When to push...? Update: hostage amp returned after 3 months!

[Chris_D]

So I sent my water-damaged Carver amp over to Chris at Sound&Vision at the end of June after he advised by email that he should be able to do something with it with a 3 week turnaround time.

Emailed him towards end of July and he advised it would be looked at in the next couple of days.
Haven't heard a sausage from him since. So coming up to 1.5 months since sending it to him.

Anyone else had dealings with him? I read a few posts on here extolling his services in repairing dead carver amps and decided to see if he could recover mine. He indicated GBP120 for the fix which is highly preferable to shelling out up to Eur800 for a 'new' 2nd hand unit.

Don't want to push him too hard in the event he just chucks it back at me claiming its' unrecoverable.
I'm used to pushing clients to pay up for work (especially bleeding Shell who take an age!) and know where the tipping point comes before having to get narky, but I'd rather have him fix it than return it.
What would you do?


!UPDATE @ 28th Spetember 2018....4 months later

So still no response from Chris at Boserepairexperts after repeated attempts to contact him.

Rather unfortunate as this started out as a promising solution to my Carver amp woes.
He's not responding to polite email requests for status updates on my amp and he doesn't answer his business phone lines.

I saw on Google that only a week ago from this post he's receiving promising and positive reviews from others who have retained his services to repair their car amps, so ultimately I'm left wondering why I seem to be a special case.

I actually rang the Casa Amiga bar on the opposite side of the street to him to find out from them if he's actually still trading and hasn't gone bust! They chuckled at the request and confirmed he was still trading, almost as though they had been asked before! :lol:

So I can't recommend this cowboy outfit if your Carver amp has succumbed to water damage as it will be an absolute lottery if you get any response or recourse from him. I'm rather regretful that I took advice from this forum which formulated my decision to send my amp to him in the first place.

I have subsequently left him a negative review on Google as I feel this is entirely justified under the circumstances.

 

[LittleZ4]

Personally I might not "push" at the moment but just ask for an update. If it hasn't been touched since sending it then id be inclined to start the pushing process. I assume he's one of the best for the job then??

 

[firebobby]

I don't know if these do the sort of repair that your after Chris, but they did a great job on the electronics on my steering motor
http://www.ecutesting.com/about_us.html

 

[Silverzedtom]

I’d just ask if there’s any news, maybe he went away on holiday or something. If you ask for an update and he doesn’t keep to his word then I’d start asking questions.

 

[Chris_D]

Personally I might not "push" at the moment but just ask for an update. If it hasn't been touched since sending it then id be inclined to start the pushing process. I assume he's one of the best for the job then??

Ispired enough by what was writen in that post to send him mine. He sounded pretty confident he could fix it when I initiallyemailed him too....

 

[Chris_D]

I don't know if these do the sort of repair that your after Chris, but they did a great job on the electronics on my steering motor
http://www.ecutesting.com/about_us.html

Thx Frederico, they were mentioned in the same thread.

 

[Chris_D]

I’d just ask if there’s any news, maybe he went away on holiday or something. If you ask for an update and he doesn’t keep to his word then I’d start asking questions.

To be fair he said they were busy but suggested 3 weeks. It's been twice that now.
Emailed him after I posted here. No response as yet.
He's prob face down on the beach in Magaluf....
:lol:

 

[Chris_D]

... No big hardship in waiting tho tbh as I'm using these at the mo. Sound way better than the dsp system 8)

 

[2dogs]

Had my Lexus amp repaired by them said it would take 3 weeks took 7 weeks
Very poor communication but a top job in the end
And no up front cost unlike Cartronics London £80 just to look and then they tell you it can’t
Be repaired and a new board will be £1000 so £80 in the bank thankyou very much.
So avoid! :thumbsdown:

 

[Chris_D]

So, 3 months later and a few emails from me asking for an update and nothing. Not a sausage.

I might try ringing but from a lack of response to my emails I'm not optimistic on a positive outcome.

So, what are the options on replacing the carver amp? Forget sourcing another carver, theyre ridiculously expensive 2nd hand.
I saw someone on here not long ago extolling the virtues of replacing with an aftermarket amp with some slight tweaking of the terminations but can't find it back.
Any ideas?

 

[srhutch]

Here you go

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67364&hilit=Dsp+amp+Sk93

 

[Chris_D]

Here you go

https://z4-forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=67364&hilit=Dsp+amp+Sk93

Cheers lar

 

[Chris_D]

Update. as per original post.

Cannot recommend Boserepairexperts due to lack of communication and theft of my amp.

 

[Scooba_Steve]

How much do you want to push? If he hasn't moved since 2016 then sue personally at his home address (listed on the company filing documents), and the company for the cost of a new amp? I expect the company won't have many assets mind.
Report to police, if you have your amp serial maybe get it recovered?

Local members maybe able to help?

 

[RustyZ4]

I’m sure Audison manufacture a direct replacement amp, but I don’t know if that is for the E85 or E89 or both, have a look on their website

 

[Chris_D]

How much do you want to push? If he hasn't moved since 2016 then sue personally at his home address (listed on the company filing documents), and the company for the cost of a new amp? I expect the company won't have many assets mind.
Report to police, if you have your amp serial maybe get it recovered?

Local members maybe able to help?

Good call and I'm considering some 'legal options' tbh.
Maybe the threat of legal action may incentivize him into at least returning my amp.

Would be handy if any members around the Leith/Edinburgh area could call in on my behalf. Any takers? I'll sort you out with a 'drink' if you can recover my amp.
There's no animosity with this guy as there has been zero communication from his side. My last email was simply to ask him to return my amp. Still no response.

 

[Chris_D]

I’m sure Audison manufacture a direct replacement amp, but I don’t know if that is for the E85 or E89 or both, have a look on their website

Just had a butchers at that site. Not clear if thye supply direct replacement amps but this one looks interesting...
https://www.audison.eu/products/ap8-9-bit/

 

[Chris_D]

How much do you want to push? If he hasn't moved since 2016 then sue personally at his home address (listed on the company filing documents), and the company for the cost of a new amp? I expect the company won't have many assets mind.
Report to police, if you have your amp serial maybe get it recovered?

Local members maybe able to help?

Good call and I'm considering some 'legal options' tbh.
Maybe the threat of legal action may incentivize him into at least returning my amp.

Would be handy if any members around the Leith/Edinburgh area could call in on my behalf. Any takers? I'll sort you out with a 'drink' if you can recover my amp.
There's no animosity with this guy as there has been zero communication from his side. My last email was simply to ask him to return my amp. Still no response.

Was motivated by your suggestion to send him this email. Strong/effective enough? I suppose I'll know by next Wedneday...
(His name is also Chris)

Chris,

As You have not responded to my emails or responded to my request to return my amp and that you do not answer your business phone unfortunately I am left with no option than to take legal action against you in order to recover my property.

I will offer this as your last opportunity to contact me in order to resolve the situation.
If I do not hear from you within the next 3 working days (by 5pm, Wednesday 3rd October 2018) I will be contacting the police to report a theft of my property by you.
This email transcript will be supplied as well as photos of my amp (including the serial number) in order to provide evidence that you received the amp as well as currently possess it.

You obviously have your reasons not to contact me but I'm at a loss as to understand why you have gone silent and stopped responding to my emails.
I was understanding of the fact that you advised me that you very busy and granted you time enough to carry out the repair but in my view at least you could have updated me either way. It's been over 3 months since our first contact.

I hope we can resolve the situation without involving legal action so please therefore contact me at your earliest opportunity.

Best regards,

 

[Scooba_Steve]

Good luck with at least getting it back, should you need it his personal address is on the companies house documents.

 

[Chris_D]

! Update following threat of legal action....

Well well....after threatening legal action it seems to have jolted someone into responding at last!

Someone called Paul sent this email just now giving an explanation as to the lack of comms, as follows:


Sound & Vision Technical Services

00:29 (25 minutes ago)

to me
Hi Chris

Sorry for all the inconvenience to you , I fully understand your upset . Chris has been off work for some time now due to severe family issues , I don't imagine he'll be back for some time yet - I haven't seen any of your emails as these ones don't go to my inbox , I do however check from time to time .
I have looked at the notes on your unit - there was an amplifier module burnt out due to water ingress - we have removed the chip ( and kept aside for you ) - this would be causing the complete unit to mute ... so there should be sound now , although you will be missing a speaker ( not sure which , I don't know these units ) - The board has actually burnt through the circuit layers where the leg ' pads' have burnt - this means that replacing the burnt out amplifier chip would not be successful , the fibreglass circuit board becomes conductive and may continue to burn away ..... I'll try send a close up image of this .

There could be a 'work around' for this by isolating the burnt area and hard wiring ( with .3mm wire ) to the associated components that either feed or are are fed by this module - It's not a job for me however as it's a bit beyond my skill level .... also - the module isn't one we keep in stock now as we don't usually get involved with these - I'm kind of run off my feet with Bose units ( circa. 60 a week at the moment )

I can package this up on Monday and ship back to you , I'll also ensure the burnt module is in the package - and also enclose a close up of the damage to your board - it may show how involved or difficult this would be ... the main issue is the conductance of the outer and inner circuit tracks - from experience - they can continue to conduct and start to burn / smoulder - worst case , catch fire.


I'll move this email over to my address book , so I can keep control of this for you.

regards
Paul

So, it looks like they tried to fix it and removed a module but I'm now left with a missing channel. maybe better than nothing and at least it will be returned.
His suspicion/theory about it catching fire is somewhat worrisome however, esp if I decide to reinstall it.
Maybe this is what's lying behind some of those mystery spontaneous combustion cases...?

Oh well, back to square one. A new amp/install I think....
:|