[Seth Warshavsky]

I went for the V2 upgrade program on Friday and what a JOKE, I paid my 699 USD and followed the instructions on the website. After paying an additional 100 USD to DHL my V1's back to them they emailed me and told me to send them to a different address then the one published on their website. They also told me if I declared them for more than 50 USD I would be responsible for paying the import taxes. Further they informed me I would not receive a new HE1000v2 retail set just the headphones and cables (so I can never sell or trade them because I wont have a box or the accessories). This is an absurd joke. I emailed them back and said this is not acceptable they have already been sent, and they simply said please recall the package and re-ship it. So I called DHL and paid another 100 USD to have them pull the package off the plane and change the shipping address and declared value. So now I'm into this upgrade for 900 USD.
 
I have emailed Yangang and Dr Fang, and explained how absurd it is to publish the wrong instructions on the website, and to cause me to pay double shipping and to charge nearly 1000 USD with shipping for a non retail version of the headphones, as they are really only worth 50% of the true value than. Customer service has said they will talk to management and try to accommodate my request, if they don't I am thinking about posting of my experience on every audiophile forum in existence. This is beyond poor customer service, it's borderline incompetence. The wrong shipping instructions still remain on their website today, so they obviously could care less how many people they inconvenience and cause to pay double shipping because of their laziness to update with the correct instructions. I could easily sell my V1s and buy V2s for less then the 1000 USD I have spent in this horrible nightmare of a situation, and I would have a brand new retail box, not just headphones and cables.


I sincerely hope they do the right thing and send me the retail version and not just the headphones and cables. Or they will be reimbursing me for my shipping costs, refunding me and I will simply sell my V1s and buy V2s for half the cost of this upgrade (nightmare) process.


I strongly urge you not to do the upgrade unless they change the policy to provide a retail V2 kit, you will never be able to sell your V2's or trade them in the future. Your better off sticking with the V1's or selling them on HeadFi and buying new V2's it's cheaper and you get the full retail kit. Then in the future if you want LCD-4s or Utopias you can easily sell your V2's and make the change, you cannot do that without a box and accessories. HifiMan has made this upgrade extremely overpriced, a very poor value (by excluding the packaging which is essential if you ever want to get rid of your v2's), and insanely overly costly and complicated by posting the wrong shipping instructions on their website.
 
Just be sure you know what your getting into before you hit the purchase button, because it's certainly not what you would expect.
 
S

 

[Seth Warshavsky]

And the told me to F&*( my self:
 
Dear Seh,
Sorry for the inconvenience we brough you.
We feel sorry that the insufficiennt information we provide during the main page of the HE1000 V2 update program. And we have deal with it.
Besides, thank you very much for your efforts to chang this shipment successfully.
And we also telll out HK dealer about your situatuion and they will pick up your package safely.
However, we feerl sorry that we cannot provide you a full style of the updating.
Sorry for that, If you have any questions, feel free to tell us,
Have a nice day.


Best regards
Ryne

 

[Seth Warshavsky]

And the chief ASS in charge has spoken!
 
Bear in mind I got charged an extra 100 USD in shipping because they published the wrong address on their website that's what I asked for a refund on!
 
No we can not refund. If you like to cancel your order, we will send your original he1000 back.
Fang

 

[Seth Warshavsky]

It looks like HifiMan is going to do the right thing and rectify the problem for me. I will keep you updated with the post.
 
I would email them to clarify what you will be recieving, prior to upgrading if a box and retail packaging is important to you.
 
customerservice@hifiman.com

S

 

[TeamHiFiMAN]

Hi Everyone,
 
First of all, thank you for all your feedback. We sincerely apologize for all confusing information came from our customer service. Now we are fixing all the problem and improving our communication between different departments. In fact, we have mailed all dealers about how to provide upgrade service to the customers in Europe and Pan Pacific. Please be kindly aware that the dealers will charge you for their service. That's why we suggest you to upgrade through our online program. 
 
Now most of the comparison picture cannot fully show how much we improved the quality of the metal surface, plug jack, and the lacquer on the wood cup of HE1000 V2. We are trying to offer better product for our users. Hope everyone can understand and trust us. HIFIMAN grows with your support.
 
Thank you very much!

 

[Seth Warshavsky]

Just to reiterate it appears HifiMan has stepped up and resolved all of my issues for me, I will confirm when I actually recieve my upgrade, but they have agreed to accommodate me do to all of the mixups in my case. I believe they are genuinely trying to do the right thing, and there was just poor communication initially.

S

I will update shortly.

 

[Makiah S]

Just to reiterate it appears HifiMan has stepped up and resolved all of my issues for me, I will confirm when I actually recieve my upgrade, but they have agreed to accommodate me do to all of the mixups in my case. I believe they are genuinely trying to do the right thing, and there was just poor communication initially.

S

I will update shortly.

Please let me know how they resolved it.
 
I had issues with my HM 801 in years past an customer care was very helpful back then...

 

[Seth Warshavsky]

They offered to refund for my additional shipping fees, and I said I would just prefer to recieve a retail kit of th HEKv2 as I uderstood I would be getting when I made the purchase due to the lack of clarity on the website, and they obliged.  So ultimately they did the right thing, the path getting there was a little rocky, but I'm happy with the outcome and will still buy HifiMan in the future.  I have to say I'm still burning in the V2s so I cant give a real assessment yet, but they don't strike me as very different from the V1s at initial impression. Just a bit smaller, and the cups seem a bit smaller, but I can't notice any other differences. The cables definitely, but i have several very expensive upgrade cables that sound fantastic with the V1s so I don't think I'll even bother trying the cables. I'll post my real impressions after the burn in for 3-4 days. I won't even listen until then, I want to give them a fair assessment. My initial impression is just based upon look and feel.
 
S

 

[Makiah S]

That's good to hear, my initial problem with the HE X when I had it was the look an feel of it, an I understood that the HE K V1 was a bit better, but not by much
 
so hopefully, the V2 feels much better than it's predecssor 

 

[Maxx134]

I know this is old post but just like to update to say my upgrade came in a small non retail box which was no big deal and I still have the original HEK case to put it in, which they make you keep and not return when upgrading to V2.

 

[Makiah S]

I know this is old post but just like to update to say my upgrade came in a small non retail box which was no big deal and I still have the original HEK case to put it in, which they make you keep and not return when upgrading to V2.

good of them to make you keep that nice big box! I'd imagine it helps to cut down on shipping costs, using a simple retail box