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Reviews For: Icom America Repair

Category: Amateur Radio Equipment Repair

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Review Summary For : Icom America Repair
Reviews: 100MSRP:
Description:
Icom's amateur radio and receiver repair service
Product is in production
More Info: http://www.icomamerica.com
# last 180 days Avg. Rating last 180 days Total reviews Avg. overall rating
001003.8
KN6LE Rating: 2008-05-29
THIEVES Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
YOU BETTER BE HARD UP TO SEND A RADIO TO THESE GUYS! I SENT IN MY IC-718. LOSS OF RECEIVE AFTER 1 MONTH OF SERVICE. I FULLY EXPECTED THE REPAIR TO BE HANDLED UNDER WARRENTY. ALAS, NOT SO! THE BILL WAS FOR $171. IT WAS NOT HONORED UNDER WARRENTY, THEY SAID THE FRONT END HAD BEEN OVERLOADED BY AN AMPLIFIER. I DON'T RUN AN AMP! MY LAST ICOM
KC0RRS Rating: 2008-05-12
borders on absolute fraud Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Well shame on me, then.

The first experience was with a new Icom IC-7000 that had a very irritating noise on all bands all modes, regardless of input signal (or no signal). Since it was under warranty I sent it to them right away. They called, and I talked with a technician at some length, to explain that this was not a difficult symptom to reproduce. He kept wanting to know a frequency and mode. I kept telling him “forget that – it doesn’t matter – any frequency – you can even short the antenna inputs”. Apparently he had never heard of an audio problem, nor, as it turned out, had he ever heard a temperature intermittent transistor breaking down. Needless to say, they gave up on my unit after two weeks, figuratively declaring “customer on (hallucinogenic) drugs”.

Lo and behold the IC-7000 seemed to work better - for a few weeks. But the noise returned. Only now of course, it would cost me big bucks to have the dimwits look at it again, because now it was out of warranty. I thought I had resolved it myself with Stabilant 22 on the control head contacts, so I sold the rig at a $600 loss. Guess what? The new owner told me that dreaded noise is back! So it isn’t just my wild imagination now; I have witnesses!

The second Icom service experience borders on outright fraud. One day in late March my four year old Icom IC-208H suddenly would not turn on. I swapped control heads with another unit belonging to a friend, and bypassed the cable, thereby confirming that it was the main unit that had failed. I removed the top cover and looked inside, to find nothing obvious (like perhaps residue of rainwater penetration, or cracked cases, or soot, or blown internal fuse). Stupid me, I sent it (and the control head) to Icom service. Within about two weeks they sent me an e-mail with their diagnosis: Corrosion on CPU chip, replace CPU. The quote was for well over $200 on a radio I can purchase new for $254 with free freight. They did not offer me the option to apply the diagnosis fee towards a new radio, which I might have done. Something made me doubt their claims, and if there WAS any corrosion, I wanted to know WHAT had caused it. Was there a leak in my car dripping rainwater on my radio, only visible from the underneath side of the main board? So I paid the fee to have it returned, and I warned them I would be comparing the serial numbers, so to be sure to send My rig back.

What a nightmare. They sent my rig back to my home address via FedEx Ground, with a stipulation that I personally had to be there to sign for it – I couldn’t just leave a signature taped to the door. Excuse me… Am I the only customer of theirs that still has to work for a living? Anyway it was May 10, after nearly a month of hassle and redirection, when I got the unit back, for which they charged me an additional $13 freight on top of $42 for a dubious diagnosis.

So, I was very eager to have a close look inside. What do you know: there was no evidence they had ever opened the case! Under the magnifying glass, the antenna was still soldered in place like original factory, and all the metal shields looked original. What’s worse, after I removed all the metal shields myself, there was no corrosion to be found anywhere, even under bright lights with a powerful magnifying lens. All I found was some lint. This failure was clearly not due to environmental factors like a rainwater leak.

Can I absolutely prove that they never opened the case? No. Can I be absolutely sure they didn’t know from experience that this particular model of radio generally fails one and only one way; namely corrosion on the CPU? No, I cannot.

But, it certainly looks to me as though Icom is running quite a scam operation with their out-of-warranty service. A poorly-trained monkey could rake in the revenue as well as Icom Service does, and produce no less satisfactory results. I for one will never let them touch any of my equipment ever again, and I will think long and hard before I buy another Icom. Great radios when they work right. They don’t even make good boat anchors when they don’t work right. By comparison, Kenwood service has been absolutely perfect, and none of my Kenwood equipment has ever developed an electronic problem out-of-warranty – knock on wood. (I dropped a TH-F6a once and broke the antenna connector).

Sending anything of yours of any value to these hooligans should be done with full knowledge of the risks! Beware!
W6EMR Rating: 2008-03-26
Prompt , friendly, professional service Time Owned: more than 12 months.
I had an issue with my IC-207H vhf/uhf mobile (due to attempted theft of main unit). Emailed ICOM to see if I could still obtain a replacement control head. Not a problem, I ordered it and it arrived 3 days later. After connecting it up with a new remote cable (mine had been cut!), the unit would not power up. Sent entire radio to Bellvue, WA to service dept. with a pre-approved limit (yes, I love my radio)and description of problem. Was told it would take up to two weeks; it was returned to me within 7 days! Included was a detailed repair history including time spent on repair. Also, a 30 day warranty on repair of the unit.
Kudos to ICOM for great customer service. Would use them again without hesitation. Highly reccomend this service; esp. when you have an older radio like mine (now 8 years).
Unit operates like a new one.
K0FTC Rating: 2008-03-08
Great service Time Owned: 3 to 6 months.
Lost all power out on new IC-7000, all modes. Communicated with Mike at Icom America in Bellvue WA via email. Did some simple trouble shooting. Didn't fix the problem and he advised to send it in. Sent it out with Fed Ex on two day business turnaround from Colorado (only radio in shack and wanted it back as soon as possible) - and the same way Icom returned it; instead of the usual 5 to 6 days of ground transport you can get out of a lot companies these days! They had it for two weeks, but once back log was taken care of and started to work on it, they had it fixed in two days and shipped back to me. They provided the repair and shipping back to me for zero dollars. They listed the labor and parts for the work they did inside the radio on the receipt you get back with the radio. Back up and running now, runs like new. Great company to deal with. Had a different problem with an IC-746 PRO a couple of years ago and it was the same great service that I received on this radio that I got on that one. Great product and service from Icom in every way!
W3PH Rating: 2008-02-10
Quick turnaround - good work Time Owned: more than 12 months.
My 756 ProIII suddenly went deaf (forgot to disconnect the antenna when not in use for a few days & must have had nearby lightning hit or equivalent).

Sent it off to Bellvue, turnaround was very quick. Replaced diodes & transistors in front end & tuner, total was just under $200.
KF7NN Rating: 2008-02-10
no issues Time Owned: more than 12 months.
sent in my 756 Pro III because after some snow static the rig would not put out any power.
they replaced a broadband amp, a transistor and
a few diodes, total turn around time door to door
was 11 days and no charge even though it was out of warranty.
N9QGU Rating: 2008-01-14
Excellent Service Time Owned: 0 to 3 months.
Some how the latch that holds the face plate on my Icom 706MKIIG was broken. Without it, the face place would slide off. I called Icom on New Years Eve and spoke to Carl. He told me the parts I needed, emailed me the page in the technical manual that showed how they were attached, and transfered me to the parts department. The parts department sent them to me free of charge. I had them four days later. What a great company to deal with.
K7UA Rating: 2007-11-15
Both quick and good Time Owned: N.A.
I recently sent in my IC775DSP with a display problem when it was cold. The rig was only gone 8 days including shipping. Seven of those days were shipping time. They only had it for one full day and got it fixed in that time! I gave them my ok in advance to just fix it without an estimate up to a certain limit. The amount was well under my limit. The bill was not cheap, but not out of line either. I am very pleased with their service. Much better than I expected.
KF7QZ Rating: 2007-11-15
Im very pleased with them Time Owned: more than 12 months.
Had a very sick ICOM 706MKIIG. Low power on several bands, alc that was wild and distortion if I had compression on. SWR reading 3-1 and up on a known 1.1-1 antenna.

Took it in and got it back 6 days later (Im local to bellevue) and total charge for the repair was 86.85.

Fixed was

Loose connections in TX circuit
Two Blown Diodes in Filters Circuit
Re-aligned TX and RX to factory specs.

Brought it home and rig is like brand new again.

Will use them again, anytime.
WA9AFM Rating: 2007-05-05
Lied Through Their Teeth Time Owned: more than 12 months.
After five attempts to get my IC-2720 repaired (the infamous POS designed VHF final amp). I was told by the Icom rep the unit had 'bad solder joints in the tx/rx matrix'. They sent is back; it worked about 10 minutes, then quit again. I give up!! I sold the control head and HM-133 and began looking for a new dual band mobile....certainly not Icom.