If you value Customer Service, NEVER buy a Denon DJ Product

This post originally from this reddit thread.

I dearly enjoyed using my Denon Prime 4, having upgraded from a DDJ-SR, the All-in-one 4-Channel deck was a beast by comparison. Unfortunately one of the LCD jogwheel screens went kaput while I was transferring music to the Internal Hard Drive. I only had it for maybe two months of ownership by this point, so I decided to proceed with an RMA to get it fixed. I wholeheartedly regret that decision right now.

So I made this forum post over two months ago before deciding to go through with an RMA. I was waiting to see if I could get any input from an Admin or Staff member but literally zero members reached out to me. Check the comment section and only a few other users gave their two cents on what to do. I made this thread on /r/DenonPrime to maybe get some extra feedback but they all said to contact support.

So I head over to the support page and filled out this form. I waited over a week with zero response back to my email or phone number so I decided to fill out the form again and send another request. Another week goes by without any response, so I decided to call the Phone Number on the right hand of the page. Some dude called Al immediately picked up (immediate is emphasized, we’ll explain why later) and apologized for the emails that haven’t been answered. He provided me with the Packing Slip and RMA number and I officially dropped it off at FedEx on July 14th, where it was delivered a week later on July 21st.

After two entire weeks of being at the Warehouse I haven’t received any calls or emails regarding a status update of my RMA. Remember how I said when Al picked up it was immediate? Every subsequent call I made since my unit has been at the warehouse, I have been placed on hold for over 40 minutes before speaking to someone. Even going as long as more than an hour. The first person I managed to get in contact with, dudes name was Sam, told me that my unit was actually getting ready to be shipped back later today! Great! I asked him for a tracking number and he said he would email it to me later in the day. A whole ass day goes by with no response. I call back, wait like 40 minutes on hold, then a man named Nick picks up the phone. He puts me on another 20 minute hold to inquire ■■■ was going on and why it was taking so long to find a damn tracking number. Turns out Sam from yesterday was lying! My Prime 4 was scheduled to be replaced but they did not have any stock at all in the warehouse so instead they ordered a replacement piece to try and repair my unit instead (which I would’ve preferred in the first place because if you browse the forums you would know this is somewhat of a common issue). But basically Sam lied about the unit being shipped out and now I have to wait possibly another week while they start to fix my damn controller.

I tried going to the Official Facebook Group to see someone could help me out there. The page said to DM them. I copied and pasted my original post into their message board. Guess what? They never replied.

A week and a half later, still no status updates, I decided to call back (this is August 25th, yesterday of this post and over one month since the unit has been at their warehouse). A man named Jesus answers and tells me that the unit is actually getting shipped out later today! Great! Can I have a tracking number please?! “I’ll call you right back with that information later today chief”… Surprise, Surprise. I never got called back.

So about 10 minutes before I started writing this lengthy post furiously, I called back and got in contact with another guy (forgot his name, hard to keep track at this point) and he tells me after a brief hold that the warehouse was unable to repair my unit and they were planning to replace the unit but after one entire ■■■■■■■ month THEY STILL DON’T HAVE ANY STOCK IN THE WAREHOUSE .

TL;DR: So just to recap, Denon refused to reply to me on their official forums, Ignored their emails, never sent me status updates of my $1,800 unit in their possession, LIED TO ME TWICE ABOUT SHIPPING MY UNIT BACK TO ME , and are now over their promised “2-4 week turnaround” policy.

The thing is, I genuinely enjoy what Denon DJ is trying to accomplish as the underdog in a market that’s been almost entirely monopolized by Pioneer for the last two decades. Their products are genuinely innovating, and while I had my Prime 4 I had various other fellow DJ’s tell me that they were seriously impressed by the gear. It wasn’t perfect but it was a step above in feature sets what any comparable Pioneer unit has to offer at a more competitive price point. This Customer Service sham needs to be addressed faster than Prime Engine OS was because this ■■■■ is meaningless if they can’t promise to hold customers faith for their semi-unreliable hardware mishaps.

I just want to get my controller back already and spin some epic releases that came out in this packed month. Thank you for reading, feel free to share for exposure.

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There is a TL;DR towards the bottom if you would like a very brief summary.

Also, lying about my unit being shipped out twice has absolutely nothing to do with COVID. InMusic Brands is very disorganized.

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Is there any particular reason you did not deal with this via the shop/dealer?

Maybe things are different here because warranty stuff (even extending to some out of warranty troubles) is usually sorted out with the shop.

Sorry to hear about your not so great experience.

Hopefully you get sorted soon.

I bought this from iDJNow off of eBay with the Flight Case Bundle. It was reasonable to believe that the Denon RMA team themselves have more knowledge on the issue than the vendors that are just selling the product.

Your warrenty is with Denon but you always go through your vender. Unless they don’t want to help and that’s when I’ve seen Denon step in and help. You need to go through who sold it to you.

They will deal with manufacturer on your behalf.

They may also be in the position to send you a loaner.

Some may offer a swap out if they have stock.

And you can always do a claim to get your money back against them if you are not happy. (In my neck of the woods)

Hi @S0UNDH0UND - Very sorry to read this and I wholeheartedly apologize for your subpar experience. As a consumer myself, I understand that product support and service are key elements of a successful product and a reputable brand. Your experience is not how we want our customers to feel when purchasing a product from us. I hope that you’ll allow me to do what I can to turn this experience around for you.

I know the last thing you want to hear is that COVID may have had an impact on your experience but sadly, it is the truth. Like many other companies around the globe, the pandemic has affected different aspects of our business but we’ve been working hard to minimize that impact for our customers. Sadly there are exceptions, like yourself. With that said, that doesn’t justify someone providing you with false information regarding your replacement. I’ve shared your feedback with our support team management and they will take appropriate action to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

In regards to your unit, I’m certain the service team is doing their best to get the product back in your hands ASAP but I will gladly check to ensure that is the case. Would you mind sending me a PM with your contact info so I can check on that for you?

You raise a good point about the lack of reply on the forum so, I’m going to look into an alert system to ensure posts that require attention (like yours) aren’t missed again. For now, please tag @JWiLL for anything urgent and I’ll reply as soon as I can.

I really appreciate you taking the time to share your experience. Your feedback will help us course correct and improve our overall customer experience.

Best regards,

Jason

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Excellent response, in my opinion - thanks Jason.

I sent you a PM through here and on Reddit. Thank you @JWiLL . Looking forward to getting a Prime 4 back in the household soon.

Pleased your getting it sorted.

Please keep us updated on this thread of how your replacement is progressing: it might be helpful for all of us to know the story from start to finish (although I hope I never have to send my P4 for repair :fearful: :anguished:).

I had my P4 repaired on 7/7 to a SAT (http://www.eluaudio.com/) because the 2 jog failed that did not respond well, and I am still waiting for an answer, it seems that they have gone on vacation and they haven’t said anything, so almost two months with no response and what’s left.

I have a problem with my prime 4 since the last 1.5.1 update After a few days the function to connect to Beatport Link is locking the device and causing it to restart without connecting to the service. I created a topic in the forum on the subject, someone called Reese replied that he would have made a report about the bug to the developers and the topic was closed immediately afterwards with no answer !!! I also contacted technical support via e-mail 2 times and received no response !!! I’m paying for my Beatport Link account and I can’t use the service on my prime 4. Disappointed with the technical support too !!

OBS. I have already upgraded to firmware 1.5.2 which according to a note would correct some reported bugs and the problem persists.

It could take weeks or months for a dev team to release different firmware

I haven’t seen any forum reports of the same problem with other users, I don’t know if it was just me! The lack of information about what may have happened or a possible correction is a frustration!

If it was just you, where would extra information come from though?

Hi :raising_hand_man:

The corresponding bug report is located in the beta section and confirmed by devs.

So it is definitely on the agenda. I have the same issue on the SC6000 and Prime2, so I’ll be watching closely. On the SC5000 it doesn’t happen btw.

But we are hijacking another topic here!

Through the emails I sent to TECHNICAL SUPPORT. I didn’t get any response from them, that’s a lack of respect for the user !!!

Thank you Reese !! My dissatisfaction with the technical support continues, since I did not get any response to the emails sent reporting the problem. I know that fixing any bug is not so simple, but a simple answer like “we are working on it” would be enough !!!

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Just to be clear JWill, This is NOT a limited issue, I too have sent multiple support requests with zero response over literally four months prior to warranty expiration, and have spent hours on hold with customer service and had nothing happen.

Conveniently after all the delays my device is now outside of its warranty. The saddest thing is this is a MASSIVE piece of kit that anyone would and should be happy to own, yet the truly poor customer service and total lack of accountability or even ability to respond to seemingly ANY customer issues is just sad.

The whole RMA process for a piece of gear like this seems backwards too, as a Canadian this device winds up costing about 2500$, you’d think you’d be sending us replacements and sorting out the RMA (especially for hardware issues INSIDE warranty!) but again, thats expecting even a modicum of a reply or response from anyone at your company, not having to wait weeks without a piece of kit that for most is the centre of their experience, and not typically something you can do without for weeks, to months at a time.

Do better.

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