Of Behringers and An Unnamed Music Store

[Evangion]

I purchased a Behringer MIC200 Tube Ultragain DI back in Nov 2005. Darn stupid thing was faulty, shop in Peninsula Plaza refused to change it and mentioned that cracking is always apparent with tube preamps (yeah rite). So I went to the next alternative... To contact Behringer for support... Below is what took place...

Customer 21/11/2005 03.19 AM
I recently purchased a Behringer MIC200 Tube Ultragain. Now, I've used it on both an electric guitar and electric bass. The problem is; no matter how I set the input gain or pad the input; my output is always being overdriven! I've even set a dbx compressor before the MIC200's input in the chain and it is still the same. A change of the tube didn't help as well. Do I have a defective unit and how do I get this changed? The shop won't exchange it and says it's working as intended.

Response (Eugene Benitez) 21/11/2005 03.25 AM
What you probably have in hand is a defective unit. However the only reason as to why the shop would refuse an exchange for you is that you had purchased the unit from a grey inport seller. Please give me the nakme of the shop in Singapore so that we can check if you had purchased the unit from a authorized Dealer of our products so that if it were a authorized Dealer, you would not have a problem having your unit exchanged at the shop.

We hope that we have been able to help you with this information.

Response (Eugene Benitez) 23/11/2005 02.37 AM
Please note that *INSERT SHOP NAME FROM PENINSULA PLAZA* is not a authorised Dealer of our range of products as they are buying their products from a parallel importer which does not covers any warranty at all. I would strongly suggest that you should seek a refund from the shop as our normal authorised Dealer would replace any faulty products within 10 days from the date of purchase as well as cover the 1 year warranty for the product.

Overdrive is not a natural occurance in a tube preamp unless the selection of "Overdrive" is used otherwise the signal level should be at nominal level depending on the volume and gain settings. If you look on the exterior of the box, the serial number would have been torn off and that's a sign in which it shows that they products are parallel imports and the risk of not having a warranty and after sales service is extremely high.

Response (Eugene Benitez) 23/11/2005 05.48 AM
Unfortunately for your case, it is very difficult for us to support you as the unit was bought from a non authorized Dealer. However if the shops still refuses to replace the unit for you, you should ask them who their direct supplier is so that you can deal with them directly for your faulty unit.

I know many are gonna say you pay for what you get. But it would have been nice to know that I had no warranty whatsoever when I purchased the product. Now the MIC200 is unexchangeable, unrepairable and was the major cause for the horrible sound that lasted through 3 sets of my paid gig. It's now an unusable piece of equipment that can only belong in a trash bin.

Lesson learnt, no matter what the price of your equipment is. Check for support issues

 

[Azaro]

Thanks for the heads-up.

Sorry to hear about the box though ('')
Sad

BTW, was the serial number really torn-off, as suggested by Behringer's helpdesk?

 

[Evangion]

No issues, just a lesson learnt after years of GASing haha...

Yeah, the serial number sticker was missing from the external casing of the unit itself. Only visible serial was inside the unit.

 

[pr0n]

let me guess, 2nd floor store?

 

[Evangion]

let me guess, 2nd floor store?

Don't wanna complicate matters by revealing the store name.

Just remember to check for warranty and serial number sticker on box and the unit itself if u're buying a Behringer product.

 

[thor666]

you can ask for a refund as the product is not working in satisfactory condition. if they refuse, u can file a complaint via the Small Claims Tribunal. It is likely they will give u back ur money rather than be involved in a messy legal wrangle.

u can check out more under http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/ -> English Act -> Sale of Goods Act.

 

[jeremyrozario]

don't think its luthermusic, because luther is an authorized behringer dealer

 

[jcrockmyworld]

ok, i've been using behringer products. i use their compressors, crossovers. it has been working well. very well, althought it is not the best, but please note, in a small venue, can u hear the diff between a dbx and a behringer?

i strongly recommend u to get it from hung brothers. simlim level 3.

their DI are not reall good. just for u guys to take note.

 

[exin]

i own a Behringer Compressor/Sustainer and it has worked well for me. Bought it from Luther though.

I think for your case is a super suay encounter and the shop refused to replace or refund you. Honestly that shouldn't be the way to go man, in the first place they sold you a faulty unit and they didn't want to replace it ...

The only thing i don't like about my pedal, is the noise that it produces, man .. it's super noisy ... but for the price range i can't complain much lah ... serves its function well ...

 

[stars]

well , the shops there that carry behringer other than luther are only 2 other shops.

that pretty much narrows things down

 

[Colarndo]

I bought the MIC 200 when it first came out. It didn't give me any problems, I bought from Hung Brothers(Authorized Dealer) If you listen carefully, a slight hiss/electrical noise is present is any Behringer product. However, in a band setting that slight hiss is not noticable. I prefer to buy from direct dealers as they only charge you GST after converting to local currency.
I did bring back the MIC 200 to complain abt the noise level but the dealer smiled and told me there was nothing they could do, as Behringer uses cheap circuits, so the hiss was still there. I did enquire abt getting a 3 pin but the shop assistant toldme it wouldn't make a difference.
I leave both my gain and master output at 12 o"clock which makes the hiss level very soft. Do remember to let the tubes "warm" up after powering it.

 

[turbochicken]

actually, revealing the shop's name would be beneficial, to complete your advice for us.

 

[GuitarNoob]

I suppose its music theme, some of their gadgets had their serial numbers removed

 

[Evangion]

I bought the MIC 200 when it first came out..

The noise is acceptable in my "standards" but not the cracking and fuzzy overtones of the unit. The cracking fuzz gets worse after the tube warms up, lol. Even setting the input to the min and padding it gives me this ugly sound.

 

[exin]

well Evangion ... so is it music theme a.k.a ranking sports?

 

[stars]

well Evangion ... so is it music theme a.k.a ranking sports?

well.

irregardless of the vendor / customer issue being right or wrong, mentioning the name here is liable for defamation.

it is allegedly affecting the party involved in the transaction's reputation. And , not to insult Evangion's credibility but we must also be aware that in order to pass an impartial verdict, both parties must have an equal opportunity to present themselves.

s.o.f.t could be involved as it hosts the messages.

and what real benefit could anyone derive from all the legal hassle and nuisance ?

and besides, as third party observers. there is only one perspective we are aware of.

the bottomline is still this : caveat emptor , buyer beware. and i believe that this is the intent of the post, not to malign or to specifically target someone's business but to spread the word of being careful

 

[jbarks]

I don't think it'd be defamation as it's already been verified by Behringer themselves that the store isn't an authorised dealer at all. Evangion telling us would only mean that he's saying that store X is not an authorised Behringer dealer and that we won't get the 10-day 1-1 exchange if we buy from there, and not any false truths about the store. It's the same as telling someone not to buy the CDs from Sony because their copy-protection may install rootkits on your computer.

 

[exin]

i agree with superkicky ...

at least we can let people know they are risking their warranty if they buy from an unauthorized reseller ...

 

[stars]

I don't think it'd be defamation as it's already been verified by Behringer themselves that the store isn't an authorised dealer at all. Evangion telling us would only mean that he's saying that store X is not an authorised Behringer dealer and that we won't get the 10-day 1-1 exchange if we buy from there, and not any false truths about the store. It's the same as telling someone not to buy the CDs from Sony because their copy-protection may install rootkits on your computer.

singapore law allows for parallel imports. so dealership's practically make 0 differnence since u could bring it in yourself if you wanted to.

the problem is not about dealership. my point is by naming the business involved , its defintely going to affect their reputation and that is ample ground for a defamation suit.

at the point of sale between customer and store, it is partly the customer's responsibility to be aware of any after sales support. if there was a deliberate attempt to deny after-sales support , then we have an issue there.

but since its pretty much a parallel import/"grey goods", its up to the parallel importer to decide whether after-sales support is provided or not.

and remember, this is only one side of the story, we cant simply pass judegement as if it were gospel truth ( no insult intended to evangion) .

Maybe anyone who knows a representative of Shop X could come up and explain ?

 

[Ken]

Hey folks, I am afraid stars is right here from the basis of legality. Besides, look at it this way, without having to be overt about it, I am sure the readers to this thread already know what to look out for when shopping for Behringer products...that is the intent of this post and its been fulfilled, no need to ruin someone's business over it.