The wheel on my Karma just broke and the unit is just out of warranty (preorded so I got one of the very first units).

Since I am out of my 90 day warranty is there anything I can do now?

I sent them mail while mine was still in warranty and the wheel was broken, and I got 2 useless responses. Now I assume they'll tell me the warranty is up, if I can ever get them to respond again.

No answers here, just "agreeing".

Its worth persuing. maybe Rob will see this and suggest something. Customer service should be all important, warranty or not.

This is exatly why i'm not shelling out $250-300 on a 90 day warranty. It's a good chunk of change to make a 3 month gamble on.

You're more than welcome to come over the UK and buy one for $511 and get the 1 year warranty...

touche!

It'd still be cheaper than Kandor buying another one for an additional 3 months.

On a similar note... The Mk I empeg had a 90 day US warranty and a 1 year European one.

I have a 3 year warranty. And I don't even have to talk to rio if it breaks. I just drive a mile, go into best buy, and pick a brand new karma, or if those are out of stock, I would get anything of equal value.

It only cost me an extra $49.99

Total price of karma was $350

I paid with plastic, so I get an extra 90 days free, I'd just rather not bother if I can avoid it. It'd be nice if Rio would reply to me so I knew what was going on though.

This is also true. It’s nice when companies solve problems with their products in a timely fashion.

But, this isn't a perfect world. I am pretty sure Best Buy on the other hand will be around in 3 years, and will have no problems fixing any problems I have with the unit.

Heck, I could even drive over and crush my karma when/if the karma2 gets released, and get a free upgrade to the next hardware

I highly recommend the extended warranties, even if it comes down to going and purchasing a brand new one from best buy, and retuning your broken karma at bestbuy so you don't loose too much money.

most stores check serial numbers these days so that isn't a good idea.

I'm just glad I didn't sell my ipod since it still works after 2 years. I emailed rio support anyway but haven't hard anything. :-(

Since it is out of warranty, is there anything I can do to fix the wheel myself?

Since I haven't heard anything from my email to support, I'm going to call them tomorow anyway and see what they say. Nothing really to lose I guess.

When you email support you have to keep emphasizing that the wheel is physically broken or dislocated, or else they assume that you just have some kinda software or UI problem.

Support asked when I bought the unit and when I told them they said it was outside of warranty and I was best off buying a new one.

Please define for us: "broke" the wheel?

Is it in two (or more) pieces?

Is it in place and not working?

Is it flopping around roughly in place?

???

Please define for us: "broke" the wheel?
Is it in two (or more) pieces?
Is it in place and not working?
Is it flopping around roughly in place?

Based on previous reports, odds are it's the last of those options. That's the standard thing that happens when someone drops the unit and it lands on the wheel.

I think it might be interesting to figure out how to repair it and post a D-I-Y guide for folks who aren't able to get support for it. If it's repairable, that is...

I'll say this in Krandor's other thread, too:

Sometimes in situations like this, one can get more with honey than with vinegar. Calling up and saying, "Yeah, I know it's past the warranty. But I know that you're a good company and you want to stand by your products. I really like the product and would like to continue using it, and I would like to be able to recommend it to my friends. Could you please make an exception in this case?" (And if the flunkie on the other end of the phone can't, ask to be escalated, lather rinse repeat.)

I'm not saying this would work, I'm just saying that it's the first thing I'd try in this situation.

On mine I'd say the "hub" broke free of the outer "ring"; You can thus turn the "ring" with impunity.

I'm not saying this would work, I'm just saying that it's the first thing I'd try in this situation.

I certainly would, depending on the circumstances (i.e. whether or not the player was abused).

By the way, to respond to Tony's other point, this is easy to repair. Hugo posted the data sheet for the Panasonic rotary control to Riovolution - I believe they cost a few dollars. Seems like an opportunity for someone with basic SMT experience.

Rob

So who should I be calling? Email doesn't seem to have worked...

When i got to work with the player that way, the wheel when I tried to move it felt like it was "out of place" so I decided to try to press the wheel to see if that would put it in place. That just moved the wheel inside the case more then it should be, the stick went to the left (probably because of the wheel) and that is how it sits today. Right now neither the wheel not the stick want to move much.

So who should I be calling? Email doesn't seem to have worked...

Not sure what the email backlog is, it usually runs a couple of days, occassionally (e.g. over xmas) as much as a week. Things are a bit wierd right now with our mail server getting swamped with mydoom traffic - I know some stuff has bounced.

Call the regular support number. If you don't get the response you need, escalate the call to a supervisor.

Rob

It's not "email backlog", they sent me one response which didn't tell me where I needed to fax proof of purchase, one reply that was blank, and haven't replied again.

I'll find the number and have my wife call: I don't call.

If you have an issue number or the name of someone who emailed you I can make the Customer Care manager aware.

Rob

By the way, to respond to Tony's other point, this is easy to repair. Hugo posted the data sheet for the Panasonic rotary control to Riovolution - I believe they cost a few dollars. Seems like an opportunity for someone with basic SMT experience

Hmmm... i wonder if there would be an opportunity like that as you say - not that I particulary want to do it, but those encoders look like they'd be perfect for something I'm working on. The trouble is I can't for the life of my find anybody who will sell them... but maybe if I was really, really lucky I could get a distributer to sell me 100 or so - I only really need 20 or so but maybe the rest could go to people looking to fix there Karma's when they're out of warranty.