MSS HiFi A real Rip Off

[exurbia]

Well what can I say ? Recently I had the unpleasant experience of being ripped off by Johnny Boey, the proprietor of MSS HiFi.
They advertise as the leaders of the free world and won't be beaten on price, hardly surprising given their business practices.

Luckily for me this wasn't a big buy just a few hundred dollars, but it is the being done over that really hurts. To give Audiogon (where the transaction was done) their due they did sort of try in a half hearted fashion to sort this out.
Now I am left with the chance that I may be able to do a chargeback and have made a fraud notification to my CC company. I would advise anyone thinking of doing business with Johnny Boey to think twice .
MSS is no longer a registered seller on Audiogon, nor do they reply to email. I suppose he'll have to lie low for a few days and come up with a new name.

[planet10]

Whare is MSS HiFi located?

Hope you manage to get things straigtened out.

dave

[JonasKarud]

Look here:

Mss hifi - MartinLogan Club (MLC)

M S S Hi Fi - Ramapo, NY 10977 - (845) 352-0008 - Reviews | CitySquares

[planet10]

Thanx

Looks like someone to stay away from.

dave

[exurbia]

Hi Dave and Jonas,

Thanks for the moral support, it looks as though I have done my money on this one.
There was a lot of positive feedback, but it was probably self generated like them chinese sellers. At least with them you know you've a good chance of getting cleaned. I had not expected this kind of treatment from a self professed high end dealer.

Oh well, you live and learn. Hopefully no one else on DIY will get burnt by these dogs.

Cheers,

Peter.

[grapecable]

Warning all potential buyers!

I just experienced the protracted and costly displeasure of doing business with them.

I found them through Audiogon and enquired into buying 220V ML Summit X's. They were out of stock, but said that if I could buy a pair, they would have them voltage converted and shipped to South Africa, where I am currently on assignment. In fairness, this they did. They seemed efficient and I had seen them many times on Audiogon, so I did not bother checking whether they were still a member, nor what the other feedback was on the web. So I proceeded to order an Audio Research CD8 and the new DSi200, plus various hi-end Nordost cables, all new, about $21,500 in all.

Because PayPal was about to launch in SA, but had not yet (it now has), I had pre-paid in full. Then all communication stopped.

I chased and chased, and on the couple of times I received replies, there were apologies, but then it would go silent again. In between there were excuses - that there was a general problem with the CD8 transport and then that a dealer was letting them down (I was never told that the transaction involved a dealer other than them) - but mostly silence. They were ignoring simple questions, such as which of the equipment have you received and why can't you ship that while you wait for anything delayed.

In all it took 10 weeks of anguish, not knowing if I had been completely defrauded, in order to be refunded after they failed to come up with the goods. This was only after I had contacted lawyers in NY to proceed against them and had threatened them with an action. Luckily I am in legal in a global bank and so have legal contacts in NY. They had probably figured that as I had pre-paid and was sitting miles away on the end of Africa, they could do what they wanted.

Needless to say, with the cost of the currency conversion spread (twice - into dollars and back), I have lost about $2,000 through the experience.

I dealt with a salesman Hieng; although Johnny Boey was copied and I left messages for him, he never bothered responding at any point.

I have learnt my lesson about pre-paying, which is sad - I have never had any problems in the audio community before. I am nowing buying the kit through the local authorised dealer. It is at a huge premium to the US price, but at least I know where my money is going.

A final word. Don't be conned by the large inventory, the impressive site or the "first-world" address: deal with these people at your peril.

[raypalmer]

Would you buy a car over the internet?

Seriously though bargains are great but nothing beats walking into a brick and mortar store, they have a pretty hard time getting away with fraud.

[ruti]

hello guys
I am just before ordering from them and was checking in google
"problem with mss" and reached here.
the things I want to buy ,they have on stock.
and realy much more cheaper than retail price.and it is
realy attemping to buy/
should I take a risk
p/s they promiss to convert it to 230v
what do you think?
Thanks
ruti

[ticknpop]

Thier prices can be attractive but they nail you for the extras - when MSS were selling Martin Logan CLX 's they wanted $800 for 220 Volt conversion when all that is done is to change a Molex connector on the power supply board for a different one - cost less than $20 to make them - they said it required shipping them back to the factory for the conversion - I told them what it took and they went silent - How much are they charging you for the 220 volt conversion?

[ruti]

THEY HAVE CHARGED ME FOR CONVERTION 100$
DO YOU IN CANADA HAVE 220V ?