Hi, I was disconnecting one of my optical cables on my HK DPR2005 and the plastic cap came right off. The plastic cap usually bends outwards when there is nothing plugged in and is pushed in when you insert a cable. Now when plugging an optical cable in, it is not as secure as when the cap is there. Did anybody have this experience? Is it broken or can it be popped back in? You need to really yank an optical cable to get it out. I suppose as long as the optical cable isn't yanked out, it won't degrade the performance. Thanks, Sany.

Okay, I was 1 month before my warranty expired so I faxed HK telling them what happend and a copy of my sales receipt. 3 days later I got an email and an RA - they want to replace the whole unit for free! Sounds overkill for a tiny plastic part that broke, but hey. And I didn't even speak to a single human being in the process, it was too painless to be true. Now *that* is service for you. I will believe it when I see it (my new receiver).

Okay it's over a month wait for my replacement receiver to arrive, geez.

Okay it's been almost 6 weeks now and no information from Harman Kardon regarding my replacement receiver. Emails are thus far not answered (seems like they no longer send any auto-response messages confirming that they received your email any longer) and I can't reach anybody at their service center any time of the day and my voice mails have not been returned either. Their website also has no information behind the order number related to the replacement receiver they planned to send me. The only data is regarding the receiver I sent them. Frustration levels are increasing...

I am so upset! Okay so almost 2 months later, I get a re-furbed DPR2005 back from HK and not a new replacement like the promised! I have in writing that they promised me a brand new replacement. They are morons and their customer service is terrible. You just can't reach a human being there. After over a week of repeated attempts, I got a simple "sorry" email - a one liner, for taking almost 2 months to send me back my replacement. I pretty much fuming. My receiver was brand spanking new, barely used, mint condition including all of the accessories and only an optical connector cap broke because of the shoddy construction of the caps and I simply asked how I could get the caps replaced or if I could put them back on but they said they'd replace the whole thing (in fact initially one broke and one bent in but i even managed to fix that one!). Now I get a refurb. With dusty packaging of the accessories and the receiver is even dinged! The front of the receiver is dinged! Are you kidding me? They are so terrible they don't even have a service center anywhere in the San Diego metropolitan area so I was forced to send back my mint condition receiver to get the optical connector caps replaced and this is what I get - a dinged receiver. And ontop of this, they force YOU to pay for the shipping to them! Who has ever heard of a warranty repair where you pay the shipping? And who knows what was wrong with this to begin with plus its market value is almost half price. There is NO WAY I'm accepting this. Anybody else have any similar experiences? What is my recourse? If they do not return my mint condition receiver, even with the broken caps or replace, I'm going to the BBB. I'll keep you all posted. I am so very dissapointed with these guys. Aperion take note: it's not only the fancy and quality product that counts but the customer service which sells. Never forget this.

Called and left a voice mail (of course, you can never reach anybody at HK) as well as an email with all the email trail attached, including where I explicitly asked if I was receiving a new or refurbed receiver and the response from HK that stated "yes, you will be receiving a new one". So far no responses, but it's only been a day.

if you have anymore problems contacting them you should call the Better Business Bureu or your state's Attorney General. Get the law on your side

Okay I contacted the BBB and they did a little investigation and informed me that the BBB has rated Harman Kardon as "unsatisfactory for failing to respond to comsumer complaints". They also gave me their corporate addresses to raise complaints directly as well as with the associated BBBs in those corporate locations. I also have the attorney general's address.

Surprisingly, when I wrote them 2 days ago asking them if they planned on getting back to me and mentioning that I've filed a complaint with the BBB already, I got an almost instant reply that said to "please be patient" for their customer service to get back to me (who are the people I'm speaking to then?) and also mentioned that they receive "300 emails a day". You can imagine that I shed crocodile tears.

Buyers beware, they might make great products that match well with Aperion speakers - BUT - the BBB has listed them as unsatisfactory, in case you have issues. It's a risk you'll be taking, a tradeoff between a good product and frustration if things go bad. So far this is hands down the worst and most unprofessional customer service I have received anywhere. If you have a company charging you up to $1500 for their product, you'd expect them to back it up with timely and excellent product support.

I'll keep you posted.

Update: last week I received two emails, one with a UPS label (seems that HK finally decided they should pay for return shipping on warranty issues) and another "order confirmation". I received no other accompanying information. Of course, by now, I understood they wanted me to return the refurb and to send me my (hopefully) new replacement. To make sure, I inquired, and their response blew me away literally. I have never ever experienced such un-professional customer service. I will let you judge for yourselves (after some deliberation, I have decided to remove personal information and replaced it with "x's" in order to respect the respondant's privacy). I hope it will not take another 2 months to receive my replacement replacement. As a reference, I logged my warranty issue on the 28th of Feb 06. It's been 2.5 months now that I'm without a receiver.
________________________________

From: ext xxxxxxxxxx, xxxx [mailto:xxxxxxxx@harman.com]
Sent: Wednesday, May 03, 2006 12:11 PM
To: Zakharia Sany
Subject: DPR 2005

 

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Attention: xxxx xxxxxxxx
-------------------------

Hi xxxxx,

Can you please confirm that my replacement unit will be NEW and NOT
REFURBISHED this time around? I received no communication on this, just
a new order number.

Thank you,
Sany.

Well, Sany, I hope you finally get your NEW receiver. And thank you for sharing your experiences with us. I, for one, will never be considering H/K based on those experiences. Not that I was since I've had my eye on Marantz for quite a while now.

Update: HK has informed me that the DPR2005 is in backlog and after I complained that my investment was decreasing in value over the months I don't get to use it, they offered to extend my warranty by 6 months.

I finally received my new replacement receiver and extended warranty papers last week, after having to contact them and ask them (again) why there was a delay and where my extended warranty paper they promised to mail me one month back was. It 'only' took 5 months, but case closed.

5 months!?!?!?!?!? That's ridiculous! But, at least you finally received it along with the extended warranty. Anyway, glad to hear you've gotten everything worked out so that you can now just enjoy your HT system.

Yes That's why they're flagged at the BBB. But thanks Nick. I reconnected everything back this weekend but am now noticing some static to my speakers. For example, when I raise the volume from the lowest setting up, i get a "pop" in my speakers. Same happens when I change sound settings/modes, I get static "pops" in all speakers. Also when music is playing, there is the occasional pop. But the static popping is strange. I certainly don't remember that on my first receiver. Any ideas? Hopefully it isn't a "noisy" amp or faulty speaker connections. I think I will completely isolate the receiver next and try a shorter cable to a speaker to see if it doesn't go away. Damn.

Turns out the replacement unit has a defective dsp. HK is offering to replace the DPR2005 with a new AVR645 (for free of course). Anybody think this is a good deal/trade? I hope the thicker AVR would even fit onto my component rack :/