I guess as it goes in life..choosing any Audio and Video product one needs to be sure that indeed you will get after sales service / repairs e.t.c...I really learned the hard way. I had been looking for an av receiver for a while....I took my time going around looking at all the retail shops..specialist shops looking for that one amplifier that would meet my needs. My father had an Onkyo for many years and it was a beautiful receiver and it never gave him any issues. So sure bet I thought look the price is right let me go for an Onkyo it had just what I need HDMI 1.4 , PC connectivity..thx certification...pretty nice machine. My wife was finally happy that I found what I was looking for and did not even blink when I spent the money for the machine. They have a local distributor and are able to service and repair locally and they SA distributor is listed on the Onkyo website.
Well I only got to enjoy the receiver for a month. It got some lightning damage as I was informed. Well things happen ..the insurance was willing to pay for the repairs on the receiver so I thought why not let them fix it ...My mistake...Insurance paid for the repairs only for me to find out that the SA distributor only have one technician who fixes the Onkyo receiver. My luck he has gone on holiday I was told at first for 2 weeks then it changed to he is on a training course...So here I am 4 weeks later still waiting for the receiver to be fixed and having to call to find out what's going on with the receiver.
So word of advice make sure that you inquire thoroughly about the after sales of your product and whether they actually have enough technicians to take care of any of your repair needs. Hope that they don't only have one technician..you can imagine what would happen if he had to quit. Cost/Quality build of product does not necessarily equate to great after product service. Don't full yourself with the whole lightning protection is not full proof as I found out..thats why the is insurance..you can only protect your equipment to a varying degree but you need to make sure that in an event that your equipment is damaged you actually have someone who is going to fix it before you forget you actually had that equipment.
Here I am actually wishing I had asked the insurance to have replaced the product and bought an alternate brand . I wonder how the other brands fair with the after sales support???
Well I only got to enjoy the receiver for a month. It got some lightning damage as I was informed. Well things happen ..the insurance was willing to pay for the repairs on the receiver so I thought why not let them fix it ...My mistake...Insurance paid for the repairs only for me to find out that the SA distributor only have one technician who fixes the Onkyo receiver. My luck he has gone on holiday I was told at first for 2 weeks then it changed to he is on a training course...So here I am 4 weeks later still waiting for the receiver to be fixed and having to call to find out what's going on with the receiver.
So word of advice make sure that you inquire thoroughly about the after sales of your product and whether they actually have enough technicians to take care of any of your repair needs. Hope that they don't only have one technician..you can imagine what would happen if he had to quit. Cost/Quality build of product does not necessarily equate to great after product service. Don't full yourself with the whole lightning protection is not full proof as I found out..thats why the is insurance..you can only protect your equipment to a varying degree but you need to make sure that in an event that your equipment is damaged you actually have someone who is going to fix it before you forget you actually had that equipment.
Here I am actually wishing I had asked the insurance to have replaced the product and bought an alternate brand . I wonder how the other brands fair with the after sales support???
