Purchased 9851 Head Unit and SPS171A Component speakers for daughter's S2000 for Christmas and installed--from Carsteroland.com. One tweeter is bad and one crossover only drives the main speaker, not the tweeter--so for now the S has one Alpine side and one Honda side as far as tweeters go anyway. It sounds quite good, but not how it should be.

So I try to contact Carstereoland.com by email and phone since Christmas--they do not seem to exist. I call Alpine and they say too bad.....that's what I get for not buying from an authorized Alpine dealer.

What do you think? Shouldn't Alpine stand behind their product no matter who sells it (new in box)? A learning experience I suppose!

 

It used to be that you couldn't buy an Alpine without installation either.




Not that I'd condone this behavior....but, it would certainly cross my mind to buy a new set and return the defective tweeter+crossover in that box(Alpine would still have to cover it).

 

The issue is that Carsteroland.com is not a dealer and probably bought the equipment sideways, that means Alpine does not have to warranty it.... this is from the Alpine site.

"Alpine Electronics offers its products for sale only through a carefully selected network of authorized dealers who have the capacity to maximize their performance in your vehicle. The complexity of today's automobiles and the sophistication of Alpine products require a knowledgeable dealer to aid in the selection, integration and installation of your system. Therefore, Alpine Electronics assumes no responsibility for products purchased through unauthorized dealers."

It really sucks, but you may be hosed on these speakers.

 

This goes for most car electronics. They are not even supposed to be sold over the web. Most big names like Alpine, Eclipse, even Viper products will not warranty anything purchased online.

 

Well, first of all, never say where you got them if you didnt get them from an unauthorized dealer. Say it was a gift.

Anyway, this is irrelavant. Unfortunately, take this as a lesson learned. There are many reliable online stores that are plenty good, and will honor their claims. You caught a bad one. If you need help purchasing new equipment, please dont hesitate to ask, and I will be more than happy to point you in the right AND SAFE direction. In this case however, you lost your money, and hopefully, it wasnt much. Good luck with everything, and take care.

 

I'm just curious, did you do the install yourself?

 

First thing I noticed regarding this eVendor was the language on their site. Obviously english is not their first language (not my wifes first language either), and they did not take the care of having someone proof read anything. Now not saying poor english = bad seller, just that it is an indication that they may be a garage outfit or a small pop-up eTailer.

Do a little research on the domain name and you will find some additional contact info to help you resolve your problem. I use godaddy.com (then click more info). This is what you get:

Registrant:
C-Tech Electronic
962 E. 12th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021

NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Domain Name: CARSTEREOLAND.COM
Created on: 05-oct-2004
Expires on: 05-oct-2007
Last Updated on: 05-oct-2004

Administrative Contact:
Technical Contact: C-Tech Electronic
joonyoon@soundmasterinc.com
962 E. 12th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021
US
213-765-0346

C-Tech Electronic joonyoon@soundmasterinc.com
962 E. 12th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90021
US
213-765-0346

As NFRs2000NYC stated - there are plenty of decent websites out there selling these products and honoring warranties. I have purchase quite a bit from etronics and had to return items to them as the OEM would not honor the warranty. They always took care of me (a little slow, but they got it done).

Assuming you purchased it with credit card and within the past 30 days, call your CC company and refuse payment on the grounds that they are not honoring their return policy on their website. Once they see your CC card asking Q's they will probably be happy to take the items back.

 

...go with a stop payment on the CC. That is usually the only way to deal with these type of people, go at their purse strings. You have a legtimate claim as well.

John

 

Ok, lots of great stuff here--yes I did the install myself. Yes I used a CC but I ordered on Nov 30 since it was for Christmas, so it is now more than 30 days. Of course, they posted the charge almost instantly, and took almost 30 days to ship. Lesson learned--and good info for others. Thanks everyone.

 

I try to use AMEX online - Gold and Platinum card holders can dispute payment up to 90 days on most purchases