Declining product quality and service of Rotel

[angelgz2]

I feel Rotel's product quality has significantly gone down hill along with their service. I have been with Rotel for over 15 years. I would never purchase a Rotel product ever again. I purchased a Rotel RSP-1576 only four years ago and now the volume occasionally VERY low, barely audible even turning the volume to near max. Completely unplug it would resolve the issue and make the volume return to normal. I tried to obtain warranty services through Rotel but was told I need a physical receipt despite I submitted it upon product registration. Their service is absolutely horrible and would try to deny your warranty claim for any little reason they can find. There's no way to contact the corporate itself as Rotel is located overseas. IF anyone had a different experience, feel free to share how your experience went because I can't find a reason to continue buying any Rotel product.

[theSven]

I feel Rotel's product quality has significantly gone down hill along with their service. I have been with Rotel for over 15 years. I would never purchase a Rotel product ever again. I purchased a Rotel RSP-1576 only four years ago and now the volume occasionally VERY low, barely audible even turning the volume to near max. Completely unplug it would resolve the issue and make the volume return to normal. I tried to obtain warranty services through Rotel but was told I need a physical receipt despite I submitted it upon product registration. Their service is absolutely horrible and would try to deny your warranty claim for any little reason they can find. There's no way to contact the corporate itself as Rotel is located overseas. IF anyone had a different experience, feel free to share how your experience went because I can't find a reason to continue buying any Rotel product.

That sounds super frustrating! I have never used Rotel before and hearing things like this does not help their brand at all. I had a similar experience with Samsung for a microwave back in 2014, and the microwave was 1 month out of warranty. It was a known issue with that model and I was told sorry. I've never bought a Samsung appliance since then, only LG which I've never had any issues with warranty or reliability.

Are there any local electronic shops that service Rotel that could help? When my sub amp for the theater died I found a place up in Maryland that could service them and took it there to get fixed. It was out of warranty, but still cheaper to get it fixed then buy a whole new amp.

[Reet]

Their service is absolutely horrible and would try to deny your warranty claim for any little reason they can find.

This is true of 99% of all warranties unfortunately. A $20 power strip with $100,000 warranty? Anyone ever collect on that? Insurance is no better, companies don't make money by fulfilling claims.

In any case, a quick read on Wikipedia says B&W (Rotel is owned by B&W) consolidated all sales and support outside of North America in 2000, and a couple years back B&W was acquired by Sound United, so many brands under one big corporate umbrella of nonsense. Stockholders come first, not product quality.

[tktran]

Who is the service agent or distributor for Rotel in USA? Perhaps if you try and contact them directly?
Is it still under warranty after 4 years?
If not, are you able to be provided services outside of warranty? How much would that cost? It sounds like a dodgy opto encoder, they often die after a few years.
Shouldn't be costly to replace.

I've never had a brand new Rotel product. My last product Rotel product was in the 20th Century. They were Made in Japan or Taiwan and were well supported in Australia.
I recently read an expose on Rotel (AudioXpress ? ) and apparently they are still a small Japanese family firm trying to keep their current customers. Losing one is a terrible idea in this current market...