Unregistered said:
Seems like all your anger has been directed against Yamaha, while it actually is Etronics.com that has been acting dishonestly and hiding the fact that they are not an authorized Yamaha dealer; nor are they taking care of service of the product they have sold you.
It was Etronics.com that took your $1200, and most probably they bought the products from an illegimate source since Yamaha obviously did not sell it to them directly (being non-authorized).
Ok, here's my take on that:
First, Etronics didn't hide anything. I never even knew there was such a thing as authorized or unauthorized dealers until my first sub failed. It is a YAMAHA subwoofer. They MADE it. They won't stand behind it.
If I buy a Ford Mustang, USED from a Chevy dealer, within the factory warranty I am still covered. Ford made it, someone else drove it and someone else resold it, but if it is within 3 years/36k miles they will stand behind what they built.
If Etronics is knowingly buying "bad subs" then I'd have a beef with them for sure, but I'd still have a beef with Yamaha for allowing them on the market in the first place.
Lets face it, if you are manufacturing the subs, and you do a quality test and one fails, it has to be one of three things:
Cabinet leak, cone/driver or electronics. Seems to me you would replace whichever part was bad and then retest and sell it. Not dump the failed piece on the gray market.
Rightfully Yamaha staff could have been more helpful and corteous in actually directing you to a solution of your problem (like arranging to send you a mail reply from their technical support), even though they could not extend warranty privileges due to the fact that you chose to buy from a non-authorized distributor.
I agree with this, but would go a step further. I've had TWO units fail in identical ways. I would think a GOOD COMPANY would want to look into this. Unless they already know the problem and don't want to have to fix it. Again, using the car analogy, manufacturers frequently do recalls to fix known problems on cars because it is the right thing to do. Yamaha is playing a game of "you didn't follow our strict rules" instead of a game of "let's try to make the customer happy so he will remain a customer in the future."
On the other hand, dealing and wheeling by non-authorized distributors really causes havoc for honest dealers with honest service policies, because it is excactly by cutting service duties dishonest dealers like Etronics.com are able to cut their prices below those of the authorized dealers that have to follow the rules and provide proper service.
You're gonna have to explain that to me. What is proper service? I would assume that would involve sending it back to the manufacturer? The local authorized dealer (that doesn't carry YST-800's) says they would have to send it off to be fixed. So what are they doing that adds value?
If I were you, I would always made sure that the dealer of any electronic product I buy indeed is authorized by the manufacturer of the product. Then you are of course free to choose the lowest price you can find among such authorized dealers.
If you are not prepared to follow such a simple rule, you deserve what you get.
Since you presume to tell me what to do, I'll offer similar unasked for advice to you...
If I were you, I'd demand that manufacturers make good quality products. If they didn't, then instead of looking for ways to vindicate the manfuacturer and blame the consumer, I would be outraged at the manufacturer for building a substandard product and not backing it up. Then, I wouldn't buy from them anymore and I'd suggest others choose products that
are backed up by the manufacturer.
If you fail to follow such a simple rule, you deserve what you get: Crappy products from manufacturers that HIDE BEHIND price-fixing "authorized-dealer" scams instead of STANDING BEHIND their product.
And, when bad things happen to you, do not forget to reserve at least a part of your anger and frustration towards the dishonest dealer that sold you the faulty product ;-)
I guess I don't see the dishonest part. Etronics never lied to me. I didn't even know that there were such things as authorized and un-authorized dealers until my first sub failed and Yamaha told me they weren't going to warranty their subwoofer.
I am not defending Yamaha for the way they treated you (I think they should have handled the situation far better), even if I also own a YST-800, Yamaha receiver and Yamaha speakers that were all bought at reasonable prices through authorized dealers, if not at rock-bottom prices from dubious outfits.
I don't understand - do you own those items? Good luck with your sub if you do. Warranty or not, it will be a pain in the butt if it fails! It would be less likely to fail if the audio enthusiast community demanded excellence instead of pardoning poor quality from manufacturers.
-Tom Steele
