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Thoughts on gear with no Warranty?

#21
elgecko said:
If a piece of gear take a crap within a typical warranty period, it's unreliable. The manufacturer may fix it but I have no interest in owning it.
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Any mass produced product can fail, heck, any specialty custom manufactured product can fail. I've heard of high end amps failing right out of the box as well as cheap amps (mixers, mics, power conditioners, cabs you name it...).

Warranty is there to protect your investment.

Having said that, I find any gear that doesn't have at LEAST a 2 year warranty to be a gamble and I an thoroughly unwilling to pay full price for it. You are after all partially paying for the peace of mind knowing that if the equipment in question does fail, that you aren't stuck with landfill fodder. Generally speaking, I am good with paying more for a used instrument as what can go wrong with them is fairly simple and easy to identify, but electronics items like amps, cabs etc... there is no way I would pay more than 75% of retail for a used item, and odds are better than good I am going to aim for around 50% of retail to take the chance on used.

So in the OPs instance, NIB, but no factory warranty, Especially if you could protect it with something like SquareTrade, pay no more than 75% and you are good to go...
 
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#22
I don't own anything that I bought NEW (except for small items like cables, strings, cases,etc) so for me warranties are not an issue.
Small accessory items I am okay with buying on Ebay, but for large items like amps, cabs, instruments and the like I am most comfortable buying from other bass players here on Talk Bass. I have absolute trust in the people on this site.
 
#23
elgecko said:
If a piece of gear take a crap within a typical warranty period, it's unreliable. The manufacturer may fix it but I have no interest in owning it.
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I've seen cases where the manufacturer realized there was a problem with the initial release and made changes to fix it in future iterations. That said, it's pretty lousy that their QC department let those devices into/out of the warehouse.
 
#24
An interesting thought, I know there are aftermarket warranties available for used cars, and such... What about used Pro Audio / music gear? I looked at Square Trade (just now) and don't see anything...

The ability to obtain warranty at a reasonable cost on used equipment would make used a LOT more appealing to folks like me.
 
#26
I'm 43 and owned alot of gear in my time.
Never had to use a warranty until I bought a Peavey max115-II.
Ended up selling it as fast I could after the second repair.
But if the price is that drastic of a discount then go aftermarket warranty.
 
#28
I bought my old WT500 (upgraded to 800 watts) used and it's been great. Of course I bought it directly from David Nordschow hisownself, and he had used it as his bench amp while designing and testing speakers, so I knew it would be in good shape.

The problem I have with no warranty on a new purchase is 1. - The manufacturer doesn't have enough confidence in his product and build quality to provide one, 2.-this is not an authorized dealer and I have no recourse if he takes the money and runs, and 3.- it's a discontinued item being cleared by a jobber. From all of those choices, I'm more likely to buy from #3 because the price is usually really good and it's still new-in-box product. Little bit of a crap shoot but if repairs wouldn't eat all the savings, I'd consider it.

If you are only saving $200 off buying from an authorized dealer, I probably wouldn't do that. As one of the folks above posted, you could buy it and then go buy a warranty for it. Be sure to check out the normal length of the warranty from the factory and then see what it would cost to purchase the warranty separately for that time period. Odds are your $200 savings would disappear before the factory warranty period ran out.
 
#29
buldog5151bass said:
Consider it a used purchase. Would you buy a "lightly used" amp for that price? If not, then spring for the authorized dealer.

I have heard of some retailers using other stores to help them move enough gear from a company that is required for them to be authorized dealers - it happens.
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And that's a quick way for the authorized dealer to lose his authorization and access to future gear.
 
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#30
Buy quality gear used, then you can make out on someone else's depreciation. I recently purchased my Peavey power amp from Music Go Round because it was dirt cheep and I knew it was a good model that would run for years to come. Even if it was broken, it would still be worth reselling for parts/repair. I agree with others, 50% or less for used gear is appropriate. Utilize return policies with available. I think the price highly depends on your market, at least it does when I'm buying used tools on Craigslist.

With the mass produced electronics, manufactures have struggled with the lead free solder...I was just reading about it yesterday. We've seen many amplifiers have cold solder joints. There have been some manufactures with TONS of B stock that had to be repaired. Hopefully the worst of it is over.
 
#32
Rip Van Dan said:
And that's a quick way for the authorized dealer to lose his authorization and access to future gear.
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No, @buldog5151bass is correct. This is actually a pretty common practice and it will not affect dealer status. Manufacturers with minimum orders generally do not care what you do as long as you make those minimum orders.
 
#36
Metalbasspro said:
Looking at bass heads and Ebay has a few sellers selling name brands but they say because they are not authorized dealers they cannot offer any warranty. The Prices are 200 to 300 dollars less then with the big name web stores.

Asking them if it's B stock they say no just that they cannot offer a warranty. Since I am also considering buying used is there any concern with the new vs. no warranty?

Or would it be better to get a used but proven unit if you are not getting any warranty?


Thoughts?
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I think warranties are all pointless. It's always such a hassle to get anything fixed or replaced. I just stick with good affordable gear that's known for being reliable and if something does break I just go buy something new to replace it And sell the old gear cheap to someone who doesn't mind having it repaired.
 
#37
DiabolusInMusic said:
No, @buldog5151bass is correct. This is actually a pretty common practice and it will not affect dealer status. Manufacturers with minimum orders generally do not care what you do as long as you make those minimum orders.
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Some manufacturers are bigger sticklers about it than others. The 'authorized dealer' network functions as a tracking mechanism, which is why they are typically the only ones who can represent an item as 'new', which also—more often than not—affects an item's warranty status. After something leaves the dealer network, it is no longer legally 'new', and a manufacturer does not have to warrantee its performance, because by then ANYTHING may have happened to it. However, there IS such a thing as creative paperwork that can smooth over small technicalities such as this.
 
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#39
I bought a used Trace Elliot GPSM7 300 with no warranty and it still works just fine and that was like 13 years ago :-)
 

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