Abysmal Onkyo Integra Service

Very sad. At one time, I considered an Integra so this infomraiton is good to know.

It is a busy time right now (more than usual) but I do understand your frustration. When something does not work right or at all we want it fixed ASAP.

Nothing quite like warranty service...at least they aren't claiming there's no problem like some PC parts manufacturers do...

Pay a premium price for a Integra & get service like this is terrible. The guy is going on two months out of service. Then they wont even answer the phone. What is the best brand to go with??

This is the norm for current mfgs.. Get used to it!

I guess whatever brand has the best reliability. You cannot rely on their warranties this day in age..

I have a Sherwood brand receiver and their service also sucks in my opinion.

When I pay to send something in to be repaired multiple times, I expect it to be fixed. Not in this day of age. Once these companies have your money you are SOL!

Do not have any problem integra exchange my Integra DHC-80.2 for brand new DHC-80.3.
Probably due to large amount of traffic before hollyday
My friend buy 30.3 receiver and take 2 months for having in her possession.
The problem it is not integra is your dealer did not giving to you a replacement option before the end of repair.
ciao

Put the dealer under pressure to produce something to make you, the customer happy!
If he wanted to, I'm sure he could do a number of things to help, but he is taking the easy way out, and throwing Integra under the bus...how nice of him.
Where did you purchase it from?

I agree with the majority of posters here. It looks like the problem is mostly with your dealer. He should have went directly to his Integra factory rep and requested a replacement unit. If a replacement was not available they should have upgraded to the next level at no additional charge.

I wonder if there isn't some underlying reason that your dealer is treating you so badly. Post his name and address so others will know to avoid doing business with him.

Cheers,
SB

...it would be nice to hear the dealers side of the story...there's always two sides to the story.

Agreed that it would be nice to hear dealers side of the story. I believe for Integra they can do advance exchange within 6 months. Past that point I don't know if they have enough margin to take a loss on the product. We are certainly not talking about a high end product where dealers will be willing to bend over backwards. If I were a dealer I would hesitate to carry Integra line but I certainly would provide the customer with something temporarily until the unit gets fixed.

...the dealer could offer a "trade up" deal of some sort, or call his sales rep for service, at the very least.

Sorry guys, but the the dealer represents the MFG. It is still the MFGs problem.

They are the ones that select who is an autorized dealer.

If that dealer is not living up to the MFGs standard, then the MFG needs to give them the boot.

Agreed 100%. These two are well known for their service and it's very poor. Dealers also have to deal with them and probably get the same response from them. If I were a dealer these are two brands I would not carry just because of their reputation for service. Too many other brands that are more reliable and offer better service than these two. JMHO, like it or not.

Onkyo is based out of Saddle River, NJ.

18 Park Way
Upper Saddle River, NJ*07458

According to Buisness Week, the phone number there is 201-785-2600.

Now, according to LinkedIn, the National Sales Manager is Joe Petrillo. Odds are he's headquartered out of the above location. While you can express your unhappiness here, I suggest you do the following. First try that number and see if you can speak with him directly. Explain your situation in firm but polite words and ask if he can somehow assist you in your situation. If for some reason you can't reach him perhaps they can direct you to someone who can. Letter writing is also an approach but I'd try the phone first

Good luck!

Interesting.

I almost pulled the trigger on a TX-NR809, then started looking at the TX-NR1009, then got intrigued by Intagra DTR-50.3 and 70.3.

Then I started finding many sources of complaints, failures and poor service.

Now instead of Onkyo/Integra leading the pack, they have nearly fallen off the wagon for me.

Back to Yamaha or Denon.

I'm confused. Is the warranty through Onkyo? or through the dealer who sold you the unit?

If it's through Onkyo, I don't think the dealer is responsible for anything. it's been 10 months.

Otherwise, I agree the dealer should be responsible for doing something.

Anyone who has internet access and does a little research shouldn't be surprised with issues with Onkyo. They've been by far the worst major manufacturer over the last 5 or so years in terms of reliability and it's well documented.

I wonder what the dealer says to new prospects regarding his service.

This is laughable. Pull out your warranty card and read the first line: "Onkyo Electronics Co. Ltd warrants this product to be free of defects in parts and manufacture for a period of 2 years from the original date of purchase." No where in there is the name "Newegg" or "Electronics Expo" or "Abt Electronics" or anything.

"But don't you stand behind what you sell"? Why should they? What would your HiFi shop do with a broken receiver that isn't their problem? Write it off and throw it away? I think not.

"The customer is always right!" No they aren't. Get over yourself.

"The Onkyo factory rep should have stepped right up and replaced the receiver!" No, the factory rep is a salesman first and foremost. The service is handled by a different division. Onkyo is in the business of selling, not fixing. One has priority over the other.

The search function of this forum returns several results for crappy Onkyo service. Take heed! Do not think that your experience will be different.

Who are you connecting with on that 201 number?

My $899 onkyo bit the dust 15 months after purchase back in 2005. I'll tell you how crappy their cs is... After spending a month contacting a human being being, the first thing he asked was my purchase date... I was coming up close on the 2 yr mark on warranty coverage . My entire audio out section of the avr went out... They walked me through several trouble shooting techniques before stating the unit needs to be sent in. He advised me I would be getting a call from someone at the rma dept. That call never came and I spent months tracking someone down... On month 24 of ownership, I received a call and was told my unit was now out of warranty... And service would not be done via warranty. I came unglued at this point..

I promptly replaced the unit with a Yamaha and never looked back. I did sent back my unit to onkyo packed inside the yamaha avr box.... Inside there was a nasty note I wrote.. I will admit, before I packed the unit, I made a few cosmetic enhancements with my sledge hammer... I carted the package off and shipped it via ups.

About 2 months later I received a letter from onkyo stating my unit was damaged in shipping for rma replacement. I never received an rma number and I never heard back from them again.

I've done the same previously with a Epsom printer when I replaced it with a new canon pixma in 2006 but at least Epsom was kind of enough to send me a new printer due to me smashing it in pieces before boxing it up.

Bottom line is, this isn't surprising to hear onkyo still has the sme terrible service. I am on my second Yamaha receiver and couldn't be happier with the yammys. Although I've had no equipment failures on the Yamaha units, things I have called about were taken care of promptly and above expectation. Albeit Denon stands behind their products as well.

Venomous,

Sounds like what Sherwood may possibly be doing with me..

They stopped replying to my emails. Kind of funny that I am 2 monthes away from the warranty ending.

No problem, other than being out of something you paid well earned money to get. Just remember this fact whenever its time to get another. Until further notice I would also avoid Onkyo for a while. Also since Onkyo/Integra are one and the same turn your back on them also. Don't know if their customer service will ever improve. With them its a toss up if you get something that's going to have any longevity to it. When they work as supposed to they are very good. It's when you have to deal with their idiots in CS that you get the weenie from them. Not worth it IMO. Too many really good AVR's out there to deal with that garbage.

A real long shot, but Onkyo does do twitter. Maybe link to this thread?

Did you try just dialing "0" at the voice prompts?

Back when I was teaching SCUBA and running my own training and equipment business, my phylosophy was that the customer never be inconvenienced.

If someone brought in a regulator that was in need of repair, they walked out with a 'loaner' if I could not fix it right there.

If it was a warranty issue, I would either loan them another item of equal or GREATER value, or replace it on the spot, while I dealt with the manufacturer.

Even people that had not purchased items from me, I would gladly provide them with 'loaner' gear while I dealt with their manufacturer.

Didn't matter if it was a $50 flashlight, $600 BCD, $1,200 regulator or $2,000 dive computer.

That is how a 'dealer' should 'deal' with the situation.

Guess I'm just 'old school'.

Thank God.

Seams to be the right thing to do, in any kind of economy.

Even if you loan out a better one while the customer's is getting repaired, you might gain a sale if the customer falls in love with the loaner..