that would be nice.

[j_garcia]

Congrats man. I'm glad it worked out. I've long been a fan, though I don't own any of their speakers any longer.

Can I just say, don't go listen to the Signature line unless you have the money :D Damn fine speakers.

[Buckeyefan 1]

Great for you. Now that all the facts come out, we can see the truth. Glad that jacka** got fired. Too bad they didn't mention the age of the sub to you earlier, might have saved some heartburn.

My bet is that salesman was a scapegoat for the store. If I were Paradigm, I'd pull all product from the shelves. It's quite obvious it was this site that got the "you must be the sub from Florida" comment, along with the competition from Audio Workshop - you need to thank him, too. I'm sure he's moved his store up a few notches after revealing this to Paradigm.

[krisg]

I personally felt that no response to an email within a couple of working days was a little early to be freaking out

Oh well mistakes happen. What was the name of the other Paradigm dealer in the Tampa Bay area?


Well this all started originally around December 17th. This was just reaching a culmination point. Almost a months waith three or four phone calls to Sensuous Sound, two emails to Praradigm, one phone call to Audio Workshop and finally two phone calls to Paradigm. I wasn't really freaking out. Just getting tired of the situation. I was ready to move on. Fortunately, Paradigm prevailed and it all worked out.

Audio Workshop
3616 Manatee Ave. West
Bradenton, FL 34205
941-747-7977

I talked to Mario the owner. Nice guy.

[j_garcia]

A good, trusworthy dealer is a great thing. That's probably why I don't worry too much when I have an issue with any of my gear :) If a shop doesn't strike me as taking care of me, I won't go back to them vs one that does make me feel like they want my business. I've never had to deal direclty with any of the manufacturers because my dealer always handles everything and I just get my stuff back working, a replacement or some kind of help.

A little story about one of my dealers. I bought a Marantz PM7000 integrated amp. Just under 3yrs into the warranty (3yrs is stanard for Marantz), one channel died. I took it in and they said service would be about 2-3 months! I'm not crazy about that idea. So the guy says "You give me a lot of business, I'll work with you." What he ended up doing is giving me 100% credit for the old unit towards the brand new PM7200 I now have. That's service in my book.

[ht_addict]

Glad to hear things worked out well. I like the Paradigm sound but would have definatly shyed away had they not backed their product.
That being said, These clowns sold you a 10 year old unit, Then knowing this, they try to blame the problem with the unit on you???????? All Paradigm obviously knew was the unit was 10 years old, fair enough no warranty left. Senous Sound OBVIOUSLY knew when you brought the unit in what happened, they knew and they let their supplier, Paradigm, get a black eye to hide their under handed dealings! I knew I smelled something rotten and it surely is Senous Sound, not just 1 bad salesguy. Where did this 8 year old unit(when you purchased it) come from?? Obviously the tech who gave you a hard time knew how old the unit was and when you purchased it, yet he kept the lie going!
Not only should the word be spread about these bandits at Senous Sound, but I seriously question why Paradigm would keep their agreement with these crooks. DOes Paradigm allow this BS to happen and only go into damage control IF they get caught? Hope not, I would not expect the rep. to tell you they are pulling the plug on SS, but I would exepect to not see Paradigm in that store in the near future.
It would be interesting to see, but a little far for me to follow up.
Anyhow enough ranting for me, I'm going to EHR and audition some Studio 20's...:)

JES14, have to agree with you 100%. Hopefully it was only this one salesman who was dishonest. Still think the store should upgrade the PS to the PW model to make up for all the headaches.

Enjoy your demoing of the 20's. They are excellent speakers at a reasonable price. If you haven't gone yet, when you do ask for Jason and tell him Kevin sent you. I do all my shopping at EHR.

[cam]

I for one am very happy to hear Paradigm has stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun.

Hey Krisg, that ps-1200 being 10 years old would have been a version 1 or v2. Very mediocre driver with a 130 watt rms amp. I had a v3 which was a 175 watt rms amp but similar sound characteristics. You my friend are getting a brand new v4 with a 200 watt rms amp and from some reviews that I have read, will be fairly happy with this unit.

I have debated with some people that the ps series is a big compromise in sound quality, while being big with its output. And have been told that the new v4 along with its more power does have an upgraded driver over its predecesors. Some people have even come to say that the new ps v4's are now for the first time a musical sub. I personally gave up on my v3 to get the pw-2200 v2 so I have never heard the ps-1200 v4. Looking forward to a review.

P.S. I noticed a sustantial change to my old ps-1000 for the first 20 or so hours of use. Just wanted to know, that while you are using your new sub if you feel that subwoofer break-in is fact or fiction.

[JES14]

Thanks ht_addict, I did'nt make it to EHR today as work came calling, but I will tomorrow or Friday and will definatly ask for Jason.
Your system looks great, how are you likeing the Denon/Paradigm combo? I'm also looking at a centre channel, is the CC570 worth the extra $ over the 470? It sounds mighty impressive in store.

[Nick250]

Thanks ht_addict, I did'nt make it to EHR today as work came calling, but I will tomorrow or Friday and will definatly ask for Jason.
Your system looks great, how are you likeing the Denon/Paradigm combo? I'm also looking at a centre channel, is the CC570 worth the extra $ over the 470? It sounds mighty impressive in store.

I have Studio 20s and I found using a third Studio 20 as my center sounded much better to me than that HUGH CC center.

[JES14]

Interesting idea Nick, those centre's, especially the 570, are massive. Do you stand the 20 up or lay it on it's side like a centre? What do you do with the 4th 20? Rear centre?

[ht_addict]

Thanks ht_addict, I did'nt make it to EHR today as work came calling, but I will tomorrow or Friday and will definatly ask for Jason.
Your system looks great, how are you likeing the Denon/Paradigm combo? I'm also looking at a centre channel, is the CC570 worth the extra $ over the 470? It sounds mighty impressive in store.

Hey JES14, my combo sounds sweet. I've also powered the setup with a Rotel RMB-1095, NAD S250 using a Yamaha RX-V1400, Pioneer 56TXi, and NAD T773 as a pre/pro. Also sounded excellent. As far as the CC570 goes its definitely worth the extra $$ over the CC470. It gives off a larger more detailed soundstage in my opinion. I actually had the CC470 when I first got my new studio's. Upgraded the 570, 6mths later.:D One last thing, shoot for at least 15% off if you purchase. When I bought my 40/20/CC470 setup I got 15% off + $240 worth ff speaker stands free.:cool:

[Nick250]

Interesting idea Nick, those centre's, especially the 570, are massive. Do you stand the 20 up or lay it on it's side like a centre? What do you do with the 4th 20? Rear centre?

I have it on it's side on a shelf under the plasma. At the time (about 4 years ago) you could order a single 20 which is what I did. My dealer had never ordered a single one before but he called Paradigm about it and they said sure we'll sell you a single one. I had the 570 (or whatever the model was called in 2001) and found it one, hard to place because of it's size and two, to me it did not sound like it was timbered match, even though it supposedly was. It sounded muddy to me. So I took a chance and ordered the single 20 and it sounds just great. Especially with DVD concerts that I watch alot. You can not get anymore timber matched than the exact same speaker as the two other mains. I could not be more pleased. Hope this helps.

Nick

[krisg]

I for one am very happy to hear Paradigm has stepped up to the plate and hit a homerun.

Hey Krisg, that ps-1200 being 10 years old would have been a version 1 or v2. Very mediocre driver with a 130 watt rms amp. I had a v3 which was a 175 watt rms amp but similar sound characteristics. You my friend are getting a brand new v4 with a 200 watt rms amp and from some reviews that I have read, will be fairly happy with this unit.

I have debated with some people that the ps series is a big compromise in sound quality, while being big with its output. And have been told that the new v4 along with its more power does have an upgraded driver over its predecesors. Some people have even come to say that the new ps v4's are now for the first time a musical sub. I personally gave up on my v3 to get the pw-2200 v2 so I have never heard the ps-1200 v4. Looking forward to a review.

P.S. I noticed a sustantial change to my old ps-1000 for the first 20 or so hours of use. Just wanted to know, that while you are using your new sub if you feel that subwoofer break-in is fact or fiction.


Cam,

looks like we are finally on the same page. Feels good. I'll post updates as I put it through it's paces.

Thanks

[JES14]

Sounds like you got a great deal ht_addict. I did'nt get to speak with Jason as he was busy. I dealt with Neil, but left empty handed. I really wanted to hear the 20's driven by a 38 series Denon to get an idea of what they would sound like at home. I was told "we don't do that"?? So I heard them bi-amped from 2 Anthem amps, Anthem pre and a Nad CD player. Impressive, but I have heard them in a similair setup at Natural Sound before. I went to EHR to hear the Denon/Paradigm combo so I came away dissapointed.
That does help Nick, thanks. I'm not sure you can still order a single but it's worth a look.

[ht_addict]

Sounds like you got a great deal ht_addict. I did'nt get to speak with Jason as he was busy. I dealt with Neil, but left empty handed. I really wanted to hear the 20's driven by a 38 series Denon to get an idea of what they would sound like at home. I was told "we don't do that"?? So I heard them bi-amped from 2 Anthem amps, Anthem pre and a Nad CD player. Impressive, but I have heard them in a similair setup at Natural Sound before. I went to EHR to hear the Denon/Paradigm combo so I came away dissapointed.
That does help Nick, thanks. I'm not sure you can still order a single but it's worth a look.

Sorry you came away empty handed. I know they have a room that has a Denon 4806 that powers several different speaker setups. See if you could get them to move the 20's into the room and give them a listen. Maybe make a call and setup a time.

[JES14]

Calling ahead is a good idea, when I go back I will set up an appointment with Jason first and tell him what I want to hear.
I'm going to hold off on the speakers for a little while now, I picked up a NAD C272 amp on a great deal from Natural Sound. Very nice upgrade! Not only are the mains, NAD powered, deeper and more detailed but my centre channel now has really opened up as well. Some of the harshness on the highs are gone as well.Taking the load off the Denon from running the mains has improved the overall sound, not night/day but signifigant enough for the $.
BTW, heard the siesmec 15(sp?) Paradigm sub at EHR on that Anthem system and what a sweet sounding little sub? Tight, fast and still goes supper low, great sounding combo with the Studio 20's.

[wuttuptae]

Glad to hear everything was resolved in a top-notch way that I'd expect from Paradigm. It does sound like Sensuous Sound is sketchy at best.. I hope to never run into a shop like that. I can rest easy with my recent Paradigm purchase.

[fox]

I recently purchased a pair of Paradigm Studio 100's. It's good to know that Paradigm is a company that will be there for the customer when needed.

[blues651]

Happy to see it work out Kris, i had a similar with my EX paradigm dealer, in the end paradigm took care of the problems and I have since moved up the paradigm food chain (studio 100's , 570cc) through a new dealer of course, and as far as the 570 goes it is an excellent cener you won't be disappointed!

[blues651]

Happy to see it work out Kris, i had a similar with my EX paradigm dealer, in the end paradigm took care of the problems and I have since moved up the paradigm food chain (studio 100's , 570cc) through a new dealer of course, and as far as the 570 goes it is an excellent cener you won't be disappointed!
:) similar problem

[BassHead]

Paradigm is a excellent company and they did every thing for you i see,They will help out till the customers happy.I have two paradigm pw 2100 v2 and never have any problems,To be honest there are not many subs on the market that can actly take a beating then the pw2100 subs,when i say this dont get upset other owners but no matter what you give these subs for volume or bass abuse they just dont give up,The 10" driver and the amp are amazing and the little 10" sound better than 12" drivers in many subs,When i first read the specs on paradigm they said 23hz for this sub,After i demo the sub i could hear that this sub will go far below what they stated so i did a test for my self and found this sub will go down deep to 20hz,crank her up loud as you want and you will never find the driver wanting to bottom/pop and no sign of distortion and the member HT addict that wrote in will tell you this because he owns one,I tested the pw2200v2 and this sub popped the 12" driver many times on several movies,I have tried just about every movie with super low end like mr incrediable when the bomb falls with the pw2100,The driver took it as if it needed more of a bang.I have tried many subs and brands and they all seem to pop or bottom but there are also several that take it like the paradigm pw2100.

[Johnd]

Kudos to Paradigm! I have the 100's, 570 & servo 15 and could'nt be happier. Glad to hear they stood up to the plate.

[JES14]

Kicka@@ speaker setup there johnd, what are you driving those with?

[Johnd]

Kicka@@ speaker setup there johnd, what are you driving those with?JES14:Denon 5803...although Paradigm's aren't the most efficient, I find -15db to be about as loud as I need to go under most circumstances.