Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

I do not participate in most forums, but I do follow conversations for information on equipment, configurations and the experience of ordinary buyers with the companies that make and sell our equipment.  Magazine reviewers always seem to have the company CEO toe-in their speakers!

I came to GoodSound when I was looking at power products, and followed many of the discussions about PurePower.  When I thought about moving to Europe from the US I contacted PurePower and had an exchange of emails about US and European compatibility etc.  I went with a different US solution at that time.  I came to Europe about 10 months ago and, despite the vastly superior power situation here than in Los Angeles, I looked again at different solutions.  I tried to buy a different product here, but I was never able to complete the deal - it seems that European distribution of US products is just awful when combined with the general absence of any notion of client-service in Europe.

I then tried to purchase a PurePower 1050i.  The European distributor had two available at a discount (I gathered later that they were flushing old stock) and I ordered one.  It took three weeks to do just that - the man was a terrible communicator.  

The unit arrived, eventually, after a month.  On plugging it in, the display immediately went to FAULT!!!.  The unit passed a current to my equipment (at that point just a lamp as a precaution), but the display was clear, even when restarted.  I asked if there was anything I should do before returning it.  After one week of fruitless back and forth I stated that I wanted to return the unit as I no longer had confidence in the product or the company.  No reply for five days until I sent another email demanding a response with a read receipt.

At that point the US Sales Director got involved who immediately relayed to me the wonderful accolades that a recent customer in Scotland had sent.  He ended with:  PurePower is the real deal, worth a little bit of hassle for what it does.  I guess that is why he is head of sales!  He won, I wanted the unit after all, so I tried to work with a technical guy in Canada.  The result was Fault!!!

It took ten days before I got a response from the USA that he would get the European to arrange for a return.  It is now 16 weeks later.  The unit was returned only five weeks ago, and I heard nothing back from Europe or the US.  I sent an ultimatum last week that I would put the matter in the hands of an attorney if I did not receive a confirmation of payment by the end of today.  The Head of Sales read it, but never responded.  The European distributor responded with a promise to make the payment.  Today I notified them that they had missed the deadline and immediately received a response that the payment was sent and they could fax me the slip.  That was followed by an email saying that the payment failed, despite them having my international payment instructions since December.

A long story.  I am contributing this because I would have wanted to read it when I was looking into PurePower.  I cannot say anything about the product, because I never got there - the company failed.  Easy to say that it is tricky dealing with distributors in Europe etc etc.  This involved the Head of Sales and the European distributor with Purelink.de as the web address, not some small part-time country rep.  At no point has the company or its people come though and cleaned up a small problem.  The company has failed to be the "real deal" or even a workable deal.  I am currently out one power system, the German Sales Tax plus Swiss Import Tax plus the purchase of the unit.

I would recommend to everyone that they think long and hard before buying from PurePower, no matter what the product is like or how much attention the company favorites receive.  I have no financial interest, professional or personal relationship with PurePower, its competitors or any other party in the audio industry or media.  I am just a guy who loves music and tries to take care of his gear.  I intend to post the same message on any other forum that I read about PurePower.

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site