DEI dealers Directed D2400

I really need some help from a directed audio dealer. I have a strange situation. I work at an autoglass shop and we are trying to get into car audio. I've been an installer for 10 years and have done a few show systems but nothing locally. A friend of mine wanted to do a really big system in his 72 Ford Ranger and I thought it would be a good opportunity to get the shop name out on the streets. The only problem is that we are in a small town and weren't sure how much interest there will be so we don't want to do a huge buy in yet. The distributors we are dealing with now don't have very good quality products. I wanted to put good equipment in it so we bought Directed amps and Cerwin Vega subs online. The sub amp is a D2400 and it's running four Vega vmax 12.2's. I put the system in 45 days ago and everything has been awesome. My friend came in yesterday and his sub amp has quit. The rca inputs are dead. Everything was installed correctly and I can't see any reason why they'd burn out. I put another(el cheapo) amp in it's place and everyting sounds fine. I called directed to get a RA number and they said they wouldn't warranty it because it was purchased online. The store I bought it from advertised new in box with full factory warranty so I thought we were covered. They aren't doing anything about it and it's too late for a charge back. I'm really not the lawsuit type and I don't want my friend to get ripped off either. Are there any directed dealers out there that could warranty this amp for me, or maybe provide me an invoice? I'd be willing to pay shipping and some extra for your time. We didn't make any money on this system and if I have to replace the amp, it has to come out of my pocket. Directed has always been really good in the past and I used to work for a directed dealer a few years ago. I can't believe they're not standing behind their product now. Any help or suggestions would really be appreciated. My email is mdd0127iv at yahoo dot com. Thanks, Danny

Danny, unfortunately you are screwed. Directed requires a copy of the sales invoice and the serial number of the unit to provide warranty on it. If the sales invoice and the serial number do not match up to be an authorized dealer, they will not provide warranty on it. This means that the only recourse you have is to chase after the online e-tailer scourge that took your money. This is a all too common story and one that is not posted about near often enough. Who was the e-tailer that is now refusing to honour their implied warranty?

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Top Secret, I can tell you but then my wife will kill me.

I want to give the etailer and directed a couple more days to make this right. I might end up having to repair this thing myself if no one can help. Maybe I could trace the serial to the authorized dealer that originally sold the amps too. I'll keep this updated.

Directed has no obligation to do anything for you. You bought it on line then it is the responisibilty of the online retailer to warranty the amp for you. It is not DEI's fault that you did not make sure the retailer was an authorized DEI dealer. I guess that is a good first lesson for you guys trying to get into the car audio business. There are crooks every where online. And also, if you guys are a legit business in the car service industry with a resale license you can go to pretty much any car audio distributor and purchase from them with little to no buy-ins. That is the correct way to start your car audio business.

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We have accounts with a few whosalers but I really didn't want to install boss or power acoustic in a show system. The labor wouldn't be worth the products. I went with directed because I really wanted to carry their products. I have been in the car audio business for years and was just trying to expand the income potential of the glass shop that I'm at now. Now the owner has a bad taste in his mouth and really doesn't want to mess with stereos anymore. I can't say I blame him. The seller has a store on ebay with excellent feedback and a ton of transactions. I think directed has an obligation to warranty their products, regardless of where they were purchased. The amp isn't a knock off, was in the factory original sealed box and came with a warranty card. It's not my fault that they don't do anything about transshipping or online sales. It doesn't say anywhere on their site that online purchases aren't covered by warranty. If they change their designs and farm out manufacturing to korea, they still need to stand behind undeniably brand new products. It really wouldn't hurt them one bit to warranty this deal. If they really cared, they could trace the serial number to the authorized dealer that resold the product to an unauthorized seller and impose sanctions. I'm going to bust out the o-scope and fix it but knowing my luck, some proprietary chip is burnt and I'm still screwed.

Wow, just some advice. You are not gonna get far into this industry when you come in thinking manufacturers owe you when you buy off of ebay. No one here is gonna feel sorry for you when DEI does not honor the warranty. YOU need to get a hold of the company that you purchased the amp from and have them take care of it for you. If they dont, then you let Ebay know and see what they can do for you. And there are plenty of distributors that sell name brand audio gear. Real distributors, not these online guys that sell the cheap swap meet crap.

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i dont agree with that one bit....   Directed's obligation is to protect their network of authorized dealers, not the miriad of consumers out there willing to buy anything for the lowest price.....  you bought something from an unauthorized source... don't fault the maunfacturer for that.....  be a big boy, suck it up, and next time spend the effort to VERIFY with the manufacturer BEFORE you buy that you are purchasing from and supporting an AUTHORIZED DEALER....

without wanting to add insult to injury, you may want to re-check your installation... as my experience with Directed products are that they are pretty much bullet proof if properly installed by observing the proper inpedence ratings....

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Kevin Gerry
Certified Electronics Technician
MECP First Class Installer

Owner/Installer
Classic Car Audio
since 1979

Directed's obligation is to manufacture a quality product that doesn't fail in 45 days when professionaly installed and used as it was intended. I can't do anything in ebay, paypal, or with the credit card because this stuff was all purchased 61 days ago. I guarantee the installation is correct. I can post pics if necessary. I'm running the outputs of the A1004 into the input of the D2400. It worked and sounded awesome for over a month. The head unit is a Pioneer DEH-P3600 and I used a scope to set the gains. The reason I went with ebay was to get the absolute best system for my friend for his budget. At first, I had planned the entire system with Planet Audio because it was the best brand carried by one of our distributors. When I got the deposit from him and placed the order, they said they weren't allowed to carry Planet anymore(wasn't the story from the week before when everything was in stock) so I had to come up with something of equal or better quality, fast. I also didn't want to have to deal with warranty issues and thought directed's line of products would be the first direct brand we picked up if the business would support it. I'm not saying that it should be directed's policy to support all products bought anywhere but I do think there should be special consideration for unique cases. I have a plan anyway. I'm going to buy another amp from the douche under a different account and return the crapped out one. If I had made a penny on this deal, I'd man up and buy him a new amp from an authorized dealer but as it stands, I did thirty hours of work, 5 hours of phone calls, and all I got was bad advertising and an unhappy friend.

Just to update. Directed came through. They ended up being very prompt and helpful and completely lived up to my previous experiences with them. It turns out the online seller was a dealer but I'm not sure they were authorized to sell online. They still haven't returned my emails. Directed's warranty dept took care of everything and all I'm out is the shipping. Directed is awseome! I'll upload images of the install soon.

1973 Ford Ranger
All behind the seat with 1 cu ft per sub