Harman Replys :-)

[Guest]

I copied the EMail from HK and am very happy with the way they resolved this issue. It actually sounds like someone wrote part of that. Very nice touch.

Hi Paul,

I'm sorry to hear of the problem that you are having with your receiver. Electronic problems happen. It is difficult to compare today's home theater receivers with older stereo receivers. There is so much more going on in the new receivers. There isn't much to stereo receivers of 15+ years ago and, as a result, the odds of a malfunction are much less. It's like comparing a car from the 1960s and early 1970s to today's cars. Things were much more basic then. With today's cars, there is much more potential for something to go wrong because of all of the added electronics and features.
The warranty for the AVR320 is actually two years, not three. Perhaps you had an extended warranty. I would like to help with this though. What I will do is authorize parts and labor under warranty. To be fair to the service center, who will be repairing an out of warranty product under warranty, I would ask that you simply pay the remainder of their labor charge for the repair. For example, if our warranty rate is $40.00 and the actual labor cost is $65.00, you would only need to pay the remaining $25.00. You can find an authorized repair center directly from our website. Please visit www.harmankardon.com and click on Product Support. Select Authorized Service Centers and select the type of product and your model. Entering in your zip code will give you service centers close to you. The link below should take you directly to the Service Center Locator.

[Azeke]

That certainly sounds like a company who cares about their customers.

Best regards,

Azeke

[RebelMan]

WOW, that is impressive. Nice job poneal.

Rotel should take note of that kind of service. When I sent my DVD player in for repair they were adamant that I include the original invoice or else I should expect to be charged... period. It's that kind of treatment that makes me want to consider other products, which is not easy to admit from someone that really admires what Rotel makes.

[aud19]

Good news :T

[SRX04]

My experience with HK customer service has been the same. I had a AVR7000 that was 2-3 years outside of warranty yet they still offered me the same deal.

Poneal, disregard my other responses to you..didnt know you got this resolved

[ZX10 Guy]

I guess it depends on who you talk to. Maybe things changed with their support since I called them about 15 years ago. I got a hold of an old HK Citation B solid state amp. I think it was the first SS amp that HK made. It put out a decent 40W/ch. I was new to the audio hobby and like a dumb idiot unplugged an interconnect before powering down the amp. I heard a loud buzz and then nothing out of that one channel. I had all the schematics and parts list for the amp. I tried troubleshooting the problem and couldn't figure out what blew. I called their support number to see if I could get some guidance on where to look. The guy I spoke to wasn't very helpful and was actually down right rude and insulting. Yes I know I did a stupid mistake but calling what I did as a "dumb a$$" move and laughing about it on the phone wasn't very professional. In the end, he got his jollies at my expense and I got zero helpful advice. It's a shame as I would have thought anyone who had any pride in their company would have taken an interest in getting one of their early products back in functioning order especially since it was still working for all these years.

From the sounds of it, I'm glad you got someone who actually cared over there and the compromise they extended to you is more than fair.

[Lex]

That is a very nice repair deal. HK it seems is being handled by Harman International as a company wide policy, as they might handle all their brands. That does speak volumes.

It's a nice place also for me to point out service I received on my Mark Levinson 336 once. While the timing of my breakdown was horrible with them just tearing down the old Madrigal plant, and moving to a single plant to handle Lexicon, Levinson, and Revel among others. Well, the speed of repair initialization was not good due to the delays of all the plant changes. Yes, they did tell me the delay would occur. But none the less, after the repair was done, I received a 50.00 bottle of wine as a token of their appreciation for my patience and as an apology for things that were blotched with communications breakdowns.

While they did not get everything right with the repair time involved, they did at least show that they cared in the end, doing a nice thing for me out of the blue.

Doug