Abysmal Onkyo Integra Service - Page 2

Or they usually just keep the superior loaner and never return your calls to pick up their old, repaired unit.

What motivation do they have to bring it back? They got a new/better one.

Onkyo has a history of releasing the same model year after year with updated firmware, while there older customers get the shaft.

My next audio component won't be from them.

I blame the dealers too!

Every company has issues. You hardly hear from the happy here.

I hear you Duke. I've had great support for my Lexmark ink jet printer. When I got the printer, I registered online for a full five year warranty. I've had two problems that could not be rectified over the phone. Both times they sent me a replacement printer on their dime.

Of course they did. They want you buying that expensive ink.

For sure. It's like buying Gillette cartridges!

The primary audio brands have terrible, slow, unresponsive technical support. This seems to be a result of the eroding profit margins, and frequently the tech support has been outsourced outside the USA..
In many instances the purchaser has little leverage unless the unit fails in the 1st 30 days..
Also the technical support personnel have had little technical training and are limited in knowledge...
Very, very sad much like the customer service in our airline business, practically nil..

Just my $0.02..

There is another related subject that comes up often; that is the internet purchase vs. buying from the local dealer offering some sort of implied warranty.

Why even offer a warranty then? That should be illegal.

I'll never buy an onkyo again... I was tempted by the integras until I searched some threads on them . Sure, i don't have audyssey but at least my receiver will have long term reliability.

My dealer said if I ever have a problem with my 80.3, that I see him and him only. I've dealt with them before with excellent results. I really think the dealer is mostly to blame if your not seeing results.

Well Duke Weber you can send this to them. I just bought a new receiver. It was a toss up between a Onkyo TX-NR709 and a Denon AVR 2311 (I know, maybe not a fair comparison). I was very tempted by the Onkyo due to all it had to offer and it was a tad less $$. I also knew of some issues they were having but thought to myself that, hey, it has 2 years warranty.

Well after reading this, I couldn't bring myself to get the Onkyo. Also, we have here in town, an excellent repair shop that is an authorized service place for Pioneer, Yamaha, Denon and a few others but not Onkyo. The nearest Onkyo authorized repair shop is 13 hour drive away.

So thanks.

cheers

P.S. hopefully this won't come and bite me in the a$$

Integra products are a bit of a crapshoot.

IMO, for their prepros there is nothing from any other brand that comes even close to comparing when looking at both sound quality and features.

But in my experience their service DOES suck. So that is the gamble

If you didn't buy a piece of gear because some guy on the internet said he's had a bad experience, you'd never buy anything. It sucks that it's going down like this but we also don't know the dealers story or anything else for that matter. You have to take things with a grain of salt.

lol, trust me I don't, if I would, I wouldn't be driving a Kia or bought 2 Bic F12.

But I just wasn't comfortable getting the Onkyo. Believe me, deep down, I wanted to. When you read some of the Onkyo thread, most of the owners love their receivers, amps and wouldn't trade 'em for anything. That speaks volume.
But I'm just not comfortable purchasing a product, as good as it is, and having it in the back of my mind that it may fail today. I'm aware that it can happen to the best of the best out there but the odds are not on Onkyo's side lately.

cheers

Integra is a dealer only brand. You "should" be dealing with your dealer you bought it from and that's it. That's the point of the line being a dealer only brand. Your Dealer "should" have taken care of you and I'm wondering why he's not, thus I wonder what his side of the story is. I'm not saying you're lying or anything but I wonder why he's not taking care of you like he should.

From your 12 posts, they are pretty much all on this thread telling us this story, which is fine but whats the reason your not dealing with your dealer? You said he's small but that doesn't matter, he's still a dealer. I've had a few paradigm problems back in the day and had a few bad experiences dealing with them directly but at the end of the day, we bought if from a dealer, our dealer should be taking care of us until the warranty expires. After I found a proper Paradigm dealer, my driver problem was solved in 24 hours and I had the new drivers I needed. Thats what you dealer should be doing for you.

just wondering if what your saying is the case, why do manufacturer's bother putting things like warranty papers, instruction to register your device with them and things of that nature. I've never seen a paper that says "if you have problems, bring to your dealer."

Now, could his dealer do a little more?, maybe but the dealer doesn't have to. As a dealer would I have taken is broken product, give him another one and me (as a dealer) deal with Onkyo so to not inconvenience my customer?, maybe, but I don't have to. Is it good business sense to do so?, probably, but again the dealer doesn't have to.

So ultimately, it is the manufacturer's responsibility.

Integra is a dealer only brand because as such, they are "suppose" to have ad some in depth training of some sort for this specific brand and it's components. Having done so, the manufacturer will feel confident that a defect is not because the big box store staff told them that welding a toaster on the side of the amp is a good thing. Also, in some cases (I'm not claiming that Integra does this) it helps elevate the "status" of this brand so they can charge premium price.

I understand but every manufacturer has problems at points in time. I know how hard it can be to not have buyers remorse lol

Well, then have fun with the broken unit I feel bad for you guys who's Interga dealers won't help you out. Maybe you should shop around more next time.

now that, I agree with

You can still end up in a bad situation after shopping around.

Why should the dealer take a loss for a MFG problem? So you believe that a MFG should have *NO* liability for producing junk? If the MFG requires dealers to eat the costs for their crappy product, what is the incentive of carrying them as a brand?

And like I said before.....

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.

*********************************************************

You do know that that is what I'm saying right?

Was more geared towards the shopping around part... Not our post..

I have to post a POSITIVE report on Onkyo customer service. I was having issues with my 3007, actually several over the coarse of almost 2 years. Sent in for repair 2 times, 3rd problem was with optical/toslink inputs. Tech support transferred me to customer service, and promptly sent a New 3009. I was not happy with the 3009 because the receiver was no longer bridgeable, why this feature was dropped is unknown. Called and left my phone#, and was contacted 2 hrs later by Michael Russo. I explained why the 3009 was unacceptable to me. Mr. Russo researched and found a new 3008, that is bridgeable, they promptly tested and shipped new receiver to me. My original 3007 warranty was set to expire in March of 2012.
I have no complaints & believe that customer service, especially Michael Russo, did a fantastic job in customer satisfaction, and keeping me informed by email all thru the process of replacing my 3007 receiver.

Very Happy Onkyo Customer!!!