Going into withdrawals!!!... My story

[southernjoel]

Got my fantom-s back in december. Love it! Considered trading it in for an Fantom-x.....but a row of pixels on my lcd went bad about a month ago.
Called Roland,they assured it would be FULLY covered under warranty. I live in a rural area,so the closest authorized repair center was 2 hours away in Atlanta. The repair shop was a 9-5 m-f place,so I had to take some time off work to run it by.I figured I would save time,money,and wear/tear on my keyboard by not having to ship it ....thats why I chose to take it there personally.

Once I got there,they immediately informed me Roland only had a 90day labor warranty,and that their fee was 70bucks an hour. He stated it would take a probably take him at least an hour and a half just to get it taken apart(I worked for MOOG as a tech recently,I bet I could change the LCD out in less than 30mins,and perhaps less if its removeable from the front plate....lol).
I left my keyboard there and immediately called ROLAND again. Since they dont use case #'s on their support lines,I had no reference or way to proove I was misled by a support rep. But GOD BLESS ROLAND......I was finally able to talk with a manager and he resolved this issue(hopefully...I have yet to get it out of the shop).
But my frustration isnt with ROLAND themselves(although it was one of their support reps that gave me the wrong info) . My frustration is with the actual repair facility,cause its been 3 weeks now,and they havent even gotten around to looking at it yet. Plus I cannot get any sort of confirmation from them that I am not gonna have to pay anything additional,and it makes me really really nervous!
The defect is not major,just a thin blank row of graphics across the LCD. I wouldnt even of took it up there if its gonna cost me 150-300+ dollars to get fixed.I wouldve just lived with it.....especially after hearing the 70buck an hour tech fee.

Just a few questions for everyone...........Although the part and now the labor is now covered, should I expect any additional charges from the repair shop??? And whats an average repair time?? they said 10-14 days....its been longer already...and they havent even peeked at it. I am GOING INTO WITHDRAWALS for my Fantom.......lol!!!

Sorry for the long thread, I havent posted in awhile. Plus I guess I am looking for sympathy and guidance as usual......lol. I just miss my keyboard!

Luv this Forum!!

[Mexico]

First thing I would do is contact Roland and inform them of the crappy service you've received from one of their authorized repair shops, so that the same thing (hopefully) doesn't happen to anybody else.

Also, request a letter or fax where it is clearly stated that Roland will cover all expenses associated with the repair. This obviously would have to be done by the manager, since the first people that answer the phone usually don't have the authority required to do so.

Last, you shouldn't have to pay any extra charges to the shop.

Good luck. I feel your pain.

M

[c0pasetik]

is exactly what I did - Get a Yamaha motif es - Yamaha privides awesome service - theire company backed website is at www.motifator.com. this website is backed by the 1 and only artemeo (excuse spelling) - but roland doesn't officially back us. Roland needs to embrace mlan like korg and yamaha and many others are beginning to do. And they need to sup up their already wonderful fx - And as you've seen, there service SUX.

sup

[Phait]

Nice practical advice there.

Web design/Personal site: http://www.phait-accompli.com
Music: http://www.thecarbonflaw.com

[southernjoel]

I had looked at the Kork-xtremes and Motif-es's,and seriously considered getting a Triton Classic since the price has dropped. But I really think I am in more need of a decent DAW setup for recording/mixing purposes.
Once I get my Fantom-s back(if ever?? Still havent heard a word from the repair shop) I plan on making it a controller for a new DAW setup. Using the fantom-s for pads,solo's and triggering softsynths/samplers. I am really into ethnic/ambient/industrial stuff......so investing in a decent sample cd library is probably the next step.
I plan on building the computer myself,so I think this is the wisest, most economical(yet powerful) upgrade to my home studio.
Who knows.....a Motif or Triton may be in my future, but the way technology is going, it is more looking like I will be soon purchasing the VST versions of both instead .....lol.
Thanks for all the input!

[Luc]

Well Yamaha didn't really listen to customer input since about all complaints/bug logged against the sequencer /file system did not get fixed in ES and they knew about it for a year. Also I think I really needed motifator.com when I had my motif since the manual didn't provide much insight. I think the Fantom needs less clarification.

But I digress and the original report was about repairing broken synth and I don't know if Yamaha has better warranty/service dealers (who knows might be same people doing the repair).

I'm not a lawyer but I wonder if US Law disallows only 90 day labor for such products. You'd think it's reasonable that this should be covered. Some countries definitely overrule a crappy warranty.