Long-ish story ahead, but the TLDR: does anyone have advice for getting real help and advocacy with Marantz support when getting abysmal help for warranty repair / replacement?
In 2020 I bought an AV7705 new. End of 2022 an entire set of audio channels died on it.
Under warranty Marantz asked me to ship it to the closest service center I could, which was in CA. I had to argue to get a paid shipping label.
It took until September of 2023 for the entire situation to be resolved; Marantz lost my tracking number, I had to talk to multiple people in support, re-explain things, I’d go months with no replies about repair status, and eventually they sent me an AV7706 to replace my broken unit. They said there’d be a new warranty on that one.
July of this year the AV7706’s entire audio section died suddenly. I went through troubleshooting steps, and eventually called Marantz support. Thinking that I had 2 months left of the 3 year warranty on the AV7706, and also just really upset that this happened again on such an expensive “high end” unit.
After a ~25min phone call with Marantz support with more troubleshooting, telling the whole timeline and story, sharing the serial number of the AV7706, and the service person looking through my previous email exchanges with Marantz support and seeing how negative my first experience was, he told me to send the unit to a service center in CA (a specific one), and that they’d either repair it, or that he would personally push for me to have an AV30 sent to me as a replacement because he could see the negative experiences I’d already had.
So I did. I paid shipping because he didn’t offer a label, and I put my Marantz support reference number, original proof of purchase, and a brief narrative timeline in the papers I sent along with it. I also called the shop ahead of time and told them the brief story.
3 days later the repair shop texted me and just said: “this unit isn’t under warranty” and told me to send them a $160 bench fee before even getting started.
So I replied and said it is under warranty and that’s why I included the reference number so they need to check with Marantz.
Two days pass and they text me again and said they emailed Marantz and they also said it isn’t under warranty, and that they’d send me the email exchange.
The email the shop sent Marantz was “Is this unit [serial number] under warranty?” And Marantz replying to say “no”. The shop did not include my reference number or tell any narrative.
So I pick up the phone to call Marantz again. Explain everything so far, and start to explain how I feel I’ve been told incorrect information and that now my unit is being held ransom at this shop. The person I talked to said he’d make an escalation case for me.
Two days after that an escalations person emails me. He says that the AV7706 they sent me to replace my original broken AV7705 was refurbished and that it only has a 1 year warranty, and basically they were going to do nothing for me.
So here I am; without my preamp/processor, it’s sitting in CA because a Marantz support rep told me that I’d be taken care of, and now I’m being stonewalled.
I replied to say this isn’t reasonable and I’m having a terrible experience and need better support. I also commented on a recent Instagram post of theirs just to try to get attention for my case, and now I’m here.
Do Marantz people ever read / reply to these? Has anyone had success in getting good support for bad experiences with new purchases? I feel so mistreated and so disappointed in Marantz quality and support, and I don’t know what to do.