How about my closest local dealer is 128 miles away. There may be some closer, but they are not listed on the URC site, so unless I call every trunkslammer listed in the phone book, how will I know?

Start by putting your location in this thread or profile. It might help.

You could call your 128 mile away dealer and ask if he will ship it you. You are in his territory.

I know from some viewpoint it may seem unfair, but I think Mike's Holiday remote special of the MX810 (bad software) and MRF350 for less than what I can purchase it for is unfair. I'm sure I just helped sell 30 of them w/ that statement.

What sticks in my craw here

I haven't seen anything from URC which indicated the MX950 is discontinued. How many do you want?

Does anybody have the exact terms of this new policy?

It's almost sounding like the 980 can't be listed on a website, but *can* be bought via the phone? I'd prefer to buy a 980 from the same authorized internet dealer I bought my last two URC remotes from, but am trying to figure out if that's possible with the new policy.

I don't support the URC sellers on Ebay, but I think it's just a matter of time before 980s are on there in mass quantity. Or is URC actually trying to control their distribution now?

I'm with you there (I'm in Aus), I was waiting to get the MX-980 after reviews are in, and the MX-950 as a fallback... Seems the 950 is discontinued (is that really true?) which is dissapointing, and I'll have to wait forever and be reamed by the local people if they ever get the MX-980 in. The markups in Aus are probably as bad as NZ.

None of the other URC remotes will cut the mustard for my DIY installation (the TX-1000 will but it's ugly and too big).

Byron

I was able to find a brick & mortor retailer that was willing to sell to me over the phone. He said that URC has a strict policy about Internet sales so the MX-980 is not on his web site. I'm guessing he would have ignored an e-mail from me had I tried that.

There are names of many authorized dealers in this forum. Try calling them. They may be willing to sell to anyone or only those in thier region. The dealer I used is an hour or two away from me which was probably important to his being willing to sell to me. I was even able to get a discount on mine.

The funny thing is, my first thought was why would anyone in their right mind refuse to sell a product to a customer? But, I can understand why someone far away might not want to try to support it. Making a sale wouldn't be worth trying to talk a newbie through how to program their new remote over the phone. (Not that you're a newbie, but they woudn't necessarily know that.)

Sean

The dealer is limited to selling to customers within a 200 mile radius of their location.

I'm guessing the primary reason for this policy is probably because many retailers will target high end buyers and will sell the remote for MSRP + programming fee. URC probably depends on high profit to the installer to get them to reccomend URC vs. the competion. A second reason is likely that a large number of customers probably can't handle programming a remote this complex. No amount of manual or help line support is going to work for someone who doesn't understand.

I contacted URC sales today. I informed the salesman that I live 300 miles away from the nearest dealer and asked him what my options were for buying a MX-980. After being put on hold while he discussed this with his supervisor, he told me to call the closest dealers to my location and ask them if they would be willing to sell me one, and then mail it to me. I proceeded to ask him what difference this is verses doing the same with ANY authorized dealer, and his responce was that that would be acceptable, but only if the dealer was willing to sell and ship me one. He told me that this policy was put in place because they do not want to see the market flooded with this remote on EBay or other internet only sales undermining their “store front” dealer network. As far as URC is concerned (according to the man I spoke with), they just want to make sure a dealer with a real “store front” is selling them and it was not restricted to distance. The distance requirement is coming from their on-line dealer locator which is limited to a 200 mile radius. Whether this guy was full of it or not, I don't know. I suspect that responces will very depending on who picks up the phone at URC. The heck with this, I'm buying a 900....I refuse to buy something from a dealer who I have to educate (Best Buy for one).

Yeah, but close to half of your 200 mile radius is water. ;)

. . . and about 20% is in another country. ;-)

just to verify, so it doesnt come with software included? it has to be provided via download from the dealers website or something like that?

Correct. None of the remotes in the professional line come with software.

Sean

good to know, thanks sean.