Musical Fidelity Trivista (Faulty)

Hi All, I'm after a bit of advice. I bought a Musical Fidelity Trivista a while back and it's recently developed a fault. It won't play SACD's. I sent it to the manufacturer in Wembly for repair. Yesterday i received a call informing me that the transport was faulty, unfortunately the manufacturer, Phillips don't make it anymore therefore the player is not repairable. They have offered me the the KW series DAC and Transport for £1000. Personally i think this is a bit of a liberty. After all it's not a cheap SACD player and realistically if they had a transport in stock it would't cost a £1000 to fix. I also recall the advertising making a big deal of the fact that they were keeping one set of spares for each Trivista sold so future servicing would'nt be a problem. Personally i think if they can't fix it due to a spares issue it should be replaced at their cost not mine.
Any views would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance, Sean

 

PM Nando, he deals with MF and may be able to advise you on the best course of action.

 

I had the same problem with my KW SACD.But they did fix it (8 weeks).After that i sold it.

 

That's not on really is it?
You'd think they'd cover the likelyhood of mechanical part failures-given they're not cheap in the first place.Hope you have some luck with this.

 

do some research into your consumer rights. one of my best friends worked in a major car manufacturers customer services phone center - she said that manufacturers are responsible for repairs up to 7 or 8 years after sale - although this may just be for cars. do some checking and see where you stand then you can bargain from a position of strength.

 

I believe that applied only to the nuvistor tubes, not other spares.

 

Yeah I'm pretty sure it was only the valves that spares were kept for.

Does seem crap they're claiming to not be able to help you out though! Sorry I can't give you any advice but hope you get a positive result.

 

Careful the skeptic in me always assumes the worst.

The folks at the repair center may be wanting to make a fast buck. They already gave you a cheeky 'offer' of £1000 for a replacement. Hardly surprising if they had the transport set in the back of the shop and they fixed the MF and sold it for a nice big fat profit. Failing that I'm sure they'd come across a transport sooner or later and do the same.

 

Hi Sean,

How long have you had the Trvista cd player? Did you buy kit from new?

Tha sale of goods act does allow you to 1) get a refund or 2) get a replacement or 3) get it repaired if the item goes wrong in after you have just bought it. This period is for a short time after it has been bought.

But the Sale of goods act also states that the retailer/manufacturer has responsibility for faulty goods for up to 6 years after you bought them. An item that you have bought needs to last a resonable length of time. This depends alot on the item. A loaf of bread, the reasonable length of time wouldn't be that long but with a tv, it would be.

Most electrical goods should last more than a few years. A cd player should last a long time. The Trivista cd player came on the market around 2002/2003 so it should be under 5 years old. An expensive cd player should last longer than that length of time.

A shop or manufactuer would try and pass the buck of fob your off.

Get in touch with the shop or MF and tell them that it faulty and it hasn't lasted a reasonable length of time. Your first port of call should be the shop you got it from. Tell them that you want it sorted under the sales of goods act. They can offer to get it repaired and/or offer you compensation. They don't have to offer you a new one but you never know. If they don't, you may have to take them to court. You may have to take it to a repairer for an estimate.

If it does go to court then you can claim for the repair, expenses and compensation.

I do understand that MF keep replacement valves for each Trivista item made.


Here are some pointers for that may help

http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/law_goods.shtml

http://www.monikie.org.uk/yourrights.htm

http://www.onhifi.com/product/musicalfidelity_trivista_sacd.htm


SCIDB

 

I believe they have to supply spares for 7 years after the item is dropped from production, it doesnt cover the repair.

 

Thanks for the advice so far. I did pop into a Citizens Advice office and they told me that there is no legislation that requires manufactures of consumer electronics to keep spares for any lenght of time. They could have given me duff advice of course.
I bought the unit used about a year ago so can't take it back to the dealer. It was the trivista tubes that they made a big deal of keeping spares of for future serviceability, but that implies there wouldn't be a problem sourcing the rest of the components.

 

How so? To me, it just says there's one part that we promise to have spares for, the rest you're on your own, guv'ner.

It might be worth finding out which exact transport you have in your MF and then find some cheap consumer CDP that has that transport in it. But I'm sure that you'll eventually find an independent repair shop with the necessary spares.

Personally, I find MF's attitude to this disgusting. I know it's hard for specialist manufacturers to cope with the obsolescence that's inflicted on them by the transport manufacturers. It was one of the reasons why Linn designed their unidisk engine, with the hope of supplying it to other specialist manufacturers. However, those other specialist manufacturers preferred continuing to buy cheap mass-produced drives (what, us giving Linn money and credit? no way!) and let their customers be damned.

The whole issue is a disgrace. Personally, I wouldn't buy a CD player these days from a make that hasn't shown a very good history of supporting older units.

 

three words
SMALL CLAIMS COURT

 

Amen Brother. My Phillips SACD 1000 makes a great boat anchor. The lack of support from Phillips was IMO a nightmare. They will never get my money again.

rollo