Hello George,
I think there is a vast difference to the customer support you get from your dealer to the one that you get (or expect) from the manufacturer.

I agree that this is why we need to choose our dealers wisely. I can accept that to Yamaha, technics, casio, korg or whoever I am just another person that bought their product. Actually I am not....the dealer bought it (and probably for much less than he charged me ) so I am removed even futher from the manufacturer. I cannot expect that if Yamaha sold 20,000 PSR9000 that they are willing to offer each of us the undivided attention we might think we deserve. Why should they? The dealers country wide will still stock the PSR**** even if I vow never to buy another Yamaha product because the CEO never answered my email.

Now the dealer is another matter. He got my cash....he gave me advice....he flatters me everytime I go into his shop just so that I feel comfortable giving him more of my money. Not that I mind this at all. It is his job and at the end of the day if he does it right then we both end up happy. If I have a problem with my purchase then it is him I go to. I know his face, he knows how I think and if he wants me to keep going back he has got to keep me happy. Of course I expect that if my board is flawed or damaged the dealer will have access to the maufacturer to sort the problem.....but that is his job not mine. That is why he got his cut on the deal....to deal with the hassle and get things done if the need arises. If my car breaks down I don't rush off to Ford's head office....I go back to my dealer at the local garage and he does what he has to to get me back in my car in as short a time as possible. It is just the same thing imho.

I'm not having a pop George it's just that I think that sometimes we (end users) expect too much from the big corps that make our boards. If they were able (or even inclined) to offer that kind of personal service to each of us then ultimately there would be no need for the dealer at all. In all the years I have been buying keyboards I have never once had to deal with a manufacturer direct. My dealer see's me more often than he see's his wife .....but that's another story
ttfn
Tony