Apos customer service?

[kenshone]

Has anyone had deep experience with Apos customer service? Right now, I'm in a situation that they caused and I would like to resolve, but they're taking days to respond to simple requests. For example, I want them to simply state explicitly that they will honor their standard warranty on an item that they mistakenly sent me.

 

[C. Cook]

As a matter of fact I was just talking to a friend who had an SMSL SU-8 DAC he purchased from them fail. When he sent it in for repair/replacement they went completely dark on him. They are not responding to emails and apparently don't provide a telephone number. So they've had his money and his DAC for about a month at this point and he's written them off. The return was sent well before May 25, but he's heard nothing from them since and is unable to get any sort of reply.

My advice to anyone at the moment is to stay FAR away from Apos until they start being responsive to customers.

 

[C. Cook]

Has anyone had deep experience with Apos customer service? Right now, I'm in a situation that they caused and I would like to resolve, but they're taking days to respond to simple requests. For example, I want them to simply state explicitly that they will honor their standard warranty on an item that they mistakenly sent me.

As an update, SMSL has finally responded to my friend and says they are in the process of honoring a warranty request. It's been over a month since he first contacted them. I wonder if they read this site and whether they saw this thread?

 

[Katji]

I wonder if they read this site and whether they saw this thread?

They do, there is at least one representative here, but whether/not they have any system/method (like notification when [SMSL] is mentioned), i don't know.

 

[kenshone]

Yeah, against my better judgment, I purchased another item on Apos. I tried to initiate a return well within the return period, and after several days of silence, they're claiming it's "final sale."

This is the listing for the item: https://apos.audio/products/apos-ce...p-digital-audio-player?variant=42562470248684. I've attached a screenshot in case it changes. Contrast that with the attached screenshots of an ethical HiFi vendor, which I've also attached.

Nowhere does it indicate on the listing that it's a final sale. Maybe it's buried in the fine print (edit: it was). I don't care enough to look, or to fight Apos over this. I'm simply going to stop doing business with them.

If you are so desperate to save some money (and don't get me wrong, I love to save money) that you find yourself on Apos.com, completely disregard their so-called return policies as nonexistent, or be ready to fight tooth and nail to get them to execute their end of the implied contract.

Aside from the rare lowest price, I don't see any need to go to Apos when there are ethical competitors like Headphones.com, Aoshida Audio, Adorama, B&H, Audiophonics etc.

EDIT: Apparently, there's multiple kinds of Apos certified items, and one of them is final sale. If you scroll down and click on the Apos certified banner, it takes you to a detail page for that kind of certification which states somewhere that the sale for the item is final. It still feels slimey, and standard practice is to put "final sale" near the buy button and/or in the checkout page.

 

[C. Cook]

Hmmm...yeah not good. I was just texting with the friend I mentioned in the first reply and he still has not received a replacement. He sent it in back in mid-April, didn't hear any kind of confirmation from them until late May and most recently (a few days ago) they told him they're in the process of doing "paperwork" on their end before they will fulfill the warranty request and ship him a (new? refurbished?) replacement unit. Says they're dragging their feet as much as possible and not being professional or responsive. My advice to anyone else is still stay FAR away from the company until something changes. There is obviously a shortage of workers in most industries right now but this doesn't seem to be the case with Apos given the combination of their (in)actions on warranties and what you discovered about unethical omissions and/or fine print that isn't easy to find.

Wow, I'm adding this edit because I just asked him for more details. Apparently the warranty request was initially made in early MARCH, he shipped the defective unit back to them sometime in early to mid April mid to late March and the return was accepted in late May. Then on about June 21 they said (ONLY after he pestered them a few times) that they are holding the return shipment of the replacement back to him until he "takes care of an invoice." So this has been about a 4 month process for him and as of today they still have not replied with a tracking number or confirmation of shipment, and he has no idea what they mean by this invoice stuff, except probably more foot dragging. Frankly, my friend is in very bad health and this tooth-pulling exercise nearly caused him to just write the whole thing off as a loss, which even at this point it effectively is.

 

[Katji]

Ah, I thought so.

https://help.apos.audio/en-US/how-long-does-shipping-take-29445 ............

Not applicable to the rest of us. We just get from Shenzhen, or maybe Audiophonics if in western Europe.
So I'll just add this to my material to counter the anti-China thread. Along with Danny boy GR and so on.

 

[kenshone]

After some back and forth with customer service, they agreed to take the return and issue a refund. Legally speaking, they had grounds to deny my return request, but I think they made the right decision from a customer service point of view, and for that, they get a lot of credit in my book. I think the whole situation could have been avoided with very clear "final sale" signage throughout the purchase flow, however.

As of today, I've made somewhere between 5 and 10 HiFi purchases on Apos. They seem like they're willing to take steps to ensure their customers are happy, but their responsiveness is on the slower side, as the customer service reps seem to have to get approval from other parts of the company for some decisions, or maybe there are too many customers for their service reps to handle.

After taking in this experience, I will continue to use this vendor when I see a competitively priced item that I want. Just keep in mind that there are multiple tiers of "Apos Certified" and hopefully you can avoid the situation that I just went through.

 

[C. Cook]

After some back and forth with customer service, they agreed to take the return and issue a refund. Legally speaking, they had grounds to deny my return request, but I think they made the right decision from a customer service point of view, and for that, they get a lot of credit in my book. I think the whole situation could have been avoided with very clear "final sale" signage throughout the purchase flow, however.

As of today, I've made somewhere between 5 and 10 HiFi purchases on Apos. They seem like they're willing to take steps to ensure their customers are happy, but their responsiveness is on the slower side, as the customer service reps seem to have to get approval from other parts of the company for some decisions, or maybe there are too many customers for their service reps to handle.

After taking in this experience, I will continue to use this vendor when I see a competitively priced item that I want. Just keep in mind that there are multiple tiers of "Apos Certified" and hopefully you can avoid the situation that I just went through.

Coincidentally I just talked to the guy I mentioned in my first reply. He still hasn't received his warranty replacement product (which they have no legal reason to deny) and it's July 16, four months (!) after he started the process.

 

[Jarrett]

Went to take advantage of 10% at Apos this week. However, after I ordered, and was charged, I learned the product was out of stock (Topping HS01) and won't ship until September 3. They offered a $5 credit, but why would I return? Maybe everything is advertised in-stock until they have your money.

 

[jd_cincy]

Just to pile on here, I returned a couple items and they sat on it for almost 3 weeks until I threatened to contact my CC company to reverse the charge. I had been contacting them every few days, that was the 5th email and I also attempted to use the chat bot once with no luck. After the threat, they refunded my money within an hour. I was originally planning on buying a different device from them, but no longer. I'll wait it out on Amazon.

 

[C. Cook]

Just to pile on here, I returned a couple items and they sat on it for almost 3 weeks until I threatened to contact my CC company to reverse the charge. I had been contacting them every few days, that was the 5th email and I also attempted to use the chat bot once with no luck. After the threat, they refunded my money within an hour. I was originally planning on buying a different device from them, but no longer. I'll wait it out on Amazon.

Only thing I can figure is they're dealing with super low staffing levels and/or the supply chain hiccups are affecting them more severely than others. Hopefully they figure it out soon.

 

[sejarzo]

I don't think it's low staffing, I think they are trying to come off as a US distributor when it's just a front for the operation in China.

I always see an option to chat with a rep when I open the Apos web site now, but when I click on that button, it always says response time will be greater than 15 minutes and gives me the option to ask a question via email. I immediately get a confirmation email that I have asked a question, but in the past two months, that's where it ends.

Back when they started up, it seemed as if the intent was to be a stocking vendor at their location in California. I looked up their original address and it appeared to be a slice of a multi-use commercial building on Lowell Street in Oakland, CA--something on the order of what an electrical or plumbing contractor might have in an urban area. I wasn't too concerned as I thought that if they were just stocking headphones, DACs, and the like, they probably didn't need the sort of warehouse capacity that a vendor of AVRs, speakers etc. might need.

However, I just checked out the new address now posted on their site in Santa Clara and it's not that at all. It's just an office in what looks to be what was originally a motel and is now "executive office suites" of no more than 260 sq ft, on the far back side, with just one parking space.

The Better Business Bureau still shows the Lowell street address in Oakland...along with a 1/5 star rating.

From here on out, I think I will buy through Amazon rather than trust Apos.

 

[sejarzo]

The BBB page for Apos shows it has only one employee in the US (in Oakland, not in Santa Clara) and that Apos failed to respond to any complaints submitted by BBB, giving it an F rating.

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/oakland/profile/audio-visual-equipment/apos-inc-1116-926088

https://www.bbb.org/us/ca/oakland/profile/audio-visual-equipment/apos-inc-1116-926088/complaints

 

[kemmler3D]

Recent mixed experience: Ordered a DX5 Lite, was listed as in stock. A few days later, get an email that it's not in stock and it will be another 2 weeks to ship. They upgraded my shipping speed and gave me a $10 store credit as compensation.

Overall I'd give that a C+. You should have accurate stock levels on your site and ship within 1-2 business days at most. But I give them credit for reaching out to me and offering some kind of compensation.

Would I order again? Not unless I had to. But nobody else showed the unit in stock.

My guess? One or two containers for the US on the first shipment and at least one is stuck in customs. They listed early thinking it would clear, and it didn't. Kind of a rookie / greedy mistake. Customs snags happened to me pretty regularly bringing stuff over at my previous job.

 

[sejarzo]

Here's what is available regarding the firm from the CA Secretary of State. The original form filed when it started doing business suggests that it's a one-man operation.

In 2021, Kumar filed this statement, attesting that there were no changes in the info filed in 2019.

However, the CA SoS site shows that Apos failed to submit the required Statement of Information that was due August 31, 2022:

 

[sejarzo]

Recent mixed experience: Ordered a DX5 Lite, was listed as in stock. A few days later, get an email that it's not in stock and it will be another 2 weeks to ship. They upgraded my shipping speed and gave me a $10 store credit as compensation.

Overall I'd give that a C+. You should have accurate stock levels on your site and ship within 1-2 business days at most. But I give them credit for reaching out to me and offering some kind of compensation.

Would I order again? Not unless I had to. But nobody else showed the unit in stock.

My guess? One or two containers for the US on the first shipment and at least one is stuck in customs. They listed early thinking it would clear, and it didn't. Kind of a rookie / greedy mistake. Customs snags happened to me pretty regularly bringing stuff over at my previous job.

Was it ultimately shipped from the Apos US site or China?

I ordered an "in stock" SMSL A300 a few weeks ago, and it was shipped from China.

 

[C. Cook]

Maybe they banked with SVB?

 

[sejarzo]

Wow, actually got a reply from Apos to a question submitted via chat asking for an email reply.

Carefully note that I use the term "reply" rather than answer...because my question was not answered.

An answer to my question would have been either "Yes, we currently have XX of those in stock in the US" or "We currently have no stock of the SMSL D-6 in the US, so it would be shipped to you directly from Shenzhen."

All I received was fluff, worded to make Apos appear to be much more than a front operated out of a single room in a former motel in Santa Clara.

 

[Entropy]

Here's what is available regarding the firm from the CA Secretary of State. The original form filed when it started doing business. It's a one-man operation.

View attachment 273940

In 2021, Kumar filed this statement, attesting that there were no changes in the info filed in 2019.

View attachment 273946

However, the CA SoS site shows that Apos failed to submit the required Statement of Information that was due August 31, 2022:

View attachment 273947

Good info, thanks bro. I've recently had a terrible experience with them. Currently on week 5 of waiting for a response via email from them despite a bump and sending them a message via chat in a fiasco that started early last November. No response at all. For good measure, I made sure to check their chat on a different device on a different network. I sent them two messages, switching network and browser each time. The first was a direct sales-related request. They got back to me swiftly. The second one was a menial question about a topping dac I said that I had ordered from them. It's been five hours on that one. LOL