Refurbished equipment experience

[Harry®]

Does anyone has any stories or experiences with any refurbished Blu-Ray equipment?

On that online aution site there's several of them for great prices ($200-250). I'm thinking of going that route for my first Blu-Ray player. I am currently using a PS3 for playing BD's. I am looking looking at a BD/HD-DVD/^DVD player.

Here's a message I got from one seller with way over 1000 positive feedback and zero (0) negatives.

We sell grade A Factory refurbished electronics of the highest quality. They work exactly like a brand new unit at a much better price! The entire item is thoroughly inspected to assure it meets ALL factory specifications and is quality checked again by the manufacturer. Factory Refurbished goods have a very low 2% return rate because they have been checked at least twice for original quality! We hope we have properly addressed your question. Please feel free to ask any other questions that you may have. Our customer support team is always glad to help. Thank you for your interest in our products. We look forward to serving you!

[cathexist]

My refurbished receiver is crap, when changing resolution on the display through HDMI it sometimes endlessly clicks and doesn't display anything, sometimes I have to just turn it off and on...

...but generally I've had good experiences with refurbished stuff...

[sssick]

I will confuse the hell out of you and say that my refurbished Harmon Kardon receiver is fantastic. Most refurbished goods come with a warranty just as good as a new one.

[plee]

I got a refurb BDP-S300 from sonystyle.com and so far it works good as a 2nd Blu player. I think if it's actually a refurb from the manufacturer it will be good, heck my replacement PS3 was a refurb from Sony. I would be more concerned if it's an open box or returned item.

[ixlegitballinxl]

usually when i see refurb on an item, i lose interest.....buying new in box is worth the peace of mind....and if warranty issues or it is crap...if you didnt want to buy it once...you def dont want to buy it twice

[syncguy]

I normally don't buy refurbished equipment. However, if there is a very good deal I will be tempted but only from a reputable local dealer with a good warranty, so that I could take it back in case of any issues.

I will not buy refurbished items from e-bay.

[Ectoplasm]

sI've bought several refurbished items in the past. I stopped doing it, basically.

My experience has been that they rarely fix the problems associated with the item in question. Once and a while, you get lucky and get an item that was just returned for no good reason, but overall, I've probably had problems with 80 percent of refurbished items I've owned.

I think they turn stuff on, check it out for a few seconds, then throw it back on the shelf if it runs. They're hoping someone like me or you will come along and buy the thing, and get it fixed on our own time (or not at all).

I'd buy used with some sort of guarentee from the seller before I'll buy refurbished again.

The time and shipping costs often associated with getting the thing fixed and up/running again made the purchases a poor deal.

[Rabidhunter]

Yeah, I'm not a refurb fan either. I would rather buy new. I did buy my Samsung HDTV open box. I think it was open box because my friend, and member of this forum traded the TV in for a bigger one. It works fine, no problems at all.

[Blu-Raider]

The only refurb HT piece I own is the Denon iPod dock I purchased from Dakmart.com (a Denon authorized 'B' stock distributor).

I eBay'ed a qustion to Dakmart and asked if the unit would look cosmetically "new". I was assured it would. So I saved $20 and bought it. When it finally showed up (after 2-1/2 weeks) nothing was in the original packaging. The dock itself was even worse. It was so scratched up that Denon logo on the front was almost illegible.

Shame on them for scamming me and shame on me for being a tightass.

Screw Dakmart. Screw refurbs.

[toolman46and2]

I got my Onkyo 605 refurb about 8 months ago. It looked brand new and functions as it should so far. My guess is that a lot of refurbs have nothing wrong anyway. I used to work at Sears and most of returns there was nothing wrong with, mostly operator error. It is definitely a gamble though.

[xAyoFoolx]

Yup buying refurbish items is definitely a gamble, you get a good one or a defective one.

[un4gvn94538]

i bought a refurb onk nr801 a few years ago. never had an issue and gave me years of great audio.

i would suggest getting any refurb direct from the mfg. i got my surrounds refurb from harmon kardon on ebay. look and sound like brand spankin new! another happy customer.

[tron3]

I bought a refurb Panasonic dmr-ez475v. While it did seem a bit twitchy at first, I think all that has resolved itself from a good "burn-in" time of just being on.

I wrote a review here.
https://forum.blu-ray.com/showthread...nic+dmr-ez475v

I also bought my Panasonic recorder with hard drive as a refurb. Runs like a champ. But I am definately more leary these days.

[Link]

I bought a Sony BDP-S300 in March for $246.00! and free shipping on top of that from sonystyle.com. That was a deal that I could not pass up - I figured it was the perfect price for a profile 1.0 BD player. I bought a $20.00 replacement warranty with it as well which is good for 2 years.

As far as any problem, haven't had one yet. The player came fast and looked brand new complete with all packaging contents. I guess it's hit or miss, but this was the first refurbished product i've ever purchased and I'm happy with it. Also, immediately after purchasing, I sent for the firmware update disc - this came the day before the player arrived and was installed fast with no issues.

[SquidPuppet]

Refurbs have germs.

Dirtiest thing in a hotel room?.....The remote control.

New for me.

[un4gvn94538]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

Refurbs have germs.

Dirtiest thing in a hotel room?.....The remote control.

New for me.

someone needs to refill thier prescription

[Psychonaut]

I buy refurb on stuff I don't care about replacing and with a small price tag. I would not buy refurb on anything in my main theater. My bedroom tv is a 27" LCD refurb but I don't watch that much in there.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by SquidPuppet

...

Dirtiest thing in a hotel room?.....The remote control.

...

I find it disturbing that the toilet handle wasn't number one.

I still think second hand or refurb stuff can save you a ton money. After all, there is always the chance the item doesn't work new out of the box. If the refurbs are being inspected and/or repaired, I say your chances are just as good.

Really depends on who is refurbishing. A third rate electronics place might have little quality control. I would expect the big brand names to actually test the darn thing and fix it. They don't want to scrap everything for little problems.

[zed0118]

I just ordered the Onkyo 605 refurbished from the Onkyo website. It won't arrive until the end of this week, so I can't comment on the quality of the product. I figured that it should be safe to order because it's coming directly from Onkyo.

The first Playstation I bought was a refurbished unit. That was back in 1997. It still works today.

So, I feel somewhat comfortable with this choice.

Stay tuned.

[DragonSarc]

never take risk on my HT equipment all of them brand new - never buy refurb - rule of thumb on electronics if it never work the first time return it and get a new 1