"I was in contact with Joel in Customer Service regarding the purchase of a suggested REL Subwoofer for my Home Theater/ Stereo system. His recommendation for the S812 was spot on. First of all it was double box packed and arrived in perfect condition, cross country. Secondly it has made a dramatic improvement to my sound system consisting of Paradigm tower speakers. The low frequencies that have been missing are given back in spades from the REL. Home Theater is also excellent. I am very happy with my purchase as well as the patient assistance from Joel. Upscale Audio is the next best thing to having a high end shop in your neighborhood! I will buy there again!
"
"Knowledgeable courteous service "
"This is about my initial experience with Upscale Audio. Purchased a new Athem MRX 740 AVR from them. Excited to set it up and look forward to using Anthem ARC Genesis room correction tech. First thing prior to any of that was to download any firmware updates for the unit. The Quick Set up guide recommended connecting to internet via ethernet (hardwire) rather than Wi-Fi. Anthem stated in guide that this would be simpler as they required that you add the "Google Home" app in order to facilitate using Wi-Fi. Not too thrilled with that as I expect units with current tech to search and find my wifi home network(s). But, oh well I went with it and ran a Cat6 ethernet cable down the hallway from router to MRX 740. Powered the MRX up and scrolled through the menu until I came to "updates". I selected that and the unit went into download update mode for a few minutes. I figured I would disconnect the e-cable and now it should be good on Wi-Fi. Nope. Powered it down, unplugged it for a few minutes and tried Wi-Fi again. Nope. So, I tried the Google Home app. No-go there either. After several attempts I decided to call Upscale. Al listened carefully to my issue, took notes and informed me to that he would send this as an urgent issue to the Upscale service department. I received a text from Kevin in the service department a few hours later. He requested the serial number of my MRX and contacted Anthem factory engineers. The next morning, I powered the MRX up (it was still on ethernet connection) and it went into firmware update mode. I'm thinking (hoping) this may be patch/fix for my Wi-Fi connectivity issue. I powered the unit down and disconnected the e-cable. Finger crossed now mind you. Lo and behold, it was, Oh Happy day! Having been in sales, marketing for a few decades I've learned that the measure of a company is how they respond to customers when the transaction encounters a "glitch". Kudos to Al, Kevin and the Anthem staff for understanding my issue and effecting a quick resolution. I'll be back."
"I can't explain some of the other reviews I've seen here but Upscale treated me right. I bought an integrated amp in May. It appeared to have a slight buzzing sound in the phono section, but I couldn't be certain if it was the amp, or a grounding problem in my system, or some other component. I was assisted on, and off for several days by a great tech support guy named Steve. Ultimately, I wanted to return the unit in exchange for a new one which was done without any fuss from Upscale. In case anyone is wondering, I'm a new customer, and I wasn't buying some $20,000 worth of gear. I was made to feel as though I were buying $20,000 worth of gear though. Not only that, but the tech support was so good I almost felt bad when there was no issue left to be assisted with...almost. Anyway, based on my experience I would recommend them."
"Their website filters out all the bad reviews and only keeps the 4 or 5-star ones. There are literally no reviews of any of their products that are less than 4 stars. In fact, almost all of them are 5 stars. How can you trust a company that does this"
"He constantly speaks about other stores having commission sales people therefore they’re motivated to sell the highest margin product and he fails to tell his customers that he is the distributor for products like prima Luna and makes a significant margin on those products in my opinion he’s a complete ****."
"I've purchased tubes from a number of different online retailers, none of which have claimed any sort of special status of quality or testing or warranty and yet have always sold high quality, quiet, and long lasting tubes.
Upscale Audio claims to test their tubes and to be very selective of the tubes they sell. However, look at the videos of tube reviews done by Kevin Deal. He will look at a tube on the video and say he would never sell such a tube because the triode balances are off. Yet they will ABSOLUTELY sell you a tube that is just as bad or worse than the values shown in the video. Then when you receive it and put it in your amp only to find how poor it is, they won't ship you a replacement tube until you return it at your own expense and they can test it, which will take them weeks to do and you will have to badger them to do so. The first time I did this, I again received a substandard product to replace it which ended up being so noisy and poor quality that I had to remove both tubes from my system entirely. Of course, at that point their warranty ends so you're out of luck.
The tubes I have bought there (I have to own this...I thought they actually would do what they claim) have all had issues with noise or quality. Cheaper tubes from elsewhere I've had for years with zero problems. Upscale is being very dishonest in how they market their tube quality and expertise."
"I have made some major purchases from Upscale Audio and they treated me wonderfully. Fantastic price, and extremely friendly and knowledgeable people. Kevin himself is a great gentleman who really cares about his customers. I’m not usually so effusive over a retailer, but Upscale treated me like I wished every business would. They earned my business and my respect."
"I spoke with a salesperson regarding a PS Audio product purchase just a few days ago and was quoted pricing on a product. The pricing included an aggressive discount against msrp. I called today and was quoted MSRP by "Mark." Doesn't inspire confidence so they missed my business - I went to another vendor also offering a discount."
"After reading some of these other reviews, I was compelled to leave some words here about the Upscale Audio team. They have to be one of the most genuine and knowledgeable folks you can run into in this industry. I have purchased New and Used equipment from here, over the last couple decades.
Every visit has always been great, from the old school days of Kevin mainly working the Demo room at his home to the new Retail showroom with their Superhelpful Salesperson Kat. Anytime you have any technical questions, Jarred is always very helpful. If they can’t fogure it out over the phone, they invite you to bring it down. So if you are interested in something Upscale has to offer and you aren’t a jag off, give them a call and find out for yourself! World Class Service here.
Richard H
Lake Elsinore "
"I PURCHASED TWO PRIMALUNA ITEMS AND WAS EXTREMELY PLEASE WITH THE PHONE SERVICE I HAD WITH KEVIN DIRECTLY.
THEY WERE DELIVERED ON TIME AND PACKED PERFECTLY.
I CALLED FOR SERVICE AND THE ADVICE WAS EXCELLENT.
RECENTLY CALLED TO MAKE A PURCHASE AND AGAIN THE SERVICE WAS EXCELLENT.
GREAT FIND
LARRY"
"My experience with the owner of Upscale Audio Kevin Deal (or as I like to call Mr. Magoo) is very similar to many of the reviews online. I will not do business with him anymore because of his rude condescending attitude. It took FOREVER for him to help me troubleshoot some tubes I had that we’re making weird loud noises. Every time I called him I had to tell him the problem all over again like it was the first time I’d mentioned this, even though I had recorded the sound for him multiple times and put it in multiple emails explaining the conditions the sound occurred. He was angry with me cause I had written a bad review of him on another website and refused to talk to me on the phone anymore pawning me off to some women, who was quite polite frankly. Idk how you operate a business with such contempt for you customers.
Stay away."
"Sent a defective $50 tube and refused to replace it. Better shop around before you buy anything from these jokers"
"I brought PrimaLuna IA from Kevin Deal. All went well. Great product. Came back to get a new "closeout" turntable listed on website with $500 cartridge, a phono pre and a speed box (all-in-all $1,950). The new unit was no longer available (understandable - small shop cannot monitor the site daily) . Instead, I was offered a used (no warranty) turntable, with new a lesser cartridge, used speed box (no warranty) and phono pre for $1,856. I politely walked away from this deal. Called new weeks later and asked to buy the same cartridge offered in the previous deal. The guy( I think his name was Jarred ) almost yelled at me expressing his obvious annoyance with: "I don't know that cartridge!". I had no choice, but to thank him and hang up. How does this shop manages to stay in business? "
" Hello Kevin,
Allow me to tell you about your company.
Only once I was able to place an order (properly priced) with your company - when time went by - without receiving the order - the person answering the phone had a tone of annoyance - I was asking where the product is I paid for.
Could you imagine (thinking to myself) what a pest I am??? You have my money - after several weeks I have nothing - then call to ask 'where's my stuff' - "What's up with that"?
Now here is something more important. Upscale or High End audio products have a high price tag. Invariably people do research the items they desire and also check something unimportant like how much does it cost. I noticed many items seem to have a premium attached to doing business with Upscale. Since they do not manufacture the products - how could they attempt to state - only items sold at Upscale is 'better quality'? I guess the same products at other Authorized dealers are selling the grey market stuff huh?
Well.....twice several months apart - I call desiring to make a purchase - each item between $2000.00 to $3500.00. The third time it was by happenstance it was at the conclusion of [MY] research for an CD player and what a coincidence I received an e-mail with a decent price for one of the two CD players I WANTED.
Has anyone out there experienced the 'attitude' some sales people have in High priced Cities or Neighborhoods? Well this salesperson had that attitude - dripping with it - (same person I spoke to the second time) talks as if I am imposing (almost would be like "Oh, what do you want") on His time. I begin with tell me about your CD players (I desired an PrimaLuna but may have went for another brand carried). I patiently waited for Him to finally 'get' to one of two units I decided I wanted. It did not happen.
Oddly He was talking so slow as if it was the first time He ever heard of certain product names.
When I decided I had enough of His antics - I said why is it you did not mention the two well known [Ayon and PrimaLuna] brands? At first He attempted to say Upscale does not carry them - when I said I knew for a fact they were 'in stock' then He (let me see) changed His words. To my surprise He tried to UPSCALE the price tag for the units several hundred dollars above the price I knew they were selling them for; higher than the e-mail offer I received for one of the units - then He began to whine that the units are really nice units and We are holding them in reserve - We may want to not sell them. What??? Of course I realized this feeble attempt to manipulate me into wanting the unit 'so badly' I would make an [high] offer for the unit. How Childish and amateurish!
I asked Him WHY would I pay you $xxxx.**** for this CD player when the e-mail offer already had a price tag? He said "what e-mail"?
Sorry Kevin - You really need to get that Guy OFF THE PHONES!!! He twice caused you to receive 100% of NOTHING! Kevin - I enjoyed the Youtube 'PrimaLuna' review - unfortunately your employee is working against you.
"