Service Depot Policy Changing?

[KD7TZ]

I am wondering if anyone else has had a change of policy regarding warranty service or depot repairs as of late.
I send mine in through a dealer, who has done pretty well by us and intern they made pinacle probably because we bought a lot of radios from them partially due to their good service, and anyway for the first time we have had radios which would have gone to the depot and been repaired come back to us and say your warranty is void because this was caused by water damage. This has never happened before in many many depot repairs. They frankly didnt seem to care before how it was broken. Now they have just returned 2 out of 5 radios and said this will be $600 to repair and this will be $400 to repair, the extended warranty coverage doesnt matter. I am also curious about where they are being repaired now, does anyone know if they are being repaired in Mexico? I heard they were headed that way? Maybe this has something to do with it.

[4n6inv]

I sent in an Astro Spectra W-4 VHF that I had that I had attempted to repair myself. As it turned out; some of the parts for the controller were not available, and to "Flat Rate" it seemed the most logical way to go, since that wasn't the only problem. Motorola sent me an email saying that they wre returning it "unrepaired" because the radio had been modified. I called them and raised holy hell with them. The tech that I spoke with said "No Dice". Too bad, Lad! I asked to speak to his supervisor and he claimed not to know how to get in touch with her! I asked him how he got in touch with her when he needed to call in sick. {Long Pause} He took my name and number, and surprisingly, she called back. She said that they wouldn't repait it because I had already tried to repair it and that it would cost me $1100.00. I gave her a dose, and she begrudgingly agreed to go ahead and flat rate it "if I wouldn't tell anybody". Well; so much for that! This was at the El Paso Depot. I got it back with the latest and greatest everything; including the newest UCM for DES-XL and OFB.

Thay are a real pain to work with, but if you're presistant, and as big a pain in the ass as they are; you'll get what you need done. That's been my experience, so far...

Jim

[escomm]

Well actually there is a new service plan available for XTS and XTL radios that covers liquid, chemical and physical damage. It costs like $12 or $15 per month.

As to your problem, Motorola has never covered liquid damage. So did you have liquid damage? Usually they'll email you digital pictures of the board and what they are claiming is damaged if you ask.

If you are certain that no water got inside the drawer, then I'd suggest calling the call center in Schaumburg and opening a case there. It'll probably get tossed back down to the depot, if it does then tell them you want it sent back to Chicago to get resolved.

And as for repairs, yes just about everything is fixed in Mexico now. I think site equipment and data subscribers is all that's left in Elgin, and of course the feds still get to send their radios to Maryland as far as I know.

[Karfield]

Ok, guess I've been gone long enough to dish some of this out for ya. I'll go up to the top on this one. First of all if you are a MSS and make mistakes on the board you are allowed to do that because that is what MSS stands for, Motorola authorized Service Shop (not sales shop). As for end user stuff well, technically no they didn't have to flat rate it but we always treated everyone equally especially since it was your equipment in the first place. However there were certain things we didn't accept. i.e. soldered on audio boards where big on HT1000 for a while there.
So long story short if you are a MSS and they want to extreme flat rate you for things like pulled traces or things like that just open a GCC case in Schaumburg and it'll get taken care of.
Now, liquid damage. With the old multiple board designs there was a certain level of liquid damage that had become acceptable in a standard flat rate repair. Generally the cheaper of the boards was considered a safe spot but if any and I do mean any liquid damage was on the higher end board you got an EFR quote. Keep in mind these guys are people too and they will either miss something or be a bit pickier on a certain day but liquid damage isn't really to be scoffed at as generally there's what you see and then there is worse that you don't. (I've been bitten by that one more times than I can count)
So as far as I know policy hasn't really change, however they may have been hit harder by the lord high mucky mucks and told to crack down a bit more. Thus we the dealer or end user get to feel the squeeze.

My recomendation, look before you send, clean very well, and if it's that bad just take the hit you'll get a brand new radio in return.

[MTS2000des]

well I've noticed this too. We sent in 3 HT1250's, one was denied due to "liquid damage". I personally inspected that radio, no signs of corrosion or liquid intrusion anywhere, and in fact, overall was in good condition.

Ended up buying Kenwood TK-2180's (better radios IMO) and the service from Kenwood is superb as well. One was sent in that had impact damage (dropped from 20 foot ladder), and they took care of it, no questions asked.

Not trying to tout Kenwood, but their service has been coming way up, as is their quality.

Yes, people make mistakes, but claiming damage that isn't there is nothing short of fraud. It's no different than taking your car into a dealer for a minor warranty repair, only to have them try to claim your engine in ceased up. Gee, I drove it in here and it was just fine. It's called a ripoff.

[tvsjr]

Ended up buying Kenwood TK-2180's (better radios IMO) and the service from Kenwood is superb as well. One was sent in that had impact damage (dropped from 20 foot ladder), and they took care of it, no questions asked.

We had a radio completely drowned in a fire. Lost in thick debris, filled up with nasty black goo, left running till the battery discharged, found a few days later by investigators. We told them exactly what had happened, to see what it would cost to repair vs. replace. They goodwill replaced it free.

I love Moto, but Kenwood has come a *long* way.

[Karfield]

I think I remember that one. We've also did one or two that had taken bullets and still worked with a remote mic.

[wavetar]

The depot policy hasn't changed. I've received the odd flat-rate refusal from them over the years, but I always knew it was coming. Most times the customer just didn't want to accept our word that the radio was screwed due to physical or water damage, so we sent it in just to get the final word in writing from Motorola. They've sometimes covered things I wouldn't have thought they would, actually.

Kenwood still sucks in Canada. They've out-sourced both their parts & repair service. Until they pull their heads out of their asses & have a real presence here, they will continue to suck.