Anyone know why Yamaha...

[HAVIC]

Gets and F from BBB.

From BBB An F means - We strongly question the company’s reliability for reasons such as that they have failed to respond to complaints, their advertising is grossly misleading, they are not in compliance with the law’s licensing or registration requirements, their complaints contain especially serious allegations, or the company’s industry is known for its fraudulent business practices.

here is the link to the bbb review on yamaha http://www.labbb.org/BBBWeb/Forms/Bu...ompanyID=33457

I have only ever heard good things about Yamaha, any thoughts?

[kexodusc]

Not to downplay the rating, but they base their ratings only on the number of cases in which they can review.

Consider that they're reviewing 18 cases. I bet there's a Best Buy in Wichita that sold 18 Yamaha pieces of electronics today. Of the millions of pieces of gear sold each year, the BBB has 18 cases to base an opinion on...not exactly a statistically valid sample size.

Also - honoring the terms of a contract gets you a big fat C in the eyes of the BBB. It's so consumer biased it's disgusting. We all know consumers are idiots.

These kinds of services also have a built in bias - consumer complaint forums generally receive more feedback from dissatisfied customers than satisfied ones. We're quick to complain, slow to praise by nature.

I wouldn't lose any sleep over this.

[Woochifer]

Looking over the case descriptions that are logged on the BBB website, I would guess that a good number of these complaints came from people who purchased their Yamahas through unauthorized vendors. Yamaha is strict about enforcing their warranty policies, and I believe that their authorized service centers will not work on a product purchased through unauthorized channels, even if the customer offers to pay for repairs.

In general, warranty service typically starts with the store where the customer made their purchase. If the store does not do the servicing in-house, they will route the unit over to a local service center or to Yamaha's Buena Park facility. From what I've seen previously on other forums, the units under warranty that Yamaha could not repair or replace with an identical refurbished unit, they would offer the customer a refurbished upgrade to a higher model. But, if the unit came from an unauthorized vendor or has a missing serial number, they won't respond.

My own dealings with Yamaha's customer service have been generally been more prompt and knowledgeable than I've encountered through other companies (Denon and Sony, for example).

[HAVIC]

kexodusc and woochifer, I agree %100 with your statements, however how can the BBB make statements based on less than .1% of sales and claim legal infractions, false advertising and fraudulant business practices, without the state or federal government investigating. Local buisnesses who usually get reported for accusations like the BBB are towards yamaha, are investigated by the the state or local DA's office. It just bothers me as a non profit org to be so misleading like consumer reports. People feel that they can rely on these tools to provide a feel for a company before they buy. I have used the BBB to register complaints before and they have help me, especially with MCI Worldcomm Wireless issue several years back. I've also used them and gotten no where.

I have had the same issues with consumer reports like kexodusc has said about people tend to only complain and not praise when a review comes along. There has got to be a better way to show the public where the truth lies. Thankfully I do my research before I buy.

[Worf101]

You know how I feel about Pioneer and their service and sales. They treated me like trash until I sicced the California BBB them. Pioneed had my DVD player, my first one mind you, for months, never repaird it, sent me a refurb that was DOA and then refused me a refund. After I filed against them they sent me a full refund and offered free shipping of the defective product back to them.. Complain if you want, but sometimes the BBB is a necessary and helpful evil.

Da Worfster

[kexodusc]

You know how I feel about Pioneer and their service and sales. They treated me like trash until I sicced the California BBB them. Pioneed had my DVD player, my first one mind you, for months, never repaird it, sent me a refurb that was DOA and then refused me a refund. After I filed against them they sent me a full refund and offered free shipping of the defective product back to them.. Complain if you want, but sometimes the BBB is a necessary and helpful evil.

Da Worfster

Amen to that Worf! I should fess up too...I bought my Dad a computer a few years back from a rather large computer company that will remain nameles (though there is a steak sauce with the same initials). Damn thing was DOA. The store I got it from accused me of frying the thing somehow upon setup. The only thing I did was plug it in to the wall.
We got into a shout-fest over the phone when the store told me I was SOL and they wouldn't honor warranty for customer abuse.
I got a bit more angry at this point and asked for the manager, who was conveniently away. When the dude took my Dad's phone number, he recognized the the digits for AFB Minot and said "well that explain things" and muttered something under his breath about pilots and soldiers. Dink.

Anyhoo, the BBB sped the process up for me...that jerk was just lucky he was talking to the me and not my Pa or I'd only be seeing my old man on visiting days.

Sometimes it's nice to have a group like these guys who'll stick up fer the little guy!