Yamaha Problems?

[poneal]

I stopped by best buy today and was browsing the audio department. I have heard good things about Yamaha AV receivers here so was looking at them. The salesman informed me that about 15% of the Yamahas he has sold have been returned with problems. I just thought I would let everyone know to be buyer beware when it comes to these.

[Crunchyriff]

The brand in general, or certain models?

[TinHere]

The brand in general, or certain models?

One salesman at BB doesn't seem like enough of a reason to impune a company with a reputation for products with exceptional reliability. The new products have been on the market for months and the buzz has been very positive on a number of forums. BB sells the HTR line not the RX-V line that much of the posting has been about, but I can't help but think that if real problems existed in a particular model they would have been reported by consumers on the forums. I would take this one salesman's report with a BIG grain of salt as it represents a real departure from other available information and past history. Hey, maybe a pallet fell at that store and some damaged units got sold. It could happen.

[clockwork]

One salesman at BB doesn't seem like enough of a reason to impune a company with a reputation for products with exceptional reliability. The new products have been on the market for months and the buzz has been very positive on a number of forums. BB sells the HTR line not the RX-V line that much of the posting has been about, but I can't help but think that if real problems existed in a particular model they would have been reported by consumers on the forums. I would take this one salesman's report with a BIG grain of salt as it represents a real departure from other available information and past history. Hey, maybe a pallet fell at that store and some damaged units got sold. It could happen.

Exactly the way I feel about the Yamaha. They have exceptional reliability and though not fancy looking like the Pioneers and others, they are very well built.People who buy them keep them as long as they can. A friend of mine still has his 10 year old Yamaha and still using it. I have kept my RXV-596 for close to 7 years already. It has never been to the shop and it still works like a champ. I now upgraded to RX-V2095 but I still keep my 596 in the bedroom.

there may be some occasional hiccups here and there but it doesnt warrant buyers to stay away from them.

[Mania]

I stopped by best buy today and was browsing the audio department. I have heard good things about Yamaha AV receivers here so was looking at them. The salesman informed me that about 15% of the Yamahas he has sold have been returned with problems. I just thought I would let everyone know to be buyer beware when it comes to these.

I my experience, BB ALWAYS tries to sell you a contract for whatever piece of equipment that they sell. I don't recall ever buying anything there over $100 where they didn't tell me that they observe frequent returns and try to sell me a contract. I would never trust a BB employee about anything. Sorry BB, but its true.

[Jim Clark]

Only 15%? I'm suprised that it's not higher. Not that I think there's anything wrong with the units but an AV receiver is fairly difficult to set up correctly. For some people who are technically challenged just getting to an onscreen set up display is probably next to impossible considering the hookups involved and so many video inputs on a TV. Try assigning a digital input on any AV receiver if you a). don't read the manual b). don't understand the manual c). don't even understand why you need a digital input to begin with. There are probably 20 things at least that can go wrong with setting up an AV receiver that will result in either no sound, crappy sound, or no picture. Easy for me to see why so many get returned, regardless of the brand. I'd bet most people here have had at least one set up issue somewhere along the line, and we know, or at least think we know, what we're doing.

jc

[Bryan]

My question would be what the problems are. A rate of 15% with problems is not good. However, if it is balanced accross the line of Yamaha receivers you are looking at around 3% rate of return per model on average. Half of those could be due to the remote not working due to batteries being old. Without knowing the specific problems it is impossible to say if it is quality control or something else. A receiver may be more overkill for a room and that is why it was returned. It could be the person didn't end up liking the Yamaha sound so that is why it returned. It could easily be the person didn't know how to properly set up the receiver. All those are problems but none of them has to do with quality control. If they sell 75 Yamaha receivers a week than 11 per week are being returned for one reason or another. Unfortunately, right now we have too little information to go by to make an informed decision about the Yamaha HTR line of receivers.

[Worf101]

Only 15%? I'm suprised that it's not higher. Not that I think there's anything wrong with the units but an AV receiver is fairly difficult to set up correctly. For some people who are technically challenged just getting to an onscreen set up display is probably next to impossible considering the hookups involved and so many video inputs on a TV. Try assigning a digital input on any AV receiver if you a). don't read the manual b). don't understand the manual c). don't even understand why you need a digital input to begin with. There are probably 20 things at least that can go wrong with setting up an AV receiver that will result in either no sound, crappy sound, or no picture. Easy for me to see why so many get returned, regardless of the brand. I'd bet most people here have had at least one set up issue somewhere along the line, and we know, or at least think we know, what we're doing.

jc

I've put in about 6 systems in the last 3 years. Two for myself and the rest for others. You don't know how many times I've gotten frantic calls from folks lost and confused by the remote. You set up the system calibrate it for them, dial it in and still they can't make a go of it. It ain't "rocket science" but it ain't like falling off a log either.. Good points.

Da Worfster

[Keith from Canada]

I stopped by best buy today and was browsing the audio department. I have heard good things about Yamaha AV receivers here so was looking at them. The salesman informed me that about 15% of the Yamahas he has sold have been returned with problems. I just thought I would let everyone know to be buyer beware when it comes to these.

Regardless of whether or not this is true, Yamaha is known for having very good customer support on all of their products and I would imagine that any problems that may surface would be dealt with quickly by them. I personally think that this statement was a prelude to a "we do offer an extended warranty" statement designed to suck-in the misinformed.

[spacedeckman]

even KLH or Pioneer.

As has been stated a couple of times here, that was a prelude to a warranty pitch. Ask the techs up front. If they are getting 15% of the Yamahas back, they are getting 25% of the Sonys, 35% of the Kenwoods, 50% of the Pioneers, and 60% of the KLHs. It isn't happening.