why are some hifi dealers so expansive for repairs or replacements

[tim1750]

I contacted the manufactures of my amp the other day to see if they can repair the remote for my amp they told me that it would be best if I bought a new remote from them for £60.00 plus £5.00 postage I didn't have the money to do that so I took it to my local repair man who cleaned the switch buttons and I picked it up after only a day past for a repair cost of £5.00 needless to say it will be the last product i'll be getting from them.

Anyone been in the same boat ?

[walpurgis]

That's probably par for the course. Most repairs have a basic charge of fifty or sixty quid at a manufacturer. If they even accept gear for repair, if it's old they may not. You were lucky getting that done for a fiver. I take my remotes apart and do them myself when they play up, most come apart easily enough (but not all).

[tim1750]

That's probably par for the course. Most repairs have a basic charge of fifty or sixty quid at a manufacturer. If they even accept gear for repair, if it's old they may not. You were lucky getting that done for a fiver. I take my remotes apart and do them myself when they play up, most come apart easily enough (but not all).

I took my remote apart and cleaned the button switchers with servisoil but they had to be desoldered to be propably cleaned and my eyesight ain't that great to do any desoldering/soldering

[struth]

Most remotes get gunked up. A good clean often goes them

[Martyn Miles]

I contacted the manufactures of my amp the other day to see if they can repair the remote for my amp they told me that it would be best if I bought a new remote from them for £60.00 plus £5.00 postage I didn't have the money to do that so I took it to my local repair man who cleaned the switch buttons and I picked it up after only a day past for a repair cost of £5.00 needless to say it will be the last product i'll be getting from them.

Anyone been in the same boat ?

I do like the idea of ‘expansive’ repairs...

[southall-1998]

I do like the idea of ‘expansive’ repairs...

Spell checking again, Martyn

S.

[Minstrel SE]

Yes its why I started getting interested in diy whenever possible. The problem with many remotes is there seems no obvious way into them without breaking something. Bit annoying for the sake of 4 screws and some serviceable design. If competent enough Its worth a try because its usually something simple like gunk on the button pad contacts.

The main manufacturers will not put these on a work bench for the price we want to pay so we are pretty much stuffed. I have about 15 remote controls in here up to Philips universal with lit LCD screen.

The only remote that Ive had to replace was a Humax 8000T remote which only does FV radio duty now with the hard drive disconnected.. I had it about 10 years so it doesnt owe me anything. It only cost about £12 to replace though (new old ebay stock) and then I found that I could have got into the original one and cleaned the contacts. There just didnt seem any clear way to get in until I had the confidence and back up to really tackle it.

Its planned obsolescence really but I always keep things a long time. Im quite surprised your local repair man didnt charge more unless he can see repeat business

[Martyn Miles]

Spell checking again, Martyn

S.

Yes, very important.

[IHP]

A mate had an older but nevertheless high end (UK made) CD player broken (draw mech/small child). The dealer informed him it was unrepairable, advice sought elsewhere, it's now repaired (independent outfit, lovely people) and back in service. The principle was indeed annoying, but also for me I just loathe, loathe unnecessary landfill. For the value of the unit, the repair cost was entirely reasonable.

I consider Quad service costs to be pretty fair and find it wonderful that they can repair anything they've produced. You're £5 repair is going to be difficult to beat though !