Almost got arrested trying to buy an expensive speaker
Title: Buyer Beware – My Upscale Audio Devialet ExperienceI’m not even sure where to begin.I ordered a Devialet Phantom I 103 dB speaker from UpscaleAudio.com, and the experience has been a complete nightmare. It started when I called to confirm they were an authorized dealer for Devialet. The first employee confirmed this, but then told me the unit does not come with a manufacturer’s warranty — major red flag #1. I called back and spoke to someone else who correctly stated that it does include the warranty. That inconsistency alone should have been enough to walk away.Against my better judgment, I purchased the last unit in stock. Delivery was the next issue. Rather than delivering a high-value, fragile speaker to my door, they stuffed it into a parcel locker, which I consider reckless handling for an item of this cost and fragility.When I finally unpacked it, the remote wouldn’t pair out of the box. Then I noticed the chrome grill on one side wasn’t seated properly—it had dislodged during shipping or came that way, and due to the radiator vibrations, it slid out further as music played. The other side was fixed properly, confirming it was not by design.When I contacted Upscale, their response was slow and dismissive. They took hours to send me a basic PDF pairing guide that I had already found myself online. Customer service? Barely.After multiple issues, I asked for a replacement and was met with radio silence. Only after filing a claim with my credit card company did they finally respond — suddenly now that payment was on the line, they started replying daily and arranged a courier pickup.Then came the real circus.The courier was scheduled between 3–4 PM on a holiday. No one showed until 7:50 PM. The person was in plain clothes, driving an unmarked, beat-up van with children inside, and could not provide any ID or paperwork. She didn’t even know what item she was supposed to pick up. When I expressed concern and asked for verification, she refused to contact her boss — then threatened to call the police on me.I was sick with a high fever, trying to navigate this bizarre situation, and had to speak to actual law enforcement over returning a speaker I didn’t break or damage. Eventually, I managed to speak to her boss and verified she was legitimate. But the fact that I was put in this situation at all is beyond comprehension.I’m not sure what Upscale Audio and Ken Davis were thinking by sending someone this unprofessional to pick up an item valued at over $3,000. Whatever they’re trying to pull here — threatening a customer with police for questioning a shady pickup — is something I’m now speaking to legal counsel about.I’m holding Upscale Audio, Devialet, and the unlicensed logistics company accountable for this entire ordeal.If you’re considering purchasing from Upscale Audio, I strongly suggest you go elsewhere. I’ve never experienced anything this unprofessional and borderline dangerous from any online retailer. You might end up with a defective product, poor service — or worse, being treated like a criminal for simply asking questions.Just my two cents. Proceed with caution.
Yong Kwon
Won’t stand behind their Cryo tubes
I ordered their best tubes (Tung-Sol 6550 w/Cyro x 5) with their Cyro treatment @ an expensive $100/tube. One failed shortly after install. Their product is never to blame…you are to blame for installing incorrectly. Mine was installed by an Apple employed electrical engineer. They refused to replace the tube. My advice, buy cheap tubes somewhere else.
Dwight Claassen
Post Sale Customer Service Did Not Respond
Purchased a new Pro-ject Classic Evo. Had damage/defects. One week since being notified of issues through Trust Pilot. No response. Upscale Audio explains that due to poor quality control of all turntable makers they open all turntable boxes & unpack them. Then they inspect, test, and adjust all turntables before shipping them. I think that is a stupid policy. When I buy something new, I want to receive it new. They don't tell you this until they send you a picture of your purchase out of the box. What I received was a turntable with two dinged corners on the walnut veneer. I'm sure accidental. Zooming in on the picture they sent me, although pixelated, you can see the damage to one corner was there before they sent it to me. The other corner is not visible in their picture, but you can assume that was there prior to shipping also. In addition, the lid hinges were installed crooked and the lid does not sit square on the plinth. Once they opened the box, unpacked everything, and dinged the edges it is now a used product. Not new like I bought. Failure by Upscale Audio to address and ignore this issue after one week earns a 1 star rating.
Mike
Still Buying with more to go!!!
Jim May Mileski Verified BuyerReviewed AURALiC ARIES G2.1 Streamer / Music Server Add 2TB Solid-State Hard DriveSo I really wanted to listen and play before I wrote this. I purchased in November and opened on Xmas and sat up on New Years. 21 days later after listening, I can honestly say I have not played any physical media. (I will soon , just enjoying the ease) When Kevin says that this is easy to operate and set up, boy he wasn’t kidding. I plugged it in following the setup and I don’t think I did anything other than turn it on and pressed the “find” from my phone app. It did all the set up. Now I have a Mytek Brooklyn DAC and I have the Mcintosh C53. I have hooked this up to both and found it extremely beautiful sounding. The soundstage is wide and dynamic. Both the DACs easily identify the streaming information. Weather it be 16 bit 24 bit 44k 96k 320 this unit will identify and display . It’s menu is easy to scroll through and self explanatory. Which helps this old dude who is not at all computer literate. It’s as easy as your IPhones menus.I was really nervous to get into the streaming game. I was worried the sound wouldn’t be there like it is on a silver press SACD. Boy was I wrong!! The difference between the physical media and streaming is the ease of use only...you will find it’s nice to sit and enjoy the music instead of getting up and down and changing out records or sacd’s. You actually can just type into the search bar what you want to hear and boom it’s that’s quick!! Love it Love it Love it! Now I also had a 2TB hard drive installed which was the correct thing to do. As I have already taken advantage of filling up a little over a TB of music and it’s right there! I have hooked up my Aries to both my C53 preamp and mc452 but also hooked it up via the mytek and Prima Luna Tube route. The difference in the mytek, to me, seems to be the low end and the mid. Very expansive and oh so warm. Can’t believe you can get a warm tube sounding sound out of a digital streamer....who knew?The unit is of a out of this world build quality and is what sold me on it. When Kevin broke it down in the video, I pulled the trigger and oh so happy I did. Thank You Upscale! Thanks Uncle Kevin! Big Love from the Beautiful Cascade Mountains! Now a few weeks later I have returned to Upscale and purchased a ROON Nucleous and a VPI turntable. Kat helped me with both purchases and knew how busy I was and actually filled out my invoices and sent them to me to simply add my card number and the items were mine. She had the TT professionally assembled by the upscale trained techs! The stylus and cartridge are mounted under a microscope so that it is ready to go! She then threw in a super big boy TShirt!!! What more could a guy want! A record brush valued at $25! These people are super whacky crazy good nutty! Love this place ❤️ . My next magor purchase I will have to fly down to buy. I will have to listen to the speakers I’m interested I and I know that they will build my home stereo pieces in their showroom so I’m able to hear what I will be bringing home knowing EXACTLY what it will sound like. Will they be a set of Bowers n Wilkins 803? Focal Sonota? Something by Wilson? Or something I’ve never heard before? Whatever,I know I won’t be steered wrong..but that’s a year out and that is something I have to show up for to hear for myself. But I know they will replicate every piece of my home stereo so I will be able to tell exactly how the speakers will sound with MY stereo. Uncle Kevin will make sure of that... I just know it. Maybe they will buy me a cheeseburger on that trip! Peace and Love to Upscale and all their staff.Jim MayMileski 🤪🤪🤪
Jim May-Mileski
