I need some advice - Damaged Heat +FX

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T03:38:14.271Z

The fact that you tried to resell it may or may not matter, but given the situation and the timeframe my approach would be contact Reverb first.

The reason for this is you could easily say you didn’t understand their policies because obviously you didn’t, and tell them about the damage and now the issue with the equipment. Especially if the seller did not disclose the damage to you.

As far as the registration, the serial number will be on the box, also on the bottom will be something similar to this. Make sure the numbers match between the box and the bottom, also the build date I mentioned is on the sticker as the numeric year so 2023 then a W for week then a number indicating week of the year it was manufactured.

image600×600 25.7 KB

I would expect the seller, rather than deal with a reverb arbitration, may offer you a partial refund. If you want to wait for elektron to potentially repair it, you can decide if that’s right for you, depending on the price you paid… However, I would expect it will take a minimum of several months to send your heat in to them and get it back, maybe more because I read that they are on minimal staff for the summer holidays and they’re pretty backlogged.

Just take it one step at a time and be prepared for what you need to do, contacting reverb is a good step, then registering it under your account on the elektron website would be the next step.

The one thing I would NOT do, if you haven’t already, is tell the original seller you tried to resell it and that it was returned to you. If you already did, then I don’t know how to approach the issue other than being straightforward. To me though, the issue is still between you and them as the original seller and the buyer, subsequent issues with the device included - the additional sale, not included. It will cloud the issue too much.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T03:46:27.827Z

Great great advice. I did not inform them of the second resale.

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T03:49:04.322Z

Alright, just don’t be a jerk with them or reverb, being angry is understandable but it won’t help you negotiate. Being in the right is your best negotiation tactic, you didn’t do anything wrong here, not really. You bought something, it was not as described. Bottom line is you are the one who get screwed. Even if you left them feedback, I’d tell reverb “I just thought that’s how it works when someone sends you something and you receive it.” Reverb is 99% on the side of the buyer because without buyers they won’t make any money off of sellers. Be prepared though because if it comes to arbitration, reverb may refund you and have you send the heat directly to them and they will deal with the seller. No guarantees about that, but I’ve seen it happen and they (reverb) even have an account where their corporate office resells gear that was damaged in shipping but is still saleable, although I’d have to look for it but I’ve seen it before with numerous items so they have policies in place to deal with this. It’s better if you had done it right away, but we’re talking less than 30 days so I think it’s still within reason to expect they’ll back you.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T03:50:34.014Z

Agreed!

djst · 2023-08-03T06:11:27.632Z

When the item arrived, was there water on the actual unit itself, or just the packaging? If just on the packaging, I wouldn’t even assume that water damage is the reason and I’d simply send this off to Elektron for warranty repair without even mentioning the water on the packaging. (Just send the device in a dry box to eliminate any risks.)

If the device itself did indeed arrive to you with visible water on it, and not just on the packaging, you really should have asked for an immediate return rather than testing it and then reselling it.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:31:57.067Z

As stated above, only the outside box had water damage, but it was pretty severe. And also as stated above, I tested it and it worked fine. The issues only became apparent after a few days-1 week. I’m not certain it was water damage that caused it, it just seems plausible.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:33:30.041Z

Update: Reverbs policy is 7 days.

Buyer denied refund but forwarded Thomann docs needed for warranty claim.

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T17:37:56.175Z

Well, anticlimactic as it may be, you’ve now got a clear plan of action and once it’s gone through repair or replace you can decide if you’ll move forward with selling it again.

Have you set up an account on the elektron website before this point?

Elektron

if you go to account and then register, you can start the process of opening a repair ticket.

You have to make sure your personal information on file is current and then register the piece of gear with the serial number so it’s on file, at which point you can open the aforementioned ticket.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:45:28.573Z

Yep… and I might just keep it this go around haha. Yeah I registered it under my Elektron account last night and opened a ticket.

Do y’all think I’d be better off going the Elektron warranty route, or go through Thomann?

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T17:46:09.508Z

What was the thomann purchase date? let’s take a look at their policy.

Also, are you a thomann EU customer or thomann US?

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:50:13.913Z

Original buyer purchased on 06Jun23.

Thomann also offers 3 year warranty: 3-Year Warranty – Thomann United States

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:51:55.431Z

The buyer was in US but paid international shipping from Thomann

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T17:52:05.176Z

check this out, I might confirm with them that they will honor a warranty to second party sale, or dig a little deeper than I did. I’m still looking at google but one of the first things I found is this

Thomann Germany refuses 2nd Hand Warranty / Guarantee - The Lounge / General Discussion - Elektronauts

someone was basically saying thomann in germany was refusing to warranty a used product to the second owner.

My feeling is that if they will honor the warranty and it’s within the first 3 months, you’ll probably get it exchanged for a new unit. If they won’t then you’ll need to go through elektron regardless, but this close to purchase and with the documents already sent to you I’d move in that direction.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T17:52:47.034Z

Good to know… according to the website all you need is the invoice number…

shigginpit · 2023-08-03T17:54:12.735Z

Well, I’ll keep looking for a minute, I can usually dig things up pretty well but some companies do it on a case by case basis so it’s all speculative at this point.

@deepseacommittee I think it might be good to call their hotline right now and find out directly from them if they’ll honor the warranty, I see that live chat is available 9:30am to 9pm and it’s currently 8PM Central European Time so even though I assume the international hotline goes by north american timezones, even if it’s by european time you should still be able to get someone now. And you have the order number. I think that’s probably the easiest way to find out directly.

I have a burning question about my order! – Thomann United States (thomannmusic.com)

this is the listed hotline number but I’ll see if there’s an 800 number or something +49-9546-9223-532

I don’t see an 800 number, you’ll probably have to call the international hotline. I think speaking to them directly is the only way to find out what their policy is on second hand sales, I would make sure they know the purchase date was in june so they know it’s a recent purchase but they probably have some sort of rules about it and I’m sure they won’t be shy to tell you one way or the other.

djst · 2023-08-03T18:24:37.128Z

I can’t imagine you’ll have any trouble fixing this under warranty regardless of path chosen. Just… maybe don’t send it in an obviously water-damaged box.

Claid · 2023-08-03T18:35:17.760Z

Mine worked perfectly for a month or more, then one day the crackling began. I think first batch AH+FX units are prone to this issue.

deepseacommittee · 2023-08-03T19:24:52.142Z

Oh interesting! Yeah then it probably wasn’t the wet packaging then. It’s wrapped in plastic inside the original packaging so it probably stayed dry

Claid · 2023-08-03T21:15:17.903Z

Yeah I would say from experience that this was not to do with the packaging, seems like a coincidence. Mine died and I’ve read a few reports of similar issues - one side crackling without a fix beyond sending for repair. I actually opted for a refund and got my AHMK2 back which I kinda regret because the +FX is so damn cool, but c’est la vie.

OldmanChompski · 2023-08-03T22:47:29.755Z

One thing too, just as a general tip for selling things online, document your serial numbers. You never know if someone is trying to screw you over by swapping out a broken device for your working one so keeping track of your serial is a good thing in general.

I doubt that’s what happened here cuz literally all of these devices are covered by a warranty right now but if a device is older than a year make sure you have those things documented.