LED boards back order akmost 4 months!

[ova]

This is to Korg Italy's team. I have red in an other post the folowwing:

Dear Pa2X Pro owners,

Last year we posted a notice explaining that a very, very small minority of Pa2X Pro had problems with failing LEDs. These failing LEDs were defective parts from our supplier that slipped through our normal, rigorous QC processes. Nevertheless we totally understand that we are the solution to the customer’s problems, and so last year we said:

“When a LED breaks, we suggest you contact the nearest Service Center or Distributor, and arrange for the repair. When you go to the repair shop for your scheduled appointment, the work will be done as soon as possible, by replacing the whole circuit board that the LEDs are mounted to. This is the fastest and most complete way to solve the problem for you. Please, DO NOT bring your instrument to a shop if no LEDs have broken, we will only support fixing instruments that exhibit a problem. Note that each Korg Distributor may handle this procedure somewhat differently, so be sure to speak to your local representative.”

To avoid any confusion we would like to emphasise that there is no service charge for the parts or labour for any Pa2X Pro that requires this problem to be resolved. When we said that each Korg distributor may handle this procedure somewhat differently, we were referring to the fact that there may be transport charges that need to be paid, something we feel is quite normal and acceptable. But regardless of how long the customer has owned a Pa2X Pro, there should be no charge for parts or labour. We have recently clarified this with all Korg distributors.

We believe the whole panel board should be replaced because then we know the LEDs will be good. And it is faster, easier and more reliable to do so.

We are aware that some people for whatever reasons are trying to cause a panic about this situation, but Korg's commitment to its customers is proven over many decades and we are here to support the very small percentage of people who have been unfortunately affected by these faulty components. We hope this information clarifies the situation and those of you that are/were affected know what to do, and that the rest of the owners can stop wondering and worrying about a situation that is not going to affect you.
The Korg Italy Team
On July 2nd, 2010 I took my PA2X to the store, who sent it to JAM Canada for repair, couple of days later they told me that they did not have the LED boards and should receive them within 4 to 6 weeks, and suggesting me to rent an other PA2X meanwhile. I have spoken in person and by many emails with the responsible in charge at JAM Canada and he keeps on telling me that they have not receive them yet, because in Europe shops close for 2-3 weeks in August, or they have too many to repair and are missing new boards... Yet in the above post it reads "Last year we posted a notice explaining that a very, very small minority of Pa2X Pro had problems with failing LEDs"

Toda,y October 22, 2010 NO NEWS. It's ridiculous. Can someone from KORG Italy answer please. Thanks

[karmathanever]

Hi Ova

I don't know who "JAM CANADA" are but I recommend that you talk directly to the Canadian Korg distributor and get them to assist.

Cheers

Pete

[yashir]

Hi Ova

I don't know who "JAM CANADA" are but I recommend that you talk directly to the Canadian Korg distributor and get them to assist.

Cheers

Pete

Pete, can you be of any help to get this problem solved? My cousin still hasn't got his keyboard back neither? You created a sticky thread about this, and you said you might be able to offer some help related to this issue.

[paul]

Hi Ova,
whats your location?
Mine was done in 4 weeks (from the date the parts were ordered).

paul

[ova]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your support. JAM Canada represents Korg in Quebec. I am in Montreal, and they are 20 min from where I live, thank God, so I went and got the keyboard back, if not I would have to rent one for the past 4 months. Funny thing is that according to the post Korg says very few had problems, yet here they are telling me that the demand is high and Korg
is still making new boards, that is why we have a big delay...

Thanks again,
Hope to hear from you.

[karmathanever]

Pete, can you be of any help to get this problem solved? My cousin still hasn't got his keyboard back neither?

Hi Yashir,
My sticky was to see how many people were suffering the LED problem. It seems very few - just as Korg Italy had previously indicated.

As much as I would like to, I am unable to help owners with the problem directly. Most people with the problem have had the best results by communicating via their local distributor (not retailer).

My distributor here, checked the validity of the problem, contacted Korg and replaced my circuit boards. It took a few weeks for delivery but I was only without my PA2Xpro for 4 days whilst my local repair centre installed the new boards.

Unless you have a location/distance issue, I would recommend that you get replacement approval and wait for the boards to be delivered to the repair centre BEFORE taking the keyboard for repair - then at least you can use the keyboard until the repair centre is actually ready with the parts.

Good luck

Pete

[Dmkeys]

"Unless you have a location/distance issue, I would recommend that you get replacement approval and wait for the boards to be delivered to the repair centre BEFORE taking the keyboard for repair - then at least you can use the keyboard until the repair centre is actually ready with the parts."

This is exactly the problem. I asked Korg USA to do this for me last year. Support was extremely unhelpful. They refused to do this and insisted I bring the board in to the service center first. Then, after waiting 6 plus weeks, I find out the board is still backordered. So I picked up the board and used it for another month + before the board came in.

Now, they only replaced one LED board --despite the fact that I clearly have one of the affected boards. Wouldn't it have made sense to replace both at the same time? Now LED's on the other board have failed. I have a bunch of gigs coming up, and can't spare the board right now, but I would like to arrange to have the part shipped to my service center so that I could bring it in when I have a few days free to have the repair done.

If anyone here has any contacts at Korg USA that could actually be helpful here, please do let me know.

Thank you!

[yashir]

Pete, can you be of any help to get this problem solved? My cousin still hasn't got his keyboard back neither?

Hi Yashir,
My sticky was to see how many people were suffering the LED problem. It seems very few - just as Korg Italy had previously indicated.

As much as I would like to, I am unable to help owners with the problem directly. Most people with the problem have had the best results by communicating via their local distributor (not retailer).

My distributor here, checked the validity of the problem, contacted Korg and replaced my circuit boards. It took a few weeks for delivery but I was only without my PA2Xpro for 4 days whilst my local repair centre installed the new boards.

Unless you have a location/distance issue, I would recommend that you get replacement approval and wait for the boards to be delivered to the repair centre BEFORE taking the keyboard for repair - then at least you can use the keyboard until the repair centre is actually ready with the parts.

Good luck

Pete

Pete, i was just teasing you. I know there's nothing you can do to help anybody about this. And that's why there's no reason for people to respond to your sticky thread. The only time a thread like this could be valid when a korg personal opens a thread asking for people to report problems. Don't just create a thread and come to a conclusion based on the results.

[yashir]

"Unless you have a location/distance issue, I would recommend that you get replacement approval and wait for the boards to be delivered to the repair centre BEFORE taking the keyboard for repair - then at least you can use the keyboard until the repair centre is actually ready with the parts."

This is exactly the problem. I asked Korg USA to do this for me last year. Support was extremely unhelpful. They refused to do this and insisted I bring the board in to the service center first. Then, after waiting 6 plus weeks, I find out the board is still backordered. So I picked up the board and used it for another month + before the board came in.

Now, they only replaced one LED board --despite the fact that I clearly have one of the affected boards. Wouldn't it have made sense to replace both at the same time? Now LED's on the other board have failed. I have a bunch of gigs coming up, and can't spare the board right now, but I would like to arrange to have the part shipped to my service center so that I could bring it in when I have a few days free to have the repair done.

If anyone here has any contacts at Korg USA that could actually be helpful here, please do let me know.

Thank you!

Unfortunately, they have a very poor system designed to tackle customer service issues. They would not order the parts for my cousins' keyboard, unless they received the keyboard first. They told me that they first had to determine if the keyboard had the faulty board. So they have to have the keyboard in their possesion first. It cost him a big buck for shipping and insurance. 700$ later they finally determined the cause was their faulty board. That's when they started ordering the parts.
They don't even have the guts to post their official response on Korgpa.com . If the numbers of effected boards was such a small number, why they only take partial responsibility for it? Korg is like a one way street. They have an extremely poor customer service.

[karmathanever]

Hi yashir

They refused to do this and insisted I bring the board in to the service center first.

This would always be the case - no service centers will order parts without examining the keyboard first - but you shouldn't have to leave the keyboard there.

they have a very poor system designed to tackle customer service issues

Are "they" a service centre, a retailer or distributor.

Whenever there is a keyboard problem the keyboard must be "viewed" by the retailer or service centre before they can order parts, however, I would have thought that you would not have to leave the keyboard with them until the parts were delivered.

Cheers

Pete:D

[Sam CA]

Hi yashir

They refused to do this and insisted I bring the board in to the service center first.

This would always be the case - no service centers will order parts without examining the keyboard first - but you shouldn't have to leave the keyboard there.

they have a very poor system designed to tackle customer service issues

Are "they" a service centre, a retailer or distributor.

Whenever there is a keyboard problem the keyboard must be "viewed" by the retailer or service centre before they can order parts, however, I would have thought that you would not have to leave the keyboard with them until the parts were delivered.

Cheers

Pete:D

Just out of curiosity. Who would pay for the double shipment in this case? Because if it's going to cost the guy another $700 to ship back the keyboard again...

[karmathanever]

Sam (Yashir)

I think this has been thrashed before - I really don't know the answer. If the keyboard-distributor's repair policy is "return to base" then the owner has accepted responsibility for shipping (i.e. returning to base) in the event of a repair (whether under warranty or not) - if the policy is "on-site" then the vendor would either fix on-site or organise shipment. This is the way in which most product warranty/repair policies work here. Don't accuse me of defending Korg - I am not.

Just re-emphasizing that the warranty period and related policies are dictated by the Country's Korg distributor, not Korg Italy.

Perhaps you should obtain details of your distributors repair policies and then decide if you have consumer rights to support you.

If I say that I "understand" these concerns or "empathise" etc.. I will most likely be wrongfully accused again of using mis-understood long words, so all I am trying to do here is help.

Just out of curiosity. Who would pay for the double shipment in this case? Because if it's going to cost the guy another $700 to ship back the keyboard again...

To answer your question - (based on there being no alternative - i.e. that is how the distributor manages those product repairs) - then NO !! I would not pay that - as you are clearly indicating that it will cost a total of $1400. That is a huge proportion of the cost of a new keyboard - I would put that towards a new keyboard and put up with the dead LEDs but I would not be happy about it.

Pete

[Sam CA]

To answer your question - (based on there being no alternative - i.e. that is how the distributor manages those product repairs) - then NO !! I would not pay that - as you are clearly indicating that it will cost a total of $1400. That is a huge proportion of the cost of a new keyboard - I would put that towards a new keyboard and put up with the dead LEDs but I would not be happy about it.

Hopefully, this time Korg will have a better plan in testing the upcoming new keyboard. Software glitches can be fixed, but faulty hardware can cause a lot of problems, especially for people who use them to make a living. I guess we'll find out when the next gen is out!

[Dmkeys]

"Whenever there is a keyboard problem the keyboard must be "viewed" by the retailer or service centre before they can order parts, however, I would have thought that you would not have to leave the keyboard with them until the parts were delivered. "

This is simply not true. I own a Kurzweil PC3X. Some of the PC3X's had an issue where sustaining two specific combinations of two keys while playing a third note would result in that third note not sounding.

There was a simple fix that involved swapping a part into the board. Kurzweil preferred that service centers handle it. So, they worked with me and the service center to arrange for the repair. They sent the part to my center --without my having to bring the board in first -- and they called me when it came in. I brought the keyboard in and picked it up later the same day. No downtime.

In this case, there is a known issue with the LED's in the PA2X. Korg doesn't need to see my board to know the part number or what happened. They know the serial number, and in fact, already replaced one LED board in my keyboard last year.

I'm feeling frustrated because going through this experience last time showed some issues.

1) The Korg service reps do not respond to email. I had to get Jerry K involved before I even got a response. He was the only person at Korg who was at all helpful while I tried to get this fixed.
2) The people at Korg parts didn't know anything about this LED issue, when my tech did call them.
3) When a board with this issue is ID's, Korg does not replace both boards, if one hasn't yet showed an issue. This is poor service in my opinion, as the LED's on the other board will inevitably fail.
4) The folks at Korg (based on their emails to me) seem to have no interest in helping customers minimize downtime.

At this point, I have a staggered schedule of gigs booked for which I need this board at least through December. This is a problem that, with Korg's assistance, could easily be fixed in advance of many of those gigs. Without it, though, I won't be able to address it until mid-December at the earliest.

[karmathanever]

Regarding: "Whenever there is a keyboard problem the keyboard must be "viewed" by the retailer or service centre before they can order parts"

This is simply not true.

It is absolutely true but maybe not in your location. Generally, requests for repairs need to be analysed or at least demonstrated before proceeding.

In this case, there is a known issue with the LED's in the PA2X. Korg doesn't need to see my board to know the part number or what happened. They know the serial number, and in fact, already replaced one LED board in my keyboard last year.

The procedure with my LED failures was as follows:-
I contacted our Korg distributor and they acknowledged the "known" problem.
As would be expected, they keyboard problem needed to be "seen" before and formal repair could be initiated. I think that is very reasonable. Why would they take my word for it. So all I had to do was show the problem to my retailer and then he initiated the repair. The distributor contacted me and told me that the repair centre would contact me when the parts arrived. They did. I was without my keyboard for 4 days.

One really cannot expect repair centres/retailers/distributors to simply accept verbal descriptions of problems even if it is similar to a previous repair - these keyboards are computers - we are just lucky that the OS is not MS

Cheers

Pete