Rant against Onkyo

[Sylin]

I love Onkyo receivers. I've had 3 myself over the last 10 years, have bought 2 as gifts for friends, and never hesitate to recommend them.

Until now.

Last June I bought a TX-SR804 and enjoyed having my Sony S300 Blu player hooked up to it. And it worked great, and still does, with one annoying flaw: it does not support 1080p passthrough from a PS3--just 1080i. I discovered this after buying a PS3 in January.

Now, Onkyo has been aware of this problem for some time. And due to consumer outcry, and their own warranty, they offer to fix this for free for all 804 owners who contact them with a concern.

The PROBLEM is that they want me to pay for shipping to a repair facility in New York. Said repair facility has told me it can take anywhere from 7 days to 7 weeks to get my receiver back.

Considering that my entire living room setup is run through the 804 (TiVo/cable, PS3, Blu-ray, etc.), this presents a daunting challenge and a supreme inconvenience to our family of 5.

Yes, I know I'm b*tching out loud, but this is ridiculous. I e-mail Onkyo support and asked if I could possibly have them send me a refurbished 804 on advanced exchange, or allow me to trade in my (what I consider) defective unit with them--anything to prevent being without our HT cornerstone for a month. The rep who responded gave me a canned response to call their toll-free support number. I've done this 3 times now over the last 10 days, and have waited on hold for over 45 minutes each time, without ever reaching a human being.

For these reasons, I'm seriously considering abandoning the 804 altogether and getting either a Denon or the new Pioneer Elite this June. It just rubs me the wrong way that a company is aware of a flaw in their product, but won't help customers expedite the servicing. For God's sake... it was a $1000 product, not some cheap $199 Sherwood. Am I expecting too much? Anyone else have issues with their customer service being non-existent?