On September 26, 2022 at 08:45, SWFLMike said...
My latest awesome ARC experience, and why I too might be on the way out. This is longer than it needs to be, but I don't care.
Did a new build for a customer about 7-8 years ago. Job went well, housing market went nuts so they sold that place and built a much smaller place to pocket some money.
The new place was about 20 minutes north of where I'd say my operating range ends. And since they're downsizing, I don't want this job and try to politely decline.
After a bunch of 'Aw c'mon's, I figure I can probably get it knocked out in 2 trips - one for wiring adds/mods, and another for install. Comcast, Sonos (6 zones, Sub, ARC, rears, etc...), just a couple displays. They're nice people, and they're patient...so I put together a proposal.
Curious about taking/leaving existing gear, customer calls Sonos. Sonos ends up selling him ALL the gear he wanted, with a 30% discount since he's a loyal customer (hey wait...who actually bought his existing system...?)!
Install time, new guy breaks a 75" display loading it into the truck. Can't get another shipped in for about a week, so customer calls BB and has one dropped off next day. Add another day to install.
75" display has an ARC, sub and rears. I'm secretly low-key miffed because it all looks and sounds pretty good, actually...and I didn't sell any of it.
About 2-3 months later, customers go out of town. House gets hit by lightning. Customer calls me up because the TV I didn't sell him won't turn on. I say call Best Buy. Call Samsung. Call Comcast. Call Sonos! Hell, I don't care - call anyone but me! Not my problem!
He ends up getting a new display dropped off, and I go up to help him hang the new display. Easy swap...mildly annoyed that Samsung apparently updated their UI, so I have to figure out where everything is in the menu. Plug in the Sonos ARC aaaaaaaaaand...nothing. Check this, check that, I know something is off since this *should* be very easy.
In the end, the HDMI port on the ARC was also fragged. It still powers up, still plays, still groups, but it won't recognize the display. I made sure to give him a very clear lesson on how to swap the ARC when the new one arrives, hoping to avoid yet another trip up there.
So yeah. HDMI. ARC. Sonos. Not a solid business plan if you live where there's lightning.
Unrelated but hopefully it helps some of you make some bucks down the road if you aren't aware of this...
If you are a dealer, you can do the trade-up policy as well. Their policy is vague (maybe it's 15% and maybe it's 30%) and it isn't a 1-for-1 dealio but it can help you make money on what you sell through them. The info and what you need to do is contained in the dealer portal.
