Gone Through Hell for a Harman Kardon (1 Viewer)

[BurtS]

Good evening. I am working on finding a suitable replacement for your AVR325. While I can understand your frustration, our warranty policy calls for the unit to be serviced by an authorized HK repair facility, before determining if a replacement is warranted. I should have more information on a possible replacement for you within the next few days.

Thats the reply from harman kardon I think they will make it right, took long time for them to respond. I sent out a better bereau complaint to jji electronics though for selling me a defective unit with no replacement. But I asked them to refund me my 470.00 so if I get a new one, do I just stop my complaint, or stay with the complaint but refuse my refund if I get a working unit.

 

[Chu Gai]

I think if you get a new one then you should just forget about it all Burt. I know it's been a tough ride and things haven't happened fast enough but through it you've learned some valuable lessons here.

1) The need to do more research when it comes to buying equipment from non-authorized dealers.
2) Given where you live, the need to move service higher on your priority list when considering equipment.
3) Do a more thorough job of researching products you consider buying. The headaches you've had with this brand aren't peculiar to the brand. For example, NAD has had its share of complaints with respect to hiss. Some owners have accepted an explanation that says its typical with high sensitivity speakers. It's not though and one user on this forum, after finally putting aside all the 'NAD makes quality components' line found that he was being handed a line of crap.

Life is full of lessons. Some cost us money. Yours may just wind up costing you time, frustration, and is a good example of Caveat Emptor. If so, consider yourself lucky and just learn from it. Have a beer and just grin. Best of luck and hope you stick around. Lots of bright people here with good ideas and experiences to help you get the most from your system.

 

[EricRWem]

Burt, absolutely ride this thing all the way to the end. No way you should be out of pocket whatsoever. It's not your fault, and it's not even HK's really...

I got my HK 630 refurb yesterday, direct from HK, and thus far...amazing!

Hang in there, bud!

 

[EricRWem]

Burt, absolutely ride this thing all the way to the end. No way you should be out of pocket whatsoever. It's not your fault, and it's not even HK's really...

I got my HK 630 refurb yesterday, direct from HK, and thus far...amazing!

Hang in there, bud!

 

[RaviK]

Burt,

I totally agree with Eric. True, H/K has offered some assitance in this regard, but not without your share of pain and frustration. IMHO, your complaint against jji should stay.. they cannot give people crap and expect to walk away with it.

 

[RaviK]

Burt,

I totally agree with Eric. True, H/K has offered some assitance in this regard, but not without your share of pain and frustration. IMHO, your complaint against jji should stay.. they cannot give people crap and expect to walk away with it.

 

[BurtS]

Just got another replacement refurbished avr325 today, and its workin good so far. How do you get this thing to play regular tv channels. I have a dvr cable box with the coaxial cable goin to my avr325. It plays digital encoded channels fine but like the news channels it wont play any sound.

 

[Carl Johnson]

To get sound from broadcast tv you need to connect a pair of rca cables from the television to the receiver.

 

[BurtS]

You believe that my new harman turned off all of a sudden during the matrix, and I no know that it also turned off about 15 seconds after i turned it on in the morning. Same problem as before???
Holy crap
omg this cant be happenin , I hope its only rare that it does it omg

 

[Rogozhin]

I had the same problem and I had the unit sent to repair-covered by HK-and it looked like the main pcb and volume point had to be resoldered (according to the worksheet)-it ran great and never faile)-but it was also a refurb unit-just like your new one-and it didn't do it at first-but eventually became unusable.

rogo

 

[BurtS]

God have mercy
Today it only stays on for 6 seconds
This is soo ridiculous beyond my comprehension
You realize I spent over 180.00 on shipping alone thus far
I should have just sold the peice of shit thing with the receipt before I even took it out of the box
Harman Kardon=Totally crap quality
Imagine how I feel, it never worked from day 1

 

[BurtS]

I got the receiver day before yesterday and hooked it all up and it works fine(1 movie). The next day in the morning I power it on and I figure I might have hit the off button accidently cause my stomach went upside down when 10 seconds later I watch it turn off. Omg it cant be , must have hit the off button, only to find out in the evening when watching matrix it turned off in front of me and my pops eyes confirming my worst nightmare. It ran fine after and didnt turn off, but now this morning I turn it on and it only stays on for a mere 10 seconds now and immediatly turns off. Exact same problem as the last one.
I dont know what to say, on a forum one guy states quote"I had the same problem and I had the unit sent to repair-covered by HK-and it looked like the main pcb and volume point had to be resoldered (according to the worksheet)-it ran great and never faile)-but it was also a refurb unit-just like your new one-and it didn't do it at first-but eventually became unusable."
The ups man laughs at me everytime he sees me shipping out this box. I really have lost all hope now, this deliema has been going on since the 1st day the first refurbished unit arrived, something like 4 months or so ago. I paid literally over 180.00 shipping costs sending it out, over 600.00 already for this refurbished avr 325. Seems like everyone got a problem, my radio shack rca unit lasted 3 years before it went downhill. My pops can only shake his head as he watches me deal with this. Im sure if you try to put yourself in my situation you could somewhat know the way I feel. :frowning:

Thank You
"Letter I sent to harman"

 

[Dennis Gardner]

Burt,

Does it turn itself off without speakers hooked to it?

 

[JohnSmith]

Bad luck, but hopefully you've learned a (expensive) lesson...

1) Don't buy a refurb. It's been repaired for a reason. If it's gone wrong, even if it's repaired it could still be a lemon. Mate's sister has forked out thousands of pounds to get her fairly new Peugot 106 working (constantly needing repairs). It's still cursed.

2) Purchase from a authorised, reputable dealer.
b) Ideally locally.

That way if you've had any similar problems, it doesn't cost anything to send it back (you just pop into your local dealer and request him to sort it out)

Bummer I know, but I've had similar problems with PC equipment. You really do figure things out and learn from it. It's called life. Hopefully you'll think of this part experience when you see another "Bargain-refurbed" from a grey importer/non authorised dealer again.

 

[BurtS]

All of a sudden its running again, im sure the prob will come back anytime soon. Thinkin of getting a newly released kenwood receiver locally.

 

[MarkO]

I think you need to eliminate a problem in youre wiring, or a ventilation problem.

 

[BurtS]

Yeah when it happens again im going to yank the wires out. I took the wires out and had bare receiver with the last one and same thing.

 

[Chu Gai]

If you're running bare wires, make sure you don't have any strays shorting things out either at the receiver or the speaker ends.

 

[BurtS]

Yeah its running right now, I already sent that letter to harman kardan, so if he writes back ill let him know if its still running or what. No strays, that would be a simple explanation if it was so,im amazed its running right now. Should have waited before I sent that letter. Now im waiting for it to happen again so I can test for short.

 

[Jimi C]

I would love the know the percentage of hk units that need to be serviced within the first month of the warranty period. These guys have some serious quality control issues. As long as threads like this are popping up i wont even consider buying anything hk. Servicing all of these units is costing them alot of cash. Realize that you are paying to get your unit repaired when you buy it, these costs are added to the price tag. Maybe the Kenwood is cheap.. but thats not necessarily due to cutting corners during production.. perhaps thats due to.. not cutting corners during production.

well... that or.. burt.. break any mirriors latly? geez you have bad luck.