Some background information:
Where is Charles's Cyber 211 from? - according to Charles, it was purchased from Opera in China by Charles' cousin (some important businessman with great relationship with Chinese government. He was treated like royalty at Opera - as per Charles) about 3-4 years ago. It was not purchased in USA. Opera even paid for shipping for Charles' cousin to send amp to USA. To date, I have never seen a sales receipt from Charles yet. I asked Opera if they recall such a sale - unfortunately they don't. There are many expats in Beijing who purchase high end audio from Opera throughout years - one important businessman with great relationship with Chinese government didn't get registered with Opera significantly.
Here are some correspondence and dealings between Charles and Grant Fidelity:
Oct 20, 2009 - Phone call from Charles - "I urgently need a pair of TJ 211 for my coming audio society meeting because my other 211's failed. Please send it by UPS 3-day arrival."
Oct 28, 2009 - email from Charles - "thank you for your prompt shipping... I want to change my Cyber 211 's cap from Auri to V-cap, need to know the direction"
Oct 30, 2009 - email from Charles - "love the 211's... I need technical advice on installation of caps for my Cyber 211" (note the sequence here - tubes were used on the amp first, then the amp was modified)
Oct 30, 2009 - Grant Fidelity provided technical support by contacting Opera Consonance.
May 18, 2010 - Note this is about 7 months after the Oct 2009 tube purchase, email from Charles: "I don't see TJ mesh plate 211 on your website, why?" (note: Charles is referring the Carbon plate TJ 211 tubes as mesh plate here). Grant Fidelity responded: shipping damage for these large tubes are too costly for us and due to high factory cost, we had to discontinue them.
May 19th, 2010: email from Charles: "Hard to believe actually... their other tubes seem to ship well. The tube has been pulled from the manfs' web site." - Grant Fidelity responded with the TJ Full Music website link - TJ Full Music 211 tube was listed there all the time.
Charles further comments "an extra charge for a one year guarantee tells me something was up. At $500 a pair this should not be." - (my comments: - Does Charles shop at Best Buy at all? Extra charge for extended warranty is abnormal??? Plus which tube vendor is providing one year warranty for free??
Charles further said "Now for me it could have been the tube that caiused the trannie meltdown."
May 26th, 2010: email from Charles: "What I need to know is how much money does Consonance want for two power trannies and two output trannies. Then I can make an economic decision. It has already cost me money to repair the power caps that blew up previously.... The tube did not short or fail. It played in the other amp for 5 minutes with zero problem. Rachel, lets keep this simple.The price will determine my final reaction. Actually I feel there should be no charge for the trannies, just shipping. However I do not want to dispute anything at this time. So if the price is fair [ OEM or less] we will have zero issues.
May 27th, 2010: Grant Fidelity provided quote for transformers to Charles.
May 29th, 2010: email from Charles - "price (for transformers) are fair and appreciated. please proceed with order" but no payment received.
May 31, 2010: email from Charles - "I didn't get the same Cyber 211 amp as what was reviewed by enjoythemusic.com in 2005 - the factory was misleading" - Grant Fidelity explained Chinese manufacturers reserve the right to make changes on certain parts based on availability etc or design change without notice. This is common on many North American or European brands too. (note: the amp was bought in China not by Charles himself. We don't know how the transaction was done and what communication was carried out about what type of parts or version was purchased. Typically Chinese manufacturers use less expensive parts for products sold in China. Plus, it appears that Charles would like to file a claim with Opera after 3-4 years of his indirect purchase with Opera - strange and too late)
June 1st - June 4th: various phone calls from Charles - "I know lots of people in the industry in North America. I can make your business fail if I want... Opera should provide the transformers free of charge.." Grant Fidelity comment - "the transaction was done in China without our involvement. We cannot make decision on behalf of Opera but will let them know your demand"
June 5th: email from Charles: "So your telling me that since I did not buy it from you but from the company you represent I must must deal directly with them. Is that not why you came into the picture? - (my comment: Grant Fidelity didn't come into the picture - it's Charles after sending emails making probably unreasonable demand but receive no answer from Opera, came to us to ask for help and we offered to help. Grant Fidelity is not liable for anything Charles have about his indirect purchase in China at least 3 years ago bypassing then USA distributor).
June 5th, 2010: Grant Fidelity - discussed with Opera on the issue and suggested Opera and Charles split the cost of the two sets of transformers (note: it's not just for one monoblock, it's for both channel. Charles' communication with Grant Fidelity has led us to believe both channel were blown and melted.
June 19th, 2010: Opera agreed to provide all transformers at 1/2 price as an one time exception to help out with the situation. It's not their warranty but they will help out due to high repair cost claimed by Charles.
July 15th, 2010: Grant Fidelity advised Charles that all replacement transformers were sent out from China by FedEx to Charles. same day email from Charles: "The only creveat may be the TJ 211. It appears the tube was the culprit. Too much voltage and a short. I had about 150 hours on the tube . I will know the outcome when the repair is complete" (my comments: it appears very convenient to start attack TJ Full Music now when Opera has bent backwards to provide the transformers for next to nothing.)
July 23rd, 2010: email from Charles: "No way I will put the TJ back until I know the condition. It worked for less than a month with low hours on it. Not happy for $425/ pair. Secondly the cause for the trannie failures. I know I purchased them a while ago when the amp was down due to a power cap explosion." (note: Grant Fidelity received email from Charles one week after his purchase confirming the tubes work great.)
July 23rd, 2010: Grant Fidelity: our tube warranty is clearly stated on the website and you didn't raise disagreement at your time of purchase. It's 30 days from the purchase, not based on reported hours from customer. Our warranty is backed by manufacturer's policy and we cannot offer longer than manufacturer's warranty. Plus the sale was 9 months ago.
July 26th, 2010: email from Charles: "Please rethink your position as a Distributor NOT retailer. You have a lot to loose or gain." (note: threat starts here....)
July 26th, 2010: Grant Fidelity replies: we are TJ Full Music tubes as resellers and we don't sign up dealers for them in North America. TJ Full Music distribute themselves worldwide. We worked free of charge to help you out with the transformers (total 59 emails back and forth), our goodwill has to stop now since you don't appreciate our efforts at all. We also cannot refund your purchase after 9 months of time (original purchase Oct 20th, 2009).
(to be continued in next post)
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