Buying "Grade A"

Black Hole

May contain traces of nut
The HDR-FOX is becoming very difficult to obtain new, the only reliable (for now) source is Grade A units from Humax Direct.

What does this mean? It means a refurbished unit with a 1 year warranty. It may be a repair customer return, it will almost certainly have a new hard drive, and it could even be completely unused from display stock.

I have bought two of these in the past, and both are in service with no problems. One had to go back immediately for replacement, because when I inspected it there appeared to be transit damage. Do not shirk or delay checking it over when it arrives, and then testing it (I didn't get that far!), and do not be afraid to ask for a replacement if there are any problems whatsoever.

I am planning an inspection and test check list - I will add it to Things Every...

Grade A units are delivered in a plain box, but should be otherwise complete with instructions, HDMI cable, and a remote.

To relate my episode with the transit damage: I didn't notice until the unit had been received and unpacked, after which I could see the metalwork was distorted and the front panel did not fit properly. I traced it to the result of an impact on one corner, and had a look at the packaging - there was a dented corner that did not originally raise any suspicions. The internal packaging is like an egg box so it should withstand some impacts, but an impact on the corner sent shocks the wrong way.

I sent photos to Humax Direct and they arranged a swap no problems. It was the delivery company I had problems with, because Humax must have chased them for reimbursement. They contacted me demanding I filled in a report otherwise they might not be able to reimburse the sender.

The report asked things like "was the item adequately packaged", to which I replied that I am not a packaging expert so how am I supposed to know? I was asked to supply photographs, to which I replied that I had already supplied photos to Humax, and that their contract was with Humax not me.

So, in summary (and in general): whenever anybody ever asks you to do something, always consider whether there is any justification for their request and whether it is your responsibility to respond. Do you have an existing agreement with them, or are they trying it on?
 
You do know you were suppose to catch it when the van driver through it from the van. Seriously I bought a grade A HD model for mother. I think it was a return since the screen strobes / flickers the time when on standbye unless they all do this. I doubt it. Other than that it has been fine except the remote gave up lighting up the row of white buttons red. Although that could be the effect of coffee ingress.
 
My first "Grade A" unit initially appeared to work fine, but regularly lost its signal once it had been powered up for about 30 minutes. (I presume it had been returned as faulty, but had passed their quality checks so was resold.) Drove me mad to begin with because I assumed I was doing something wrong. Annoyingly, Humax Direct wanted me to wait two weeks for a swap even though they could deliver a new unit the next day! So I insisted on a new unit, then sent the old one back to them.
 
I received a grade a unit last week that had a slight dent in the centre front of the lid, which leaves the front panel raised above the lid. Nothing major I guess but they could have bent it straight whilst checking it over :)
 
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