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THE WAY I SEE IT By NEVILLE WILLIAMS Is the electronic service industry dragging its feet? Last month I drew attention to the difficulties and delays which can be experienced these days when electronic equipment is returned for repair. It is clear, however, that the examples quoted were not isolated incidents but part of an emerging pattern affecting the whole gamut of electronic devices. As you will have noticed, I did not identify the make of the various units and this was quite deliberate. They just happened to be those that came to my notice and it would have been unfair, by implication, to single them out as brands to be a,voided. Rather, they were listed as an indication of a wider problem. At this moment, four weeks after I wrote that story, a couple of those very situations are still to be resolved. Replacement chips for my own computer printer, ordered from overseas, are still at least two weeks away so that, in the normal course of events, twelve weeks or more will have elapsed before the local distributors can be in a position to fix it. As it happens, I've just been advised that they've located a possible substitute board and may be able to effect at least a temporary repair. One must be thankful for small mercies, I guess, but that will still add up to a turnaround time of ten weeks. As I mentioned previously, I would have been in real strife had not a friend been able to lend me a standby printer of a different make, although I faced a difficulty in that the distributor was no longer able to supply a new ribbon for it or offer any meaningful assistance in obtaining one. Then there was the schoolteacher friend's near-new computer monitor, from still another supplier, who quoted six weeks to track down and repair a fault that was causing the brightness level to vary erratically. He, too, was able to get by in the meantime with a borrowed monitor, which behaved perfectly, suggesting that the problem had nothing to do with the computer itself. For him, the good news was a phone call, four weeks later, advising that he could pick up the monitor, which had been "thoroughly checked" in the meantime. The dubious news, on his arrival, was that the technicians could find nothing wrong with it. The bad news, when he got it back home, was that the brightness was as unstable as ever. When last I heard, he was still trying to work out what to do about it. (I am reminded of Murphy's first law, as applied to computers and quoted recently in the Sydney Morning Herald: '' As soon as the technician has been called, the thing that has gone wrong mysteriously fixes itself or goes into hiding until after the technician leaves".) A VCR - what's all the hurry? Then last month's story, to do with VCR problems, was mirrored by the experience of another acquaintance who happened to hear about what I had just written for the November issue. A few weeks previously, his 20-month old VCR had mangled the tape in a rented video cassette to his considerable embarrassment. He duly took the VCR to an accredited repairer, who assured him that the fault could be rectified but added that the job might take several weeks. Not prepared to wait that long, he took it elsewhere, only to be told much the same story. The second repairer undertook to do the job as quickly as possible but explained that the turnaround time really depended on how long it took to get hold of the necessary replacement parts. Annoyed with both the manufacturer and the department store that had recommended the particular brand, he had little choice but to accept the repairer's word. Four weeks later, with the VCR still in limbo, he rang the Australian distributor to protest directly to the spare parts manager. The person who actually took the call remains a mystery but was obviously unimpressed either by his complaint or his presumption in making it - virtually hanging up in his ear! DECEMBER1987 87 'Superlative' Many people have been mass-marketed into believing that digital 'music' is superior to analogue reproduction. This new ORTOFON MC30 Super Cartridge will most certainly show you where this theory goes completely wrong! Using pure silver wiring, Ortophase phase/amplitude linearity and apure platinium damping disc, the ORTOFON MC-30 Super delivers directly to both ears the superior musicality of high-class analogue reproduction. As others have already said: .. . the overall sound is one of extreme clarity which can bear comparison with CD at its best. In fact, unlike COplayers, a well designed moving-coil cartridge like this one maintains its response well beyond the 20kHz upper limit." John Barwick, Grammophone, April 1987. "The MC-30 Super is a better cartridge than most of its rivals. It's just a thoroughly musical design, and there's little that needs to be added to that bald statement. Go for this cartridge if you want a sharp, incisive sound of real refinement and with explicit stereo." Alvin Gold, HI-FI Answers, April 1987. "The MC-30 Super .. . is the child of a mating of the MC20 Super and the MC-2000 - both of which I know and adore. Once the cartridge bedded in, it was as sweet as sugar, an MC-2000 without the bite and with most of the detail ... Ortofon has plenty of reasons to believe that a market for high quality cartridges still exists, and this continued support of the LP has resulted in an outstanding transd ucer.'' Ken Kessler, HI-FI News and Record Review, March 1987. "The MC-30 Super is a superlative tracker . Highs are gorgeous - smooth, open, and sparklingly crisp . . Lowfrequency performance, too, is excellent." J. Gordon Holt, Stereophile, January 1987. For fuli details and free brochures, contact the Sole Australian Distributor, SCAN AUDIO or your nearest ORTOFON specialist. SCAN AUDIOPty. Ltd., 52 Crown Street, Richmond, Victoria 3121. Telephone: (03) 429 2199. ortofon accuracy in sound S&T .SA.4760 "One would think", he said, "that the supplier was doing me a favour in making spare parts available at all! " His reaction was to write a letter of protest to the company management, indicating his dissatisfaction as a brand customer and expressing the hope that this further complaint: (1) Would not end up in the hands of another staff member with such an objectionable, "don't care" attitude, and (2) Might motivate management to look critically at the parts situation and hopefully ease the problem in future for other customers like himself. The VCR has since been repaired but it still took all of six weeks, despite his "stirring"! "Electronic" cameras And that brings me to a freelance photographer who is a long-time friend and associate. Some time ago, he invested $150-odd in an electronic timing device which could be set to trigger a motordriven camera for multiple exposures, either in rapid sequence or spread over a much longer period, as for time-lapse photography. When he tried to use it recently, however, it went completely crazy, pulsing quite erratically. On taking it back to the local distributor, he discovered that they had no facilities in Australia for servicing the electronics in their equipment. They were well set up to deal with mechanical problems but anything electronic had to be shipped back to the factory. What was that likely to cost and how long would it take? It would take up to six weeks to reach the service department, he was told, because their policy was to collect enough items to make up a worthwhile consignment. The service department would then work out quotes for the various jobs, which would be referred back to the Australian owners. As the quotes were accepted, the repairs were set in train and enough completed jobs collected, once again, for a return consignment to Australia. That would pro88 SILICON CHIP bably add another six weeks! And the cost? He would be liable for the freight and insurance both ways - about $40 - plus the cost of repair, if authorised. Could he obtain a circuit diagram so that the unit could be serviced locally? No, they didn't think that would be possible, nor was there any provision to supply spare parts. There the matter stands, for the time being. It may well be uneconomical to provide local service for the electronics but it is rather frustrating to discover that only after the equipment has failed. In the meantime, the experience has further soured his attitude to electronic photographic equipment. From a good "mechanical" camera, he said, you could expect a life of twenty or thirty years before it had to be written off but, with equipment using electronic modules, the life expectancy seems to be anybody's guess. For one particular model camera, he said, critical spares appear to have cut out after only six years. Equipment more reliable Getting back to domestic TV and audio equipment, it is certainly true that it is far more reliable than once was the case and that service is required much less frequently. Back in the '60s, valve-type monochrome TV sets provided a good living for a whole army of servicemen, as also did the first generation of colour receivers. Nowadays, most TV sets, VCRs and hifi components survive the warranty period without incident but even so, a breakdown that takes weeks to fix can be a souring experience, whether in or out of the warranty period. Fortunately, it isn't always that way. A company mentioned last month, Hills Telefix, usually have routine faults sorted out within a day or so, and doubtless there are other such companies across Australia, large and small, of which the same could be said. Even so, Telefix Sydney Division Manager John Ridley admits that repairs can take a lot longer if they have to wait on critical spare parts from the manufacturer. There is a practical limit, he said, to the number of major bits they can carry in their own inventory, particularly as they have to cope with such a wide range of brands and models. We also talked the matter over with Jeff Beaumont, National Support & Service Manager for Tandy. He claimed that his company has always placed special emphasis on back-up service, as part of their marketing strategy. While they too have their share of problems with replacement parts, they carry a very large inventory in stock. All Tandy products, other than those retailing for less than about $50, can be returned for service via Tandy stores and are normally repaired within 3-5 days, with business computer equipment given special priority. (These days, it may cost about as much to repair an item worth $50-odd as to replace it!) At the present time, Jeff said, the average turnaround time, covering all products, was 3.2 days! How many companies could match that claim? Pointed questions As I see it, the moral that comes out of all this is a few pointed questions you should ask when buying electronic gear: • If what I'm buying breaks down, what's involved in getting it serviced? • How long does it take to get it repaired? Days, weeks or months? • Can it be fixed in the home? If not, what alternative arrangements must be made? • If repaired at a service depot, which depot, when is it open, and is there a more convenient option? • What does the warranty cover and for what period? All parts and laqbur or some parts and limited labour? • Who do I know with a unit of the same brand? What has been their experience in terms of reliability and back-up service? In short, make the kind of inquiries that an astute buyer makes when contemplating the purchase of a new car. What greater put-off is there than to learn from a neighbour that the dealer service in the area for a particular brand "stinks"! And, speaking of cars ... I was intrigued recently when a relative bought a near-new car from his local dealer a demonstrator or lease vehicle, I gather. It was covered by a 2-year extended warranty, he said, but it did not include the electronics. He would have to carry that risk himself and, while there was no special reason to expect trouble, a breakdown in that department could set him back by anything up to $500! In forewarning him, the salesman appeared to have done the right thing but, as I said, the exclusion intrigued me: a 2-year warranty on everything except the electronics. Did it mean that the electronics industry was as yet unable to make modules sufficiently rugged and reliable to match the durability of the rest of the vehicle? A representative of a large car servicing organisation, who are confronted by more stalled cars than most, was non-committal when asked the above question. "It's certainly taken a while" he said, "for vehicle and electronics manufacturers to get their act together. Under the bonnet of a car is a pretty unfriendly environment for electronic equipment of any kind. So is the passenger cab, if an electronic module is mounted where it can be dripped on by rainwater from a faulty windscreen gasket! "They seem to be getting it sorted out now but, to my mind, if electronic modules do fail, they cost far too much to replace. They'll have to get the price down, somehow!" Another friend, responsible for a fleet of company cars and trucks, referred me to the staff mechanic responsible for electrical and electronic maintenance. Obviously on familiar ground, the mechanic said that the majority of modern cars used "computers" of one type or another to control various functions in the vehicle, some relatively simple, some complex, some dedicated to particular tasks, others providing more comprehensive control. "By and large, modern electronic control units are very reliable", he said, "considering the jolting to which they are subjected, the moisture and temperature problems, and the RF radiation from everything from ignition systems to fields from broadcast transmitters sited 100 metres from the roadside. "As a general rule, if an ECU (electronic control unit) functions for six months, it will keep going for years". As for the warning about a possible $500 service charge, he expressed reservations. Depending on the make and model, he said, a major electronic breakdown could cost anything from $500 to $1200 or more - a remark that caused me to wonder whether the salesman had been as frank with my relative as I had given him credit for. So to my final question: "Why refuse warranty on the electronics in a second-hand car? Does it signify that the modules are intrinsically less reliable than the rest of the vehicle?" "Not exactly", he said and went on to suggest a couple of more pragmatic explanations: (1). An experienced mechanic can inspect and test drive a car and come up with a fairly reliable assessment of its mechanical condition. One can't be so sure about the electronics. A dormant or intermittent fault could pass undetected, if the system functioned normally on the day, rendering the warranty situation somewhat less predictable. (2). If a mechanical failure occurs under warranty, much of the cost of rectifying it is in-house labour, which can be absorbed, spread, amortised, buried - call it what you like. With an electronic failure, the labour content is normally quite small but a $1000-odd outlay for a replacement module could make a book-entry mess of an individual transaction. According to my informant, restricted warranties like that are likely to be around until the cost of replacement modules is drastically reduced or a reliable and economical exchange service is readily available. In the meantime, the buyer has to take all the risk, a situation which is hardly fair or satisfactory. That's the way I see it! ~ DECEMBER1987 89