Hi all
Wanted to share this big surprise.
As many of you know, I've had and still have problems with my Audya. Yesterday I received an e-mail which made me speechless. In my inbox was an offer from our friend Tony. He offers me to swap his full working Audya, with mine, with all its problems. He will send his Audya to me first, and then I’ll send him mine. I had to read this mail several times. I got to know Tony here on SZ, and I know that he is an amazing person. He has helped me again and again with my keyboard. He has done what Ketron didn’t do. But to make an offer like this is very special. A part of me says, accept this offer, and my KB problems are gone, but my conscience tells me that this is not correct. An offer like this should come from those who are responsible for the issues that I have, and not from a private person. I've told Tony that I appreciate his offer very much, and that I might go for it later. But first, I think I should wait a bit to try to put more pressure on Ketron and see what happens. One thing is for sure, I did not know there were people like this left in this world where only money counts.
skude

Skude,

We have never met with each other and emailing you over the past 6 months I feel I have known you as a friend for a long time. I do have a very serious problems when I see someone been taken for a ride and you have been taken to some tune. I for one am not prepared to stand by and watch, Frank, CMC or Ketron let this go on any longer. I am in a much better position to get your KB fixed then I will keep it. The offer still stands Skude if and when you are ready and I would not go on too longer with these people, I have seen and heard enough excuses to last me a life time about you Audya. I don’t gig with mine so it will not be missed. I was going to suggest that we wait until the new sounds come out I can load them on and then send you the Kb, but that could be another year. They all need to be completely ashamed of themselves all three. Mia colpa, Mia colpa, Mia colpa,

Yours Sincerely
Tony Hughes



[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 07-05-2010).]

Uh, Tony. I just lost a lot of money at the racetrack. The kids aren't speaking to me and my wife is threatening divorce. Normally I wouldn't be asking but.........
BTW, my account, though currently empty, will accept direct wire transfers. The acct.# is 0123456789. A quick response would be appreciated. Oh, I forgot to mention; I'm pretty sure Ketron had something to do with my track losses. I have no concrete proof but there WAS an Audya playing in the background.

Your VERY good friend,

chas

Chas,

Glad you see the funny side of it, we have got to laugh Chas or we would be in the nutty block! Is America up yet!

Kind Regards

Tony

[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 07-05-2010).]

chas
I usually try to see things from the fun side, but after a year, I'm running out of fun. My account is like yours, empty, and I hate to see the line on my statement that says: Wire transfer for Audya $5000
skude

Well, what would that amount be if you bought it here in Norway at the time you got it?
Twice as much! (Double eek) Today it would "only" be aprox $8000 ......

Did you speak to Norsk Musikk about the problems again?

Cheers
GJ


Btw,
Tony, if your PA2X are placed up against the wall and not in use, I think I could find
some room for it along withe the G-70.
Well, I mean, as you're shipping Audya across the NorthSea, it should not travel alone...

Cheers

Jonny,

When Skude has my Audya I will be using the Korg until I get the MS, then we can talk then OK.

Tony

Seriously Tony, I am just as Skude are, speachless reading about the kind offer you gave him.
Hat off, deep bow !!!

Regarding PA2, there has been, and still are to find items fairly low priced, but as I also
is very keen and waiting for Audya to reach the status predicted at first, stable and solid,
at the moment something holds me back from further action.
If I could look into the future, I would never sell my SD1. I regret that very much.

Anyway, be attentive about taxes like VAT when/if ship Audya.

Cheers
GJ

Skude,

One of the major problems shipping an Audya is the box it comes in, it is so big it is embarrassing and mine went in the trash a minute after I unpacked it. Anyway I have been on the phone for 30 mins and found one, about 80 miles away. I have told the chap not to get rid of it, so I have the KB and the box. Whilst you are having a dig at the incredible threesome about a new KB., which will come to nothing, have a serious chat with customs and see if you can find out how we set up the swap out. It’s a one for one so there should be no tax.


Regards
Tony


[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 07-05-2010).]

I'm a little confused why Tony would include Frank (AudioworkCT)as a part of the blame. Was Skude Audya purchased at Frank's store?

Mc,

I'm afraid he did buy it from Frank!

Sad, really sad.

I don't think Frank is personally at fault in all of this though do you? Ketron Italy is the main culprit because they haven't supplied the necessary support or parts to mitigate and solve skude's Audya problems.

If Frank's hands are tied because Ketron Italy won't come through on their end then that leaves Frank helpless to rectify the situation or to even help out. Frank's shop shouldn't be held culpable in skude's ongoing situation in my opinion.

On the other hand, Ketron Italy and Ketron U.S. should be held accountable, but what can you do when the company and its U.S. distributor are thousands of miles away and/or continue to defy support for their own products on a respectable, consistent basis?

What everyone should learn from this spectacle is to STAY FAR FAR AWAY FROM KETRON PRODUCTS and don't touch them with a ten foot pole unless you want to be out thousands of dollars of your hard earned money with NOTHING to show for it. Or possibly Pay and then "Pray" you get a good one. I mean, if your five thousand plus dollar supposedly top of the line keyboard is full of bugs and has other serious issues and problems and Ketron won't fix it, it's basically like having a $5,000.00 plus dollar paper weight lying around that is essentially good for NOTHING, right?

Ketron could be getting ready to call it quits and perhaps are in the process of shutting down and shuttering their doors even as we speak. Technics shut their doors rather suddenly too (to everyone's surprise) and towards the end support tended to dry up as well if I'm not mistaken. My advice is to stick with the Big Three (or Casio) and then pray they don't go belly up too. Yamaha will definitely be around for a long time and same goes for Roland since they are #1 & #2 in size and monetary soundness. Although Roland desperately needs to release a new TOTL arranger soon or they may encounter a mass defection by customers if they fail to do so in my opinion. Korg, on the other hand, is rather small in size by comparison and they're probably more at risk of going under during these tough global economic times than either Yammie or Roland are. Here's a thought? What would life be like for us musicians without having the availability of any arrangers or other type(s) of keyboards for sale on the world market? Zip, Nada, Zilch! If the global financial meltdown keeps getting worse and worse we may find out. Perish the thought, right?

All the best,
Mike

Mike I can only agree with you about the Ketron part of your post...the rest seems very imaginary...Frank has always been nothing less then Top NOTCH as a friend and dealer & in NO WAY responsible for what keeps occurring with Audya owners. They have made up their minds to buy the product even with all the problems stated all over the Internet, they have heard the unit on demos & you tube etc, and let the chips fall where they may. I personally saw the very first Audya in Louisiana demonstrated by AJ & was temped to buy also..but a little birdie told me to wait and I'm glad I did. I wish no ill fate on whomever has one, good drums & bass isn't worth this aggravation, I just feel bad this is happening to my fellow musicians out there. I Know that I would be VERY PISSED for sure.The Owners should really make a statement on their website for owners also to explain why.... Here hoping better days are ahead for Ketron owners.

Mike,

Thanks for that and your support, but the answer to your question must be yes, Frank is fully embedded in the loop with CMC and Ketron and there is no way out. If this was going to a court of law Skude bought the Audya from Frank and Frank is first in line of fire, he then needs to bring CMC and Ketron to book on this. I know it sound a bit mercenary but the way Ketron will look at it is simple, CMC made money and so did Frank, so sort it out between you! Alas no one has sorted it out.

Regards

Tony

Tony..you are wrong..in a court of law..Frank the dealer fulfilled his obligation...Orchestrated the deal between Ketron and the buyer...His contract was to supply a new Audya with a factory warranty for a certain price..He delivered and fulfilled his contract...Dealers can and usually do try to help to speed up the warranty process..but they can only connect the parties involved...Moving to another country can be a conflict of warranty ..and that is up to Ketron and their policies..

Frank is clear legally and ethically....but you can bet your last dollar he would still be willing to do what he "can" do...

Fran,

I am sure he will still do all he can, that’s what Skude is still hoping for, Fran here in the UK, the credit card company would give Skude his money back, but here the writ would be served on the person who sold the KB. Is it different in the states. Skude should not be chasing Ketron direct, anything they do for him direct will be a bonus, but I am not holding my breath. Their past record is not very good, not just my words, lots of complaints about Ketron on SZ.


Tony

I put a laptop that would not get past boot-up in what VISA calls a dispute. They told me to send the laptop back to the party that sent it to me. In 30 days I had a credit for the full amount on my VISA. I think I did this in a couple of weeks after my GURU couldn't figure it out. I don't know if there's a time limit to put something in dispute with VISA or not. I might add that this was through Pay Pal. Pay Pay asked me not to do this but that next time put the dispute in with them. However, I heard that they takes months to resolve a dispute.

Fran,

I don’t understand that philosophy – if you buy a compact Ford from your local dealer and it needs work doing under guarantee, the dealer does the work – Ford supply the parts free and the dealer charges set rates back to ford to do the work, that’s the way it works in the UK. And that’s the way that Ketron will work with the exception of paying for the likes of Frank to do the work on the KB, they won’t want to pay Frank anything, the reason is simple they are not as big as Ford and Ford are slick at what they and it works, BTW people don’t take Fords back to the factory and hand them back in and get their money back and neither do Audya owners.

Tony, the difference is the repairs are done by authorized repair centers...Most of the "Ford" dealers would be qualified service centers...in the Musical Instrument dealers..not all..in fact the majority are not authorized repair centers..Each manufacturer has qualifications thae the service center needs to become a "authorized" repair center...

Skudes case is a little more complicated than most.

He brought the instrument in the USA, but lives in Norway.

The Norway distributor is not going to be over inclined to help as he has not been paid to support this particular customer. He certainly could not afford to exchange the Audya with stock he has brought himself..

The law does not require the USA distributor to help because Skude is not in the USA.

So on paper Skude is left alone. But morally he shouldn't be. If Skude had brought the Audya from one of our dealers in the UK and moved to Norway we would first make an offer of any parts he might need (which would be with him within days) Or if there was no qualified person to fit the parts we would insist he return the Audya to us for repair (postage at his cost). The situation would be resolved within a week or two at the most.

If he had lived and stayed in the UK we would have just swapped the keyboard over, its the easiest and least frustrating option.

TWD,

Skude will be smarting when he reads this, Skude next year come to the UK for your hoildays and get a fair deal! BTW TWD you do know that when Skude saw and heard the Audya in the USA he fell in love with it and had to take it home with him, he would never have thought it would end up likes this, would you. Is he to blame in any way for this, it looks like he is, no one is taking a blind bit of notice of him. They all wish he would just crawl in a hole somewhere. Ketron Italy know what is going on.

[This message has been edited by Tony Hughes (edited 07-07-2010).]

No, this case is done more complicated than nessesary.
Support should be given wherever you buy and regardless where you live.
Ketron are the ones who give the warranty, and they should care by use
whatever representative or distributor needed to help customers.
At the end, if things treated right, it's not dealer or importer and
certainly not the customer who should have to take any of the cost, it
is Ketron.

Cheers
GJ

AMEN!!!

No manufacturer can afford to be shipping keyboards around the world to people that have problems. (in fact you try getting a warranty repair done on your Nikon if you brought it outside your country)

Sorry but some of you don't have a clue how a support system works.

I am not blaming Skude for the odd situation at all. The truth is it should never have reached the point that he had to contact Ketron Italy. It was a little more complicated than usual because of his location and where he brought it from but these are things that can easily be sorted - the world is not that big!

Once Ketron Italy were told of the problem how long did it take them to react? just days.

Tony,

I'm not sure what I did to you that would have you include me the chain of problems.

I have done everything I can for Skude to a certain point.

Skude is on contact with me and I have done what I can since he is in another country shipping anything is a crazy expensense.

You also seem to think I made a killing off of selling Skude a Audya, you may have been ripped off on price, but I sold it to Skude at a great price.

I read Skude might be traveling to the states, this is something I might be able to work with him on. Not you, but him

Skude, email me and we can talk

I might need a break from here.

------------------
www.AudioworksCT.com

TWD,

I have 4 Nikon cameras, when buy a Nikon camera it comes with a multi page book in yellow, it's a passport, it come with this and a very very very comprehensive technical manual also. The yellow book is the camera’s passport and it will give you the right to have the camera repaired anywhere in the World FOC. You picked a hell of a bad comparison there TWD, do you want to try Samsung now and then Sony. You are all trying every bloody excuse in the book and none of it cuts any ice with me, I will end up giving my Audya to Skude that will be his only hope. So there is the difference, Nikon and manual to die for and the assurance that the manufacturer will honor the guarantee wherever you buy their product, no bitching, whining or gnashing of teeth! TWD you and I know that if something went wrong with my Audya and I knew nothing about electronics, I would be struggling to find someone in the North West UK to put it right, there are some fine quirks in Ketron software that most KB engineers would not have a clue and it is not at all documented by Ketron. Loading ROM back up is only one. These are things you don’t know about when you buy an Audya. It’s like going out with another women when you are married, you are seduced by her and don’t even consider what will happen when her husband finds out or your wife. This is another one hell of a bad compassion, because everybody knows exactly what’s going to happen, it will end in tears, just like this. TWD it does look like the World is much too big for Skude.

Hi guys
What I have said is that I have not been very happy about the way the US distributor has handle this case. If they have problems dealing with the factory, and that's why everything works so slow, they could at least told me what was going on. Ketron Italy did act pretty quick sending me those parts. I have told them that my Audya still has the issues as before, and I'm waiting for their answer. I have updated them several times. It's been 9 days since I've heard from them, and I have to admit I'm a little worried that this takes so long. If I can't get these problems solved this month I'm really in a bad situation, from August I'm very busy. When it comes to warranty questions I think it's rather stupid if you don't have warranty if you go to another country. What about all those that buys in europe, because they cannot get their gear in their own country. The other day I talked to this musician from LA, he had been playing in europe for several years, only been back home once. Most of his gear was bought in the US. BTW I have no issues with Frank, he knows, and he never said I had no warranty since I went to europe. I will let you know when/if I hear from Ketron.
skude

[This message has been edited by skude (edited 07-08-2010).]

One more thing. It would be great to know if Ketron still works on my Audya problem. I know they can be busy at the time, but I would think they read their mail. A few words back telling that they're on to it, OR just ask me to go away, would be great, than I'll know were I stand. I think no reponse is the worst.
skude

If the manufacturer can't afford to support the customers, they don't afford
to ave any customers at all!
They don't have to ship keyboards in other way than usually when distribute.

Well,
maybe some of us don't know all about how support works, but we know how it
should work to be in accordance with what we get to know when buy stuff.

Regarding "case Skude", it is representatives in Norway as well, Ketron could
just handle it from there. But probably a problem for Ketron when they know
Audya cost almost twice of the cost in USA here?

Cheers
GJ

please don't twist my words to say that the factory cannot afford to support customers, that is utter hogwash and not what I wrote at all.

Skude. Ketron asked you to be patient whilst they looked into the intermitant problem (these are hard to solve). They do not need to contact you again just to say they are still looking into it. 9 days is very little time for this. Have you told the Norway distributor though?

As for warranties not being valid outside the country the instrument was designed for. This is standard practise across the board and its how the law states it.

I brought a Professional digital camera from germany some years ago. It was the same for me, and the UK distributor would not even supply an owners manual when I told the the seiral number. It is to try and protect each countries finacial interests I guess.

Another major company I do service work flatly refuse to honour any warranty for products purchased outside of the UK and customers have to pay the going rate for repairs. They are within their rights to do this and I fully agree with the policy. People should buy from the country they live in (although I understand Skudes situation is a little different.)

In the case of Skude and Ketron Italy - they have offered to help him - so why are people complaining????


[This message has been edited by Tonewheeldude (edited 07-08-2010).]

TWD
Ketron never asked me to be patient or told me they are working on my case. After replacing the parts I told them I still have problems, then they told me to check some cable connectors. It didn't help which I told them june 28. After that I never heard from them. So I really don't know what's going on. You may know things I don't. The guy at the distributor service senter went on vacation the day after he sent me the parts. I can see august comming and me still standing by waiting, if I didn't gig I wouldn't care if took a few more months.
skude

I have to say Tony's offer was a nice jester but maybe it should have been kept privite.

Also unless you have Tony on retainer as your attorney maybe it’s not best to have him evolved with you and your business dealings with Frank. Frank is a great guy and I'm sure that he will do his best to assist you. I also think it is extremely unfair to Frank and his business that he has to defend himself on a public forum for something he can't control. The product is now in Norway, which does not help as far as U.S. warrantee issues, etc.

just my 2 cents

[This message has been edited by mc (edited 07-08-2010).]

MC,

I have said all I am going to say on the matter. You point of veiw is not discarded.

Thank you

Tony

mc
I tried to post somthing nice for once. When people try to help I think it's great, not many left. This has nothing to do with Frank, he is a great guy, always tried to help. As far as I know I never said anything to hurt Frank or his business. We have worked together on this, without any problems, as far as I know. No one ever said I had no warranty since I brought the KB to europe, that has never been a issue. Glad you're not my dealer or distributor. Sorry I cannot control other peoples opinion, and many SZoner's just like to pour gas on the fire.
skude

you totally missed the point, good luck with your Audya!

I don't really care.I do need the good luck though, thanks.
skude

I responded before knowing the whole story apparently and for that I apologize. So Ketron has sent the parts to skude but the parts don't work?? or at least he can't get them to work anyway. Since there apparently is no factory service center in Norway skude is between a rock and a hard place unfortunately and we all feel his pain.

Sending the Audya directly to Ketron Italy is a proposition to consider though and if Ketron is forthright in their business practice(s) they should cheerfully pay for full shipping costs besides fixing the Audya au gratis as well. Although since Ketron has yet to respond to skude's continuing problems this may be a sign they are indeed shying away from taking any further responsibility. We'll see... but hopefully they won't end up giving up on him. That, my friends, would be a travesty in the first degree and would keep me from ever purchasing a Ketron product in the future. Which probably makes Ketron ecstatic by the way.

Sad, very sad. Hopefully Ketron will do the right thing and get it resolved for skude ASAP.

All the best,
Mike

Keybplayer,
Amen to that,put in a nutshell.
Gilbert.

If you sad that and lived in America you would've been in FBI's headquarters by now...
them thinking you are planning to blow something up...it sux in here.

And I hope we continue ...and tighten up a bit more..
There is no need to let violence run free in the USA...both..by our own people and terrorist..

Let's get tougher and cut down on this nonsense....those that don't like it..our borders are open (apparently) both ways..

My advice: Do the switch, but give Tony the option to switch back just in case it is an Audya problem.

Skude did you ever get the Audya?

Dnj
No! didn't have to. After of year with lots of pain, here the comes the big update. My life became so much better. Frank was great, shipped me the "pen" soon as he got it, was here in no time. After that I started a new life. Compared to what I had, my Audya is like a new KB. I know that some things can be made better, but it looks like Ketron are heading in the right direction.
skude