[net.audio] Heathkit warrantee dismay

hbb (05/09/83)

As with most products sold these days, Heathkit offers a  90  day
warrantee  on  its  products  against  manufacturer  defects, etc.
However, when one considers the  peculiar  situation  kit  owners
face,  this  turns  out  to  be  a  much more limited (time-wise)
warrantee. The peculiarity stems from the fact that the kit  will
not  reach  the  assembled  state for some time after the initial
purchase.

The warrantee is fine for replacement  of  components  that  fail
during  assembly, but it would be better were there an additional
warrantee that would take effect after the kit is assembled.  The
problem then involves determining when a kit has been completed.

A possibility might involve the omission of a critical  but  pre-
assembled portion of the device from the original kit. That piece
would be the last piece to be assembled and would be ordered,  by
the  kit  owner,  only  when  s/he  was  about to use the device.
Without that piece, the device wouldn't operate so the  warrantee
would  stay  in  effect (w/o time limit). But once the device was
ordered, the time limit would take effect. The kit builder  could
opt  to  order that last piece right away, but by doing so, would
start the time limit right away.

The missing piece would be  of  sufficient  complexity to make it
unlikely  that a kit builder could design one on his(her) own and
circumvent the  time  limit  of  the  warrantee. 

Harlan Braude

tom (05/11/83)

Relay-Version:version B 3/9/83; site harpo.UUCP
Message-ID:<411@rlgvax.UUCP>
Date:Wed, 11-May-83 11:36:44 EDT

Another thing abot Hafler --
unless I am remebering wrong, their kits come with 2-year warranties.
As I understand it, if there is a problem, they'll fix it.  If they
see that it was not the fault of the kit-builder, its under warranty,
otherwise you pay.

I have not had to service my equipment.  Any other Hafler owners have
concrete details?

- Tom Beres
{we13, mcnc, seismo, allegra}!rlgvax!tom

wjm (05/12/83)

Essentially, that's the Hafler warranty... I had a problem with my DH-220
power amp where a 82 ohm resistor on one of the prewired amp boards went up
in smoke several hours after the amp was completed.  Since it was their error
(either the resistor or the transistor it was biasing was NG), they fixed it
and only charged me for shipping (both ways).
                                                Bill Mitchell
                                                Bell Laboratories - WH
                                                (whuxk!wjm)