No.

An inspection and equipment condition report is an objective assessment based on factual details about a piece of equipment. Whilst I understand that receiving bad news may be disappointing, I can only report what the facts truthfully, something anyone viewing a reputable report rightly expects.

Customers engage Liquid Audio to write reports before or after an equipment purchase, for insurance purposes, when equipment is perhaps not as described or damaged, and when preparing equipment for sale. Often, I’m able to deliver good news. Occasionally, I find things that are not so good. Rarely, I’m asked to scrub potentially value-reducing observations, thereby creating a misleading report.

This request, and the expectation that it’s something I might even consider, is the problem.

Altering a report to hide the condition of a piece of equipment I’ve inspected is not something I will ever do. In one example, a customer complained that my report on his Thorens turntable would make it harder to sell. He felt he’d been duped by the previous seller and expected me to help him dupe somebody else. I did not, and this made him angry, which of course, is ridiculous.

Our equipment condition reports are rightly trusted, and I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise that or risk my professional reputation for integrity. I have a duty to the hi-fi community to uphold, and there are enough dishonest sellers and burned buyers out there already.