Kipwrite
New member
Imagine your genset broke down. Something with the electronics. It’s a German genset, highly technical, and you’re in the US.
You’ve had it for 7 years. It’s worked perfectly. You’ve been religious about servicing it. You like it. But there's no authorized dealer nearby who can help you with this electronic problem - this is an unusual genset in the US.
So you call the US tech support team. These folks don’t really fully understand this machine as it is not sold in the US, but whatever. They are owned by the German parent company. They accept the service calls for this unit. There’s nowhere else to go in the US for help.
US tech support tells you which parts are required to fix your issue, and that installation is essentially plug and play.
Yay!
You order the parts for $1280. They come with very sparse documentation.
You install them, not easy, and you get an error code. Something about programming the new parts.
You call the US tech support team, and they tell you your new parts need to be programmed to your genset and that this is very important. This is news to you. They give you a protocol to program your new parts to your genset. You try it, but it's incorrect. You get that same error code.
So you call US tech support again, and this time they give you the correct protocol to program everything. (Turns out the first protocol they gave you was to program a different genset!) You enter the new sequence of numbers. The genset accepts everything.
Yay!
But your genset is still broken. You find an authorized dealer a bit farther away who is willing to have a look. You take it to them, but they report they can’t fix it.
So you travel 300 miles to the another authorized dealer, one with a great reputation on this brand, in a major US east coast sailing location.
These guys show up on time, are great, and clearly know what they are doing. They tell you everything is hooked up properly. The back end is putting out correct voltage. But something is still incorrect that they can’t diagnose. So they send all the parts you purchased for $1280, and some others, including the inverter, back to US tech support for evaluation. US Tech Support will know what needs to be repaired.
Yay!
75 days later US tech support tells you the parts they sold you for $1280 are working perfectly, but, regrettably, they are incompatible with your machine. These are returned to you in a baggie marked NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CUSTOMER’S MACHINE. You will need another, supposedly correct part that costs $608 - the one you needed to begin with, and that is correct for your genset. And by the way, your inverter needs to be rebuilt. This all is very expensive - but it looks like the end is in sight. You fork over big $, but now everything is going to be finally fixed.
Yay!
You get all your parts back, 7 months after the start of all these issues. You put everything back together. You program everything correctly. But your genset still doesn’t work You are 600 miles from that great authorized dealer. By now, the US tech support guys aren’t too happy to hear from you. There are some wonderful engineers in Germany, but you aren't allowed to communicate with them.
(The genset starts and runs perfectly without error codes, puts out voltage from the back end to the inverter, but the inverter puts out nothing.)
You decide you can't have a genset that is this hard to fix. Time to move on and buy a simpler genset thats easier to fix. You should have done this much earlier. You are in a bad mood.
Trying to salvage something out of an exhausting and expensive situation, you ask for a refund from US Tech support, just for the parts that you were originally sold that were incompatible, and that tech support gave you the wrong programming information for, and that, by the way, tech support said were working perfectly when they tested them in December.
Seemed like a reasonable request - especially since you just paid for the $608 part you actually originally needed. And paid for a rebuilt inverter. And spent months without a working unit, from a company that prides itself on a timely and efficient global support network. Not to mention your own hours.
So, did US tech support authorize the return for the $1208 in parts they sold me that test perfectly, but are NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CUSTOMER’S MACHINE??
Nope - no return can be authorized by US tech support - because I installed these electronic parts, entered the wrong programming protocol, and electronic parts are not returnable.
What would you do?
—
My 10000I genset starts and runs like a top without faults, about 450 hours, is well taken care of, and the back end puts out voltage. Inverter is likely fried but honestly, i don’t know.
You’ve had it for 7 years. It’s worked perfectly. You’ve been religious about servicing it. You like it. But there's no authorized dealer nearby who can help you with this electronic problem - this is an unusual genset in the US.
So you call the US tech support team. These folks don’t really fully understand this machine as it is not sold in the US, but whatever. They are owned by the German parent company. They accept the service calls for this unit. There’s nowhere else to go in the US for help.
US tech support tells you which parts are required to fix your issue, and that installation is essentially plug and play.
Yay!
You order the parts for $1280. They come with very sparse documentation.
You install them, not easy, and you get an error code. Something about programming the new parts.
You call the US tech support team, and they tell you your new parts need to be programmed to your genset and that this is very important. This is news to you. They give you a protocol to program your new parts to your genset. You try it, but it's incorrect. You get that same error code.
So you call US tech support again, and this time they give you the correct protocol to program everything. (Turns out the first protocol they gave you was to program a different genset!) You enter the new sequence of numbers. The genset accepts everything.
Yay!
But your genset is still broken. You find an authorized dealer a bit farther away who is willing to have a look. You take it to them, but they report they can’t fix it.
So you travel 300 miles to the another authorized dealer, one with a great reputation on this brand, in a major US east coast sailing location.
These guys show up on time, are great, and clearly know what they are doing. They tell you everything is hooked up properly. The back end is putting out correct voltage. But something is still incorrect that they can’t diagnose. So they send all the parts you purchased for $1280, and some others, including the inverter, back to US tech support for evaluation. US Tech Support will know what needs to be repaired.
Yay!
75 days later US tech support tells you the parts they sold you for $1280 are working perfectly, but, regrettably, they are incompatible with your machine. These are returned to you in a baggie marked NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CUSTOMER’S MACHINE. You will need another, supposedly correct part that costs $608 - the one you needed to begin with, and that is correct for your genset. And by the way, your inverter needs to be rebuilt. This all is very expensive - but it looks like the end is in sight. You fork over big $, but now everything is going to be finally fixed.
Yay!
You get all your parts back, 7 months after the start of all these issues. You put everything back together. You program everything correctly. But your genset still doesn’t work You are 600 miles from that great authorized dealer. By now, the US tech support guys aren’t too happy to hear from you. There are some wonderful engineers in Germany, but you aren't allowed to communicate with them.
(The genset starts and runs perfectly without error codes, puts out voltage from the back end to the inverter, but the inverter puts out nothing.)
You decide you can't have a genset that is this hard to fix. Time to move on and buy a simpler genset thats easier to fix. You should have done this much earlier. You are in a bad mood.
Trying to salvage something out of an exhausting and expensive situation, you ask for a refund from US Tech support, just for the parts that you were originally sold that were incompatible, and that tech support gave you the wrong programming information for, and that, by the way, tech support said were working perfectly when they tested them in December.
Seemed like a reasonable request - especially since you just paid for the $608 part you actually originally needed. And paid for a rebuilt inverter. And spent months without a working unit, from a company that prides itself on a timely and efficient global support network. Not to mention your own hours.
So, did US tech support authorize the return for the $1208 in parts they sold me that test perfectly, but are NOT COMPATIBLE WITH CUSTOMER’S MACHINE??
Nope - no return can be authorized by US tech support - because I installed these electronic parts, entered the wrong programming protocol, and electronic parts are not returnable.
What would you do?
—
My 10000I genset starts and runs like a top without faults, about 450 hours, is well taken care of, and the back end puts out voltage. Inverter is likely fried but honestly, i don’t know.
