Warranty questions

[RaZmAn]

Hello Everyone,

I am close to buying everything I want....but a new issue has arrived. I was going to buy this onkyo 7.1 706 off of ebay and my friend who is pretty paranoid guy told me that buying off ebay is not so great because there is no good warranty. That link says there is a 2 years manufactured warranty. Will that suffice? Would I be better off buying elsewhere? Everywhere I look at stores that onky 706 is being sold for approx $800-900...the only place i see it for 600'ish is on auction sites where I won't get extra warranty. Is this a major problem I should be concerned with?

Thanks and sorry if posting that ebay link up there is not allowed!

edit:

On onkyo's website it says this: "IF YOU PURCHASE AN ONKYO PRODUCT FROM AN UNAUTHORIZED DEALER, YOUR ONKYO WARRANTY WILL NOT BE VALID, so check your source or contact us - we'll gladly direct you to an Onkyo Authorized Dealer! For more information on Onkyo warranties, please click here. "

So does that mean the 2 year warranty that ebay seller is telling me about won't be valid?

[JCD]

I would contact him and ask who the warranty is with. If it's not through Onkyo, it could be through a third party vendor. You'd then need to know the reliability of that vendor.

I guess part you need to be aware that part of your discount could be related to this warranty issue.

Would I do it? I dunno.

On the plus side
I've read that if electronics are going to go bad, you typically know within a month. Otherwise, they'll last several years. It's not hard and fast rule, but has held true from what I've seen. So, if you do pull the trigger, you'll know right away when you could probably get a straight refund from the seller and not need to worry about the warranty. Again, I'd ask the seller about this contingency. He has a good rating, so I'd imagine he's a relatively safe.

On the negative side
It is true that products not bought through an authorized reseller void the manufacturers warranty.

Is it a gamble? Maybe, but you're saving a decent wad of cash too. Inquire of the seller and see if you can soothe some of your anxiety. If you don't like what he says, walk away.

[RaZmAn]

Thank you for your reply. I did ask the seller that question, I guess I should've posted his reply here

"hello. you'll have a two year factory warranty through onkyo per parts and labor. we can not put warranty per onkyo on ebay due to ebay strict polcies. email me if you have more questions. ty, jack"

Is that good enough?

He replied back with:

"Brother....I don't want any headaches. Why would we put were authorized on ebay? Our acct will get shut down. Yes you will have a warranty."

[MatrixDweller]

Typically warranties are handled through the dealer, who then ships them back to the manufacturer or farms it out to a local shop. The dealer must be an authorized Onkyo dealer and you need your sales receipt (showing date of purchase) if Onkyo were to take it back directly.

You can find an authorized internet dealer here: http://www.us.onkyo.com/locations_intdealer.cfm or here http://www.us.onkyo.com/locator.cfm?type=d

If they are not in that list then you won't have a warranty. You would also most likely have to pay for shipping back to the dealer (if they are authorized) since I doubt they would eat that cost. You could look at the dealers feedback rating and see if there are any dissatisfied customers.

You have to weigh the risks.

Ebay:
- Save $300 and if it breaks it might cost you less than $300 to get it fixed at a local shop. This service center is Onkyo authorized in Florida: http://www.plaza-electronics.com/rates-and-service.html
- It might be DOA and would cost you to ship it back.
- It might be a refurbished model or B-Stock (didn't work during initial testing at factory and then fixed)

Local Dealer
Pay full price locally and have the piece of mind that if it does break you can take it back to the dealer.
Not have to worry about the UPS driver or package handlers dropping it

[RaZmAn]

thank you very much for the reply. I ended up buying it new on amazon who are an authorized dealer and I got it for $594 since they have a -$200 promotion that ends tonight at midnight.

Warranties are always a pain in the butt...but it did help when i got it for my toshiba laptop whose screen decided to die 3 months after buying it new..got it replaced for free under warranty

[JCD]

Looks like you got the best of both worlds -- good price and no worries about warranties.