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Bel Canto REF600 m amp reapir costs- exorbitant ?

I have a pair of REF600m, I took them out of my system for a month and when I hooked them back up one is dead. No green light, no music. Oddly there are no fuses or breakers in the amp ! Google shows that there are known problems with the power supplies going bad on these. I sent them both in to get looked at- they emailed me today that yup, one needs a new power supply- for $695- and they suggest doing the other one too as it'll probably go next. $1500 to repair two amps with known issues - and the amps are only worth $2800 if I were to sell them. Looking inside the amp there aint much hardware, $700 a power supply sure seems steep- and I'm really stuck. Don't fix them and they're useless, fix them and have a fortune sunk into a pair that aren't worth much. It's like I'd have to spend $1500 to make them saleable for $2500 just to dump them. I would have expected either a free replacement for a known problem or a low cost flat rate repair. I was expecting perhaps $350 each amp. Am I unreasonable? Ignoring the fact that I don't think they should have failed at all, ever. Signed: Unhappy and not buying anymore Bel Canto. 

speedthrills
waynefia
192 posts
 

 @thecarpathian  

Bel Canto amps are made in Minnesota. I don’t understand the connection.

You don’t ? I guess you have never seen any of the comments by people complaing about buying ChiFi and other out of US products , and the poor customer service and expensive repairs from those places. If I am not mistaken BelCanto is made in MN.

 

thecarpathian's avatar
thecarpathian
6,089 posts
 

@waynefia ,

So, you were simply stating that this situation, coming from an American manufacturer, reminds you of the fact that it can happen with any manufacturer, including American ones and not just by those originating in China or elsewhere internationally?

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,588 posts
 

I had a BC ref1000m amp I bought here used that had a bad input board (circuit actually peeling off teh board) pop up shortly after  that I sent to BC for repair a number of years back.

Experience was very good.   It cost a few hundred to repair back then and repair was done in just a couple weeks and it worked well for years after.

As we know, times have changed and everything is way more expensive now than 10+ years ago, so would not expect repair of a luxury item to be any different.

FWIW.

Choice to repair or not is a personal decision.  Merely having a good option to do so when needed these days is a plus for valuable items.

That event also reinforced for me what I already knew:  buying expensive stuff used can be a risky proposition.

I still have a Bel Canto c5i that I also bought used years ago and is still chugging.    Wonderful device!   It does it all and does it all very well, too handy to not have around.

waynefia
192 posts
 

@thecarpathian 

Exactly. My experience of late is offshore companies like LAIV for example, have much better customer service than many US companies I have dealt with. LOL the very first audio product I ever purchased , many moons ago. A Fisher Reciever I bought new, when they were still made in the US, lasted one month, the transfomer blew, and I waited 6 weeks to get it back. At least they covered it under warranty.

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,588 posts
 

Also can share I bought a Topping DAC open box off Amazon recently that was missing the remote.  I contacted Topping customer service via Amazon and they promptly and efficiently sent me a remote from China (with absolute top notch tracking along the way) that arrived in a week, just as promised.

FWIW.  YMMV.  Good customer service can come from anywhere at any time.  Same for bad.  

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