In january 2005, I purchased a denon 2910 dvd player, a denon 3805 receiver, and a full b&w speaker system 5.1 with asw675 sub, b&w 604s 601s and 6 center. I purchased the extended three year warranty on the denon 2910 dvd player for an additional $100. I spent a great deal of money in this shop and planned on being a future customer as well as now i'm in the market for a new 5/7 channel power amp. So, my denon dvd 2910 stopped playing cd's altogether and is hit or miss with dvds. I had to pull my old denon dedicated cd player out of the closet to listen to cds and used the denon 2910 for dvd only. Well, I brought the dvd player into the shop with the warranty paperwork and they said they would call me when it was fixed and gave me a slip of paper indicating that they had my player for service and I would need the tag to pick up the player when they call me to say it is fixed. I then preceded to be extrememly unhappy with this. In my opinion with my extended warranty and being a good customer, they should have done far better than this. So, I expressed my unhappiness with the outcome and they then gave me a used cheapo dvd player with no hdmi or multi channel audio capabilities as a "loaner" unit to use until mine was fixed. Is this acceptable??? Is this "good" customer service??? Are my expectations too high and I'm being unreasonable that I think that they should give me at least the same quality dvd player on a loan until mine is fixed? I have never had an issue with any of my equipment failing this being the first and I assumed my dealer would have really came through for me, but I'm not sure if what I would consider good service is feasible. Any comments would be great as I now am not sure if I should go back to my normal dealer or if I should find a new dealer for future purchases.
Jeff, sorry about the player. Gotta love warranty, though. Since the dealer is not here to speak for him/her self, I might chip in a bit here.
The dealer can only give you a ticket and wish you luck. The unit will be fedexed to Whoville to be fixed by the Denon elves. The dealer may or may not be able to request a fast repair, and depending on how many Denons he sells, may get it back quickly. Or not.
As for the dealers response to your plight, I think it is fair. He is not required to provide you a loaner at all. He may have 5 Jeff's at a time with players in for repair, and I am sure he does not have an unlimited supply of units to loan out at any one time.
The treatment you have received seems not too shabby at all.
If your Denon is repaired properly and in good time, well that should finish the whole thing.
Why was your backup unit in the closet? Is it ugly? Or relegated as the poor red-haired cousin in lieu of your snazzy newer one?
I agree with Nuck. I have a 2910 and for a player it seems to get awfully warm. I only us it for a movie or two a week so it's still alive for now. I really like the dealer I bought it from but were it to die on me I doubt they would give me a loaner. I've only dealt with one shop in my life that would do that and that is because the shop owner was also the service tech so he had a pretty good idea when the gear would be returned to me. Unless they are being rude to you I would be grateful. Sorry Jeff I'm not sure that's what you wanted to hear.
What paperwork did you receive from the dealer when you agreed to the purchase of the extended warranty?
The dealer in all likelyhood is not the primary in the contract and therefore you have to rely on what is spelled out in the contract you signed (and should have been provided to you) when you made the binding agreement to the exchange of money for future services. Extended warranties are typically a third party agreement and there is probably a provision spelled out in the contract that will inform you of your rights as a customer. In virtually all third party agreements of this type, the dealer has no responsibility other than to take your money in exchange for your agreement to buy the extended warranty and, when called upon, to act as a responsible party for the shipping and handling of the product should repairs be required. If a loaner is permitted, it will be spelled out in the contract along with who will provide the loaner and what will likely be considered a "reasonable replacement".
In my experience, a "reasonable replacement" after two years use will not leave you without music or video. Period. You have the ability to play DVD's and CD's with the loaner. Any more than that will either be at the dealer's discretion or due to the responsible party's binding contract. Read the paperwork!
Read the paperwork!
Read the paperwork!
Read the contract before you sign the deal and before you hand someone cash for what you "expect" should happen.
I am constantly amazed at the number of people who sign binding legal documents without ever glancing at the words they are agreeing to. I am even more amazed by the number of people who hand over cash for something they can't see, hear or feel and have only their expectations of what they are buying. Life don't work like that! You agreed to a contract, find it and read it.
If the dealer is living up to their end of the legal agreement, you have no complaint, JM. Particularly if you did not make any attempt to understand the document before you signed it. If the problem had happened in the first 90 days of ownership, I think the dealer probably should have done better for a "good" customer. However, after two years, I think the dealer has more than enough discretion in the matter to do exactly what you have described. You should continue to expect prompt and courteous service from the dealer in this issue, but, from my experience, I will tell you two year old units do not get any preference on the service tech's bench. They get done in the order they come in (for the most part, there are exceptions but they are not the sort you want to hear about). Parts for a two year old player might require ordering and might not be in stock at the central parts center depending on the commonality of the failure. A few weeks is not an uncommon wait for such repairs where the equipment needs to be shipped to another location for repair. (Did you bring the original box or is the dealer supposed to supply a suitable shipping container? How will the unit be shipped? Is there a provision in your contract for next day shipping or just ground service across the continent?) You should expect a reasonable amount of attention to be paid to your needs by your dealer and they should attempt to keep you reasonably informed as to the progress of the repair. Beyond that, read your contract.
You have the right to decide who gets your business in the future. If you feel the dealer was more interested in the few dollars profit they get from selling the extended warranty rather than getting you the extra protection of the warranty, then you might consider whether you want to give them any more of your money. Remember, you agreed to this deal. But, if you are like most of the clients I dealt with and you didn't ask some questions or clarify to some degree what the contract bound all parties to expect and settle for - if you didn't read the paperwork - then you will have to live with this as is. The dealer is more than likely a third party in this contract and their responsibilites are minor.
Little things like this teach us lessons in the way things work in life. I cannot stress sufficiently, this should teach you to read contracts before you sign them. Learn this lesson before you buy your next car or home. Do not get caught up in the moment of the purchase, thinking everything will be just fine. You are buying and agreeing to a binding legal document.
Its not a Lexus Dealership. So no loaner required. So your only goal with an extended warranty is to get a free repair, which could take awhile.
And yes, you spent A LOT of money with them. Thats probably why they gave you a loaner player. Which is above and beyond the call of duty actually.
By the way, with the HD-DVD players from Toshiba and their upsccaling capabilities, the more expensive players from Denon don't really make much sense anymore IMHO. ( I tested the entry level model out myself with Standard DVDs and obviously HD- DVDs)
thanks for the responses. It all makes sense and perhaps I have learned a valuable lesson in reading the warranty contract. They said hey you want the 3 year warranty for a hundred fifty bucks? I accepted this at face value and wasn't smart enough to read it through. My dealer has probably gone above and beyond the call of duty with me not leaving me w/o a player while mine is being serviced.
Hi Jeff, I worked retail for a while when I was fresh out of Uni. They were very hot on selling extended warranties, they were the biggest contribution to the bottom line (and commission), they just add margin to the sale. Generally we sold them for 10% and they costs us maybe 2.5%-3%.
I'm not saying don't buy them, and I agree with the others about understanding exactly what you're getting, however, I think you also have to consider. - The chances of it failing - What an average repair bill might be - What would that same unit cost second hand maybe 2 - 3 years later (I mean your broken one is "used" too) - Would that warranty money be better earning interest and contributing to a newer replacement if the worst happened (or maybe an upgrade if it doesn't break?)
In most case for me, I don't buy them unless I squeeze the price right down. Also, I'm usually dead keen to try fix things myself. Here's an example, I bought a sony dvps-735d for $NZ 1,400 maybe 6 years ago. I ended up in storage after I moved to the UK, and when I finally got it back I had a NZ player with component and a UK tv with RGB scart. I bought the same model, but UK spec 6 months ago for £5.00, it was on the blink and I fixed it by replacing a tiny resistor sized fuse on the lasers circuit board, cost 10p for 10amp fuse wire.
This taught me a few thing, the gear depreciates pretty fast. Repairs don't have to be expensive, and you can sometimes find step by step repair guides on the net too.
Hi Jeff, I worked retail for a while when I was fresh out of Uni. They were very hot on selling extended warranties, they were the biggest contribution to the bottom line (and commission), they just add margin to the sale. Generally we sold them for 10% and they costs us maybe 2.5%-3%.
I'm not saying don't buy them, and I agree with the others about understanding exactly what you're getting, however, I think you also have to consider. - The chances of it failing - What an average repair bill might be - What would that same unit cost second hand maybe 2 - 3 years later (I mean your broken one is "used" too) - Would that warranty money be better earning interest and contributing to a newer replacement if the worst happened (or maybe an upgrade if it doesn't break?)
In most cases I don't buy them unless I squeeze the price right down. Also, I'm usually dead keen to trying to fix things myself (or at least making a diagnosis before getting a professional). Here's an example, I bought a sony dvps-735d for $NZ 1,400 maybe 6 years ago. It ended up in storage after I moved to the UK, and when I finally got it back I had a NZ player with component and a UK tv with RGB scart. So I bought the same model, but UK spec 6 months ago for £5.00, it was on the blink and I fixed it by replacing a tiny resistor sized fuse on the lasers circuit board, cost 10p for 10amp fuse wire. I didn't know what to do, but found simple step by step repair instructions on the web...