Every company cares but if your a prick about it then they will basically say screw you. But if your polite about it then yes you can get farther wether it's money back, upgrade to higher model etc etc they will try to do more to please you.

Doug is right about that, as a retailer I want to look after my customers, but if the customer comes in to my store with a full head of steam and is not respectful, I will ask them one time only to be respectful and we can get the problem solved. The second time I recommend to them loud enough for anyone to hear that I highly recommend that they beat me to the front door. I had to do this just a couple of weeks back actually and for those of you able to view the void would know the entire story. Rob 1 - customer 0. It's not that I did not want to help the customer but the customer also has to play by the rules.

Even the big guys have policies that must be abided to. Just the other day I was in the local Ford dealer at the parts counter and the sign there clearly stated "No returns on special order parts". If you specially ordered a part and you ordered the wrong or incorrect part, why should the dealer get stuck with it and hope to sell it someday to someone else? That said, if the cd player did have a flaw they are obligated to get it serviced by Eclipse as dictated by the rules that govern how repairs work. Westec touched on this.

Now it is unfortunate that things don't happen the instant you need them to but the rules are in place for a reason. If this was an Eclipse product, it should have been dealer installed for the warranty to be valid. The onus would have then been on the dealer to find and correct the problem. Who installed the product originally?

I'm not trying to hammer a nail in the coffin either dude, just trying to give you a retailers perspective from the outside looking in.

[ December 03, 2004, 01:03 PM: Message edited by: MR2NR ]

It's funny, I work for the Eclipse Distributor, I deal with the "valued customers"...a well worded phone can go along way. Just like Rob said, if your respectful and willing to work with us...we'll work it out. Next time call me...

See, there ya go

and as I stated initially, its all about being a good guy and polite....you always cattch more flies with honey (not to call westec a fly, hahah)

See, this I don't agree with. I know it's the companies covering their ass, but some of us can't afford the $50+ per hour that shops charge.

And if we all had our equipment installed by the dealer the whole industry would go under because the money is just not there and half the fun of new gear is installing it on your own.

Just because you don't agree with how a manufacturer sets it's warranty policies does not mean it is right or wrong. Warranty is a fact of life no matter what. If you buy a new car, it has say a 5 year warranty on it from the manufacturer. If you do something to void this warranty, why should the manufacturer be left holding the bag? Maybe the companies that we retailers deal with spend huge dinnero training the installers and salespeople to do things in such and such a way. I have had suppliers fly me to Toronto for training before, many a trip to Hongcouver for training etc. Do you think that with all my years in this industry I did not learn something out of it every single time? What's the point in being a doctor if you don't have to go to school and continually upgrade your knowledge.
A business is in business to make money, this is known fact. A business like mine employs people to install stereos. If you as the customer who are reading this, buys something and blows it upon self installation, why on earth should the manufacturer warranty it for you? [img]graemlins/freak.gif[/img] Now for some of the readers they are more than qualified to install their own gear, and I do agree with you that it is fun as well, how do you think I got started. That said after sitting on the other side of the fence for 18 years, how many blown stereo's and customers vehicles do you think that I have had to fix in the last 18 years as well. 99% of the time if the product has a warranty, follow the rules associated to it,otherwise if things do go sideways on you, don't expect to get the level of service that you expect from them vs. your neighbour that did play by the rules.

Personally I don't care who installs the equipment, I as a dealer can offer superior warranties on my equipment if it is dealer installed. Eclipse for example is 1 year parts labour if you install, 3 years parts and labour if I install it + if it is a head of any type, free replacement in the first year if it is stolen. Add to this, replacement if the unit is DOA.
So many times in my career I have had to send equipment back for service that was self installed and one day old. So many times the customer was pissed off at me, but I had to play by the rules as well. How many of these customers buy the extended warranties? Lots of them do, if they buy the right product and pay for the labour to install it, no extra warranty is needed to be purchased. MB Quart, 3 year dealer installed, one year self installed. What's the chance in 3 years that you might have a speaker fail? Pretty darn good for most people who buy car audio. This is when I as a retailer take pride in saying, no problem sir, it is still under warranty.

[ December 05, 2004, 01:30 PM: Message edited by: MR2NR ]

[quote]Originally posted by Brandon:

Quote:

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Originally posted by MR2NR:
[qb]
And if we all had our equipment installed by the dealer the whole industry would go under because the money is just not there and half the fun of new gear is installing it on your own.

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also if you had dealers to install it there would also be less warranty returns


lets face it any macho man knows how to install


i had one of them yesterday he insisted he knew how to intall
funny thing is his radio didn't work and he was at my shop for me to fix it for him
and he insisted he knew how to install

made me ask myself why he was there if he already knew

The majority of us here know how to properly install our own equipment. However, the majority of people who buy car audio products have no ****ing clue as to what the **** they're doing. I've seen 1001 mistakes that have either resulted in a damaged product or could have very easilty ended in that result. Most of the time, they're too ignorant or proud to admit that they ****ed up and insist that it was faulty before they installed it. The sad fact is that most of the time, it does get replaced or fixed under warranty.

This pisses me off to no end because, in the end, everyone pays for everyone else's mistakes. Every warranty return costs the manfacturer money, which in turns gets passed onto the dealer, who, in turn, passes it onto the customer. So, really, it RAISES prices for everyone. Personally, I'd like to save that $50 or so that covers the cost of idiocy. Morons who damage their equipment through ignorance (or, even worse, on purpose) and expect to get their product warrantied should be paying for at least some of the cost.

Just my opinion ...