Membership Rules and Responsibilities

Participants must understand and agree to these responsibilities listed below as well as take them seriously. Those that do not follow through with the agreed-upon responsibilities can be blacklisted from all future tours. Please do not sign up for the tour if you feel there is any reason that you cannot live up to this commitment.

General Tour Membership Responsibilities

The point of the tours is to share our audition experience and make informed purchase choices. To do this we need to trust that we can communicate with each other, we must be willing to discuss our impressions, and obviously, we need to protect the equipment so that our manufacturing partners continue to trust us with their equipment to support these tours. It is your responsibility to:

  • Communicate: Those in the tour will be expected to be reasonably available to communicate in tour proceedings. Phone, PMs, and email should be responded to within 24 hours maximum. Failure to do so may negate your eligibility and potentially blacklist you from future tours.
  • Protect: Participants are responsible for the value of the kit while in their care and will be expected to reimburse the manufacturer for any losses due to participant negligence. The kits should be handled with care and protected from theft. Each participant is responsible for the kit from signed receipt to signed receipt. While the manufacturer accepts responsibility in the case of shipper losses if you ship signature required, participants are still responsible for managing the shipper loss process to its conclusion until the proceedings are concluded. Providing tracking information and following the rules is critical in determining where your responsibility stops.
  • Impressions/Review (Optional): While optional, to keep things interesting on the tour, any impressions or insight that you can post in the thread would be greatly appreciated. Full reviews are even more appreciated.

Tour Participation Rules

Each tour participant is expected to follow the rules listed below during each tour:

  1. At Receipt of Tour Kit: We immediately need to know that the tour kit was received in good condition to release the last participant from responsibility:
    • Confirm Receipt within 24 Hours: Please post confirmation of tour kit receipt and its condition on the tour thread within 24 hours so each party knows that the transfer is complete and so we can track the progress of the tour.
    • PM Next 2 Participants: Please PM @Barra and the next two participants in the participant’s list (POST 3) and confirm readiness and to request their address. Please request their full name, mailing address, and phone number for the shipper.  The second person provides a backup in case the next participant is unavailable. Priority goes to the tour order as long as they reply within 24 to 48 hours.
    • New Member Address Verification: THERE IS NO NEED TO VERIFY ADDRESSES ON ESTABLISHED “US TOURS” or “US TOURS REVIEWER” MEMBERS – ONLY NEW “MEMBERS”. If the participant’s status shows “Member” and is indicated on the participant list, then please wait to ship until I verify the shipping address by responding to the provided address that we are verified and good to go.
    • Be Ready to Ship on Day 8: It is also your responsibility to ensure that you have shipped the kit to the next participant on the 8th day, so please be diligent in contacting and communicating with the next participants. Please never send a kit to a participant that has not responded even if you have their address from a prior tour.
  2. Dealing with Logistics Issues: Most problems should be handled directly between participants as shown below, but I am available if needed more complex issues:
    • Communication Issues: If your PM to the next two participants does not receive a response within 24 to 48 hours, please reach out to the next two in the participant list to keep moving through your options. Please keep moving down the list every 24 hours thereafter to ensure you have a response and are able to ship on day 8. If you are at risk for going past day 8, please contact me for assistance.
    • Switching Participant Order: You are free to swap places in the tour order yourselves to accommodate schedules. However, you must communicate and get permission from all those affected to ensure it is not creating an issue for someone else and post the switches to the thread for transparency. An alternative for anyone is to have me move you to the bottom of the list if the timing is bad.
    • Dropping out of the Tour: If your availability to participate changes, please post a drop request in the tour thread for visibility before your turn to avoid any confusion.
    • Complex Issues: If needed, you can always reach me directly at my email me at billb@cleardiff.com to resolve any issues.
    • Kit Problems: For lost or broken tour kit items, please reach out to me at billb@cleardiff.com to resolve any issues.
  3. Ship on Day 8: It is your responsibility to contact, verify, and ship to the next participant by day 8:
    • Verified Recipient: It is your responsibility to verify the recipient’s readiness and their address with me before shipping. If you sense any issues, please contact me before shipping.
    • Verified Address: It is important to make sure that you only mail to the verified address unless the two of you get an exception from me first.
    • Signature Required: You must ship signature required (or insured) to avoid the responsibility of shipper mishaps. The manufacturer will assume responsibility if you follow the rules.
    • Shipper Confirmation #: You must provide the recipient and me with the confirmation number by PM or email within 24 hours of shipping. This will allow us to follow the progress and for the recipient to plan the receipt of the package since a signature is required.
  4. Responsibility Ends on Receipt Post: Your responsibility ends when the recipient posts their receipt of the tour kit in good condition on the tour thread. It is important to make sure the recipient makes that post to pass on the responsibility. If the kit is lost by the shipper, we still need your participation as the shipper’s customer to manage the package search though you are not responsible for the value assuming you shipped “signature required”.