My Sony STR-DA4ES is RUINED! (1 Viewer)

[Aaron Cohen]

I am new to the home theater market and spent months researching the reciever I found to be perfect for me: the Sony STR-DA4ES. Upon recieving it three months ago, I took it out of the box and messed around a bit with the controls and menu then put it back up as I am saving up to buy speakers to go along with it and was waiting till then to leave it hooked up to my set.

Fast forward 3 months. To be exact? Two days ago. I get home and find my cat had pissed on the top of the reciever box. The reciever was in the box with the flaps most of the way closed but there was a small hole in the center.

The piss apparently soaked down inside, through the vents on the top of the reciever and absolutely SOAKED all boards and circuits inside.

I opened it despite the horrific smell and inspected it and found the board to be corroded with crystalized piss all over it.

I spent forever price-matching this item and also made sure to pay a bit extra to get it from an authorized ES dealer to make sure that I got the warranty. They do not cover cat piss. I am out approximately 725 dollars.

What the heck happened? Has this ever happened to anyone else on the forum here? If so, is there any way to fix this or get it repaired or am I completely out of luck?

This is just an absolute NIGHTMARE. I cannot believe that this would happen.

As it stands, it looks like I will be out of getting a home theatre for quite some time now. It will be very annoying to repurchase such an expensive (for me, I'm a college student) reciever.

I worked last summer and got the KV-34XBR800 Sony flat tube widescreen HDTV and was to use this summer as a means of getting the speakers to go along with the reciever I bought during the school year.

This just plain sucks.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Andy Young]

How did you pay for the receiver? If you used cc, read through the member terms. I read through the member terms about 6 months ago and was floored at the type of coverage they give you. You can be completely negligent and get a replacement via credit card within a certain window. If someone steals the item from your home, you're covered within a certain time window.

Do that first.

Then call Sony. They might work with you on the repair.

Then look into your homeowners or renters insurance. You probably have a $500+ deductible, but you might be able to make a claim.

Good luck.

 

[Greg Schwabacher]

I'm guessing your cat isn't neutered? I have two cats and they've never pissed on anything other than kitty litter. However, if one of them ever peed on my 'DA4ES, it'd be in for a long dryer ride, that's for sure!

 

[David Lawson]

How much can you get for the cat?

 

[terence]

Man that SUCKS!! My wife's cat pushed my center ch off the top of 61" RPTV and damaged it. It was tilted at at a angle toward the listening postion, boy i was pissed. I feel your pain.:frowning: Till this day i want to get rid of him but my wife will know it was me.:wink:

 

[John Garcia]

How much can you get for the cat?

LMAO! I was thinking the same thing. Shave it, say it is an exotic, and sell it for a bundle...

But seriously, that really sucks. My cat was "fixed" and she still pissed on stuff. It drove me up the wall, and she was an OUTDOOR cat, damnit. She liked to chew on some of my interconnects too... No more cats here.

I would check with the credit card thing. Tell them the truth, as odd as it may be, and see what they say. I would not expect homeowner's or renter's insurance to cover this either, maybe, but that is stretching it.

 

[gregD]

Piss on the cat.

 

[Aaron Cohen]

Hi, I've already tried homeowner's insurance and it is not covered but I will try other methods. I purchased it from J&R.com Has anyone done business with them before? All eight of my cats are neutered. The only one that has ever pissed on anything has been isolated in a cage for more than a year. There had been no pissing incidents in years and generally the cats don't even come in the room the reciever was in. It's just so incredibly insane. When you say CC I'm assuming you mean Circuit City? I will try anything, I don't have an extra 700 bucks lying around to just go purchase a new one....

 

[Andy Young]

Nope, I mean cc = credit card. Credit cards have a ton of consumer benefits and protections that 99% of the people never know about. One of them that I remember is 2x warranty. They also have a warranty filing service -- just send in copies of your receipts and they do all of the clerical/filing work for you.

Anyway, check it out. Find your benefits sheet (usually issued with your card) and read it. There are provisions that cover negligent damage, as is the case here. Buy a new lamp, walk in the door, drop it on the floor, and Visa buys you a new one.

Don't forget to call Sony. They might charge you a couple hundred dollars to gut the unit, but that's a whole lot better than spending $700+ or having to settle for a cheaper receiver.

Good luck.

BTW, I have one cat: hurt his foot around Christmas: $400 surgery. Had his tail bitten by a raccoon in March (5 through and through holes): $300 surgery. I know what it's like to dump cash into a cat. Not fun, but I love my cat.

Cat before that: $250 cost for cat. Ran over by Explorer (happened about 3 feet from me; tire went right over his body; knocked his collar off) -- cat barely survived: $700 vet bill. Sued by crazy neighbor for cat trespass. Judge had a hard time not laughing it out of court. But, I spend $300 to ship the cat to my parents to avoid further hassles.

So, I'm averaging ~$1,000/cat over the past 5 years!

 

[Dan_Fitz]

If I were you that cat would be in a body bag. Seriously though if you have animals in your house you must plan for things like this. Next time stick in a closet or in a locked trunk. I dont know about when your using it though. Sorry man that suck.

 

[JustinG]

You can get it off. You can get a solvent that is electronics safe to take off the crystallizations. Hell, if you can get it wet with water and let it dry out and it work, you can get rid of this.


Just don't panic.

Do not apply power to the receiver until you've cleaned it. Since your cat voided your warranty, open that thing up. Check out the damage. (actually, you might have already done this).

Go to a local radio shack or Fry's and ask them for a solvent that is safe for use on electronics. Be sure to read the package to make sure.

Clean the board. You might as them for a lintless cloth that you can use also. Might have to goto to Autozone to get one you use on your car.

Clean it, let it dry in then sunlight for several days, maybe even a week.

Then power it up.

I once went to the beach and dunked my keys with keyless door fob in the ocean. After a day it worked fine with no cleaning. I'm sure the salt crystallized similar to your cat piss.

Give that a try and see what you get.

 

[Jerry Klawiter]

Correct, Do not power it up.
What you see in the crystals is most likely salt.
It maybe worth it & have it cleaned, then check for
real corrosion.
It's not hopeless yet.
-Jerry

 

[Jamey F]

MY dad dropped two different cell phones in water. Neither worked right after, but they did after they dried. I give a vote for trying to clean it. Usually those credit card protections for negligence run out after 90 days I think, but it could vary from one card to another, so be sure to check that FIRST and FAST. Even if it's run out, call and tell them it happened within the window, and you've been trying to get it covered under warranty without success. Sometimes, if you are a good customer, they may bend the rules a bit.

As for the cat, I also know what it's like to spend money on an animal. My Boxer was "raped" by a lab. He sprung her free from her fence and took advantage of my innocent girl. The 7th large puppy tore her uterus, and she had to have emergency surgery to remove it when it wouldn't stop bleeding ($400). She was probably 3 then. Cancer at about 8 or 9. Now she's 12.

 

[Greg Johnson]

All eight of my cats are neutered.

Holy Crap! Thats a lot of cats. I think Justin is giving you some real good advice. Just want to add that the electronics cleaner is in aerosol form and will evaporate almost as fast as you spray it on. It should work well cleaning the cat urine off. You may also want to get a can or two of compressed air to blow off any dried cat residue.

Greg

 

[Craig_Kg]

Cat pee is way more corrosive than salt water. I knew someone who left his study window open and a cat peed on his Mac. After getting the boards replaced (at his cost), the fumes that had impregnated the plastic case killed the Mac again a week later. He roamed the alleyway with a baseball bat for a couple of months afterwards...

Good luck but I don't hold much hope :frowning:

 

[Brett DiMichele]

This is why I have a dog.. She never touches the HT.. In fact
she likes to sit back in the recliner and watch a good movie
as much as I do...


I have NEVER been a cat person and if I ever met a woman
who was.. I would walk away.. I would never hurt a cat but
I can't stand the miserable animals.


I feel for you and I hope you get something figured out!

 

[JustinG]

here ya go:

Solvent

All i did was search for "electronics cleaning solvent" in froogle.com and this is just one of the many.

This one even says it works will unit is powered on.

 

[Aaron Cohen]

Thanks so much for all the help and stories. I will try several of the things you have all mentioned and post results here.

Thanks!

 

[Rajkumar]

HI

I had a different problem once when my three year old son took windex and almost sprayed half of the bottle on my TV. The windex corroded the PCB tracks as you could see green coloured copper oxide formations everywhere.

The solution was too open the box, dry it out first. Use a tooth brush with IPA solution (Isopropyl Alcholhol). IPA acts on anything organic and oxides. Use a hair dryer to dry out the IPA. I also replaced few of the contact switches as they are cheap to replace and tough to get into to repair. The TV has been working for the last 8 months without a problem.

 

[Jack Briggs]

For crying out loud, when living with a cat or a dog you have to adjust your own lifestyle to accommodate them. It's the way it is. Why take a receiver out of the box in the first place if one doesn't have any speakers to connect to it?

Please STOP the ugly talk regarding bringing harm to cats or dogs or other living things. Now.