Have your say & ask the experts

silverous:

After further emails chasing through the refund we finally got it through over the weekend, could've been worse.  Had confirmation from Peter Tyson that they had it in stock and how refreshing to see in their order confirmation email: "Your credit/debit card will not be charged until the day of despatch."  whereas it seems audio affair will debit your card on placing the order even if they don't have stock, not tell you they don't have stock until you chase, then take a week or so to refund.

Peter Tyson also responded promptly and courteously to emails and have good reviews elsewhere.

will177:

...However, the box the amplifier came in (the manufacturers box) had clearly been opened previously (opened along the bottom instead of the top) and then taped up and stapled up again.  So, I think they must have sent me their ex-demo unit instead of a brand new unit that I had ordered.  There was such an item for sale on their web-site...

Has anyone else received ex-demo or used items from Audio Affair when they had ordered brand new items?

Hi again,

 This is the reply Alex gave me:



"Sorry for any confusion, I checked with the warehouse manifest and it was a

brand new unit which was shipped. We only have 2 ex demo units and these

are both still physically in stock. Warehouse may sometimes open a box to

remove any Euro power cables or put UK mains cable inside (which many

manufacturers do not include). This unit is brand new though"



I do not believe that this is usual practice?  I know one other company that say the box MUST be unopened for a product to be considered BRAND NEW.  I wonder what NAD think of this?  Audio Affair is an authorized reseller of NAD products according to both NAD's and Audio Affair's websites.

Anyone else had this problem?

Thanks in advance!

Will,

Thank you for your comments. I noticed your e-mail and am happy to reply on a Sunday . You may have misunderstood our reply though. Brand new items are of course supplied in sealed boxes. The only exception to this is when a supplier opens a box in warehouse to fit UK mains plugs to items which come with encapsulated Euro mains cables, before shipping to retailers.

As the NAD C355 is supplied with a separate mains cable, the box should be sealed with all staples intact. I have checked other C355s in stock and these are all factory sealed. If your item appears to have been opened, we need to arrange for its return for inspection. Please contact customer services in the morning and we can arrange to pick up the C355 delivered for inspection and swap for another brand new C355.

Kind regards

Alex

Director

I will usually purchase items where possible at a local hi-fi store but on occasion stock is not available locally so I use the internet.

My experience with Audio Affair has been fairly mixed, I have found their telephone service particularly poor, if you can get through the answers are generally quite abrupt, the only time I have got through to someone who seemed willing to spend time discussing my enquiry the lady appeared to be from invoicing or something and her product  and stock knowledge was not the best though I will say se at least tried to be helpful.

E-Mail Enquiries are much better fast and in the most helpful I have had e-mail responded back at weekends from memory even a Sunday evening.

I have only Made 1 order which was my turntable and Phono amp, it was the Genie mark III when it was reviewed in WHF, the price was good and they so were within 30 miles from me if worst ever came to worst the delivery quick 2 days from memory order placed Wed evening arrived Friday, the only unfortunate thing was the genie was launched with the 2M red cartridge and advertised as such "whilst stocks lasted" unfortunately the stock with the cartridge must have run out around the time I placed my internet order, so I missed out on that, I have since decided I really would like the red cartridge and am going to have to buy one seperatley now so the price did not turn out so good after all. The thing that still annoys me was my initial poor telephone experience was a day earlier trying to find out if they still had stock of the TT with the 2M and to place an order.

I would probably purchase there again if I can not source locally but I would also like to talk to someone on the phone to discuss my order and their lies an issue. The prices are good as is he e-mail communication the delivery in my case was fast the product was not 100% what I had hoped for but that is a risk of internet orders and it is still a great turn table. Telephone service? Could try Harder I am afraid.

audioaffair:

Will,

...Brand new items are of course supplied in sealed boxes. The only exception to this is when a supplier opens a box in warehouse to fit UK mains plugs to items which come with encapsulated Euro mains cables, before shipping to retailers.

As the NAD C355 is supplied with a separate mains cable, the box should be sealed with all staples intact. I have checked other C355s in stock and these are all factory sealed. If your item appears to have been opened, we need to arrange for its return for inspection. Please contact customer services in the morning and we can arrange to pick up the C355 delivered for inspection and swap for another brand new C355.

Alex,

Thank you for replying on a Sunday.  As discussed, the box has definitely been opened since leaving NAD and before arriving at my delivery address.  It sounds like something must have happened at the warehouse then.

I would really appreciate it if you would send a courier with one of your brand new factory sealed boxes who can then collect the box I am returning at the same time.  The box is ready for collection at the same delivery address from now onwards.  If you could get the new unit to me by Tuesday say, that would certainly restore some faith in Audio Affair.

I'll telephone you tomorrow (Monday) morning to arrange everything with you.

Thank you for dealing with this matter swiftly.

Will

Hi

Just to say that it transpires that the NAD UK distributor, Armour UK, do actually open the NAD boxes themselves to change over the european plug with a UK plug, if they don't already have a UK plug in them.  I spoke to them in person and they told me this.  Armour are the appointed distributor for NAD by NAD so can definitely be trusted.

So, I guess I jumped to conclusions thinking Audio Affair might have opened the box, though such mistakes can happen, either unwittingly or deliberately.  I have been stung by another company once in the past in this way, so I am a bit cautious nowadays.

Anyway, personally I think NAD should provide UK plugs/leads themselves (or via another way,outside the main box) because many customers, like me, expect expensive electronic equiment to come in a SEALED box, for peace of mind.

Well, Alex has agreed to take back the box I have, and send me another boxed unit out that he will check personally, just for my peace of mind.  So, that's reassuring.  Thank you Alex.

I hope that clarifies what happened here and why boxes may have been opened since leaving NAD.

Will

I placed an order with Audio Affair a week and a bit ago for headphones.  I think if i had seen this thread first i wouldn't have bothered.  Hopefully everything will run smoothly.  Having said that the headphones are listed as being in stock and usually dispatched within 24hrs!

I have faith.

Simon

My Girlfriend and I have ordered Acoustic Energy Aelite 5.1 and Acoustic Energy Neo 5.1, there was initially security issues with paying by credit card as we live in Netherlands...but once Alex was happy that we where who we said we where ( i few items for id ) he hurried the order along and we received the shipped notice last thursday and Monday this week both set of 5.1 speakers where delivered to my door...Thanks Alex for your fast actions and delivery.

Yes Audio Affair are recommended, I have informed my friends who are looking to upgrade,  and of course i will use Audio Affair again in future.

And if anyone is thinking of getting either on of these 5.1 set...they are amazing speakers especially the Aelite 5.1, much better than the B&W's i had before.

Best regards

Carl

freddybobs:

I placed an order with Audio Affair a week and a bit ago for headphones.  I think if i had seen this thread first i wouldn't have bothered.  Hopefully everything will run smoothly.  Having said that the headphones are listed as being in stock and usually dispatched within 24hrs!

I wish I had seen this tread before ordering. I bought four pairs of headphones, all "in stock" for dispatch within "24 hours". My money was taken right away (PayPal), on the 6th September. Well after a week without delivery, I called them and I was told one set was out of stock and one set was no longer available. The remaining two arrived a few days later. I was called last week and told that the other set was no longer available and a refund would be issued. No refund appeared, so I opened a PayPal dispute and I was promised that a refund would be done immediately if I closed it, which I did. That was nearly a week ago. I've called and emailed and just get fobbed off.

Audio Affair could not supply the goods and have acknowledged this, and they are still holding my money. There is no dispute here. I paid and they could not deliver, so where is my refund? I'm disgusted and at a total loss as to what to do.
 

Thanks for your comments and apologies for any inconvenience. As discussed the pair of headphones not delivered were delayed and we offered the model up at no extra cost. You preferred a refund on this item. However, as you had opened a Paypal dispute on the entire transaction and Paypal do not allow partial refunds on a transaction in dispute, we had to wait for this to close before processing a refund on the individual item. You kindly ended the dispute yesterday and the refund for this pair has been processed.

Considering the inconvenience due to this system, please contact us in future if there is an item of interest and we can offer a good deal and verify the item is in stock prior to shipping.

Kind regards

Alex
Director

Hi Alex,
Thanks for your response.

Refunds have come through

Hi

Just to say that my replacement NAD amplifier arrived within 24 hours like the first one, so AA can obviously do fast delivery, so long as they have it in stock first.  I must say it is _very_ nice! :)

Anyway, the box was as before but inside the box the amp is pristine, untouched and brand new I would say.  I am confident that the opening of the box was done by the NAD distributor, Armour, and the box has 2 power leads in it, 1 european, 1 UK.  I know another retailer that used to open boxes themselves to test units for customers to save them taking away any faulty ones, but they no longer do this as customers want sealed boxes.  Anyway, it seems that it was the stage before the retailer that opens the NAD boxes, which is all fine as it turns out, but how would you ever really know what had happened to it if it's been opened? Not a very good seal. NAD really should find a way round this, especially as it's a normal desktop computer power lead they put in and I have loads of those anyway. They needn't have bothered! :)   Perhaps it's a UK legal obligation though?  Still, could still be resolved better.

So, the bottom line is, if you want a good deal, go to Audio Affair.  And if you want fast delivery guaranteed, make sure your item is in stock at AA first.  And if you want a sealed box, don't buy a NAD in the UK right now I guess.  But if you do buy one here, check it came via Armour distributors and you'll be safe.

Finally, regarding the telephone manner, all I would comment is that it can be a rather hurried affair on the phone,  and with such expensive well-engineered 'precious' audio equipment involved, that can be off-putting.  That coupled with me getting stung by an Amazon reseller last year selling old rope as new made me a bit paranoid this time round.  Some reassurance that the unit is DEFINITELY not one of the ex-demo units, and some upfront explanation about the box having been opened previously would have gone a long way.  If you read NADs FAQ on buying units off the internet, you'd be paranoid too.

To conclude, Audio Affair ARE an authorized reseller of NAD kit in the UK and they use Armour and so you can pretty much be guranteed you are getting genuine brand new NAD kit.

Would I use AA again?  If the deal was great, yes I think I probably would.

I'd like to throw my 2 cents in here, I rang AA last friday to enquire about a pair  Acoustic Energy NEO3 advertised at a bargain £249, cant remember the of the sales guy- very helpful,  he said they had 3 in stock and once payment was received shipping would be immediate....

So off i went and placed my order at 17:26 last friday, i got an e-mail on tuesday to  say product had been shipped....came home on wed and 2 large brown boxes greeted me....to say i was happy is a bit of an understatement

AA got a bit of a bashing here, however i am very pleased with them, as i live in Dublin trying to get some products is near impossible so getting the AE's and FREE shipping to Dublin and receiving them within 3 days.. i could'nt ask for more....

Big thanks to Audio Affair

Based on some of the replies to this post I have no doubt AudioAffair can provide good service.  However, it does appear to be hit and miss.

I placed an order for grado headphones and extension cable two weeks ago.  I sent an email to them at the start of this week to enquire about the status of my order.  I have yet to receive a reply.  I phoned them up on wednesday afternoon and was told that my order was delayed because the extension cable is out of stock (the website still says it is in stock).  I asked if the headphones could be dispatched on their own and was told that this wouldn't be a problem.  I haven't received them yet but it is still early days so I am not too bothered about that.

The point is why wasn't i informed that the item was out of stock, why no reply to me email and if the headphones were in stock when i ordered why were they not dispatched.  It seems that Audio Affair let themselves down by not communicating with the customer.

I still fully expect my order to be fulfilled but i might look elsewhere in the future.

Simon.