Sweetwater Sound
What happened to my 30 day "no hassle return?"

I purchased a Groove Tube Vipre preamplifier from Sweetwater. The price was $2800 and David Hess of Sweetwater ASSURED ME that it was returnable within 30 days. He advised us not to "rack mount" the unit.
After 3 weeks we called to return the unit (good box, but not the "sound" we had anticipated from the reviews at sweetwater.com) David's assistant Shelby gave us an RA# for the return. My assistant and I packed the unit in its original packing and hand delivered it to FedEx.

In a phonecall on July 15 David Hess told me he could not refund my purchase price because the unit had been rack-mounted.

I protested vehemently, at which point David Hess of Sweetwater admitted "... Well he DID have to look close (the warehouse supervisor.)
"The unit had screw marks from rack-mounting."

Trouble is—we do a desktop broadcast—and we HAVE no equipment racks in our studio! The preamp sat cushioned on egg cartons on it's own desk!
—as three persons will attest.

The unit arrived at our studios with the Operating Manual literally glued to enclosed mounting brackets by some horrific scotch tape! Funny way for a "new" unit to arrive from the manufacturer, don't you think? I wonder if they sent us a used unit as new? That would explain "screw marks" when OUR studio doesn't OWN a rack to screw ANYTHING into!

I am waiting for sweetwater to return my complete purchase price as David Hess assured me they would—if we did NOT rackmount. Our studio doesn't contain a SINGLE rack!

Company: Sweetwater Sound
Country: USA
State: Indiana
City: Fort Wayne
Address: 5501 US Highway 30 W

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