Kenwood doesn't back up their radios again

Remember, in this day and age, most companies want one thing.  YOUR MONEY.  Their interest in you ends there.

 

Well, this is the first time I've spent the time to read inputs from owners of amateur gear so I find it all pretty interesting regarding the remarks about Kenwood. I've personally never owned Kenwood gear because most of their prices are not competitive. However, having been a Ham for 47 years and in the customer service business for 44 years, I feel that, with the exception of Ten-Tec, the majority of amateur gear manufacturing companies offer marginal service, in the warrenty, repair and replacement part category. And as long as the Amateur Radio Community continues to purchase their products, I'm afraid this will continue to be the case.

 

I'm searching around for a HF transceiver and I'm looking at all the specs and I find the kenwood transceivers to be inferior mainly in the places of sensitivity and dynamic range.

Right now I'm leaning towards Yaesu rigs but Icom is giving some competition.

 

I don't blame Kenwood for not honoring a warranty on a re-sold unit.  Most warranties only go to the original buyer unless specifically stated otherwise.

As for whether Kenwood makes good radios, you can't judge that by one radio. Any manufacturer can make an occasional bad unit.

My experience:

My two Kenwood radios, a 1-year-old TM-V7A mobile and a new TH-F6 handheld, are working well (except the V7A's blue screen is temperature sensitive).

My two ICOM HF radios (3-yr old IC-746 and 2-yr old IC-706MKIIG) also work well.

But my Yaesus are another matter.  On my 4-yr old FT-50R handheld, the frequency knob is intermittent, and has been for 2 years.  On my 3-yr old FT-8500 mobile, the bottom half of the display is blank.  On my 3-yr old FT-8100 mobile, the mike cable became intermittent, and this unit was only used in the house.

Dick, AC7EL

 

A couple of years ago I had a bad experience with the East  Coast Kenwood Service Center.  I sent my TS430S to them for a transmit problem, after about three weeks I received it back with a $65 or $75 charge and a note saying "not worth repairing".
I found AVVid located in Irving Texas who was very helpfull.  He replaced $61 in parts (transistors etc, in final), put in a mod in finals to eliminate potential jump in power level problem, realigned TX & RX to factory specs and shipped back to me in MD, all for $174 and the rig has never worked better thanks to Cliff at
www.avvid.com

 

you know if everyone would have posted this in the reviews section,we all would have had a better picture of this radio, or even read the reviews on this radio before buying it and realizing its possable the display problem will happen. yea.. the chance the display would be bad one day maybe.. some folks even posted about this!. I think kenwood is still the better of most of the radios out there.. just read about all the problems with the yaesu's! I read the review on the V7A, and selected the TM-G707, WHy? the best rating by the users,, I didnt want a $400 radio ( even if it was under warranty ) to go bad when chasing a storm or worse a tornado, and the reviews here prove correct. The 707 has never failed me. display is great.. my advise is use this web site before you buy! it may keep you from complaining about a radio in the future..

 

Hi all,I am too dissatified with kenwood our club bought a kenwood ts2000x and when we went to install the psk
like the manual said we didn't get enough audio out of the aux. jack.so when I called kenwood they told me to send it in to them.To me it seems they don't have a very good customer service dept.So we ended up using the headphone jack.If I had a choice I would have bought an
Icom or Yeasu..

KD5PXU

 

The Kenwood "Authorized Service Center" in Cerritos CA certainly has problems trying to fix TM742A Tri-banders. Mine made 5 trips there before it was finally fixed. 2 problems: Constant hum on 440 rec and intermittent cutting out on 440 xmit. The xmit problem was fixed on the 2nd attempt but it was 3 more trips before the humming problem was fixed. I should have just gone to HRO and purchased a new 440 module. I would have saved a few $$$ and not been without a radio for 2 months... Dwight KE6JUA

 

I MOSTLY DEAL WITH KENWOOD COMMERCIAL RADIOS AND THEY SEEM TO DO ME GOOD BUT U CANT REALLY TRUST ANY RADIOS THESE DAYS IN TIME. I DONT CARE TOO MUCH ABOUT THE YAESU RADIOS EITHER BUT THATS JUST ME MY SITE IS http://shawndalecowden.tripod.com/shawncowden PLEASE VISIT IT AND DONT FORGET TO SIGN MY GUESTBOOK THANKS AND 73'S

SHAWN COWDEN
KG4KBU LONDON, KENTUCKYMy Webpage

 

Hello,
I would like to say that I have had several Kenwoods and Yaesu's and they are both fine radios. I have never had an Icom but have heard nothing bad about them. I have a Kenwood TS-440 for a HF rig and it is ~13 yrs old, about 4 yrs ago I had trouble with the receive and the display. I paid a local tech 150.00 to repair it but when I got it back it was still broke. I sent it to Kenwood in LA for repair and they had it ~1 week and when I got it back I believe it was better then it was new. They only charged me 100.00, and they were real friendly to do business with. I will buy Yaesu when they have something I want but Kenwood I believe still makes good equip.

 

BUY AMERICAN!!!  TENTEC IS THUMBS UP IN MY BOOK.
MY TIMEBASE OSCILLATOR BOARD IN MY OMNI-D FROM
1981 DIED AND THOSE FANTABULOUS FOLKS DOWN IN
TENNESSE SENT ME THE SUSPECT COMPONENTS FOR
FREE.  NOW......HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT ON A 20+ YEAR OLD RIG!!!JAPAN MUST STILL BE PISSED OFF
AT US ABOUT THE WHOLE BOMB THING.

KB2SNE

 

I have owned 7 Kenwood radios over the years and only had problems with one of them. The people at Kenwood went above and beyond what needed to be done to take care of it. I still have 2 HT's, a mobile VHF and HF and also a TS-950SDX.
Call customer support and ask for Leo. maybe he can help you.
Good Luck

 

You said you purchased it from a buddy, well then how about asking him for a refund since it seems to have died so soon after you purchased it. The warranty for most products that I have typically says it is only valid for the original purchaser and not transferable.


Mike
wb8vlc/7

 

I have had just the opposite response from Kenwood over the years.  I have 3 TM-V7A's and just had a mic PTT go bad after owning it since Kenwood came out with this rig.  Received not one but 4 new PTT's 3 days after I sent an email to Tech Support.

Of course, I purchased these rigs "NEW".  I also have the TH-79A as well as a TS-2000.  

The guys at Tech Support have always been very friendly over the phone and I have met all of the at some of the larger ham fests over the years.

I agree with an earlier posting where you should have your friend you purchased this from make it right.

Oh, I have 2 mobile TM-V7A's and one as my base unit.  I have not had the problem with the lines in the display to date.  But, I have seen postings in another place where a few people have had that happen.  This is not a LARGE SCALE problem.

Perhaps you should package it up and send it to the President of Kenwood in Japan like one of the other postings!

Good Luclk!

 

I've my kenwood tmv-7a since april and have since had to send it in for repairs. and when i recieved it back it worked better than b/4.
I also have a icom 2100 h, that i use for my mobile. and have had to send it back to icom america in bellvue wa twice for the same problem. it appears they found the problem,(bad transister) replaced tried it and burned the same transister, again replaced it didn't try and send back. so now this radio which is still under warrentee til 10 aug has 2 1/2 weeks with the post office, 2 months with icom, and having to use my kenwood th-79a ht for a mobile. and i've said i'll never buy another icom and after repairs are made correctly will probably sell it and get another tmv for the mobile.
I also have a feeling that when i get the radio back it still won't be repaired right, and will be told that it is no longer under warrentee. So i'll have to have it repaired at my cost. it that's the case i'll never have a icom again in my shack unless i use it for a paper weight or door stop!! 73's