I had to send a keyboard back to Yamaha recently. They were absolutely great! They sent me a new one and then sent a pickup order for the damaged one, and promised me a gift for my inconvenience. My dealer was George Kaye--might have had a lot to do with it.
DonM

Lets keep this thread on top so the Yam people don't accidently miss it when passing through
Bebop Bb

My last 5 keyboards have all been Yamaha. Only once have I ever had to contact Yamaha USA..and that was to find an authorized repair shop for, what turned out to be a minor problem.

After the purchase of a PSR 2000 they sent me a questionnaire offering to extend the warranty an extra year if I filled it out and sent it back, which I did. That was a nice gesture. It felt good.

And remember when Yamaha USA donated a PSR 740 to Robbie and Ryan, the young twins in need of a keyboard to compose music for films? That also made me feel good about Yamaha.

Over the last few years I have recommended various Yamaha products to two pros and several other hobbyists. All purchased the product that I felt best suited their need and skills.

The hobbyists all offered to compensate me to teach them the OS. It was a snap because they only wanted to know the basics re: music finder, registrations and in one case, making midi files.

The two pros are still playing Yamaha products and seem very satisfied.

I sincerely hope that Larry will end up feeling as good about Yamaha as I do. His dealer sure did not treat him right.

Eddie

I just got a call from the music store.

They are calling Yamaha today with my case#.

The music store will pay the shipping cost to California, and back to Pennsylvania. I will pay the repair cost, hopefully at a much lower cost than the Music store quote.

For the record, the above was agreed upon by me and the music store, and at this point, I'll take it.

I also want to thank everyone for their support, some guys really went the extra step. Also thanks to Nigel for allowing me to use his forum as a help in settling this mess.

I had a hard time trying to decide to be more aggressive, as some suggested, or to just 'forget it', and move on.

I decided to be go the 'between route' and make a reasonable deal with the Music Store.

This could all be for naught if the repair estimate from Yamaha is as high as the music store estimate. At least then, I'll know for sure, and I won't have to pay shipping to find out, Then I'll move on.



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Larry
SynthZone Frapper

Larry,
I'm glad things are moving in a possitive direction.
I would like to add my two cents regarding some remarks Diki made about bringing in your keyboard to the dealer vs a repair center.
Many of my customers who bring their boards to my store first, find out there is nothing wrong with their keyboard that a factory reset or just pilot error was the reason for the problem. I encourage my customers to talk to me first. Most of the centers I send my customers to often call me to ask questions on operational issues because they don't know how to test the product to see if the customers complaint is pilot error. Just like a car, many problems don't show up when at the repair shop.
Again, each store handles things differently, but because I don't do repairs in my store, I feel it my duty to help out my customers so they get the best possible service. The stores that have their own repair facilities make a profit from their repair business, so I would suggest that a customer would need to be carefull regarding price quotes to make sure they are getting a fair deal.

The person at Yamaha that heads up the tech support team at Yamaha USA monitors this forum all the time and he and I speak frequently. I'm certain he has read these posts and will be monitoring this PSR3000's developments at Yamaha US.


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George Kaye
Kaye's Music Scene
Reseda, California
818-881-5566
www.kayesmusicscene.com

George, I am sure that if anyone had bought their arranger from you, they would know that you are the first person to talk to about any problems...

But sadly, you are the exception, not the rule. Most stores are barely even tolerant of polluting their fine store with these arranger 'toys', know nothing about them, and wouldn't know about a factory reset procedure if their children's lives depended on it!

Unless you HAVE purchased your arranger at George's, or another store you KNOW the salesmen are knowledgeable and honest, my above advice still stands...

At the very least, do the research, and find out if there IS an Authorized Service Center within driving distance. Save yourself some gas, and go there first (especially if you KNOW it is a hardware problem). All the dealer is going to do is refer you to there, or ship it (at your expense) across town. Might as well cut out the middle-man, unless you ARE dealing with someone as trustworthy as George...

Another update, and I hope I'm not boring you all, but it may be of some help.

I received two calls from Yamaha.(Steve and Elijah of Yamaha are unbelievably good with customer support).We agreed... Rather than ship the keyboard coast to coast, round trip, Yamaha is shipping all parts that could possibly be needed, to the store, to be installed by a certified Yamaha repair tech. And they are doing this at a cost that will drastically reduce the original estimate of the motherboard. The store has agreed to this. Both the store and Yamaha will not make money on this, but they both want this customer to be happy.

For Yamaha to get involved in a keyboard that is out of warranty, and is shipping parts at a reduced price...you can't beat that service.

And for the music store to acknowledge the mistake, and to work together with Yamaha shows me the store is truly sorry for the mix up. I appreciate that.

George,

Thanks for the advise, and can you open a store in Pa.?

Steve from Yamaha asked me to pass this on:
If a keyboard is out of warranty, contact Yamaha, and arrange for Yamaha to repair the keyboard. They fix first, and replace only if necessary. Unless you really know an expert, use Yamaha LA

Also a good point about a factory reset.
It's still hard for me to believe that while upgrading the OS, the motherboard would suffer a complete meltdown. There must be some safeguard built in that protects this expensive part. I'm no expert, but I heard something about the flash ROM, or a small circuit board that protects the motherboard...??

Dikki also has a great point...Homework is important with repairs, I know I have learned that in this ordeal.

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Larry
SynthZone Frapper

Larry...
Your posts on this matter are not boring any of us who are following this saga. We can relate.

I am really glad that Steve (Demming, I presume) jumped in to help you and that everyone is doing the right thing.

Let us know how it all turns out.

Eddie

I am glad this is starting to get resolved.

I believe this shows the power of, firstly, not just taking it, but complaining, and secondly, when you HAVE been ripped off (or attempted rip-off!) to vocalize here at SZ. This is virtually (at least short of litigation!) the only way to put pressure on a large corporation to rein in their greedy, stupid underlings. Public exposure, on a global scale. It's how they think, it should be how WE think.

Hopefully, this is a lesson learned for ALL our members. You DON'T have to take it when they treat you like this, and you have a LOT more leverage than you think you do. Just take a look at the first few posts, then take a look at this (hopefully!) happy ending.

The squeaky wheel DOES get the grease, especially if he has dozens of other wheels squeaking along with him.

Larry,
Has your keyboard been repaired and returned to you yet.
Kindly keep us updated on this as it could very well affect our of our decisions on the next keyboard to buy.
After market service is every bit as important as the new gimmics that are installed.
Waiting to hear from you,
Bebop