Denon 2802 from an authorized dealer or 3802 from unauthorized dealer??? SAME PRICE!! (1 Viewer)

[Kyle_Y]

HELP!!!!!!! I can't decide, for the same price, I can get a Denon 2802 from my local authorized dealer or a 3802 from an UNauthorized e-retailer? My local dealer says that if something goes wrong with my receiver, that they will ship it to Denon and have it repaired for me at no charge to me, and I also get the return policy and the peace of mind that iwon't have to haggle with an unauthorized dealer. If I go with the unauthorized dealer(any of them), I can for around the same price get a 3802! Should I take the risk for the 3802 or sleep easy with the 2802. Just to let you know, I will only be running 5.1 for a while, so basically, I do not need the 7.1 of the 3802, but 6.1 upgradeability is nice. I CAN'T DECIDE, HELP!!!!!

 

[Chris Derby]

With the exception of exchanging a unit, your auth dealer isn't doing anything for you that you can't do yourself. They say they'll ship your unit to Denon for repair? What are you going to do if you need your unit repaired? Ship it to Denon....

For the same price, I'd get the 3802.

 

[Ken Seeber]

With the exception of exchanging a unit, your auth dealer isn't doing anything for you that you can't do yourself. They say they'll ship your unit to Denon for repair? What are you going to do if you need your unit repaired? Ship it to Denon....

The problem is, Denon might not honor the warranty at all if the receiver is purchased from an unauthorized retailer. This could be a costly problem if anything goes wrong with the unit.

 

[Brian Johnson]

I agree with the previous post. Seeing as how if you goto denons website and to home audio- the very first thing you see if warning about buying from unauthorized dealers. Maybe search for other lengthy posts on this subject. But as for me I went with an authorized dealer- it only cost me 75 bucks more for my model(avr1602) but now I can sleep at night.

 

[Ed C]

I went for the 3802 from an e-tailer and I couldn't be happier. Just make sure they double-box if you're getting it shipped.

 

[Randy G]

If interested, I work with an authorized dealer who not only provides wonderful service and advice, but will be happy to give you a 22.5% discount from list price on all Denon products.
Regards,
Randy
[email protected]
ps- also carry Velodyne, Lexicon, Sherbourn, Mission, PSB, Monitor Audio, Integra and numerous projectors

 

[Chris Derby]

I'm pretty sure that the warranty issue has been discussed at length here and elsewhere. As long as the item is one meant for North America, you shouldn't have a problem at all w/ the warranty.

Denon Dave (sigh) addressed this issue at length, over and over again. I think he was asked this when he did his interview over @ AVS.

 

[Bryan Acevedo]

I wouldn't worry too much about the authorized dealer vs. unauthorized dealer.

Let me put it this way: How many people who go and buy electronics online 1) Know about this forum, and therefore would know about authorized dealers, 2) Would actually go to Denon's website and see this whole authorized dealer warning, 3) Would know that they could be jeapordizing their warranty by purchasing online?

Answer - a lot less than the people that actually know. So what is my point? That this whole authorized dealer vs. unauthorized dealer debate really only exists here, on the forums. In the real world, it is not even an issue.

What would be an unauthorized dealer, would most likely be some shady guy selling you Denon equipment out of the back of a van. This would most likely be the grey market or stolen goods that Denon is against. Denon isn't against the etailers selling the goods for cheap. That is good for Denon, so why would they cause problems with warranty service?

Plus, most of these etailers are just web fronts for actual brick and mortar authorized dealers. They just have an additional outlet for selling goods, with little cost to them, so they sell the stuff cheap. They already make high margins on their regular local customers.

I always laugh when I see this debate come up, because it is like old urban legends. I still haven't seen any significant amount of posts here, for people saying they were denied service. I only see posts like, "Well I read somewhere, or my cousin was denied service." If YOU have been denied service, then tell us the WHOLE story, and if it really had to do with where you bought it. The reason you need a receipt, is so they know WHEN you bought it. If a product has been out for a few years, they need to know if it is still in the warranty period. On new products, they know it hasn't been out long enough to be out of the warranty period. But they may want to see a receipt to prove that it wasn't stolen, etc.

Finally, how could Denon deny you warranty service, if you bought from one of these etailers, and you had know idea about this whole authorized dealer policy? You don't see this note until AFTER you bought the item, and open it up! They don't have this stuff posted on the outside of the box! You can't use their web site either, because not everyone has web access, and some of these etailers can sell you this stuff over the phone. When I bought my first receiver several years ago, I had no idea about authorized vs. unauthorized, and I just found the cheapest site I could find. I also doubt that JVC would have rejected any warranty claims either. There are a lot more people that buy this stuff, than those of us on this web site, and I know that these companies aren't denying them warranty service.

Now saying all of this - I say go for the 3802. I own one, (bought locally for full MSRP! I bought because of the great service and upgrade options from a local dealer) and it is awesome. If you go to Crutchfield, they show a picture of the 2802 and 3802 with their tops off. Look at the power supply in each - the 3802's is huge compared to the 2802. And the 2802 did very well in the S&V tests. Imagine what a 3802 is going to do! Also, the 3802 has DDSC, which IMO, is worth the upgrade.

Good luck!

Bryan