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Author Topic: Demand your old capsules back!  (Read 3800 times)

klaus

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Demand your old capsules back!
« on: September 16, 2014, 03:54:27 PM »

Just got a call form a client who had sent his Neumann mic for repair. The service provider replaced the capsule, and according to the client, did not offer to save and send back the old capsule.

This might have been an oversight, and, if indeed the service provider did not offer the option of returning the original part (I am only hearing this second-hand) it should not be acceptable business practice. At minimum, the technician should ask permission from the owner to discard his capsule.

Besides, there are cases where capsules that are deemed "defective" can be restored to factory performance, or close to it, by microphone technicians skilled in this kind of work.

So, make sure that, whenever you send your microphone for capsule replacement, the old capsule, which is often the most valuable party of a condenser mic, is returned to you, the legal owner!
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

Nob Turner

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #1 on: September 18, 2014, 08:08:51 PM »

Shouldn't this be standard procedure for all parts, particularly from vintage gear?

Several years ago I sent my C24 to a well-known tech for repair. When I got it back, I was informed that the tube was bad, and that they'd replaced it. Well, they replaced my GE 5-star 6072A with a Groove Tubes 12AY7. When I asked where the old one was (which I'd recently purchased, and which had shown no problems while in my posession) they told me they "threw it in a drawer."

Of course I raised a ruckus, and ended up getting a working GE 5-star back. But it totally soured me on that tech (along with a long list of other bad behavior on their part).

Jim Williams

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2014, 11:57:51 AM »

Ty Ford had a bad ck-89 capsule replaced by Neumann, but they sent that capsule back. I installed it into a cheapo chi-com MCA SP-1 for him, picked the good side and now he has another great mic in the collection.

Even a bad capsule might have a use.
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soapfoot

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2014, 10:24:14 AM »

Is this the kind of thing where it might be useful to name names?

In other words, help us avoid unscrupulous repairpersons?

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klaus

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2014, 11:07:30 AM »

The tricky part: such reports will often be hearsay, or may not be easy to corroborate.

It's the same dilemma with most unmoderated consumer ra(n)tings of service providers: the need of the public for wanting to know who the bad apples are is justified. But the hurt and damage done when such outing is malicious or negligent can be irreparable to the service provider's reputation, especially in an age when all information originating on the web has eternal internet presence.

So, the bar needs to be set very high for me to justify outing persons or businesses. That point is reached when a critical mass of similar reports of bad behavior makes publication credible and justified. 

P.S.: I, as forum moderator, would not hesitate to point out especially injurious, bad businesses practices, and would name them, but in this case, as aggrieved or direct witness and reporter in one person, I can elegantly refute any accusation of dealing in hearsay.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

Uwe

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2014, 03:05:55 PM »

For the 33 years I have been Service Manager and Technical Director for Sennheiser USA and Neumann|USA, our firm policy mandated the return of replaced parts to the customer. Neumann does not remanufacture capsules, since the proper reconditioning is more labor intensive than new manufacturing of the required parts. Any insunuation holding back the return of parts for commercial purposes makes no sense. I suggest to contact the service department of Neumann|USA for clarification.
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klaus

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2014, 03:57:17 PM »

Glad you cleared that up.
Nobody (so far) has insinuated that Neumann/USA fails to return original capsules to their owners.
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Klaus Heyne
German Masterworks®
www.GermanMasterworks.com

Nob Turner

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Re: Demand your old capsules back!
« Reply #7 on: September 22, 2014, 07:04:12 PM »

Yeah, I support Klaus' policy of not slagging people in the forum. It's a slippery slope.

And Klaus, it wasn't YOU!  ;-)
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