In Reply to: Regarding your comment of it being... posted by bjh on February 21, 2007 at 06:59:23:
>Regarding your comment of it being ""...generally difficult to get
>cable manufacturers to take their products back..." might I ask if
>this is also the case for amplifiers, preamplifiers, CD players,
>etc?
Not nearly so difficult, no. Unless a reviewer purchases the review
sample or arranges for a long-term loan for reference purposes,
products other than cables are returned. Regarding your other
question:
>If their address is known isn't it a simple matter of putting it in
>its box and sending it off? If the manufacturer has no interest in
>the item leave it to them to dispose of it as they see fit.
Stereophile's policy is for the manufacturer to pay the shipping
to and from Stereophile. We cover the internal shipping costs from
the reviewer to and from me for measurement etc, unless the
manufacturer requests otherwise. Last Friday, for example, Chris
Sommovigo rented a van and picked up a very heavy, very expensive
pair of Peak Consult speakers from Michael Fremer and drove them to
my house. This way, Chris could be certain that the speakers wouldn't
be inadvertently damaged. He then returned to my house the next day
to deliver the speakers to a NY dealer.
In the case of the Santa Fe cables, I imagine the residual value of
the cables was less than the cost of return shipping, hence it made
economic sense for the cables to be disposed of. And please note that
most cables _were_ returned. The very expensive pair of Kimber Black
Pearl speaker cables that Wes Phillips had on loan at the time, for
example, went back to Kimber.
In fact, my March "As We See It" was written after a discussion I had
quite a while back with Ray Kimber about the problems manufacturers
have regarding review samples with magazines other than Stereophile.
(Though in that specific instance, Ray had been ripped off by a
reviewer who, many years earlier had worked for Stereophile. The
ripoff involved review samples that had been sent the reviewer long
after he left my magazine, please note.) Ray strongly feels that
magazines and webzines should conform to a common standard of
behavior regarding review samples and wanted me to take a lead in
this.
And again, I fail to comprehend why you seem to be so determinedly
looking for fault in Stereophile's behavior but appear to be
bending over backward not to do so with other magazines. I don't have
a problem with your inquisition of me, but it does strike me as odd
that you don't apply a similar inquisition to the other editors? As
I did a couple of days back, there appears to be a double standard in
operation here.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
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Follow Ups
- Re: Regarding your comment of it being... - John Atkinson 07:44:38 02/21/07 (1)
- I have made it abundantly clear that my concern - bjh 10:12:06 02/21/07 (0)