DO NOT go to CIA Engineering for amp repair

[SlickCMRick 10+ year member]

Remember what I was saying about DHL? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Yeah........hopefully they lost it though

I have $400 of insurance on that bad boy. It costed me 10 bucks to ship that thing.//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif

 

[jeepintn 10+ year member]

instead of starting another thread on CIA, ill just use this one...

to start with, many of you know the xx-goliath i bought from bigoso and the problems i have had with it ever since. originally, after a few minutes of play, it went into hard protect and i had to send it to CIA for repair. from the time i shipped it, to the time i got it back was around 3 weeks, not bad imo.

well, after receiving it back, it only worked for about 5 minutes, then went back into hard protect with the same symptoms it had when i originally sent it to them. so, i called them up, talking to JK about it, and he tells me maybe another mofset they didnt originally repair was at its breaking point and just popped soon after i played it hard. so im like, ok, maybe, so i sent it back to him, this was on November 14. they received it in 4 days, fedex delivery confirmation confirmed this.

so, i know they say sometimes they are busy and it might take up to 4 weeks to get to it, so i patiently waited for word on it, never getting it. i wrote a couple emails, never got replied to. finally, i got an email on dec 14, saying that only one mofset was blown and it would be repaired that weekend, the 15-16. well, after not hearing anymore about it, i wrote another email on dec 26, asking simply for information as to what the holdup is, maybe there was a parts backup or something? i actually got a response, saying there was a parts delay on the mofset and that it would definitely be completed by january 2. well, needless to say, i didnt hear from them on the 2nd or 3rd, so today i said f**k the email, im gonna call. now he gives me some line about pcb drivers or something, more parts(even though he said originally it was only one mofset) were on order and now the earliest it will be done is jan 18. this is just poor customer service. originally i would have and probably did in a few threads recommend CIA, but i am now DEFINITELY against CIA, and would recommend anyone thinking about sending an amp to them to rethink and consider some alternatives.

/rant

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

instead of starting another thread on CIA, ill just use this one...
to start with, many of you know the xx-goliath i bought from bigoso and the problems i have had with it ever since. originally, after a few minutes of play, it went into hard protect and i had to send it to CIA for repair. from the time i shipped it, to the time i got it back was around 3 weeks, not bad imo.

well, after receiving it back, it only worked for about 5 minutes, then went back into hard protect with the same symptoms it had when i originally sent it to them. so, i called them up, talking to JK about it, and he tells me maybe another mofset they didnt originally repair was at its breaking point and just popped soon after i played it hard. so im like, ok, maybe, so i sent it back to him, this was on November 14. they received it in 4 days, fedex delivery confirmation confirmed this.

so, i know they say sometimes they are busy and it might take up to 4 weeks to get to it, so i patiently waited for word on it, never getting it. i wrote a couple emails, never got replied to. finally, i got an email on dec 14, saying that only one mofset was blown and it would be repaired that weekend, the 15-16. well, after not hearing anymore about it, i wrote another email on dec 26, asking simply for information as to what the holdup is, maybe there was a parts backup or something? i actually got a response, saying there was a parts delay on the mofset and that it would definitely be completed by january 2. well, needless to say, i didnt hear from them on the 2nd or 3rd, so today i said f**k the email, im gonna call. now he gives me some line about pcb drivers or something, more parts(even though he said originally it was only one mofset) were on order and now the earliest it will be done is jan 18. this is just poor customer service. originally i would have and probably did in a few threads recommend CIA, but i am now DEFINITELY against CIA, and would recommend anyone thinking about sending an amp to them to rethink and consider some alternatives.

/rant

You should forward a link to this thread to Joe in an email, im sure he'll get more responsive seing that his potential customers are being told not to go to him anymore on such a large public fourm.

 

[jjski78 10+ year member]

Why don't any of you use Zed Audio?? They do repairs too, and Stephen Mantz is a great guy to deal with. Very professional, and very up-front with repair estimates.

 

[jeepintn 10+ year member]

Why don't any of you use Zed Audio?? They do repairs too, and Stephen Mantz is a great guy to deal with. Very professional, and very up-front with repair estimates.

well, being my amp is a hifonics, they told me i could only send it to one of two places, and CIA is closer to me than the other in california that i have also read bad things about, so i dont know what else i could have done... but ill definitely be using someone different in the future

 

[jjski78 10+ year member]

well, being my amp is a hifonics, they told me i could only send it to one of two places, and CIA is closer to me than the other in california that i have also read bad things about, so i dont know what else i could have done... but ill definitely be using someone different in the future

If it's under warranty, then yeah, you're kinda stuck going where they tell you to. But if it's not a warranty repair, you can take it wherever you want.

 

[Lil Poot 5,000+ posts]

cia did the same thing with me. first "repair" took about 6 weeks, i get the amp back in non-functional condition. went right into protect as soon as i powered it up. email him politely asking what the ****, and ask why he didnt test it before sending it back, he says it worked just fine with the cover off it, but that he didnt test it with the cover on (even though he stated to me he drove around with it in his car for a couple days to test it, he did this with the cover off now? thats another thing, why was it in his vehicle instead of on a testbench?)

so i send it back, same deal, no word for about 2 months, i start emailing, then calling, get bs technical terms noone but an electrical engineer would understand thrown at me. so i say cool, do what you've got to do. couple more months go by i start getting impatient, say hey man you've had my amp almost 5 months now, i've been without bass for 7 months, whats the crack, you gonna fix it? get no reply so i send another email politely reminding him i do frequent car audio forums and that word does have a way of getting around. and i do mean politely, not being a smartass or anything. he replies being a total dick, saying how he doesnt appreciate being threatened and maybe i wont get my amp back??!! so i basically have to kiss the guys *** and apologize so that i'll recieve my 600 dollar amplifier back. well now that i've got it back (and its died again, thanks *******) im postin on it anyway.

**** CIA. all my amp repairs go to zed audio now.

 

[bdawson72 5,000+ posts]

from seeing this chances are i wont be going to CIA either

 

[prochobo 10+ year member]

You should forward a link to this thread to Joe in an email, im sure he'll get more responsive seing that his potential customers are being told not to go to him anymore on such a large public fourm.

NO! Joe is probably one of the only people capable of repairing my amp. We got into a fight and now we have a truce and I need him to repair my amp! If this thread gets sent to him. . . I may as well kiss my amp bye bye since Joe would probably get pissed and tell me to fvck off.

To clarify, yes, I am sending my amp back into CIA since they are probably the only people able to repair it. They do take a long time and I see that I've gotten a ton of false promises, but oh well, it's as good as it gets.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

NO! Joe is probably one of the only people capable of repairing my amp. We got into a fight and now we have a truce and I need him to repair my amp! If this thread gets sent to him. . . I may as well kiss my amp bye bye since Joe would probably get pissed and tell me to fvck off.
To clarify, yes, I am sending my amp back into CIA since they are probably the only people able to repair it. They do take a long time and I see that I've gotten a ton of false promises, but oh well, it's as good as it gets.

lol brotha, you win //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/tongue.gif.6130eb82179565f6db8d26d6001dcd24.gif

 

[jeepintn 10+ year member]

so, i actually got two emails from JK today. the first was explaining to me the additional parts that he ordered after originally telling me there were only a few mofsets needed, and that the parts wouldnt be in until the 15th. then, i got a second email saying he was gonna do a full rebuild of my amp this weekend, get it up and running and that all parts and labor would be on him, and all i would need to pay is return shipping. so, at this point, i dont know what to think, other than hopefully i will have a working amp soon, ill keep the thread updated.

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Cool cool, yeah Joe has one of my Powerbass 3000's, but I dont expect to see it ever again at this point //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/crap.gif.7f4dd41e3e9b23fbd170a1ee6f65cecc.gif

They've given me the same speech as they gave you like 29283 times now.

 

[dkguitarist 5,000+ posts]

i sent my amp to audiotekx. they should've received it yesterday and i should get an email monday (assuming they're closed on the weekends).

i didn't like cia's pricing in the first place. but after reading this, i wouldn't risk sending my 20.1 to them and never getting it back or having it completely fried due to incompetent/hotheaded "engineers".

 

[prochobo 10+ year member]

What the fvck? They told me they would be out until the 15th and yet they're working on your amp. . . shit.

I'll tell you what Eric,
Right after the holidays, specifically after the 15th of january, if you still need someone to fix your amp, I'll give it another try, ok?

The reason for after the 15th, is we will be in Las Vegas for the CES Convention.

Let me know what you want to do.

Thanks,

Joe K

CIA Engineering

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

 

[jeepintn 10+ year member]

What the fvck? They told me they would be out until the 15th and yet they're working on your amp. . . shit.


//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/uhoh.gif.c07307dd22ee7e63e22fc8e9c614d1fd.gif

like i say, most likely im just being fed another line.