I am in the market for a home audio-video receiver. I have looked at a number of manufacturers, and at this time, I am considering the Denon AVR-2307 CI. In my searching, I have encountered an interesting fact: Many manufacturers will only honor a warranty if the electronic component is sold by an authorized dealer. I’ll give an example with Denon, but it seems to be prevalent with other manufacturers as well.
Here’s the thing: Denon authorized dealers only seem to sell at the MSRP. In this case, the receiver goes for $800. Checking on Amazon, I can get it for $620. So, the way I see it, I am paying $180 for a manufacturer’s warranty.
I can understand them requiring that the item be shipped back to them for repair rather than dropped off at a dealer who never profited from the sale, but the company is invalidating the warranty entirely.
If Denon doesn’t want receivers sold by unauthorized dealers, then how do those on-line dealers get hold of the product? These aren’t close-outs or discontinued models that are sold in huge lots at a discount. These are new models that go right out the door as soon as they come in.
And can/will this failure to honor a warranty stand up (legally) in states that have implied warranties?
It’s called “gray market” and has been a long-running problem with photography equipment. What generally happens is retailers are selling goods intended for overseas sales in the US.
In the case of your receiver at Amazon, it’s not being sold by Amazon. Amazon is really just acting as a big sales catalog for someone called Ace Digital Club. If you dig into Ace’s profile, you’ll find at least one “gotcha” - no returns at all on home theater gear. So, if the thing breaks, or even if it arrives DOA, your only recourse is to send it to Denon. But, Denon won’t look at it as you didn’t buy it from an authorized dealer.