SOULUTION INT330
5 repairs, sell anyway?
You have to be quite bold
Selling an ultra high-end product that has gone back to the manufacturer 5 times in 6 years, because it continuously breaks down. Repaired every time and also unable to explain why the product broke. And yet this seller wants to sell the product.
The real process after the 4th repair
The actual process starts after the 4th repair. After the fourth repair, the seller decides to offer the product to the market. Until then, the product falls into the category of ‘showroom stock’.
So, the seller decides to offer the product, to sell it. The seller quietly hopes that the future owner will not have any problems, because after 4 repairs, confidence in the brand and the product is not optimal. Fortunately, that feeling is quickly overshadowed by the euphoria once the amplifier is sold.
What luck! The product (from now on: Soulution INT330) has been sold! However… Within a week, an inevitable message arrives from the customer. The Soulution INT330 is… I am sure you can already guess… not working anymore.
The seller takes the amplifier back and now offers it for repair for the fifth time. Incidentally, the customer no longer wants to purchase the INT330, is angry about the fact that such an expensive product can break, let alone so quickly. Customer has naturally lost confidence in the brand.
Finally, the INT330 is registered with Soulution. Now Soulution wonders why this amplifier with s/n 0013 breaks down so often, something that according to the manufacturer has never happened before.
Integrity wise still sleeping
The seller, still not fully awake, actually only wants one thing. To sell the INT330. So the amplifier simply has to be repaired.
In the meantime, Soulution is also waking up. It cannot be that all 5 repairs are covered by warranty. Soulution indicates that they do not know whether this 5th repair will be a warranty case. They will come back to that.
The seller does not hear anything for a while. Until the message from the importer arrives that the INT330 with s/n 0013 has been repaired… again. Unfortunately with hefty costs and therefore not under warranty. And without the seller’s prior agreement about the costs involved.
Suddenly the seller wakes up (but still not fully awake).
Why no warranty:
1) If the INT330 keeps breaking down, without any reason?
2) The causes of the defects are completely unclear?
3) When there is no doubt that the INT330 has been operated and connected according to the procedure/manual?
Seller learns from the importer that the INT330 can only be returned after the invoice has been paid. Seller suddenly feels ‘screwed’ but also combative. Seller (from now on: me) decides to talk to his company lawyer.
Man with the hamer
And now it has arrived. The wake-up call that changed the context. The change from ‘I have to get rid of my INT330’ to ‘this INT330 must never see audio daylight’.
What exactly happened?
I described the whole story, in great detail, with the accompanying feeling of being screwed and combative, to my company lawyer. Incidentally, a man, not burdened with too many emotions. But burdened with the ability to quickly analyze and unravel main and secondary issues. And to quickly identify the core of challenges.
His voice changed, his attitude changed. He turned his chair towards me and asked me the following painful question in a calm but determined voice:
“Michel…. would you buy an amplifier, for the amount you could easily buy a car for, knowing that such an amplifier has already been repaired 5 times, without known reason?”
Dear reader. You can really take my word for it. I broke out in a sweat. I immediately had a mega internal conflict. The man with the hammer, faster than the sound, came in.
Why? Because I would never, ever buy a product – let alone an extremely expensive one – that has been repaired so often. Or more nuanced. I wouldn’t even buy it knowing that it has been repaired more than once.
In retrospect, I am grateful to my lawyer. Not because of the financial impact (which I will explain in a moment), but because of the confrontation with myself. And the liberation that resulted from it.
Mea Culpa
A reprimand to myself
In a recently written Audiofile article I promoted Audiofile’s ‘Consultative Selling 7.0’ (read the article here). A way of selling at the very highest level.
The common thread: Consultative Selling 7.0 (CS7.0) means that the selling party can purchase better for you than you can do yourself.
It means that the selling party always puts the customer first. The interest of the seller, in this case Audiofile, actually has no place in the entire CS7.0 process. Ambitious. Perhaps idealistic. And perhaps even naive. But it is reality. At least almost always, it turns out…
Because, compare this CS7.0 philosophy with my (sales) behavior up to and including the painful question from my lawyer. It goes without saying that this was hardly in line with what CS7.0 stands for.
In fact, I fell through the ice. By putting my interest in ‘getting rid of my INT330 quickly’ higher than the interest of my future Soulution customer. Who, as it turned out, was confronted with the unreliability of the Solution INT330 within a week. Entirely my fault.
If I really ‘boil down’ my actions up to that painful moment, I can see that the hunger to have to do business was a dominant guiding principle throughout the entire process.
It displaced my feeling of ‘purchasing on behalf of the customer’. It also displaced my sense of ethical conduct. I was, as it were, conditioned by my own thinking.
My other annoying guiding principle was that I (unconsciously) really wanted to get rid of this unreliable amplifier. A kind of win-win. Get rid of the burden and increase income. It is what it is. I am not proud of it.
Therefore a sincere Mea Culpa with a lot of shame. Even if you do not practice CS7.0. Even if you are not a salesperson. Ethical bells should start ringing if you are prepared to offer an exclusive product that has been repaired up to 5 times back to the market (knowing that the breakdown causes are unclear).
Learning moment
I talked about liberation once I realized that this Soulution INT330 s/n 0013 should never see audio daylight.
Why liberation? Because the loss of income as a result of not selling the INT330 suddenly had no value. It was no longer important.
It was important to remove this specific product from the market. Having to repair it 5 times, not knowing why 5 times, is not a product that should be offered. Not even for the image of Soulution. Nobody would benefit from this.
From that moment on, the feeling of freedom from that release was consistently greater than thinking in terms of scarcity (I lose money if I don’t sell). A feeling of freedom that I also experience while writing this article.
What was Soulution’s reaction?
I have had close contact with Soulution, all be it via email. In the hope that they would realize that this product should be removed from the market. And that they would see that it would be more than fair to send Audiofile a new INT330, or credit the proceeds of the (non) sale. Or any other creative customer-friendly solution.
I have rarely been so disappointed. Initially, after I had shared the entire story extensively via email, I received a response with only 1 sentence:
“… You can get your INT330 back when you pay the bill…”
Disrespectful to me and even more disrespectful that the manufacturer takes no responsibility for his product and for his brand.
It can always get worse
But it gets worse. In the meantime, I had a serious customer for the INT330. Which I had shared with the importer (who had been very professional and accommodating throughout the entire process). Who in turn reported this to Soulution.
I had already briefly and forcefully explained to this potential customer that I could not sell the INT330 and that the product would therefore be taken off the market.
After my second, more intense email to Soulution, another response came. One that I am still quite impressed by to this day.
Soulution’s new insight
Because, Soulution indicated that all 5 repairs were suddenly the fault of Audiofile and the customer. You read that right. That Audiofile is seen as the culprit is already ‘not done’. But blaming the end customer…almost an achievement.
Soulution also reported that they could do nothing more than repair the amplifier each time. They indicated that the 4th time even the entire internal amplifier had been replaced (..) And that it was therefore the fault of the user – the customer – that the INT330 had broken down.
Most exemplary
The following quote from Soulution (Member of the Executive Board) is perhaps most exemplary of the state of mind at Soulution.
Since a serious buyer for the INT330 had registered at that time and Soulution was aware of this, the member of the executive board emailed me the following about this:
“…It seems that you already have a client who is potentially interested in buying this unit. So why don’t you just go ahead and sell it…”
This means that Soulution consistently takes the position that a product that has proven to be unreliable up to 5 times may simply be sold. Just go ahead and sell, is the credo.
Let that sink in for a moment. Knowing that the last owner, the customer, was only able to enjoy his amplifier for a week. After a week, for the 5th time…broken.
Epilogue
The pot must not call the kettle black…. I have actually behaved no differently than what Soulution is doing now. Being blind to the facts, being blind to what customer friendliness really means. And being blinded by the returns if you simply sell. Or just want to get rid of the burden.
I had asked Soulution to return my INT330 in its old state (broken). So that I would know for sure that my INT330 would never be sold again. Soulution did not want to cooperate with this either. Which means that the INT330 is still in Switzerland and Soulution can actually do whatever it wants with it.
It is what it is. I accept the 15k Euro loss of income. That I will probably never see my INT330 again. And that it costs me an awful lot of time to invest in this. What does it bring me?
Quite a bit. A clear conscience and a PAVLOV from here to Tokyo if I ever feel the urge to put my interests above those of my customer again.
Michel.
