Audio Systems: Yamaha 7.1 Receiver is dead, sony plasma tv, gray market goods

Question
Hello!

I just purchased a new Yamaha RX-V2500 7.1 Receiver on EBay.  I got it all hooked up (I also have a Sony Plasma TV & a Toshiba Tivo/ DVR Combo & Direct Satellite Receiver).  It was working fine at first, until I tried playing a concert DVD, just to see how "great" the sound is.  I turned up the volume (not at all at an excessive level) & I noticed Tina Turner had horizontal lines coming in and going out and them all of a sudden the receiver went dead.

I waited 12 hours for it to "cool down" and disconnected all the speakers, like the troubleshooting section of the Owners Manual suggested.  When I hit the power button, I hear a "click," but nothing happens.... the front control panel has never come back on since the incident last evening.  

Needless to say, I am frustrated and feel helpless.  I am BY NO MEANS able to do anything technical beyond just merely getting through the connection phase!

HELP!
Jeff Lovell


Answer
Dear Jeff,

Mostly likely, since you bought the unit on eBay, you purchased a "gray market" model, purportedly "new" but not offered by an authorized manufacturer's dealer. Gray market goods are rarely new; generally, they're returns that have been bought by the gray marketer at a deep discount and cleverly repackaged so they look like new. Most of the time a gray market purchase will be eventless. However, when something breaks--there's a reason this particular unit was on the gray market to begin with--you also may be the proud owner of a voided warranty: most manufacturers don't honor warranties for goods purchased from an unauthorized vendor.

I mention all this because new components should not behave in the way you describe, and my advice is to take it into a Yamaha service center and have it fixed. You'll have to figure out a number of things: (1) if the PayPal guarantee covers defective product; (2) if your credit card's warranty feature covers merchandise purchased from an unauthorized vendor on-line; (3) if you have a valid manufacturer's warranty. You should immediately contact (1) the seller and (2) Yamaha to see if you have any cost-free remedies.

The alternative is to bite the bullet, and take the unit into a repair service for a bench test diagnosis and an estimate of the repair cost.

Good luck. And thanks for choosing allexperts.com!

Kindest regards,

Kevin