6 replies to this topic

[Crunchie]

RIPPED OFF by LAVATRONICS

This is serious - I need some advice

 

My mates dad asked me to get him a VU DUO as he likes the 3pm matches from R O I -

my mate has a tm800 (which he has just upgraded to a Vu+ Uno) and his dad liked what it could do but wanted something more sturdy shall we say.

 

So i ordered him up a VU DUO from Lavatronics

 

Serial no. is C0812800559

 

Everything went OK for 9 months old at the time i thought great its under warranty, no problem, I will  send it back for repair or exchange.

 

So i contacted lavatronics and sent it back,

 

They responded with this email,

 

 

 

Hi,

 

here is the comm's i have received from my technician.

 

Speak soon

 

Paul

 

Image: http://img.tapatalk....18/e4eryqub.jpg

 

And here's the return, I haven't touched anything but noticed on examination

 

Image: http://img.tapatalk....18/abuzy3en.jpg

 

As you can see, the parts that have been soldered in are incorrect and would damage the unit further.

***************

Understandably i called them up to clarify what this meant ? 

and the they imply somebody has removed those parts and thus voided any warranty and ability to repair it ?

 

I of course vehemently and rightly deny this - Why would i attempt to repair something that's under warranty, that illogical and without reason -not to mention i wouldn't have a frigging clue where to start.

 

So there it is make of it what you will -

 

From where i stand i was supplied sub standard already tampered with and possibly second hand or clone type goods that were obviously unfit for purpose had i known where to look in the first place ! 

 

So in the spirit of wisdom on the internet you can now compare your units when they arrive by looking at the pictures contained herein ! 

 

What shall I do next?

 

Thanks

 

[WanWizard]

VU+ or their official distributor in the ROI can probably tell you what the manufacturing date is of that serial number.

The capacitor issue doesn't pop up in the first two years, so it is unlikely a 9 month old box would have needed that fix.

 

When you received the box, was it sealed? Were the cables in sealed plastic bags? Were the batteries for the remote separate and shrink-wrapped?

[theparasol]

Looks to me someone exchanged his faulty old box he repaired with a fresh one....

Can this box be swapped by someone that e.g. serviced the box in the 9 month period without you knowing?

e.g. a local shop or neighbor placing new image on it, or something else?

Edited by theparasol, 13 October 2013 - 22:56.

[WanWizard]

Should the serial number of the box you bought not be on the invoice? And it's definitely on the box it came in. So you can check if it was swapped by someone else (unless it was swapped with box offcourse ).

[theparasol]

or lavatronics itself swapped boxes on their workbench while examining the warranty defect...

[WanWizard]

It would be handy if the serial number could be checked against the original purchase.

 

What may also be an option: OpenPLi uses the mac address of the box to make a unique backup file. If the autobackup plugin was installed, you could check the backup to see if the mac address has changed. Or maybe the log of the internet router or DHCP server...

[littlesat]

And what if they change the mainboard... Then the mac address doesn't help.