Superlong repair times Supernait 2 in Germany?

Exactly the same thing happened to me - in my case it was a Hiline. The dealer blamed it on the carrier, when in fact he’d never sent it.
Not all Naim dealers are saints, some are downright incompetent.

1 Like

Oh dear. This is not good. I have heard many negative things about the service being moved to Poland with very poor turn around times. People in Hamburg being let go. In 2021 I got all my kit serviced and recapped with very quick turn around time.
My CDS3 was also sent back to the UK for a DAC change but that took a lot longer because of the UK leaving the EU. My CDS3 failed on the other channel and it has been away for what I have been told is a quick change to replace the other DAC. However several weeks later no news from my dealer on what the progress on repairing the CDS3 is.

2 Likes

Had the same thing happen to my old stageline. Dropped it off at a nearby shop for dpd to collect; I think it made it to Southampton, and then instead of arriving in Sheffield it came back to the shop. Wasn’t a label issue, but perhaps confusion between destination and pick up point.

My dealer (closed to, but not in DUS/Germany) gave me a SN3 and ND5XS2 to bridge the wait when my SU needed a new display. Clever guy.

6 Likes

that’s the kind of guy I’d like to get to know

and then what happened? given your profile, you stuck w the SU?

Whatever you do, don’t buy into Leica cameras. Same issue with warranty repair (and doubly long if out of), looking at anywhere from 2-4 months (up to 8 for vintage lenses), with little to no communication.

If I don’t here about my CDS3 soon and if and when it eventually comes back that will be my lot with Naim. Luckily it was all nicely serviced in 2021 before things go haywire. After hearing of all the woes down under and what happens in Germany I think it’s time to stop

I just talked to Naim Focal Deutschland and the guy said the CDS3 was sent back to the UK again because they have no technicians left either gone in pension or were fired. Sounds very encouraging :frowning:

I guess this is the trouble when everything falls into the hands of investment firms that look in the wrong places for strong returns on investment

9 Likes

Sadly so. Musik Line is no more. :expressionless:

3 Likes

I hope my NDX2 will come home soon. I shipped it 24 oktober with. It got lost during transport. They found it at 16 November. From that moment it was shipped to the dealer. 21 November the dealer recieved it. After that the dealer sended it to focal naim in Poland.
I really don’t know how fast it will be back and how the quality of the repairs are.
Hope for the best, and that the malfuction will not occur anymore.

1 Like

I can’t say I disagree.

At least there are still options available to European users, even if they are ultimately sent on to the UK and Salisbury (which would be my personal preference) ….There are 500 Series owners in Australasia (I’m not one of them unfortunately!) who currently face having to ship their units 10,000+ miles should anything go wrong due to there being no local official service options – not good.

Naim built a strong reputation for its Service over decades, deservedly so….But I do fear for the future to be honest.
I’d hazard a guess that as the company has grown, Salisbury HQ is perhaps struggling to cope with the increased numbers re service…and I guess the ‘types’ of service has probably changed reflecting the networked nature of the products these days……Would Naim have expanded/created a separate Service facility on UK soil at some point I guess we’ll never know, but with the ‘Parent’ company pulling strings and being based in France, it’s not surprising the new facilities are based in Eastern Europe……

3 Likes

This is exactly the point and with what this stuff costs and not to mention service costs, it’s taking the mickey I’m afraid. I know they are not the only one. I believe B&W are in the same boat. These investment firms are a double edged sword, but some people having millions need to be more reasonable and less greedy about making more millions. If I was in Australia, I simply would not buy anything until the mess is sorted out and likewise here I will apply the same thinking especially since all my stuff apart from the CDS3 is now serviced and recapped.

2 Likes

Indeed, and it seems a few of us here have put the brakes on…Speaking for myself, I was already a bit cautious as I was bogged down in issues with a new Core I purchased (which thankfully seems to have been resolved by Naim) but I did have plans to trade in some of my OC kit for NC 200 or 300, but I really feel apprehensive on all that now……

Of course, that’s further/new purchases….It doesn’t help with existing ownership….

1 Like

After many discussions on here, I have the impression that if you are in the UK, you get a full service. If you don’t get that it’s not worth it IMHO. I am glad I invested in the house and now have a new listening room, which is now proving to be better than any black box upgrade so far. A few issues to sort but quite pleased with it. To put things into perspective, in 2021 I serviced and recapped all my stuff bought new in 2004. The preamp was not touched apart from resetting the volume and balance pots and it having a frequency response test. I still get pops with the mute on/off which points to a need to change decoupling caps as far as I understand. This would have been done at class A or Naim, but not at musicline. The stuff came back sounding great so I was happy. Now with one technician holding the fort and long service times, I will not even bother unless it’s all sorted out. In 2021 I spent a total of €10000 which included a new Auralic Altair G1, Naim service and recap and some chord interconnect and speaker cables.

1 Like

I don’t know who the investors are of Alpha Private equity - the major shareholders of Vervent, but there is usually a decent slice owned by pension funds, something many of this forum are dependent on and love to talk how great retirement is.

So yes, double edged sword but I feel that we put a lot of emphasis on the bad part and not the good part.

4 Likes

Yes very true but I did say that maybe these areas are not providing the returns that people expect and then the rationalisation starts in order to attempt to see that which I think is wrong and has many of the negative effects that we are seeing.

1 Like

Update for my case:

  • My dealer offered me a Supernait 3 as loan amp for the time my SN2 is in service. SN3 arrived just today, I will connect it into my system after work. There is of course the risk that I might get infected with the „upgradetitis“, but let‘s see. My upgrade plan was originally rather to go for a Hicap than for SN3
  • Finally my SN2 arrived in service, which is now actually being done in Hamburg. The technician called me and asked me explicitly to describe the problems with the scratching of the left channel in detail. I hope that this can be fixed before Christmas.

All in all, at least for me the repair process seems on track now. Only thing is that without my ongoing mails and calls the standard process would have not worked at all. So my advice is that in any case you need to ask for status on a regular basis to be not forgotten.

4 Likes

I think it would be nice to see if there is a plan for all this. From what I see there was with service in Poland but that all backfired. What a shambles

2 Likes

Strange mine NDX2 was shipped to the dealer in Hamburg.
And now it is in Warsaw Poland.

Just talked with my friend yesterday about servicing. Hid 252 took 3 weeks to repair in Poland, with the duration of transport it took about 4 weeks. He is actually satisfied so I would say it is ok. If it is allowed here I would name a German proverb: „Es wird nichts so heiß gegessen wie es gekocht wird“ :wink:

1 Like

Try telling the nice competent people that Proverb, I.e. the ones that got fired (entlassen)

1 Like