Fantastic Service From Hawthorne Stereo

Not long ago I decided to replace my phono cartridge. Of course, by the time I got around to thinking about it seriously, I was about a week away from the arrival of an out-of-town guest who was coming in for a serious listening session. My old cartridge was beginning to sound like it had a serious mistracking error so I didn't want to use it 'cause it might damage my records.

Well, I called Bob Levin at Hawthorne and asked him to order me a replacement cartridge. It was not a model that he normally stocked but he thought he'd be able to order, receive and install it in time for my listening session. I dropped off my LP 12 on Sunday and planned to pick it up Thursday afternoon. BTW, the price on the replacement cartridge he ordered included the discount for trade-ins from the distributer.

Mid-week I got a call from Hawthorne. My turntable was ready to be picked up. Bob had not installed the cartridge I ordered since the distributor was on vacation or unavailable so he'd gone ahead and installed a significantly more expensive cartridge and charged me what we'd originally agreed to. Out of respect for Bob I'm not mentioning names and model numbers here but I can tell you that the price for the more expensive cartridge was much lower than I had any reasonable right to expect. What blows my mind was Bob Levin's attitude about the whole deal--for him it wasn't even a remarkable thing he did. He said he'd replace my cartridge, found he couldn't do exactly what we'd agreed upon, and went ahead to go ABOVE and BEYOND my expectations just as a matter of routine customer service. It is no wonder why Hawthorne Stereo probably sells more Naim equipment that almost any other dealer in the country! They are amazing!

Thanks Bob Levin and Hawthorne Stereo for another example of superb customer service!!!