We do I start with this...this has been a long and exhausting journey. As a paying customer I have been treated with the utmost disgusting treatment I have yet encountered. Please bear with me and judge for yourself. Would you treat a customer this way?
I bought an Onkyo 608 Receiver in December last year 2010 from a reseller in Sandton called Audionote. I had done some research in terms of the product and picked up from the Onkyo Website that Audiotronic was the South African distributor locally. It would have been cheaper to buy the receiver online but I wanted that comfort of knowing that they would be a local company that I could take it to in case it needed work to be done on it.
Well now starts the disappointment. I began experiencing HDMI problems on the receiver, My blu-ray and xbox would just stop showing any video or audio sporadically but funny enough the Receiver setup menu would still show on the LCD screen through the HDMI-Out. I went back and forth to Audionote hauling all my equipment there trying to unravel the issue. I bought various HDMI cables and the whole nine yards. The HDMI on the Receiver would work sporadically sometime half way through a movie it would just switch of then the next day it would be back again.
Okay so finally Audionote called in a technician from Audiotronic. He then checked the receiver and I was informed that it had suffered lightning damage. I then called the Technician ?Kim? from Audiotronic personally and explained that this would happen sporadically without me pressing any buttons some time an hour or two into a movie. He asked me various questions which all kept leading to lightning, the most notable one would be if I had a HD-PVR and I told him I did not have one. I informed the technician that I would rather have the HDMI board replaced rather than have some of the chips be re-soldered on the board.
I had a sense that the technician was not really interested in the points I had raised and I informed Audionote of this and I remember asking one of the employees ?Vincent? at Audionote if they were sure that the technician would be able to fix the receiver. I was assured of him ?Expertise?. I asked Audionote to supply me with the report and quotation from the distributor ?Audiotronic? for me to submit to my insurance. The quotation came was forwarded to me with a pricing of R 3500 and a final net pricing of R 2700. I called Audionote to confirm the pricing written on the quotation as I understood that it would cost R 3 500 to replace the HDMI board. I was informed by Vincent that they had given me a discount hence the final price was R 2700.
My insurance paid for the repairs and that was 7 months ago. Since then my receiver has been sent back 4 times to the distributor. I have had to be the one calling to find out the status of the receiver. I was informed that the receiver had its parts replaced 4 times. During these four times I was even told that the was nothing wrong with the receiver and that I was pressing buttons ?unconsciously? which was switching the video off, I other words me and my entire family where half crazy busy pressing buttons without knowing it. I even noted to Audionote that the HDMI board did not look new but looked as if parts of it had been fixed each time but I was assured that the parts were new and they had seen the technician put in a new board.
I then finally asked that they give me the reports and proof of the repairs/parts so that I can submit these to my insurance company and see if they can assist me with replacing the entire receiver as it did not seem that the issue could be resolved by repairs.
I initially asked Audionote to assist me with the reports and 1 month later after being promised the reports I was given the run around again. I then demanded my receiver back from Audionote and I then contacted the distributing company directly and send an email to the Owner ?Gary? and to his sales and services department last week Thursday explaining this entire situation that has been going on for 7 months. Still no response, I then called the company today 8 Aug and spoke to the Sales person ?Ian?. I asked him if they had read through the email and when they would respond to it. Again they have shown no interest and he told that the Owner would get back to me in his own time!!!!
I am still sitting with a receiver which is not working the fourth time around, I have paid for a repair which there is no proof of being undertaken 7 months after I paid for it?..and nobody from the either company is bothered.
Now would you buy from a company if you knew this is the service you would get in return?
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CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS: (Inserted by F_D on 2011-08-11 at the request of Slim101)
I need to clear this up...Audiotronic is the local distributor of the Onkyo product...Audionote is what I call the retailer based in Sandton from whom I bought the receiver directly from. I would also like to clear up that Audiotronic do not supply the Krell product just in case there was that misconception.
The two companies are different entities as I have been informed by Gary the owner of Audiotronic. Gary does seem very much interested in resolving this issue and has even offered to replace the unit to factory standard if my insurer fails to replace the entire unit.
****
Threat title changed as per Slim101's request - F_D
I bought an Onkyo 608 Receiver in December last year 2010 from a reseller in Sandton called Audionote. I had done some research in terms of the product and picked up from the Onkyo Website that Audiotronic was the South African distributor locally. It would have been cheaper to buy the receiver online but I wanted that comfort of knowing that they would be a local company that I could take it to in case it needed work to be done on it.
Well now starts the disappointment. I began experiencing HDMI problems on the receiver, My blu-ray and xbox would just stop showing any video or audio sporadically but funny enough the Receiver setup menu would still show on the LCD screen through the HDMI-Out. I went back and forth to Audionote hauling all my equipment there trying to unravel the issue. I bought various HDMI cables and the whole nine yards. The HDMI on the Receiver would work sporadically sometime half way through a movie it would just switch of then the next day it would be back again.
Okay so finally Audionote called in a technician from Audiotronic. He then checked the receiver and I was informed that it had suffered lightning damage. I then called the Technician ?Kim? from Audiotronic personally and explained that this would happen sporadically without me pressing any buttons some time an hour or two into a movie. He asked me various questions which all kept leading to lightning, the most notable one would be if I had a HD-PVR and I told him I did not have one. I informed the technician that I would rather have the HDMI board replaced rather than have some of the chips be re-soldered on the board.
I had a sense that the technician was not really interested in the points I had raised and I informed Audionote of this and I remember asking one of the employees ?Vincent? at Audionote if they were sure that the technician would be able to fix the receiver. I was assured of him ?Expertise?. I asked Audionote to supply me with the report and quotation from the distributor ?Audiotronic? for me to submit to my insurance. The quotation came was forwarded to me with a pricing of R 3500 and a final net pricing of R 2700. I called Audionote to confirm the pricing written on the quotation as I understood that it would cost R 3 500 to replace the HDMI board. I was informed by Vincent that they had given me a discount hence the final price was R 2700.
My insurance paid for the repairs and that was 7 months ago. Since then my receiver has been sent back 4 times to the distributor. I have had to be the one calling to find out the status of the receiver. I was informed that the receiver had its parts replaced 4 times. During these four times I was even told that the was nothing wrong with the receiver and that I was pressing buttons ?unconsciously? which was switching the video off, I other words me and my entire family where half crazy busy pressing buttons without knowing it. I even noted to Audionote that the HDMI board did not look new but looked as if parts of it had been fixed each time but I was assured that the parts were new and they had seen the technician put in a new board.
I then finally asked that they give me the reports and proof of the repairs/parts so that I can submit these to my insurance company and see if they can assist me with replacing the entire receiver as it did not seem that the issue could be resolved by repairs.
I initially asked Audionote to assist me with the reports and 1 month later after being promised the reports I was given the run around again. I then demanded my receiver back from Audionote and I then contacted the distributing company directly and send an email to the Owner ?Gary? and to his sales and services department last week Thursday explaining this entire situation that has been going on for 7 months. Still no response, I then called the company today 8 Aug and spoke to the Sales person ?Ian?. I asked him if they had read through the email and when they would respond to it. Again they have shown no interest and he told that the Owner would get back to me in his own time!!!!
I am still sitting with a receiver which is not working the fourth time around, I have paid for a repair which there is no proof of being undertaken 7 months after I paid for it?..and nobody from the either company is bothered.
Now would you buy from a company if you knew this is the service you would get in return?
****
CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS: (Inserted by F_D on 2011-08-11 at the request of Slim101)
I need to clear this up...Audiotronic is the local distributor of the Onkyo product...Audionote is what I call the retailer based in Sandton from whom I bought the receiver directly from. I would also like to clear up that Audiotronic do not supply the Krell product just in case there was that misconception.
The two companies are different entities as I have been informed by Gary the owner of Audiotronic. Gary does seem very much interested in resolving this issue and has even offered to replace the unit to factory standard if my insurer fails to replace the entire unit.
****
Threat title changed as per Slim101's request - F_D
