Prowler573 5,000+ posts
R.I.P. Gossamer!!
I'll agree that it can be potentially a royal pain in the posterior depending on the specific seller. However, it just couldn't be any easier than it is with Crutchfield. As they are authorized retailers of every brand they carry they honor, without question, any factory warranty included with any product.And dealing with warranties online can be a b*tch
I bought an eXcelon KDC-X569 head unit from Crutchfield the same month they showed up in their inventory. Factory warranty was listed as 2 years. About 18 months later, after I had already sold the deck to my landlady when I bought the X679 that replaced it, it quit reading CDs. Didn't matter what kind - store bought, burnt CD-audio, MP3 discs, none of 'em. All it would show was a Table Of Contents error. Landlady came to me and asked if there was anything I could do. I looked up the original order on C/F's site and saw that it was still under warranty (even if only just)
I called up Crutchfield, told 'em my problem, they looked up the original order to verify the purchase date, gave me an RMA #, and authorized me to use the prepaid UPS slip that came with my original order a year and a half previous. Thankfully I'm a packrat when it comes to warranty paperwork and I still had it. (When you buy anything from Crutchfield they send a prepaid UPS shipping slip with your order in case you need to make a return. KEEP THAT SLIP - it just may come in handy down the road even after the 30 Day no-questions-asked return timeframe has expired.)
Turnaround time was only about two weeks total (from the time I dropped it off at the UPS place to the day it showed up at my house) Deck has had Zero issues since. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif
Crutchfield's prices may be a smidge on the high side at times but with the extras they give ya (wiring harness adapters, MasterSheets that show detailed install instructions, etc) coupled with absolutely unbeatable customer service makes it worth it to me.