Online purchases debate/question (1 Viewer)

[Phil Wyeth]

The debate over online purchases baffles me. I'm thinking of purchasing either a Yamaha RXV-3000 or the Denon 3802. If I go with reliableaudiovideo.com I will save my self a few hundred versus going with an authorized dealer.
A quote from reliableaudiovideo.com

Reliable A/V dealers honor the original manufacturer warranty, exactly as stipulated by the manufacturer, for the length of the original warranty. In the event any repair is needed within this period, we will arrange to pickup, repair, and return the item at Reliable's expense.

My question:
How is this 'warrenty' different if I purchased from an authorized dealer?? I think the only bad thing that could happen with my purchase is that reliable would go out of business at somepoint during my receiver having a problem. I think there is a remote chance of that. BTW, in my search of online dealers, realiable looks to be the only one with this stipulation.
Thanks for the opinions.

 

[Marc Rochkind]

Yes, maybe they will do the repair, but how and with what parts?

They don't say that they will ship the unit to the manufacturer's authorized repair facility and pay cash for the cost.

(This same issue comes up with wristwatches and cameras, both of which I have experience with.)

The way I think of it is this: The money I am saving, both absolute and as a percentage of the cost, is a tradeoff against the risk that the item will need warranty work.

In addition, for electronic equipment, probably the time of greatest peril is during the first few days of operation. So, an unauthorized dealer with a return policy is way better than one without. And, so, the tradeoff may be OK.

For items that tend to need more repair, such as, say, projection TVs, the tradeoff may not be worthwhile.

The best approach, which I have used with wristwatches, is to buy from an authorized dealer but to bargain the price down. Not to unauthorized-dealer levels, but to something at least better than what they were originally asking.

A variation I've used for my HT stuff is to buy from a local high-end dealer with consistency over the last 5 years. I always end up with a decent discount because now they know me. (I always use the same salesman, and this dealer is so good that he has been there the whole time.)

 

[Kevin_Kr]

I would be willing to gie a good deal from an authorized retailer, email if you want.