Devialet Chat

OP intentionally bought a damaged Phantom and now wants Devialet to give him a free brand new one. GTFO! You want to play with expensive toys, pay the money.

(11-Dec-2018, 13:55)jascer Wrote: [ -> ]I was given a White Phantom with some cosmetic dings, but it still worked perfectly.  I for one will never buy a Devialet product again, and I highly encourage all of you to consider this the next time you're considering spending thousands on one of their products.

You were given a damaged product, and you say you will never buy one again ???
Have you ever bought one new phantom or not ?

(16-Dec-2018, 20:13)jascer Wrote: [ -> ]

(15-Dec-2018, 19:46)Rodrat2 Wrote: [ -> ]If I am reading your post correctly you are not the original purchaser. I don’t think it is unreasonable for Devialet to not offer a free replacement if they are out of warranty.

You're reading it correctly - I am not the original purchaser. However, I don't expect Devialet to give me a free replacement - there's a reason they have a time limit on their warranty.

(16-Dec-2018, 00:05)mdconnelly Wrote: [ -> ]I've heard before that the Phantoms are not repairable, so a problem such as the OP has encountered can only be resolved by a replacement.   A 65% discount on something that is well out of warranty is not so unreasonable, but designing a product that cannot be repaired may be.   Does Devialet allow Phantom owners to extend their warranty before it expires?     If so, you might get them to agree to allow you to buy that extended warranty in order to get warranty support.   Hey, it's Christmas!  Maybe they'll consider it.

It's not a 65% discount! If I wanted to get my White Phantom replaced, I'd have to pay USD 1,090 (65% of the original cost - a 35% discount). 

My main concern is that these devices are not repairable. There are not any third parties that can work on them, and Devialet won't even attempt to fix a broken unit. The only option for anyone with a broken Phantom is to stump up a very large sum of money to get a new one.

Agreed, it sucks that Phantoms cannot be repaired.  But they will fully replace them at no cost IF during the warranty period.  And they do offer an extended care warranty that buys you another year.   Replacing them at 65% of new price may seem unreasonable, but that's certainly more than they are obligated to do.   And you did buy one used with some appearances of damage and outside of warranty.   

I think the lesson here is to think twice about buying a used Phantom outside of warranty - particularly if it has any appearance that it may not have been well cared for.  I think I'd only do that if it  was given away.   Oh wait...

The problem here is that they are not repairable.
Also, expensive products like this should have a much longer lifespan then the warranty provided.
Luckily here in Holland we can demand longer warranty on expensive items like tv's, washing machines etc.
Products like the Phantom are definitely in that category.
Buying extended warranty is therefore not needed.

(10-Jul-2016, 03:40)jascer Wrote: [ -> ]Just a (super late) update. Devialet support was super helpful. They had me send it back to France and then sent me a brand new one. The only downside was that I was without my Phantom for about 2 weeks. 

-Jasper

So you have gone from this reply in 2016 to your current thread because of what?

Jasper's Phantom giving up the ghost was a poisoned gift… (sorry)

More seriously, it looks like Devialet is providing a few refurbished "scratch-free" Phantoms on backmarket.com
The price that was offered for an out-of-warranty replacement remains lower, and not very far from half of the retail price if I'm correct, so pretty fair all in all.

(16-Dec-2018, 21:10)midi Wrote: [ -> ]Do you know that guarantee is a voluntary benefit of a manufacturer ?

Warranty is often not transferable to the second purchaser at many manufacturers.

I think they would decide in another way, when you would be the first purchaser.

Sure - fair point, however, this is not a matter of warranty. I openly acknowledge my device is outside of warranty, and have no expectation of receiving the benefits of one. 

(16-Dec-2018, 22:11)NickB Wrote: [ -> ]When you say you were given a white phantom do you mean it was free?

This Phantom was given to me (free of charge) as a gift from a friend. It was however not free for the person that purchased it originally. 

(17-Dec-2018, 00:11)invictus005 Wrote: [ -> ]OP intentionally bought a damaged Phantom and now wants Devialet to give him a free brand new one. GTFO! You want to play with expensive toys, pay the money.

I find this reply amusing.. I never said I bought a damaged Phantomm, nor did I ever say I want them to give me a free one. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(17-Dec-2018, 09:12)eniriop Wrote: [ -> ]

(11-Dec-2018, 13:55)jascer Wrote: [ -> ]I was given a White Phantom with some cosmetic dings, but it still worked perfectly.  I for one will never buy a Devialet product again, and I highly encourage all of you to consider this the next time you're considering spending thousands on one of their products.

You were given a damaged product, and you say you will never buy one again ???  
Have you ever bought one new phantom or not ?

I have bought a new Phantom before.. but that purchase does not relate to this conversation. Frankly, for the purpose of this discussion, the method that I used to acquire the Phantom is irrelevant - the fundamental facts are: Someone paid Devialet the best part of $2k for this speaker in 2015, the speaker is now out of warranty and not functioning, and the only option to get a working Phantom is to replace it by paying 65% of the original cost. I find this unreasonable. 

(17-Dec-2018, 14:36)NickB Wrote: [ -> ]

(10-Jul-2016, 03:40)jascer Wrote: [ -> ]Just a (super late) update. Devialet support was super helpful. They had me send it back to France and then sent me a brand new one. The only downside was that I was without my Phantom for about 2 weeks. 

-Jasper

So you have gone from this reply in 2016 to your current thread because of what?

In 2016 I owned a (separate) Phantom that was in warranty and worked. In 2018 I own a Phantom that is out of warranty and does not work, with the only way to get the issue resolved being to pay $1k+. 



There seems to be some confusion surrounding this post. This is not about me hoping to get a warranty claim even though it's expired. Nor is it about me trying to scam my way into a new Phantom for free. This is about what happens to all of us after we've spent thousands of dollars on speakers and and something happens after the warranty has inevitably expired.

If your iPhone screen breaks outside of warranty, you can get it repaired for a reasonable cost without having to get a whole new device. If your car engine breaks outside of warranty, you don't have to spend 65% of the original vehicle cost to replace it. 

Not having the ability to repair these devices is a problem - it's bad for the environment, it's bad for their resale value, and it's bad for their loyal customers.

I think it was perfectly clear and a very good post

Not sure why anyone had to get aggressive about it?

If I bought a used product with cosmetic damage in good working order for 99% of other brands I would assume it could be easily repaired by anyone (replace a driver, replace a failed circuit board, capacitor etc)

If it then started playing up and I found out the only solution was to buy a brand new one at 35% discount I would be thoroughly cheesed off 

Especially getting into the realms of thousands ££

Yes but the point is he didn't buy it, he was GIVEN a damaged one and then wanted it replaced free out of warranty.

(20-Dec-2018, 22:02)NickB Wrote: [ -> ]Yes but the point is he didn't buy it, he was GIVEN a damaged one and then wanted it replaced free out of warranty.

Did you read post #17?