Re: N2IC's comments
Ok Steve - I'll bite. Here's a report of my (mostly) positive impressions of
Yaesu's service...
I recently had occasion to use Yaesu's service department. I bought an
FT-1000D in December 91. It had a couple of minor things which I thought
weren't quite right and so around December 92 I thought it would be a good idea
to send it in before the warrantee ran out. I called their 800 number and
asked about the procedure. They said that I should send it to their California
main address with a letter explaining what I wanted done, and that they usually
turn it around in 7 to 10 days. Sounded good to me. I had heard this
independently from another ham, but hearing it from them was encouraging.
So I wrote the letter. There were only two things which I really though needed
fixing. First, the VOX circuit was intermittent. Every so often it would just
quit working, then later start working again. The second thing was that there
is a small LED on the main display which lights up when you tune a CW signal to
the center of the passband. I had noticed that it wasn't centered properly and
would consistently light up higher in frequency than the passband center, as
determined by the sidetone. This may not seem like such a big deal, but I find
myself looking at that stupid light *all the time*. It just bugged me that it
wasn't exact. And on such an expensive rig it ought to be exact.
Anyway, in addition to fixing these things, I had heard that they apply
upgrades for free, so I asked them to apply any upgrades which occurred after
my rig was manufactured. I also had received a ROM upgrade which I hadn't had
time to install, so I put that in the box too and asked them to put it in.
I packed the whole thing up in the original box which consists actually of two
boxes, one inside the other for strength. On December 9 I took it to UPS and
sent it to Yaesu via 2nd day air. With insurance, it came to about $75.
Regular shipment would have been $38, but I wanted it back before Christmas.
The UPS guy was a bit surprised at the figure I wrote in under "value" on the
insurance form. They proceeded to check the package out and add tape here and
there. It was painful to hand over my not-so-old radio to a perfect stranger
and go home radio-less. The nice thing about the 2nd day shipment is that it
goes into their tracking system and you can call in and find out where it is.
So on the following Monday, I called them. They told me that it was delivered
on Friday the 11th (as promised) and gave me the name of the person who signed
for it.
I waited until Tuesday the 22nd to call Yaesu, suffering from acute radio
withdrawal. To my relief they told me that the rig was shipped out the
previous Friday (the 18th) and I would probably receive it that day. That
afternoon, my son called me at work to tell me that it had arrived.
The rig was shipped back in the same box which was in fairly good condition
considering it had now been shipped across the country for the third time. I
unpacked the rig and proceeded to check it out. The one part in all of this
with which I was disappointed was the summary sent back from Yaesu. The only
information about what was done to the rig was the invoice, containing a list
of the parts which were replaced, and a one-liner stating "Replaced defective
parts, aligned and tested unit operations to factory specifications." They had
replaced 5 ICs, one transistor, two diodes, two capacitors, a resistor, and
something identified as "CHIP RES.RMC1/10T 391J". I was able to locate the ICs
and transistor in the schematic (maybe). Later, I called them to get a more
complete story. The guy on the phone didn't seem quite on the ball, but he
found the records of my repair job and sort of told me what was done.
Basically they replaced just about everything having to do with the vox and
cw-tune-light circuits. He also said that my rig had a late enough serial
number that it didn't need any upgrades other than the firmware.
What really mattered though, was that the rig was fixed and the power- on test
indicated that the firmware had been upgraded to version 6.00 (it had been
5.84). The VOX is working fine so far, and the CW tune light is right-on.
All in all, I'm pleased with Yaesu's service although I would have appreciated
a more complete report from them. There was no way for me to reconcile the
invoice with my original letter itemizing what was wrong. But the turn around
time was very quick, as promised. Maybe this is because I shipped it to them
by 2nd day express. I wonder if they match whatever method you use to ship it
to them. That could explain longer turn around times.
By the way, even though the service was under warrantee, the work was priced
out on the invoice. The parts amounted to about $19, but the labor was $150
and the return shipment (which they also paid for) was $81.
73,
Chris, W2PA
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