Kenwood doesn't back up their radios again

If the question is:

Should a manufacturer honor the warranty on an out-of-warranty product, where the repair is need because of faulty design or assembly, my response is the manfacturer better, or expect a short business life.

In this time of a hard economy, most consumers are trying to make ever penny count. Wise consumers research the high ticket price product before outlaying their hard earned cash (take these postings as example).

If the manufacturer gets the rep as put out products before the bugs are out of it, hopeing it makes it through the warranty period, that manufacturers market base should become nill.

 

I recently bought a TH-F6 with several accesarys, one of which was a speaker mike that the PTT quit working about a week after I received it. I communicated with Kenwood by email and sent it in last week. They have a new one on the way. They seemed very responsive.
Dick KB0WWA

 

I prefer to deal with Burghardt's repair department when my Yaesus need fixing (such 900, 2500, 5100). That's the main reason I buy from them.

Actually, the best solution is to buy Ten-Tec gear if they have a model that suits your needs. They have excellent radios and a superior service department, and have sent us repair and replacement parts several times at no charge. 73 de Peg KB9LIE

 

Two Problems with the TM-V7A...

1. Has anyone tried to use the TM-V7A in the sunlight?
It's almost impossible.

2. Intermod.....With the AIP off, I recieve every pager transmission within  miles.

No problems with the display.

N6CZE

 

These posts are exactly why I always buy American, Collins, Drake and Ten-Tec...

 

I have a tmv7a in my 1 ton dodge diesel my truck for 2+ years now. The truck has a major vibration problem every onece in a while my display will change to chineese or some thing. I cleaned the contacts on the remote face put it back in and haven't had a problem since.
73, willy - W8ONE

 

My V7A went or was going bad, took for ever to go full blue. had lots of lines in it. took a full 10 mins to go full blue and look right. any way I got it new and kenwood said to send it back in and they would fix it for a charge of $50. I had had the radio for a year. well before I could send it in. it was stolen from the car. they only got the head. rest of the radio is in the jeep. well kenwood wood will not sell just the head. you have to buy a hole new radio if you loose your head. Hugh W4FBI

 

Slightly off topic but...

The Par-Electronics company
makes a great little vhf in-line notch filter.

The TMV-7a I use in the house gets
overloaded from the nearby 152mhz paging
transmitters without it.
(So does my Icom 2100 and Kenwood TS-700s)

On another note...

I also have a pair of Kenwood TMG-707's
that don't get a peep of overload and
I've never heard anybody complain about
display problems with those either.
A much better radio than the TMV-7a
(if you don't need crossband repeat
and a dual-display).
Other than the logic sections, these
radios are nearly identical in
design and construction, go figure.

Kenwood, nor it's distributors
offer a replacement control head for
that radio either. Not too funny if you've
ever had one stolen or broken.

Best Regards,
Dennis

 

The post by W4FBI illustrates why I do not own Kenwood. They are free to formulate their "policies" as they wish. But we are also free to buy from whoever we wish. Again I have heard of many problems with Kenwood and their poor customer service. And Yaesu ("Vertex") never does anything wrong. It is always the customer's fault. Let me state unequivocally that I have bought ICOMs for 19 years. No problems with either radio or customer service. And therefore it is easy to see why they are no. 1. Quite simple if you think about it.
--73 de Radioweenie--

 

You should consider the fact you bought a used rig. NO company honors a warranty unless otherwise stated when the warranty has been passed on by the original owner to someone else. Normally if one wishes to continue a warranty then some charges normally are required. I checked into the matter of problems with this rig because I owned one myself and found that Kenwood will repair the rigs for the the original owners.

In your case as well as my own, we could not expect them to repair our radios for free. I didn't by it new nor did I request to buy a warranty in my name and call. They gave a quote to repair it and if I want it repaired then I will have to pay the fee. Otherwise I can live with it due to the fact I bought it used.
Kenwood does admitt that they made a mistake with the design of the display and offer to repair them for the original owners who took the time to fill out the warranty cards!
I can not see your point and why you would complain. You didn't buy it new and you shouldn't expect them to repair it for nothing. I think it is like this, You bought a used rig and like everyone else your going to have to pay someone to fix it. Now with that said Kenwood is by no means the best out in the market but they are not the worst either. Give them a break! By a new Kenwood and fill out the warranty and you may find things to be a bit different even when your warranty runs out as long as you are the original owner.

Ke4cij, Larry

 

I agree, ICOM is the way to go. I have purchased 4 new and one used and all perform as specified. I even run a two hour net with the ICOM 2100H and have had no problems. I purchased the 207H which did not come with the remote cable but it had a coupon to send in to get the cable free. The only problem was the item was so popular they ran out of cables and had to wait to get more assembled and shipped. Got the cable after couple of weeks and a nice e-mail thanking me for my patience. Can't beat that in my book.
73's and good luck with your Kenwood problems. K4WGT

 

Ya know, I guess I'm missing something here...... Kenwood, Yaesu, Icom, whatever. You bought the radio from some dude, and now you expect the company to pick up the cost of repair?? Seems to me, you should be asking the seller to pick up the tab, not the company. Of course, when you're looking for something for nothing, it's easier to throw stones at the big guy than face up to reality. I suggest you re-direct your hostility toward the person who sold you the radio, not that I believe they owe you anything either!
73, Jim

 

To All,
Regarding Kenwood's service tactics, I believe most comments I've read miss the point! The point there, I do
believe, is that Kenwood should recognize a flaw in the
materials/workmanship if there is a large volume of failures around a specific part/function. While NO manufacturer warrants electronic equipment beyond the
original purchaser, an inherent 'flaw' should be fixed with
at least a cost reduction (a break). $200. to repair a display in a $500 radio is ludicrous if the failure is a common one. A consumer friendly approach would be for
cost of materials and labor free! (Providing the equipment
hasn't been abused and is less than 1 year old.)
One word of caution, leaving any LCD/plasma display in
direct sunlight will destroy it quickly! If the used radio was
installed in a vehicle and left in the sun or left to get very
warm (hot) in a locked vehicle..........all bets are off!!

73,
Marv, K2VHW

 

Do you have a TM-D700?  If so, try running a ramtest on your TNC.

cmd:ramtest
RAM Reset!!
ERROR ADDRESS 000def0f
128KBytes OK  (The display is misleading. It actually locks up and does not
display the next row below "128KBytes OK" until it is powered down, then
up.)
128KBytes OK

And your radio will probably lock up too.  Sometimes mine locks up after someone leaves a message in the TNC, or while they are leaving the message.  My opinion,  there is a problem with a RAM chip in this radio.  I have seen others with the same problem.  But the APRS users don't notice, but a friend reports his locks up in APRS as well.  

I discovered this about 1 week after I received my replacement for my 1st TM-D700, a DOA.  Right after it locked up on a mailbox user, I began to read the documentation to see if they had a RAMTEST command for the TNC.  They did.  And I don't give Kenwood credit for handling the DOA warranty issue.  Thanks to HRO for that one satisfactory experience with the radio.  It would transmit on 70cm only.  It had no 2m transmit, right out of the box.

I reported the  RAMTEST failure and lock up problem to Kenwood's technical support personnel.  They did not have a clue, nor did either of the folks I spoke to seem to be at all familiar with the TNC in the D700.  They did not have one that I could have them replicate the test.  So, I had to send them screen captures of my results.  By this time I had also got some else to test their unit and they had the same result.  But their unit was out of warranty.  So, this problem was not a new issue.

It took 6 weeks for them to get an answer from Japan.  And just wait until you read this 'technical expert's' reply......

I received this from the US tech support person:
>Here is the answer I received from Japan.  Let me know >if this makes sense
> to you.
>
> Actually this is "no problem".
> ramtest command makes reset (clear) the ram first. So it indicates "RAM
> Reset!!"
> Then check the ram address and indicate "ERROR ADDRESS 00def0f". This
> means there is not data at this address. So Ram was cleared (Reset).
> So ERROR means not error, just no data.
>
> Note.
> After ramreset you must turn off and on the radio.
>
>
> *********************
> cmd:ramtest
> RAM Reset!!
> ERROR ADDRESS 000def0f
> 128KBytes OK
> 128KBytes OK
> *********************


Of course I wrote him and advised it did not "make sense" to me.  And my radio is still locking up on occasion.  How do you like the factory's comment? "So ERROR means not error..."?  It is like saying 'good' is 'bad'.  I never did get a resolution.  It still locks up occasionally when a user is leaving a message.  So ERROR IS probably an error.  

Later I found out Kenwood will not sell you the remote faceplate control for the D700.  So, if someone steals it, or it fails, you don't have a radio.  And just 1 month out of warranty, the display is going dark.  And when it goes out, I'll throw it in the trash before I give Kenwood a dime to have them fix it.  It has never been run mobile.  

I also own 2 Kenwood HF radios, but do not intend to purchase another.  I was just about to buy a new HF rig when I received the 'intelligent' response from Kenwood.  With the feature integration, the TS-2000 was going to be my choice.  When I received this letter, I went to HRO and bought a YAESU the next day.  

After 14 months the YAESU is still performing well.  No trips back to the factory, and I only opened the case once to adjust the ref osc.  I found a couple of errors in the manual, and had to make two calls to tech support.  BOTH calls were answered expeditiously and accurately.  BOTH responses resolved my issue with minimum difficulty.  That's all I expect from any supplier, in warranty.  I am thus far a satisfied YAESU customer.

My committment to Kenwood was to tell all about my experience with their firm's technical support.  I have attempted to live up to my committment.  I hope your experience with Kenwood will be better than mine.

KH

 

I find it amazing that this many customers who have studied electronics actually send their radios to someone else to repair. With the excellent service manuals available, service bulletins available on-line, and a little curiosity, repairing one's own gear can be an enjoyable part of the hobby.       73