JERRY PEREZ New Member Posts:61 
| 23 Jun 2020 03:30 PM |
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For many of us wondering what will happen to Warranty and Repairs for new metal detectors that are still under warranty or just simply needing repair. The Whites Electronics Facebook page posted that Centreville Electronics in Virginia will be handing the warranty repairs, but that doesn't prove that Whites is "Suspending Operations" or Does it? First of all Whites has not posted on their FB page that Centreville Electronics is handling their warranties in a very,very,very long time,apparently everyone knew that, up until 2 days ago. Why post it now after all these years, if everyone knew about it? Hmmm...
I'm sure many of are still in denial,shock,and just plain ol' sad including the faithful dealers for years. Many questions still loom in our minds? Such as why weren't dealers given plenty of advance notice? Will Centreville Electronics exclusively sell parts for them until parts are no longer available? Will parts continue to be made, but from China rather than Good ol' Sweet Home, Oregon? Will the website at least give a big farewell to all their supporters and the story that led up to this sudden sad chapter in the metal detecting industry? I'm sure many other questions will come to the fore, to be sure..... The big question for me however was answered regarding Warranty Handling. Thanks Whites for at least getting us covered to a certain degree.
When a business "Suspends Operations" it's either closing down or restructuring to stay in business because there is something or someone getting in the way,but how long can a business stay in the game knowing full well that the playing field is fierce and filled with outright pirates who show no mercy to those who started the hobby?
Companies come and go,nothing is permanent in this world and unfortunately some get hurt along the way in some way, shape or form. Maybe Whites will be revamped and compete with the offshore cheaper companies? Or is Ken White just too tired and possibly in a good position to cash in his chips? Did this worldwide pandemic add to this demise?Who knows...We only hope to get answers direct from Whites Webpage in the future.
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 23 Jun 2020 07:12 PM |
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Interesting, I had a meeting with them two weeks ago and even now there is nothing on their website about this. :-/
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 23 Jun 2020 08:20 PM |
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Yeah, that's pretty much how it went, nobody saw it coming and everybody doesn't know what happened.. a lot of unanswered questions that's for sure.
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 05:10 PM |
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Centerville has been doing the east coast repairs for quite some time, nothing new and I still DON'T see anywhere on their FB or www home page that they said they are shutting down.
I'll ask again...
Where did you hear this and how did you confirm it?
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 05:29 PM |
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It's the first post on whites electronics Facebook page .
I spoke with a reputable WE dealer as my source who in turn spoke to the WE powers that be just recently. How this came to light was I was in the market for a whites 24K metal detector and he told me to call him so that I'm fully aware that if I bought it, the warranty may be non existent because at the time we spoke last week , whites didn't have a source to honor warranties, so I bought it anyways in good faith of the hardware's reputation. I will not reveal names at this time but I can say the cat is out of bag. I have called Whites in sweet home to just talk about the shutdown and there voicemail goes to " we are closed", another confirmation was I called Centreville and the tech also confirmed the shut down and also the parts there to receive from whites to continue the warranties still out there. I know of another "WHITES FIELD TECH And DEALER "And he also confirmed of the out of business. He has a you tube channel as well. Here is that channel with my question to him about whites and he replied as well and confirmed.
That's all I can say as the source of my incident that started this, he is a well respected member in the GPAA Community and has given many public talks in the Gold show circuit. I would call Centreville so you can get some sleep,lol...I know I had to call around and do my end of sleuthing. It's just a darn shame.. hope that helps joe.
https://youtu.be/n29htgflaVw
https://m.facebook.com/whiteselectronics/
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 05:39 PM |
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I called 10 seconds ago... no shutdown message and I was asked if I'll be placing a order... I can either do it online or talk to jack as usual.
I still DON'T see see anything about having gone out of business. :-/
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 05:48 PM |
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Again, the Whites facebook and www homepage says nothing about shutting down, only the FB page says that Centerville will continue to do repairs... np, they've been doing that.
Nothing anywhere about shutting down.
I guess after seeing several business close and having been in a few myself I'm looking fir something legit that says WE HAVE SHUT DOWN or WE HAVE GONE OUT OF BUSINESS... C'YA!
Nada... just normal phone recordings as it has been for 25 years. Sometime you get a receptionist, sometimes recording, still nothing legit of any kind about White have been shut down.
I would be very sad if it were true. I've been a loyal customer since the 70's!
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 05:54 PM |
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The links you provided have nothing to do with supporting a shut down.... completely nothing.
There are always pallets there and ya, maybe covid is a perfect time to reorganize for millions of companies, but i did not see moving trucks taking company stuff away. :-/
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 05:54 PM |
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The links you provided have nothing to do with supporting a shut down.... completely nothing.
There are always pallets there and ya, maybe covid is a perfect time to reorganize for millions of companies, but i did not see moving trucks taking company stuff away. :-/
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 05:59 PM |
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Well, that is definitely a different message that I have been hearing over the last few days. The message I just heard as well is "definitely" not Whites normal way of doing business. Normally, you would speak live to Operator, Sales or Tech support (Jack). I would suspect Whites will continue to sell their stock until depleted, which is why the online sales is still active. I just called Centreville Electronics but they are closed at the moment, I would suggest you call tomorrow and chat with them. Whites has been an awesome family owned business for decades, however I will say that any news or updates was always very slow to come out from them, whether on FB or IG or website. It's still pretty new,ill chat with my friend once I pick up my detector that I ordered from him, im sure he will have some more news.
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 06:05 PM |
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i hear ya joe, i have been a whites loyalist since the the early 90's. Not as long as you but still I have been with whites and only with whites. I wouldn't have started this thread if there was one ounce of falsehood in this. But I put 100% stock in my source as he has done training and videos for whites and like I said well known in the prospecting community. call centreville tomorrow and let me know what you find out. have a great evening!
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 06:05 PM |
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I still don't get it, they've always been up drive with me.
I'm placing an order for several thousand dollars worth of detectors and equipment and not a single peep about having gone out of business...???
Seems unlikely!
Again, the FB and www home pages say nothing about them shutting down.
Fingers crossed... :-)
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 06:05 PM |
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I still don't get it, they've always been up front with me.
I'm placing an order for several thousand dollars worth of detectors and equipment and not a single peep about having gone out of business...???
Seems unlikely!
Again, the FB and www home pages say nothing about them shutting down.
Fingers crossed... :-)
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 06:20 PM |
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If this is legit, then we've lost a few awesome companies lately, now just Garrett and MindF*k will be the big pro-summer brands.
I have ML products* and they are fine, but quite a bit over-hyped, and nothing from Garrett yet.
*GMT, MXT, SOVEREIGN GT, 3 ea Nox 800, GPX 5000.... ya, so I understand the power of fanboy BS...
In fact about 2 hours ago I sold one of the Nox 800's to a buddy moving up from the Bounty Hunters... he's very excited! :-)
STILL IMO, dollar for dollar my old vintage Whites Coinmaster, GMT, 24K and TDI SL kick ass on the fanboy ML products and have given years of trouble free service.
I'm shocked and will be most saddened if the shut down is true. :-/
BTW... for the last three years I always have gotten a recording when using the public ph
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 06:20 PM |
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If this is legit, then we've lost a few awesome companies lately, now just Garrett and MindF*k will be the big pro-summer brands.
I have ML products* and they are fine, but quite a bit over-hyped, and nothing from Garrett yet.
*GMT, MXT, SOVEREIGN GT, 3 ea Nox 800, GPX 5000.... ya, so I understand the power of fanboy BS...
In fact about 2 hours ago I sold one of the Nox 800's to a buddy moving up from the Bounty Hunters... he's very excited! :-)
STILL IMO, dollar for dollar my old vintage Whites Coinmaster, GMT, 24K and TDI SL kick ass on the fanboy ML products and have given years of trouble free service.
I'm shocked and will be most saddened if the shut down is true. :-/
BTW... for the last three years I always have gotten a recording when using the public ph
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 06:20 PM |
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If this is legit, then we've lost a few awesome companies lately, now just Garrett and MindF*k will be the big pro-summer brands.
I have ML products* and they are fine, but quite a bit over-hyped, and nothing from Garrett yet.
*GMT, MXT, SOVEREIGN GT, 3 ea Nox 800, GPX 5000.... ya, so I understand the power of fanboy BS...
In fact about 2 hours ago I sold one of the Nox 800's to a buddy moving up from the Bounty Hunters... he's very excited! :-)
STILL IMO, dollar for dollar my old vintage Whites Coinmaster, GMT, 24K and TDI SL kick ass on the fanboy ML products and have given years of trouble free service.
I'm shocked and will be most saddened if the shut down is true. :-/
BTW... for the last three years I always have gotten a recording when using the public ph
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 06:24 PM |
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i just spoke with 'Jack" Blanchen to place an order", lol and he did confirm with me that Whites is "suspending operations" that's all he was at liberty to say as he had no information. I asked him if staff has been reduced and he said "yes" and I asked i=him if whites was shutting down and he said he didnt know as they are still in talks, but he also did say that all warranties are being deferred Centreville ELectronics. I never heard of them until week, i always sent my machines to sweet home for repair. anyways if you call and dial his extension you'll probably get through and you can poke at him somequestions, in the meantime im going to rephrase this thread to "suspended operations" instead of closing down.
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 06:30 PM |
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wow, you have quite an arsenal. I bought the ML GM1000 took it out many times and just couldnt get use to that machine, i sold it and reinvested the money to the 24K , which im excited about , should be here soon.
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JERRY PEREZNew Member Posts:61
| 24 Jun 2020 07:27 PM |
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Hey Joe,
I emailed larry from bigvalleymetaldetectors.com he is a Whites Dealer, he told me to "call him",so i did and he also confirmed is "Whites is out of business" as he put it, he said the Hobby is dying in N. America. you can call him at 916-225-9150 to chat about it, nice guy been around the business a long time.
Anyways, thought this would put the nail in the coffin ; )
Long Live Whites Electronics Forever!
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Joe RollinsNew Member Posts:28
| 24 Jun 2020 08:10 PM |
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Hi, Thank you, I will calm him tomorrow.
Wow, my heart is really saddened, it's like losing a good friend.
They just rolled out new tech and everything seemed so stable.... guess i was WRONG !
Whah! :-((
Thank you guys for helping me understand this is NOT some looser prank.
I ALREADY miss these guys...
Maybe I should buy a few more TDI SL Hi Q's as back-up detectors. Though I seriously don't think I'll ever need them! lol
Thank you all again for helping me figure this out!
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