An Open Letter to Onkyo, USA

[fmw]

I understand your frustration but that really isn't worth your time, not to mention that it won't do one bit of good. All manufacturers have issues from time to time but I've been buying Onkyo receivers for over 10 years and never had one single problem.

Of course it is worth my time. It is for my own satisfaction. I'm not trying to destroy Onkyo's business. That would be impossible and pointless. It is just personal payback. It's good you haven't had any problems with your Onkyo gear because dealing with them hasn't been very satisfying.

 

[fmw]

I have enough AA mileage to fly to your house so lets beat it to death!

OK, I'll provide the beer or the single malt scotch or both.

 

[annunaki]

I don't know. I bought it at Circuit City. They had no interest in helping me with it. They just referred me to Onkyo.

If you purchased it within 30 days, you can return it or exchange it for a new one.

If not, then you will need to send it in for repair. Here is the regional repair center for the midwest (I am in Wisconsin):

Regional Service Center
A B L Corp
314 E 14 Mile Rd
Madison Heights, MI 48071
888-933-4988 (Tel)
www.ablserv.com
Distance: 283.8 miles
show map

It took me all of 5 seconds to find this HERE

Simply call your regional service center, get an RA# and send the unit in. It usually takes 5 business days for repair once the unit is received for most manufacturers.


If your unit is the 605, perhaps THIS is the fix you need.

Tech support at some companies is sometimes non-existent. You need to contact the right people for questions and get the right numbers. Most customer service numbers that matter are not 1-800 numbers anymore.

 

[fmw]

Thanks but I'm aware of that. I sent it to them last week. I should be getting it back soon - unrepaired. At least I know it will never happen again.

 

[JOD]

to the OP, i totally know what you are talking about, i have been on hold for over 3 hours with onkyo, multiple and no one ever answers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! theire "cutomer support" is the worst on the planet, honestly!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rmk]

Try calling Sony CS some time.

I'm not saying you don't have a legit gripe. Unfortunately, this is an all too common occurrence these days. That is why ID companies who provide good CS have such a loyal following.

 

[annunaki]

Thanks but I'm aware of that. I sent it to them last week. I should be getting it back soon - unrepaired. At least I know it will never happen again.

Why is it being returned unrepaired??? Describe your problem in detail if you could, along with Onkyo's explanation. Thanks!

 

[fmw]

Don't worry about it. I've let it go, replaced it with a better receiver and moved on. As soon as the unit arrives, I'll dump it on ebay. Thanks for the input. Take care.

 

[annunaki]

I just want to know why it was not repaired and what the issues were. That seems very odd for any company to do.

 

[Djoel]

Does anyone know who at Onkyo can I send a letter to, so I can start a fire going and I can get my unit from the service center a bit quicker than it's been going!

For the curious Onkyo needs to authorized a DSP board so can the service center can work, or order it...I am bit confused about if they have the board or Onkyo have a problem with sending the board...

What ever I just want my Sh!t quickly, it's been bouncing from shop to shop tyring to figure out what initially is going on with it.

PS

I know of a Don something just don't know his last name or extension

Thanks

Djoel

 

[jmoose]

Customer Service

I understand your frustration. I’ve had to deal with Onkyo's customer service, and they are horrible. I've had an 875 for 5 months when the display on the unit quit working. I have to send it to Denver (I live in Texas), to be repaired. Minimum of 25 business days without my receiver. To top it all off, shipping costs are on my. Beginning to regret my decision to buy Onkyo.

 

[MDS]

All I can say is every manufacturer has issues from time to time and I perfectly understand once bitten twice shy but for what it's worth I've owned Onkyo receivers for the last 15 years and have never had any problems. Knock on wood.

'Customer service' is the same everywhere. Sometimes they are not trained well and don't really know what they are talking about and sometimes they are very well informed and very helpful. I resist the urge to throw the baby out with the bath water by evaluating the company and its products based soley on their customer service reps.

 

[jmoose]

It frustrating when you spend that much money on a receiver and dont get an ounce of customer service when something goes wrong. Ive had the receiver for 5 months and now have to be without it for a month.
Regarding the training issue, I spoke to Jack Cooper. Jack is the head of the customer service department. Onkyo's policy on first time failures is, the customer is required to mail the unit to a regional service center for repair. Minimum repair time is 25 business days. There is no guarantee on the time taken to repair the unit. It could be 6 months. There is no way around this policy.
If your Onkyo experiences a 'first time failure' you have to bend over and take it. These Onkyo units should come with free lube to ease the pain when you get screwed.
I should have bought Yamaha.

By the way, Jack Cooper was no help at all and was rather arrogant.

 

[Adam]

I hear ya, jmoose. For me (and I'll bet a few others), a customer service experience can make or break my opinion of a company. I'll give a company around three chances to make something right (depends on how important it is to me, so sometimes more). If they continue to fail me, I'll write them off and not buy from that company again.

I try not to judge a company based on other people's experiences, because other people interact with CS reps in different ways. For example, I have a friend who I can guarantee you that she would be a complete nag if she were to call CS - and people tend to respond in kind. I am normally very polite, try to be patient, and give them time to help me out. BTW, this isn't a remark at all about you because I don't know how you went about it.

It's disappointing to read that the head of their service department acted that way. A lower CS rep or two can be out of line, but the head should be trained well and should have the interests of the company in mind.