AUTHORIZED SERVICE SWINDLES

AUTHORIZED SERVICE SWINDLES

REWIRE YOURSELF

by Richard Robinson

Scenario A: At your local audio store you buy a stereo amplifier. When you get it home and plug it in, it doesn’t work. You take it back to the store, where the salesman tells you it isn’t his problem, that you must return your new broken amp to the manufacturer who will, no doubt, fix it free of charge in a month or two.

Scenario B: After a year of use, your new amplifier breaks down. Looking in the Yellow Pages, you find the “authorized factory service center” that handles that brand of amp. You take the amp to them. For $25 they’ll take it and tell you what’s wrong with it. For another $150 they’ll fix it. They smile at you when you tell them the amp only cost $200 in the first place.

Both these scenarios have happened to me, and in the process I’ve learned a great deal about the service swindles that are commonplace in the electronics industry. I’ve also learned a few ways around, the swindles.

First, whenever you, buy audio or video components, try to find a store that is responsible for the component during the first few months after your purchase. So if anything malfunctions, they will replace the unit with a new one. At the moment/retail electronics stores don’t seem to be legally bound to do this, if they sell you something that doesn’t work it is between you and the manufacturer for their evaluation (they want to make sure you didn’t break it) and repair. At best this will take several weeks, at worst three months or so, during which time your money is gone and you don’t have what you paid for.

If you buy a component and it doesn’t seem to work right, call the manufacturer and tell them what’s going on. Most U.S. manufacturers and U.S. offices of Japanese firms have customer .service departments and 800 numbers. They try to be helpful over the phone (it saves them money if you don’t send the unit back to them), and can sometimes arrange for replacement equipment at your local dealer.

When something breaks, avoid at all costs taking it to the so-called “authorized factory service center” that has the franchise to service that particular brand of component in your area. There are several reasons for this: First, such service centers rarely know everything there is to know about the component aind I’ve found they don’t do a complete job fixing it, no matter what they say they can do. Second, many service centers are in it for the hustle, and will charge you two or three times what the repair actually should cost. Third, some service centers are out to cheat you with well developed swindles based on the concept that the consumer cap be intimidated because he or she knows nothing about electronics.

The best thing to do when something breaks down after use, whether or not it is still covered by the warranty (another joke), is return it to the manufacturer for repair. The. manufacturer will probably charge only for parts, not labor, and knows what’s wrong in most cases so when you get the unit back it will be fixed.

Many manufacturers won’t accept components back for repair unless they issue you \with what they call a ^return authorization number.” So call or write them, telling them what’s wrong. They will no doubt suggest you take it to the local authorized repair center, but if you tell them the local repair center are a bunch of crooks, they won’t argue. Once you have the return authorization number, pack up the unit and send it off, insured, return receipt requested. Very often the manufacturers demand that you return the unit in the original shipping carton it came in, which they can’t really hassle you about, but will try. It is a good idea to save the boxes, but if you haven’t be sure to pack the unit as securely as possible. Once they fix the unit, the manufacturer will usually send it back to you UPS Collect, often without alerting you it’s on the way, so be prepared.

I know this all sounds like a nightmare, but it isn’t really all that bad once you get used to the process of sending components back to the factory to be fixed. It helps, of course; if you have two of everything: one to use and one at the factory being repaired.

For the more technically minded, this factory-to-consumer relationship can have other benefits. At times I’ve actually gotten the technicians or design engineers on the phone and' have taken apart and adjusted compbnents while they’ve guided me along. They’re not wild about doing this, but if you’re nice about it (with a touch of sarcasm) they try to be helpful. Also, if I read the instruction manual and am not sure that the unit will do what I want it to, I also get right on the phone and ask them question^, no matter how stupid. In some instances, this has saved me from blowing things up through improper/use.

This may all sound like a lot of trouble, but consider two recent experiences I’ve had. My Shure Audio mixer broke. The local service people wanted $50 to fix it. I returned it to Shure and they fixed it for $15. I blew up my SAE amplifier. The local service people wanted $150 to $175 ta fix it (plus $25 estimate, and they claimed I hadn’t paid the estimate when I got there; luckily, I saved the receipt!), while SAE fixed it at the factory for $60. Get the idea?