ICOM HF Repairs

[KB1IYY]

After talking to ICOM repair and pointing out that the web site listed a 6-8 BD repair turn around, I received a call informing me that my 746PRO would be ready for shipment the next day and even offered to send UPS next day if I was willing to pay the difference in cost.

I am now a happy camper. Radio arrived on time and back to full working condition. ICOM kept their word.

Thanks Icom

Wayne

[k3sam]

Told ya ... they are good people !

-Sam

[W8FAX]

I also had great luck with them. They e-mailed me as soon as they knew the problem, and gave me a ship date which they hit dead on. All within a week or so. Great service and the repair was done most satisfactorily........Al/W8FAX

[W7WV]

Well my luck with them was not as good. My antenna tuner went out on my 18 month old IC-746 in early February. I called them as told them how it was failing to tune and lock even a known good antenna and they suspected the chip had failed. They told me that if I sent it to them they should have it completed within two weeks.

I sent it to them and it arrived on 2/12/03. Two weeks later, I had heard nothing so I called them. I was hoping to hear that it was on the way or at least being worked on. I was told that they were backed up all of the sudden and it would be another week, or two, before they even get to look at it. I called after another week and was told it would be at least another week before they could look at it. I was told that there were some techs on vacation and they had a lot of work in the HF repairs section.

Yesterday, I called to find out the progress as it was 4 weeks from the time they received the radio. I was pleased to find out that it was fixed and had been shipped last Friday and will arrive here today.

They did not however send me an email as I had requested with shipping information (tracking number) when they shipped it. I guess they liked W8FAX better than they liked me.

The bottom line? When you call the repair section and are told about two weeks and it takes four it’s rather irritating to those of us who like to use our radios. Further, the recorded message at ICOM states that the normal turnaround is 6-8 days which conflicts with the website which states about 15 working days. I told them when I called the second time that they should change the information on the recording and the web so we would not be misled about the repiar time frame when they were so backed up. They have made no changes as of this date.

This is my first experience with the repair section at ICOM. I have two of their radios and love the performance. I just don’t like being misled when I contract work to be done. I also did not like the fact that they did not notify me of the return shipping by email as I had requested.

It's just not the way I like to do business with others.

[ad4mg]

I too have had good luck with ICOM ... but they went even a step further for me several years back. #When they were backlogged, they went so far as to recommend a former technician of theirs for faster turn-around. #The tech they referred me to did a wonderful job, fast, and affordable. #His name is Scott Malcolm, and he now performs all my necessary ICOM repairs. #His web site refers back to this one, so I see no problem in listing his here. #The company name is "Malcolm Technical Support" and the URL is:

Malcolm Technical Support (http://www.angelfire.com/biz2/mts/)

Best 73,
Luke Bannister
Richmond, Va.