Problem w/ Pioneer Elite DVD Changer

[WAID]

I bought a Pioneer Elite DVD changer (DVF07) a couple of years ago and had a problem with the loading mechanism about a year ago. The little claw thing that pulls the DVD from the tray (holds 300 + 1) was stuck hanging outside of the opening where the actual playing takes place (in the hub of the tray). When the tray would spin as it does the claw would be in the way of the disc, forcing the disc in the slot until the disc would fly out of the tray and scratch the DVD's surface.

So I got the two year warranty paperwork and sales receipt out and looked up where the nearest authorized service center was, unhooked the player and took it in for repair. The repair shop asked if I had bought the unit online and I said yes. The shop said that Pioneer (and others) refuses to authorize repairs on equipment bought online unless it is from an authorized dealer. The shop also offered to keep the player and diagnose the problem but it would cost $65 just to open it up. I declined and took the player back home.

Pioneer basically said the same thing and the online retailer said they had never heard of such a thing (and this is not a cheapie online retailer; they sell high end stuff and were great about answering all of my questions without sounding clueless).

I looked online to find authorized retailers and of course there aren't too many of them, and ZERO online authorized retailers of the Elite line.

I wrote to Pioneer along with copies of the warranty and the receipt showing that I had bought the DVD player, an Elite receiver, amp, and CD changer at the same time. I explained that I lived in the sticks when I bought the equipment in Colorado two years ago so finding an Elite dealer with in-stock product wasn't practical, and there are no Elite online retailers. I got an authorization to take to the repair shop for the work to be done.

When I brought the unit home, it was fine for about four days before the claw problem arose again. So I AGAIN unloaded my DVD's and took it in and the shop worked on it again. I have been gun shy about re-loading all of the DVD's again ands it turns out for good reason.

The claw problem is happening AGAIN! And worse, the two-year warranty was up in late July. I didn't bother going to the repair shop but emailed Pioneer. I got a canned response saying to contact them during regular business hours. I called this morning and of course their rep had no idea what my problem was or a copy of my recent email, only notes from my previous problems from less than a year ago.

She couldn't have been less sympathetic. She said she would forward my problem (which I had to relate again to her and hope that she would transcibe it correctly) to the same rep who worked my case last year and that person would decide what to do, and let me know in a few days. I had to ask what that person's name was so I wouldn't have to start from scratch when following up.

So here's my concern that I could use some feedback on: I have no confidence that the player will be trouble-free for any reasonable amount of time in the future if it is repaired for the third time. Since the warranty period is up, Pioneer may decide I am on my own. If that happens I don't want to toss the unit (which is useless as it is now) and write off the player (it cost me over $800), but I don't want to throw good money after bad by spending the $65 plus extra labor and possible parts charges every less-than-a-year.

Does Pioneer have any obligation to honor their warranty beyond the two year period if the unit has a history of the same problem while the warranty was still good? If not, shouldn't they just make things right by authorizing the repair or take my sugggestion of me shipping the unit to them and them sending me a replacement?

At the time I bought the player I imagined daisy-chaining a second one when I had more DVD's than the first one could hold but now not only am I questioning how reliable the player's design is, but I am fairly disgusted at how Pioneer has handled things so far.

Am I being unreasonable?

[tomdkat]

Nope, you're not being unreasonable but I wouldn't expect Pioneer to handle the situation the way you want. It's good for you to take the actions you're taking but don't expect Pioneer to fix the player if it's out of warranty regardless of your geographic location with respect to authorized repair shops.

If you post this over on Home Theater SPot, there _might_ be someone from Pioneer there who could provide some better advice. My gut tells me you're basically "screwed" unless you can find a repair place that can fix the unit and just forget about trying to get it fixed under warranty. Of course, wait to see how your latest actions turn out first.

That really sucks...

Peace....

[WAID]

Hey, thanks tomdkat for the info. I'll try posting.

If Pioneer does just jerk my chain I'll at least know who I WON'T be buying from in the future.

Thing is, it seems like just making things right by exchanging it would be not very painful to them. It's a high end unit with I'm sure more than its fair share of profit built in at the wholesale level. I don't blame them for not wanting to pay a repair shop and the cost to manufacture the unit is probably less than what they've already paid in repairs, plus they can presumably write off that cost.

I'm not trying to scam them, the repairs have been documented, and I jumped through the hoops they've asked me. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by WAID

Thing is, it seems like just making things right by exchanging it would be not very painful to them. It's a high end unit with I'm sure more than its fair share of profit built in at the wholesale level. I don't blame them for not wanting to pay a repair shop and the cost to manufacture the unit is probably less than what they've already paid in repairs, plus they can presumably write off that cost.

I agree with you on this. However, Pioneer has been know for NOT providing the best customer service. They were one of the first to publicly state they had NO INTENTION of retrofitting installed non-DVI capable Pioneer HDTVs with DVI and/or HDCP capability basically leaving the "early adopters" out in the cold.

I like their products but not necessarily the company. If I went through your experience, I would NOT purchase Pioneer gear anymore either.

Peace...

[WAID]

Good news!

For those who don't particularly care about my personal situation, you may still be interested to hear that I received a form letter back from Pioneer authorizing the repair of my DVD player.

The shop has a 45-day warranty for their work and hopefully this time their work will go the distance. Hopefuly I won't have to go through this again.

As cool as having a DVD jukebox is, it seems that the moving parts of the loading mechanism are much more problematic than playing the DVD's. I haven't had the same problem with my CD jukebox but I use the CD changer far less frequently than the DVD changer.

[tomdkat]

Originally Posted by WAID

The shop has a 45-day warranty for their work and hopefully this time their work will go the distance. Hopefuly I won't have to go through this again.

Suh-weet!!!! I guess that visit to Pioneer's headquarters by Luca Brasi really paid off....

Great news!

Peace...