WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I have been singing the praises of the X32 for a while now both Publicly (on this and other forums) and privately with my friends in the Biz. I still love the console, I have 4 of them in various forms right now, and can't say enough about the value that they provide for my company.

However I just found out the hard way that if you do not register your product within 90 days of purchase, you forfeit the 3 year warranty that is so heavily advertised for this product. I have an X32 with a dead power supply and was basically told by Behringer Support that I was SOL. Not only would i loose the rental income that i have it reserved for in the next 2 weeks, but they would not be repairing it under warranty. I fought my way into getting it fixed this time but I was told it was one time only, that the warranty on my 1.3 year old board is now over...

I hate to be negative, but I feel like in the sprit of trying to help others out on this forum I should share my experience. I am probably sitting on $10,000 worth of Behringer product that is now uncovered.

Needless to say it doesn't make me feel as warm and fuzzy about them as I did a few days ago. I am loosing 2 weeks worth of rental income, and apparently now if anything else were to happen to any of my other consoles I will again be SOL.

Rant over,
thanks for reading

Luke
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

Gotta watch the fine print.

FWIW I always make sure to inform the customer of the registration when I sell a Behringer product at work, it's amazing how many of them state they can't be bothered spending two minutes to get an extended warranty.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

That's the advantage of Thomann here in Europe, they automatically give you a free 3 year warranty on everything except consumables (light bulbs, strings Etc.) that you buy.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I bought an X32 compact in June from Full Compass. Out of the box, it didn't hold the time, which was annoying. So, I called Full Compass on Monday and they said contact Behrigner for warranty. Not too excited about sending a brand new unit out of the box in for service, but whatever. The response from Behringer was that since the unit wasn't registered within 90 days, it was out of warranty. WHAT??? I've had the thing for less than a week. The X32 compact hadn't even been shipping for over a year, so NONE of them should have been out of warranty. Sure didn't make me a happy camper.

Well, my Full Compass rep got a call, and a the next day, a brand new console showed up with a call tag for the defective one. Bonus points for them taking care of me.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

My understanding is that in the USA, the only requirement for warranty service is the receipt for purchase. Registration is not required and usually only used for marketing purposes anyway. If there is a stated warranty on any product and it has a failure due to manufacturing defect within the stated warranty period, all that's required to honor the warranty is the receipt and nothing else.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I just read the warranty on the X32. It's one year from the date of purchase. The extra 2 years are only if you register within the 90 days which is a valid way to do it. They're not the only ones to extend warranties if you register the product within a certain period.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

One angle used by some manufacturers is to offer a standard duration limited warranty, then offer an extended warranty in return for registering.

This will generally be the responsibility of the distributors in the different countries, and different laws may apply in different regions.

JR
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

Please be aware that the "extended warranty" period on Behringer products does not cover all of the same things as the first year. I consider it a "depreciation warranty" since repair or replacement of any moving or blinking parts are no longer covered after the first year. So, don't kick yourself too hard for not registering since some failures may not be covered in the extra 2 years anyway.

fyi, Gandy Method is currently a Behringer dealer.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I just read the warranty on the X32. It's one year from the date of purchase. The extra 2 years are only if you register within the 90 days which is a valid way to do it. They're not the only ones to extend warranties if you register the product within a certain period.

That seems like a fair way to handle it. A lot of gear is only a 1 year anyway...
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I understand the Policy now since it was explained to me by Behringer, But their literature says 3 year warranty.

With many other manufacturers there is no bait and switch. They advertise 1-2-3-5-6 or 10 (sennheiser) year warranties, and all they require is proof of purchase for warranty service, they will literally let you register the product when you call to tell them its broken.

I probably purchase 100-200 pieces of equipment a year from various manufacturers, wether they be speakers, amps, mics, mixing consoles, etc... Though it only takes 5 minutes to fill out a warranty form, If I were spending 5 minutes filling out forms for everything I bought it would take no less than 10-16 hours a year (thats an entire waking day)

I guess that from now on I will be registering all of my Behringer warranties.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I understand the Policy now since it was explained to me by Behringer, But their literature says 3 year warranty.

With many other manufacturers there is no bait and switch. They advertise 1-2-3-5-6 or 10 (sennheiser) year warranties, and all they require is proof of purchase for warranty service, they will literally let you register the product when you call to tell them its broken.

I probably purchase 100-200 pieces of equipment a year from various manufacturers, wether they be speakers, amps, mics, mixing consoles, etc... Though it only takes 5 minutes to fill out a warranty form, If I were spending 5 minutes filling out forms for everything I bought it would take no less than 10-16 hours a year (thats an entire waking day)

I guess that from now on I will be registering all of my Behringer warranties.

We have a church customer whose console has been to Behringer for service three times for the same issue. Since Behringer service could not fix the console after the third attempt, Behringer gave the church another console, a refurb'd unit. They were told their warranty has been fulfilled. The pastor was not happy with all of the inconveniences. I had to remind him, in this day and age, if things in this price bracket last one year, you got your money's worth.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

In the EU and the UK -

EU Directive 1999/44/EC states that all European Union member states must allow consumers to make a claim for faulty or misdescribed goods under their consumer rights for a minimum of two years. English law already allows you to make a claim for up to six years from the date you bought the goods and for up to five years in Scotland.

However there are some loopholes in this within the UK concerning burden of proof - up to 6 months this is the vendors obligation but after 6 months it is the the purchaser>
"
For example, the plasma TV you bought five months ago stops working without explanation and you return to the shop you bought it from, expecting a refund. The store manager is reluctant but can find no explanation for the fault. There are no scratches or damage to show it has been dropped, or signs of water damage. Complying with the Sales of Goods Act, he understands without such proof he must refund you money.But were the fault to develop at seven months, he would not need such proof. The TV may show no signs of damage or misuse, but the store manager no longer needs to show there was any. Instead, you must show to him that there was a shoddy component or design fault that caused the problem. In the absence of these things, he is under no obligation to return your money.In reality, most retailers offer returns policies that extend this 6-month period to 12 months. But after that refunds are hard to come by.

Read more: http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1677034/Two-year-warranty-EU-law.html#ixzz38IiZffeY
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Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

For some reason could not edit last post ( not enough characters when tried to save) wanted to add - that not sure if there is a difference between what a manufacturer and a retailer need to offer.

But in the above example - in the case of the UK - if a fader stopped working then it would be up to the seller to prove that it was due to some action on your part and not a fault within the 6 months - but after that it would be up to you to prove that you had not spilled beer all over the desk i.e. the fault was not due to your actions.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

How a company recovers WHEN products fails is more important than having the failure. Consider GM and their ignition switch issues.

Sometimes companies overlook what is written in stone. If you present your case in a respectful way, to a person you have a good relationship with, sometimes mountains move.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

We have a church customer whose console has been to Behringer for service three times for the same issue. Since Behringer service could not fix the console after the third attempt, Behringer gave the church another console, a refurb'd unit. They were told their warranty has been fulfilled. The pastor was not happy with all of the inconveniences. I had to remind him, in this day and age, if things in this price bracket last one year, you got your money's worth.

Hi Brent,

We looked into the information you provided but could not find any record of the customer that you stated “sent in the board multiple times”. I reached out to the customer whose details you provided to me in a PM and left a message in case they needed anything from us. We take our warranty and customer support before and after the sale very seriously and are here to help at any time. We manufacture our products in a high quality setting and offer a leading 3 year warranty when registered within the first 90 days of purchase. This is to ensure we can support our customers even after the sale. Should you have questions regarding our warranty I have included a link for you http://www.music-group.com/warranty.aspx

Kind regards,


COVARRUBIAS Se'Rita
Supervisor, Care Prosumer Division
MUSIC Group Services NV Inc.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

I sent you multiple messages and you have not replied. Did you look under our store name? We sent it to you. You serviced it four times and replaced it when you could not figure it out. I think that was fair and that was my point. That is pretty decent warranty repair work. Call me 816-564-7281 and I will put you touch with our shipping/receiving guy, who has all of the RA info. If you would have replied to me, or asked me privately, I could have given you the info you needed.
 
Re: WARNING! about Behringer warranty

Gotta watch the fine print.

FWIW I always make sure to inform the customer of the registration when I sell a Behringer product at work, it's amazing how many of them state they can't be bothered spending two minutes to get an extended warranty.
The problem has been with registering Behringer products, especially through their Music Tribe site has been the constant issues with broken links, site constantly down due to maintenance, a reboot of the website where many people lost their accoubts etc.