Hello Everyone!

Ostensibly this is a question that should go to the official Linn forums, but since I trust everyone here much more, I hope you'll forgive my asking on this forum. =) Here's the issue and question:

The Issue:
My father's Unidisk SC (purchased new just under 5 years ago here in the US, and registered with Linn's Limited Extended 5-Year Warranty program), has been having odd problems for the past year and a half (it claims "No Disc" when an SACD's loaded, and sometimes with an ordinary CD it'll apparently "play" the disc entirely normally (disc whirring away, timer counting upwards, track showing, etc.) without any sound coming out; plus it occasionally "clicks" while playing). With the warranty period coming to a close next month, I thought I'd take it in for him, to have things sorted under warranty. But when I called the local dealership today (in Massachusetts), the person on the phone said (1) this is a common Unidisk problem; (2) Linn will likely not cover it, regardless of the warranty; (3) Linn has already refused warranty coverage to other SC owners that have similarly gone through their shop; and (4) I will almost certainly have to pay the standard, non-warranty US flat fee (~$700) to have the unit sorted. (5) As a side note, the fellow on the phone was quite cheerful with this news, and seemed to find it funny that I thought a warranty would cover this issue. If he were a doctor, his bedside manner would be appalling.

The Question(s)
Can it really be true, that a 5-Year Parts Warranty does not actually cover a common fault? And what's going on with Linn USA these days? My father (and I) have had repairs and warranty work done in the past, back when there was a Linn USA office in Florida, and in those days we were delighted with the service we received -- I've heard that Linn's since closed its Florida office and is contracting out with Tannoy; is there any way a customer can contact Tannoy (or whomever it is) to find out really what's going on? Or am I stuck with the local dealer and his appallingly cheerful bedside manner?

Many thanks to any USA or Linn insiders who might know anything of what's going on, and hope you'll have a great St. Patrick's Day. Cheers!

- W

If my understanding is correct your contact only has the information partially right. Your unit will still be covered by Linn's 5 year warranty and I would waste no time getting it in to Linn for repair. HOWEVER, the Linn warranty does not cover items that are considered normal wear items and this includes the laser - which is a likely cause of the problems you are having - this is only covered for two years. This is not unique to Linn as almost all Hi-Fi companies with long warranties have a disclaimer that it doesn't cover the CD transport for that period. As an example, Simaudio MOON has a 10 year warranty on their products but it specifies that CD transports are only covered for a year.

The fact that lasers are not covered DOES NOT mean you will have to pay for the standard flat rate repair. You will only have to pay the cost of the replacement laser mechanism. If there is anything that needs repair other than the laser it will be covered under the warranty. An example of this is a Classic Movie 05 that we recently sent in for service. It was also still under the 5 year warranty although we had to provide a copy of the original receipt as proof of this. As the laser was replaced there was a charge of $239 for this but that is a fair bit less than the $550 plus shipping that is the normal flat rate repair charge. Also since the whole unit is still under warranty you will not have to pay a return shipping charge from TC Group (normally $30 to $50 for something like a UniDisk). So you should only need to pay for the laser mechanism and whatever your dealer charges for paperwork and shipping to TC Group. It is quite possible, even likely, that the mechanism in the SC is the same as in the Movie 05 so the charge could be the same.

You will need to bring in a copy of the receipt for the UniDisk SC as proof of the original purchase. Even though it is registered TC Group have no way of knowing that as the records from Linn USA apparently weren't transferred over and Linn UK doesn't always have the information either. Personally I wouldn't wait to have it repaired as the UniDisk SC is still on the repairable list but you never know when it could be switched to the end of service life list.

Hello Everyone!

The Unidisk SC has come back from warranty repairs, and is playing happily as I type. And for the possible reference of any other US-based Linn fans who might someday wind up in a similar situation, here's how everything worked out:

1) My poor little UniSC wound up needing a fair bit of work, as the return invoice noted the following:
Repaired Mains Power supply and main Audio board, updated main enginePCB, replace F/P display ass'y, install new laser, upload latest software, test to spec.

2) Everything was (of course!) exactly as ThomasOK explained: the Linn warranty covered everything except the laser ($200.00) and the outbound shipping/insurance ($44.73).

3) Concerning warranty documentation: as Thomas mentioned, the US distributor/service organization (TC Group) might not have full records -- but at the start of the process, I had emailed the UK-based Linn HelpLine for instructions, and after I gave them my name and Warranty registration number (with purchase date and location), they emailed a warranty confirmation to TC Group (and the local dealer).

4) Both Linn HelpLine and the TC Group were extremely responsive and helpful (as was the local dealer, once I actually spoke to the service person who handles Linn; my first inquiries turned out to have been handled by a sales person who was understandably less familiar with Linn's service policies). After I sent my warranty info to Linn HelpLine (and after a several day lag while things went through their system), I was cc'd on emails between them, TC Group, and the dealer. The TC Group representative (Steve Allen) pretty much took charge of everything at that point, and I felt very well taken care of. It was overall a very smooth process (and if anyone from TC Group ever reads this post -- Steve Allen is great!!)

So thank you very much once again to ThomasOK for his help and information (part of my initial difficulty was my inexperience with policies, procedures, and terminology -- once I knew (thanks to Thomas!) what to ask about, everything fell into place. =)

As for the result of the repairs: I'll start a new thread in the Hifi section -- basically, I'm surprised and enchanted with how the unit's changed. =)

Cheers!
- W

P.S. -- regarding the new front-panel display (the old one was showing dimmed sections): it has some sort of light sensor that automatically turns the display on to (a very bright!) full brightness in daylight, and to fully-off in pitch darkness (presumably so there's no distraction during a movie) -- and at all intermediate lighting levels, the continuously-variable brightness is just perfect for easy, non-distracting visibility. As my old display was simply dim during standby and bright when "On", this was a (non-audio) pleasant surprise too!