Outlaw Problems?

[Danzilla31]

I have TWO Emotiva amps currently and I love them dearly. Right now my Oppo is doing the preamp work that the Outlaw can't manage anymore . But I'm an Emotiva fan for life based on those amps. Great stuff. Outstanding actually.

I love my Emotiva gear as well. In fact from now on at least with amps I'll only use Emotiva.

The deciding factor for me was the customer service. They were great I actually was planning on a larger purchase but they were super cool when I changed my mind

I'm interested in some of there separate stuff but I've heard it can be a little buggy at first and updates can take awhile

But I believe that's related to the issue of as one poster mentioned they are not as capable of keeping up on R&D etc etc as well as larger companies can

Regardless I hope you get this issue resolved and I'm sorry for the bad experience and please keep us posted on how this works out information like this helps all of us as we make our decisions in what we want to acquire

 

[Out-Of-Phase]

I must admit that this is the most unique looking receiver out there.

It looks like something from the 30's.

 

[Good4it]

There comes a time when it’s better to move on. Even if you’re “dead right” you’re still “dead”. ‘

Nobody wins them all and time wasted on this can NEVER be regained.

 

[ryanosaur]

There comes a time when it’s better to move on. Even if you’re “dead right” you’re still “dead”. ‘

Nobody wins them all and time wasted on this can NEVER be regained.

True that, Dawg!

 

[KEW]

Dude, that made me laugh. "product abuse?"
Is that anything like self-abuse?
Or like I stuck my wang in it without permission?

I've NEVER had that issue with my ported subs. I would never treat them in such a terrible manner

Danzilla mounting subwoofer:
"If you're down for some "one-eyed pirate action", shiver me testicles ... arrgh!"

 

[ryanosaur]

Danzilla mounting subwoofer:
"If you're down for some "one-eyed pirate action", shiver me testicles ... arrgh!"

We should have a greatest hits thread of jokes about Danzilla and his ports.

 

[snakeeyes]

We should have a greatest hits thread of jokes about Danzilla and his ports.

I can’t wait to hear what @Danzilla31 replies with. LOL

 

[JackHart2019]

There comes a time when it’s better to move on. Even if you’re “dead right” you’re still “dead”. ‘

Nobody wins them all and time wasted on this can NEVER be regained.

Couldn't agree more.

As I stated way back when I posted this thread, I was mostly curious to see if Outlaw had a reputation for this kind of thing or not. Thus far it mostly seems "not."

That said, I'm done doing business with them and I would still recommend that anyone considering doing business with them take a long hard look at their competitors. Emotiva especially make great amps and their pricing is in line with much of what Outlaw sells.

Be kind to one another.
If the situation changes I will update accordingly.

 

[Danzilla31]

I can’t wait to hear what @Danzilla31 replies with. LOL

 

[Danzilla31]

Danzilla mounting subwoofer:
"If you're down for some "one-eyed pirate action", shiver me testicles ... arrgh!"

The trick is to climb on while they're playing something! Oh the vibrations!!!! Oh yeah!!!!!

 

[TLS Guy]

Another purveyor of Far Eastern junk needs crossing off the list.

 

[KEW]

No offense to Jack, as I applaud him for bringing this to our attention and I don't believe he made this up, but at the same time, I would want to see one or two more reports of customers being done dirty before writing off Outlaw as a company not to be dealt with. A sample of one is not very compelling.
I will disagree that Emotiva offers equivalent pricing - if you look at the inside of the amplifiers, you can tell the Outlaw is better made for the cost. The Emotiva units are not bad designs, but for the money, Outlaw is a better deal. Emotiva does offer more amp configurations, so often Outlaw may not be a serious option.
As for customer service, years ago (and Emotiva has changed owners since then),a well established member of Audioholics, Adam, had trouble with his Emotiva pre-pro, and was very frustrated with Emotiva's poor service. I don't remember the specifics, but those of us who have been here for a while know Adam as one of the nicest and most thoughtful guys around!
Like I said, that was years ago and different ownership, I am not trying to convince anyone that Emotiva has poor CS and should not be dealt with. Rather I am pointing out that somehow, this one incidence of poor CS existed without ever becoming a general trend. At this point, I'm "on alert" for any feedback on Outlaw to see if they are starting a downward spiral!
That said, it does sound like Outlaw set up a service procedure designed to frustrate the customer making a claim, and that is disappointing. We have generally been pretty spoiled by ID companies and expect much better than that!

 

[TLS Guy]

No offense to Jack, as I applaud him for bringing this to our attention and I don't believe he made this up, but at the same time, I would want to see one or two more reports of customers being done dirty before writing off Outlaw as a company not to be dealt with. A sample of one is not very compelling.
I will disagree that Emotiva offers equivalent pricing - if you look at the inside of the amplifiers, you can tell the Outlaw is better made for the cost. The Emotiva units are not bad designs, but for the money, Outlaw is a better deal. Emotiva does offer more amp configurations, so often Outlaw may not be a serious option.
As for customer service, years ago (and Emotiva has changed owners since then),a well established member of Audioholics, Adam, had trouble with his Emotiva pre-pro, and was very frustrated with Emotiva's poor service. I don't remember the specifics, but those of us who have been here for a while know Adam as one of the nicest and most thoughtful guys around!
Like I said, that was years ago and different ownership, I am not trying to convince anyone that Emotiva has poor CS and should not be dealt with. Rather I am pointing out that somehow, this one incidence of poor CS existed without ever becoming a general trend. At this point, I'm "on alert" for any feedback on Outlaw to see if they are starting a downward spiral!
That said, it does sound like Outlaw set up a service procedure designed to frustrate the customer making a claim, and that is disappointing. We have generally been pretty spoiled by ID companies and expect much better than that!

That style of customer service for problems needing repair for correction, should not even be legal, let alone ethical. I don't care what their failure rate is. Treating one customer with a policy like this is enough to put them on the not recommended list. I will form now on dissuade any customer contemplating an Outlaw purchase. The sooner they are on the ash bin of history the better. They need making an example of and be used as a warning to others.

This behavior is nothing like how my mentors behaved. Just what are we descending into? Disgraceful!

 

[davidscott]

View attachment 28861

I must admit that is the most unique looking receiver out there.

Circa 1933

Almost pulled the plug on one of these a while back but since my HK 3490 is still working fine I chose not to. Still that is one hell of a 2 channel receiver with almost everything you might want or need. Ex NAD designers involved with this brand. Sorry to hear about the CS issues.

 

[KEW]

That style of customer service for problems needing repair for correction, should not even be legal, let alone ethical. I don't care what their failure rate is. Treating one customer with a policy like this is enough to put them on the not recommended list. I will form now on dissuade any customer contemplating an Outlaw purchase. The sooner they are on the ash bin of history the better. They need making an example of and be used as a warning to others.

This behavior is nothing like how my mentors behaved. Just what are we descending into? Disgraceful!

Timing...
My post was not in response to yours.
I agree with everything you said, and it should not happen even once.
Nonetheless, I suspect you would be hard pressed to find a company who did not have a couple of legitimately disgruntled customers.

 

[Hartley]

So many people in this thread have already written the company off, due to this one person's complaint. Has anyone alerted Outlaw to the existence of this discussion so they can offer their perspective? I may try, but will I get shunted off to an online service ticket? I don't even own one of their products...

ETA: Yep, I'd have to register and create an account, etc etc. I doubt I could do that w/o a s/n and I don't want to bother anyway. Oh well.

 

[JackHart2019]

So many people in this thread have already written the company off, due to this one person's complaint. Has anyone alerted Outlaw to the existence of this discussion so they can offer their perspective? I may try, but will I get shunted off to an online service ticket? I don't even own one of their products...

ETA: Yep, I'd have to register and create an account, etc etc. I doubt I could do that w/o a s/n and I don't want to bother anyway. Oh well.

Hey Hartley, I'd get in touch with Outlaw for you, but they evidently don't wanna talk to me...

 

[Phase 2]

I'm sure some of the old timers remember Onkyos dreaded HDMI failure back around 2012 that infected just about the whole line of AVR'S it was massive! I had two of their units both crashed on me. Onkyo took a huge hit, but they step up and offered repairs, even extended warranty up to 2018! They sent me two box's with all the packing materials place the shipping label in the box for return. It took a total of two weeks for both units to get back to me and both unit NR818 and NR707 worked like new again. Guess what I'm saying here is they Onkyo acknowledge they had major issues with their units. That's how CS should be handled.

 

[Outlaw_Audio]

Has anyone else had any problems with Outlaw Audio products or service recently? I have a 975 that is still under warranty and Outlaw is refusing to even respond to me about it. I've never seen this kind of behavior out of an electronics company. Are they going out of business?

We at Outlaw Audio just became aware of this post on Monday morning (April 1, 2019) and will be posting a reply shortly so that visitors to Audioholics will be able to understand the circumstances of this situation. Since Outlaw Audio's founding 20 years ago, we have prided ourselves in our outstanding customer service which we maintain to this day. When we provide additional details regarding these circumstances, you will be able to make up your own mind as to the credibility of this complaint. As always we protect the privacy of all of our customers, but it is relevant to note that "Jack Hart" has created a multitude of fictitious aliases (including the one that he is using in this thread on Audioholics) that he is using on social media. Outlaw Audio has always maintained its core mission of customer satisfaction by doing the right thing by our customers. And this case is no different. Please keep an eye on this thread for our follow up. We are certainly not going out of business!

 

[JackHart2019]

Oh boy, this should be fun.

Where to start, where to start?

Let's take this "fictitious aliases" BS head on to start with. I purchased the Outlaw under my legal name. For years prior to that purchase I have maintained gmail accounts and a Facebook account under various noms de guerre. A practice by the way which has everything to do with a crazy ex-wife and absolutely nothing to do with Outlaw's continuing breech of their warranty contract.

Anyone here want's to know my real name, just ask.

That said, various business related websites identify Outlaw's Jonathan Lederman as Outlaw's Managing Partner and a Jim Michelson as their Technical Support Manager. The curious thing about this particular point, is that the guy I spoke to in tech support at Outlaw (after he took over for the first guy named Ben), was a guy who identified himself as Jim Gordon (like the cop in Batman), on all of the official messages he sent me during my hellish dealings with the guy over the course of several days. Now, I'm not saying there is no "Jim Gordon" at Outlaw, but I've found not a single scrap of evidence anywhere on the internet to suggest that there is. Further, this guy, let's just call him "Jim" is the same guy who refused me service at Outlaw, banned me from communicating with them, and screamed, swore, and hung up on me the one time I managed to get him on the phone. He also sent me a slew of insulting and hostile messages from Outlaw's ticketing system and or to my gmail account after this initial breech. He and a guy who identified himself as the managing partner, opted to tag team me via no-reply email to threaten my partner and I with lawsuits if she didn't remove the negative review she had posted on Google. I've described all of this is some detail in this thread and elsewhere online in reviews I've posted.

What I saw no reason, until now, to mention was the fact that this "Jim" guy identified himself as Outlaw's "technical support manager." Now, obviously I have no way of knowing for certain. Maybe Outlaw's staff does include TWO tech support managers both named Jim, but honestly, I suspect they don't. The only reason any of this BS is relevant is because this "Jim" guy keeps aggressively coming at me because my gmail acct and my facebook acct were never set up in my legal name to begin with. Clearly this is a sticking point for "Jim." & frankly I suspect that Outlaw is making hay about me doing something that is in no way a violation of any laws I am aware of. (Rules maybe, but not laws, and besides, none of these cites are my JOB sites.)

I have copies of every conversation I've had with Outlaw on this subject except for the single phone call where this "Jim" guy got abusive within seconds of the start of our conversation. I have copies of everything I've sent them or posted to various sites. Including the original review my partner posted on Google, so obviously, she was aware of this situation real time as it deteriorated.

Finally, I would also like to point out that after I told Outlaw that I would not ask my partner to remove her posted review (on 3/22/19 at 2:31pm. Both date and time are on my copies of the receipt.) Outlaw has still NOT returned any of my calls, responded to any of my Tweets or Facebook messages. & their one response to my reply to them on the 22nd is so sad and embarrassing (for them) that if they continue to hassle me about this, I will no doubt end up posting it here as well.

What kind of company spends weeks casting accusations and insults at a customer who has a product that is still under warranty, rather than simply dealing with the issue? What is their rational for refusing to honor the terms of this warranty?

In my opinion the kind of company that engages in this type of behavior is the worst kind of company, and the extent to which their claims of previously having provided "outstanding customer service" in no way absolves them of their wretched behavior in this particular case.

Outlaw knows full well the various means by which they could contact me at any time of the day or night. They chose not to do so, in my opinion, because they are refusing to honor their warranty. But I will be curious to hear what kind of lame BS excuses they might get around to posting to this forum.

I have zero stake, or reason, for covering my own butt in this situation. Clearly, Outlaw feels that they need to cover their own. Maybe they should try FIXING things with me?