policies and procedures
We have outlined above a number of policies and procedures to help you buy efficiently. More may apply. There are more of them than we should wear you out with now, but we'll make a start. All are intended to swerve your best interests. If you develop any questions about them, just ask our sales staff.
Freight Terms and Costs
In general, as mentioned above, we charge you whatever it costs us to get the goods to you from the manufacturer, either the factory or the manufacturer's U.S. shipping point. Unless your order is unusually heavy (i.e., certain racks, furniture, large consoles, etc.), especially if you ask us to get it shipped to you by the fastest means, those costs usually don't amount to much. We have access to freight carriers of all kinds; we use the ones that best suit the circumstances.
Goods in Stock
A continuous flow of goods passes through here to our customers. Because we sell thousands of different products, because those goods are normally so quickly available to us from our manufacturers, and because our customers tend not to need things on the day of order (the next day is usually soon enough; often even a few weeks is fine, especially if you tend to plan ahead), we don't tend to keep goods on our shelves awaiting buyers. In that way we avoid driving up our overhead with inventory costs, avoid having to charge you more to cover that overhead, and avoid any temptation to pressure you to buy what we might have too many of in our inventory. What matters, we find, is that we are able to deliver your orders as fast as you need them.
Negotiating Prices
Sometimes prices at Parsons are negotiable. We buy from our manufacturers at low prices, and we keep our overhead down, so our prices are usually plenty low enough to begin with. Occasionally however, for any of a variety of reasons, another dealer may underbid us. If that happens, loyal customers who prefer to buy from us and who have the flexibility find that we can usually sufficiently approach, match or beat the lower price. That lowering is fine with us because: we don't want our customers to pay us any more than they find reasonable we want our relationships with customers to continue through every sale, without interruption, which benefits both us and them The prices we quote you are fair, always, even the ones we may end up lowering. It's just that we prefer to earn a lower profit rather than none at all, if that's agreeable to you.
Backorders
If an item is backordered by us from the manufacturer, it will be shipped promptly upon its arrival at Parsons — usually within a day. Delivery dates should be deemed to be estimated only; for many reasons, manufacturers can be wrong about them.
Claims
All claims for damage, breakage or losses (concealed or obvious) must be made with the appropriate carrier within the time specified by ICC regulations, and within any time limits that the carrier might impose. Claims for adjustments on short or otherwise unsatisfactory merchandise must be made within 15 days of receipt of shipment. Manufacturers and we may reserve the right to examine any merchandise claimed to be defective, and to inspect any merchandise and applicable shipping records in claims of "short-shipment."
Returns and Exchanges
Within the usual decent intervals, you can return your order for money, credit, or replacement if the manufacturer can oblige us. If the manufacturer requires a restocking charge to take the goods back, you will be liable for that. Even when an indecently long interval has passed, still we sometimes can arrange a return for you; usually all it takes is us managing to persuade the manufacturer to take the order back. All products returned to us for any reason must be shipped prepaid., and only with our prior authorization. Products must be returned in original condition, "as new", with all original packing materials, accessories, manuals, etc. Credit will be issued only after merchandise is inspected and approved and will be based on your cost for the products in question, less any necessary cost for repair, refurbishing, or repackaging. Shipping fees are not refundable. The form of the Credit will normally be the same as the original payment. Orders, especially special orders, which cannot be returned by us to the manufacturers are usually not returnable.
Limited Warranty
The only warranties that apply to these products are their manufacturers'. We disclaim any or all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, or any representation that a product is compatible with any combination of products you may choose to connect it to, or any liability for incidental, direct, consequential, or special damages, or lost revenue or profit, associated with your purchase. With rare exception, we're unable to provide a substitute unit while yours is being repaired.
After-Sale Support
We have given this important subject a major heading of its own. Please see our page on customer support under "support'.
Price-biter Filter
If you're looking for nothing except the lowest price for something, there's nothing wrong with that. But in that case we're probably not the place for you. Plenty of other fine places will suit you better. It's not that we charge much — our prices are always fair, and are usually at least as low as any anywhere else. But we don't sell based on price alone. We do more here than just look up costs and accept orders. Our customers like to know that whenever they need it we're able to provide not just fair prices and quick delivery, but also other services and skills: useful guidance, appropriate information, and a high quality of attention and personal service both before and after sales. We hope that your dealings with us and this Web site have given you evidence of this.
Those services have considerable dollar value to our customers. They're part of the bargain that we offer. And they take us some time, skill, and effort to provide. We have plenty of customers who both understand the value of those services and want them. So when we encounter customers who can't or don't value them, who are just looking at price, and who may choose to buy from any other dealer whose prices are as low as ours, we may decline from the start to take the time to deal with them. We owe that time instead to customers who need us to be what we are.
Reaching Us
by phone, voice mail, etc.
IWe hope you're not put off by voice mail. We have found it to be faster and more productive for you than live-assist. We're responsive, but we're a busy place (a good sign), so sometimes when you call our sales staffperson, he or she will be on the phone, with a visiting customer, doing a demo, visiting a facility, or briefly at lunch. Our voice mailboxes will pour every word and inflection of your messages into our ears as soon as possible. Please make your messages detailed. That increases effectiveness and minimizes phone tag. Another tip: Learn your salesperson's extension. It gets you there faster.
Visit, Call or Email us…
192 Worcester St.
(Rte. 9 at I-95)
Wellesley, MA 02481
781.431.8708, fx .8783
sales@paudio.com
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Testimonials
Parsons Audio is a place where the hype is at a minimum, the prices are VERY fair, and you dn't need to feel paranoid about the purchasing process. And their outreach is great. Parsons has done more for audio knowledge in New England than just about anybody. An air of sweet reasonable calm pervades the place, which makes it easy when you're new at this and a little fearful of coming off sounding dumb with your questions, or when you're knowledgable and don't want to have to endure yet another illiterate sales argument based on hype du jour. I love buying from 'em. I love an excuse just to drop in there and hang out!
— David Moulton, author, teacher, engineer,
Grammy nominee for Best Engineered Album, Classical