Warranty Service Nightmare with Headphonezone/Denafrips for PONTUS II

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jmascreen

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Within five months of purchase and round second week of October 2022, the coaxial input on my PONTUS ii stopped working. I have reported this issue with HFZ and they have assured the unit will be picked up after a week (29/10/2022) due to diwali holidays and the issue with sorted out with 9 to 12 working days.

Got a confirmation from HFZ that the DAC has been received on 31/10/2022 and they could reproduce the issue at their end has well and they are troubleshooting for the cause of issue. After too many follow-ups around mid of November they said they are still not able to find the root cause and may take much longer time to fix this issue. So I requested for a standby DAC so that I can listen to the music J

After much perusal I got a standby DAC for usage on 01/12/2022 hurry listening to digital music again.

But till date the issue with PONTUS is unidentified. I have requested for a replacement or getting a different product (in my case Yaggi with difference been paid) because I had read on multiple forums about failure of PONTUS II input connectors. They outrightly declined all the requests saying “Brand Guidelines”.

They latest response from HFZ is to wait for a proactive response from their end once they find out what is causing this issue.

HFZ-COMM-1.jpg

From last one week I am waiting for the proactive response from them.

Now I have started worrying about getting the product fixed or replaced. Is this due to technical incompetence of HPZ technical team or could be an issue from the Brand/Vendor? I have been reading the outstanding support provided by Vinshine for same brand then why it’s getting too delayed or is this the standard way for getting support for chi-fi products?

Please guide me on how to get my DAC fixed and reach safely.
 
jmascreen said:
Within five months of purchase and round second week of October 2022, the coaxial input on my PONTUS ii stopped working. I have reported this issue with HFZ and they have assured the unit will be picked up after a week (29/10/2022) due to diwali holidays and the issue with sorted out with 9 to 12 working days.

Got a confirmation from HFZ that the DAC has been received on 31/10/2022 and they could reproduce the issue at their end has well and they are troubleshooting for the cause of issue. After too many follow-ups around mid of November they said they are still not able to find the root cause and may take much longer time to fix this issue. So I requested for a standby DAC so that I can listen to the music J

After much perusal I got a standby DAC for usage on 01/12/2022 hurry listening to digital music again.

But till date the issue with PONTUS is unidentified. I have requested for a replacement or getting a different product (in my case Yaggi with difference been paid) because I had read on multiple forums about failure of PONTUS II input connectors. They outrightly declined all the requests saying “Brand Guidelines”.

They latest response from HFZ is to wait for a proactive response from their end once they find out what is causing this issue.

HFZ-COMM-1.jpg

From last one week I am waiting for the proactive response from them.

Now I have started worrying about getting the product fixed or replaced. Is this due to technical incompetence of HPZ technical team or could be an issue from the Brand/Vendor? I have been reading the outstanding support provided by Vinshine for same brand then why it’s getting too delayed or is this the standard way for getting support for chi-fi products?

Please guide me on how to get my DAC fixed and reach safely.
Click to expand...
Looks like a typical Indian dealer problem who totally meant to sell imported products without worrying about its sales after service.
 
Basically they are no authorised by vinshine or denafrips and headphone zone is just getting repaired stuff by their staff or any service centre. Basically no one is trained specifically for denafrips product's.

Your best bet is take vinshine into confidence, tell them to provide technical support if it's needed and get it repaired by any good technician you would know
 
rikhav said:
Basically they are no authorised by vinshine or denafrips and headphone zone is just getting repaired stuff by their staff or any service centre. Basically no one is trained specifically for denafrips product's.

Your best bet is take vinshine into confidence, tell them to provide technical support if it's needed and get it repaired by any good technician you would know
Click to expand...
oh man @rikhav I am more worried and my doubts are coming true
 
Sandipbarik said:
Get in touch with the Headphonezone CEO ...he is very helpfull
Click to expand...
Sorry but if he is so helpful, then he should make his staff learn how to deal with such an issue.
It's a small organization with 15 to 20 people working, not that he has around 1000 people working in multiple offices.
I am 100 percent sure he himself decides what to reply to customer
 
This is what is the warranty policy that Headphonezone offers for Denafrips products.
SCARY Indeed: Selling these expensive products at inflated prices, but without much back-up on service or replacement. Not at all encouraging.

Taken from Headphonezone website:
Denafrips Warranty Claim & Service in India
Modified on: Mon, 5 Jul, 2021 at 4:34 PM
Authorized Service Partner: Headphone Zone
Denafrips has long been an Audiophiliac favorite manufacturer of headphone amplifiers, DAC, and USB digital converters. In the unlikely event that a Denafrips product develops a manufacturing defect within the warranty period, please submit the form below. All you gotta do is make sure that the issue with your product is eligible for a warranty claim.

Please note that Headphone Zone is not authorized to handle the warranty claims for the purchases that are made outside India

Denafrips's Warranty Period is 3 Years from the date of Invoice for all Audio products.
What does the warranty cover?
What’s Eligible?

Manufacturing Defects​

  • No Sound Output
  • Noise while Charging
  • Buttons Not Working
  • Not charging
  • Doesn't turn on
  • Any other manufacturing defect
What’s Not Eligible?

Physical Damages​

  • Wear and tear from usage
  • Cosmetic flaws
  • Wire/cord tearing
  • Damages to accessories
  • Any other accidental damage
  • Natural disasters or animal related damages
How to claim warranty?

The Process​

Step One: Fill the Warranty Claim Request Form below by sharing with us all the necessary details - defect, invoice, model name, etc. Once we get your request, we will get back to you in a day's time. A Headphone Guru might get in touch with you to understand the issue better.
Step Two: We will write to the brand for your warranty claim and ask them for the best way to resolve the issue. The brand may ask for some additional details or suggest some quick fixes to see if the issue can be resolved. Our Headphone Guru will be constantly in touch with you and the brand and they will keep you updated with your case.
Step Three: After following the brand's suggestion if the issue does not get fixed, the warranty case will be approved and, a unique WCID (Warranty Case Id) number will be assigned to your case. Depending on your case, you will either have to courier the faulty unit immediately or after the spare parts arrive.
Step Four: Arranging spare parts. It's very difficult for us to predict how quickly the spare part can be procured from the brand, it can sometimes take a few weeks and sometimes it can also take a month or two. This varies from case to case. The exact timeline will be shared once there's enough clarity and constant updates will be shared at every stage.
Step Five: Once the spare part arrives, we will ask you to courier your faulty unit. We will do the repair as per the brand's guidelines. All the repairs and servicing is taken place in our warehouse which is in Chennai. Once the product is repaired, the unit is called to our Mumbai office for a final check by our Headphone Gurus and then gets dispatched to you.
Keep In Mind:
Refunds and Store credits are strictly not allowed under warranty claims.
Under warranty claim for this brand in India, we are able to offer some repair services provided we have the spares available to do so. In some situations, the spares are needed to be procured by the brand.
Every case will be handled as directed by the brand. Instant replacements will not be possible in case if the product can be repaired.
Timelines vary from case to case basis. We request you to be patient with us as this is a lengthy process. Once the case has been approved and we have coordinated with the brand, we will be in the position to you a rough timeline.
 
Fiftyfifty said:
Justin, send a WhatsApp message or email to Alvin of Vinshine. I'm confident he'll resolve the problem.
Click to expand...
+1 to this. In the past when I considered products from vinshine, they always responded immediately. Of-course I don't know what their arrangement is with HPZ, yet this is worth a shot.
Cheers,
Sid
 
my new smsl d300 developed problems and they created a return for it. I sent it across. They checked the device and they too encountered the same problem. I had to phone them to make the investigation faster. They made a replacement yesterday and hopefully, I will receive my dac tomorrow. The communication was smooth in my case.
I would suggest to contact Raghav through his linkedin profile.
 
Thanks @Fiftyfifty @coaltrain @sidvee I will try to get in touch with Alvin.

@ajuvignesh @ZzZzZ I am not using twitter etc. But one of HFV member had tagged this thread to the owner of HFV. Still no updates from them.

@Kannan Thanks very much for the details. From those points I can gauge that will have to wait until they fix this issue when they find the root cause.
 
@jmascreen You will have to get clarity from Headphonezone that the period for which the Denafrips product is lying dead due to delay in serving by them should be excluded from the guarantee period of 3 years.
 
my experience with HPZ so far has been good. a niece had an issue with a headphone and they replaced it with the newer model under warranty.
As above your best option is to create a twitter/insta/facebook account and post it to them. it always works better than anything else.
 
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