396T repair depot issue

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cipher77

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Hello everyone,

My little brother (65 lbs.) accidentally stepped on my 396 & now it locks up on a channel as if there's traffic but it never unmutes the radio to play the audio. I monitored the freq. w/ another radio & there wasn't any traffic on that freq. So, I just chalked it up that the radio was somehow broken & needed repair. Looking at the radio, there are NO signs of damage at all. The case is in tact, the dispay works & all buttons work as well. I was even able to program in a frequency & had it saved into memory. So, I decided to open it up & see what was the issue. I took the back off & there's daughter board that I believe is an RF board that was there was an RF shield on it. This shield had a dent in it & there was an IC under the shield that was cracked. I put the radio back together, turned it on & programmed another freq into it & it still acted the same way as before I opened the radio. With this information, I made the decision to send it into Uniden for repair.

I saw on Uniden's website that they will repair the BCD396T for a flat fee of $60.00 plus shipping. I called them to verify this & the CSR person stated that it is a flat fee & as long as the case is in tact, they will make the unit work again for the flat rate. & if they cant, "they'd replace it" (per the CSR). I sent in the radio a month ago & finally found out the fate & am very pissed off about their findings.

In a nutshell, they're telling me that the unit "has physical damage" & that it is unrepairable & the replacement cost is $342.50!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I find this to be completely unacceptable. The unit powered on, programmed, worked as the scanner should with the exception of having the RF receive/squelch/audio problem. I spoke to a supervisor, explained to them the problem with the radio & that the issue is obviously a component level replacement issue & that I felt deceived by both their website advertising a "flat repair fee" as well as their CSR telling me that "they'll fix whatever needs to be fixed for the flat repair rate or they'll replace it". They never said that they'd replace it at the cost to me or that "physical damage" (even though the case was 100% in tact, the unit worked without any issues except the Rx issue) isn't covered under their repair policy. & they told me that theres nothing that she could do. I asked to have the scanner to be shipped back & they're charging me $10 to ship it back to me.

I find it very hard to believe that my scanner is "unrepairable". is there anyone on this forum that
could lend some insight into this issue? Is there someone else in the company that I need to talk to to get this radio repaired? Maybe someone might have had a similar experience that they could lend their experiences for reference.

any info would be great.

cipher
 
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rvictor

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The online information does include the "in most cases" language so it's not quite a slam dunk.

Dick
 

al95

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$346.50 is to much for a refurnish radio. You can a little more and with $400.00 plus S/H you can buy a brand new radio. I had the same problem with another product their flat rate was $45, but if the the part cost more then the flat rate they will charge me for a replacement. Thats the way most bussiness work. You where never told you will be charge a replacement fee. Their website didn't state that either, you also called by phone you where told the same thing if it couldn't be fix it would be replace, but you where not told that you would have to pay a replacement fee. That's their fault. Ask upman for his say in this issue.
 

al95

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I'm new to this forum so forgive me for my ignorance but who is upman & how do I get a hold of him?

Upman is a RR member that works with Uniden. He's always reading the threads so he might give you an advice.. If not you can start a new thread with a title like Upman, Repair Depot he might answer you sooner if he sees he user name.
 
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