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Pioneer Repair Service Concerns


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I'm in Canada, so I took it to the one in Markham, which is just north of Toronto. Its only like an hour drive from where I am, so I didn't take the risk shipping it. I've heard about the software upgrade, which I think is pretty silly. I only gave them the HU, and no wires either. They don't need anything else to fix the Flex and i'm not giving them anything else. Besides, its Pioneer, if they're gonna turn it on, they probably already have everything they need. I didn't send in the brain, but if they do upgrade it to 60, I have the 60dvds already, and I've upgraded/downgraded a couple times thus far, so hopefully i will just downgrade back to 40 and be on my way. I DID accidentally forget my 40 East disc in the DVD drive, so hopefully if they will test it or something, they won't need to upgrade anything. I hope they don't steal my disc, lol.

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OK, some update. I was able to borrow a 60 nav disk from a friend of mine to verify that they did upgrade my N1, and sure enough, the 60 disk worked. I called Pioneer customer service the next day, and told them what happened. The customer service rep said that she's going to put a note on my case number of what I told her and that someone will be contacting me w/in a few days. I asked her if they were just going to mail me another letter and she told me that someone will most likely call w/in a few days to talk to me in person because of the note that she stuck in my case. So we'll see.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Okay,

 

another update. I got mine back from the centre in Markham and it was upgraded. I didn't bring my 60 disc to try it out, I only had my 40 disc in the car, so I downgraded the software and everything, as normal. It worked, and was bypassed and my passenger enjoyed a movie the whole way home.

 

Next day, i turned it on, and i got a grey screen saying "please insert appropriate disc"!!!!! I downgraded it again, and it worked, but i was annoyyed because I kept losing my presets. I figured maybe it was a fluke.

 

Yesterday, I had to go on a trip to the U.S. and I was counting on my AVIC to not only guide us, but to provide some in-flight entertainment for my girlfriend. We drove for about 5 hours, then arrived in our destination city. Everything was working and we played lots of music and were able to watch two DVDs in the process, while navigating. Great.

 

We parked the car for about 4 or 5 hours maybe? Attended a function, and then returned to the car. "Please insert appropriate disc". I was on the verge of completely flipping out and snapping the screen off my N1. This was in the middle of the night, in probably my LEAST favorite Urban Area. One of the worst places to be stuck at 2AM when you're a Canadian in a Mercedes. I popped in my 60 disc to see if that would work, and it didn't, but it did upgrade to the 60 software, and then restarted. I downgraded it AGAIN to the 40 disc, and then plotted a route, popped in some austin powers, and went home.

 

I was seriously PISSED about this experience, and I just don't understand it. Something was done to my unit while it was in the repair centre, that's making it give this error, and I would like to figure out what's causing this, or how they did it, and how I can correct it. I never had this problem even once before getting my new flex cable.

 

Any ideas?

 

Regards,

YK

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I havent got to hook mine back up yet, so I am not sure about what version they put on there or if it even works correctly, but Pioneer did steal my disks from me, then say they had no recolection of having them. Then wanted me to spend $300 for new ones. They are shady out there (ohio facility).

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That blows - I know when I called about mine before I sent it out they were pretty good about it. I had an old Pioneer 7300 that they kept so long they had to send me a new unit. they had ita month beofre they even touched it.

 

What I didn't like is you can never get ahold of the technician that works on your unit to ask any questions. Pioneer may make a good unit but their service sucks.

 

I had the same issue with my AVI N1 as you guys about 4 months ago - I sent my unit up to them for a ribbon wire change and it came back with the upgrade done AND scratches on the screen - which they later denied.

 

I called some guy out in Cali and he was going to do the upgrade for me but I was a bit skeptical sending it to an address that included an apartment number.

 

I found Rich thru ebay and figured atleast I would have recourse if he didnt fix it - I could get my money back thru paypal. I know I am plugging this guy again but I am doing this cuase I hate to see Pioneer profit from purposly fradualant work. He also warranties your unit for a year after the service. Try this guy he blows Pioneer out of the water. you get an email when your unit shows up on their step - and when its fixed you geta tracking number emailed to you so you can instantainiously track it.

 

Well back tosearch for a 1/2 din DVD player to hook up to my unit and a sub box for my 03 HD truck.

 

Rich

SAME DAY AUTO AUDIO REPAIR SERVICES INC.

1228 SOUTH MILITARY HWY SUITE F

CHESAPEAKE, VA, 23320

RCH72@aol.com

(757) 277-1080

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Good luck to you Slyk. I've had nothing but headaches trying to deal w/ the uncooperative service reps at Pioneer. Like I said in another post, after talking to a CSR from Pioneer, all she told me was that I had to send it in to Pioneer (Long Beach branch), and their technicians can take a look at it for $200 since it's not covered under warranty anymore. I was pissed since they clearly did some modifications or upgrades w/ my unit w/out my written consent. I think Pioneer is just doing this so that the people w/ the old N1s and N2s will have to buy their upgrade dvds for $250. I love their units but their customer service sucks goat balls.

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Those bastards, eh...

 

Well so far, its stayed downgraded for the past couple days. If it happens again, I will probably shit a brick, and call over to Markham until I get my problem solved. If they try any of this bullshit, I'm going to try to persist... If it comes down to it though, I'm not sure what I might do. Maybe just upgrade the software to 60 and mount a 2nd screen above my current one and hook that up to my rear output. I've kinda wanted to do that anyway. I think i'd be the only SLK with a screen for each occupant lol.

 

have you guys tried downgrading your software manually?

 

We'll see, and thanks for your input and wishes guys.

 

Regards,

slyk

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The guy did my bypass for $100, cheaper than a new screen. But it sounds like you may have other issues. Are you running bootleg disks? I know I got a set of corupt 60 disks when i first tried my upgrade and got the same message - ended up my gps chip was fried. I hope thats not teh case for you. that cost me $157.... I was pissed but I guess I learned my lesson, I paid $60 for a set of messed up disks that I had to buy again for $25 from the guy who did my upgrade. Cost more in the long run to do the cheaper (more expensive) way.

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