BE AWARE !!!!!!!!

[GOD]

Consumers and dealers be careful when on phone with a Tech or CSR about dead receiver !
Hey everyone , just a little piece of advice you might want to follow if you have a dead Star Choice receiver . DO NOT tell or mention to anyone at Star Choice that it might have been a power related surge/spike that took it out IF you want it replaced under their new warranty that you pay extra for every month . >>>>It will not be covered .<<<< It has to be a normal defect to be covered....I possibly will be adding to this story in the next week...depends on a couple of things happening....or not happening .

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Unless it was a power outage while the consumer was at home, most would not even be aware of why their receiver stopped working.

Let's just say the customer is not aware of what happened to their receiver. They phone*C to get it replaced. Customer sends in "defective" receiver that was spiked.

Will *C take it apart to check it out?

If they find that it indeed got spiked, what will they do?
Charge the customer for a new receiver? Which will probably not be new anyway.

*C insurance sounds like UIC. You pay in every month, but if you need it, you will get every excuse in the book.

[dlg]

Did you really think collecting on that warrenty was going to be easy?

[Bent]

What if you are using surge supression like Leviton's whole home unit that wires in at the panel across both legs and doesn't eat x-10 Powerline carrier signals? (over 200 bucks CDN)?

Or is Starchoice going to get into the surge suppressor market too?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

That will probably be next !!!

When you buy a *C system, you will be required to buy a surge protection system with it, or your warranty will be void, although they will still charge you $5 a month.

[Bent]

I have over a grand invested into home automation so far, I had to effectively protect my automation controller, my Leviton dimmers, as well as my home theater items, it wouldn't make sense to use powestrip type protection, but I bet Starchoice will come up with a list of vendors/products, or at least minimum specs for protection.

(I love this automation stuff, so I thought I'd brag a bit, 'scuse me)

[GOD]

Actually everything worked out ok.....with a different Tech ! He told me he could not RTC anything if it was because of a power surge...which makes sense . So , I called back and re-explained the situation and everything is being looked after .
I had "assumed" it was because of a surge...but who really knows for sure eh ? /forums/images/icons/smile.gif I guess it's really best to just pretend you know nothing and not volunteer any info that might help .

[Bent]

Well I can attest that we have the most stable and reliable power systems available here in Manitoba


LOL

[Todd_Sandrock]

"He told me he could not RTC anything if it was because of a power surge...which makes sense"

Hmmm. Ironic. Was on the phone with a tech suggesting that my audio dropouts/201 problem may be due to routing dish input through my $150 Panamax surge protector and implying that direct connection might solve the problem.

Todd

[MrVH]

My opinion... anyone who says they had a surge/spike or power outage right before their electronic component failed is playing with fire if they want warranty. Take something to an electronics warranty repair outlet and tell them that and you will, 90% chance, not get warranty coverage. You never tell them it's because of a surge/spike/outage, let them figure that out if they want... all you really know is that it was working, and now it isn't, and you have a warranty. Doesn't matter if it's Star Choice, Bell ExpressVu, Daewoo, RCA, Toshiba, Sharp, whatever.

That's been my experience.

[RUU]

Wasn't Bell advising 5100 owners not to plug those receivers into powerbars?

[snoman]

Yup

[Bent]

another key point Todd, on two of my last IPG grief calls, I was asked if I was pugged into a power bar/surge protector. ???????

I have multi-gang boxes with recepticles in them for my home theater gear. I think surge strips are ugly unless they are the industrial rack mount type.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

The Hydro here is somehow flaky... So I got my hands on and Older Big A** Transormer-Isolator for those Older PC it must weight about 200Lbs... and All my Home intertainment are connected to it and and funny one day, I was messuring the Voltage from the the Outlet and from the box and I was glad I had it.... Of course A fan has to cool it off ...
If you have a problem with Spike in your area I suggest that you try to get one too... (try those Computer recycling place)