*Rant On*

The other day I went to pick up my pronto 2000 when I got home late and found it raging HOT! I turned it over to find that the base station had a burned contact and was also very HOT! The back of the Pronto was melted enough that the contact had come loose from the casing.

I immediately unplugged the unit and called Phillips to explain what happened. I was very nice on the phone as I know it is not the fault of the person taking the call. I was unaware of the policy to only replace the unit with a refurbished one. I explained that considering it may have burned my house down I would be more comfortable paying the difference for a new one as I guess they have no more 2000s.

The person I spoke to was very understanding and said they would kick it up to a supervisor and that the supervisor would contact me within 24 hours. 24 hours later with no call I called back and was told the supervisor just commented on my ticket that they could not accommodate me.

How lame is that to just avoid the customer. Even if they wanted to maintain their stand on the issue they could do it to me personally.
Look for three things Phillips:

1. My new "MY PRONTO CAUGHT FIRE" web site.
2. My refurb popping up on ebay with a fire extinguisher as a bonus
3. No more money from myself or anybody I can convince EVER!

There is no doubt that blanket policies like this remove the need for such talented supervisors. Hey Phillips, get rid of them and save some cash.

Lame

*Rant Off*

Tony

You're at least the 4th post (maybe 5th or 6th) that I've seen this happen to. Yours is the worst however. That's why I only put mine on the cradle when it needs a charge, YMMV.

I would first contact the place you purchased from and see what they'll do for you. I hope it wasn't Philips.

If you really want to elevate this problem, there are some old threads with phone numbers for some corporate types (don't know if the numbers are still good). They're probably about 1 to 2 years old. Do a search on Phiilips + phone + numbers.

Jim L

Jim, I thought that it was only 6000s that have been reported as over heating. I think this is the first case of a 2000 that I have heard of.

Tony, it is Philips policy to do warranty work by always replacing with a refurbished unit. I disagree with it (as do most of us), and it is illegal to do so in many countries (but not the U.S. apparently). But, it is now common practice in the computer insudtry, to have a similar policy. Most warranties state that goods could be repaired using second hand parts. There is a subtle difference though - repairing using secondhand parts is not the same as replacing the entire product with a secondhand unit.

On top of all that, the 2000 ceased production 9 months ago. Philips ran out of stock around November. They don't have a new one to give you, even if they wanted to.

Peter,

You're probably right about a 2000. I do remember at least one RC9200 that had a problem, but as far as a charger is concerned, I think they're the same.

Jim L

This happens when the remote does not get seated properly on the charger and the contacts on the remote bridges two of the pins on the charger resulting in a short. Philips is aware of the problem and that is why the changed the design of the new(RC9200, RC 5200, TSU 6000) chargers.

actually like Peter, I can't remember having heard of the problem on a 2000, on a 6000 and 9200 I have heard it a 5-6 times. I think Daniel was one of them.

I understand the problem about not having any. What ticks me off is after elevating the problem the supervisor cannot at least listen to my problem and I would have liked the option to pay the difference for the replacement to the 2000 just to get a new one.

Tony

Tony, I agree with you that the supervisor should have contacted you since that was the agreement.

On the other hand his hands might have been just as tied. Also "to "pay the difference" is easier said then done. The 2000 and 3000 have the same MRSP, also the 3000 (and the 2000 before it) were on the net at around 40% of MRSP. Also tech sup. is out sourced (from what I have read here), so they probably don't have access to new 3000s even if they wanted to do the exchange for you.

I had one Ponto that broke, and sent it back and got a refurb. Except for the sticker in the back you would think it was brand new

Thanks for the info Anthony,

I really do love the Pronto series. I just think that I will not be able to leave this thing on the charger when I am away as I will always wonder if it is ok.

Next time I may not be there to pick it up.

But except for Tony, the new chargers ARE the problem. One reported problem on the 2000, 4 or 5 on the new ones and there are a heck of lot more 2000's out there than 5200/9200/6000's.

Jim L

Jim,
Maybe we are talking about different problems.

I can only speak of my experience. I have around 50 clients that have 1000/2000 units and 3 have melted around the 4 contacts on the back while on the charger.

I have around 20 clients that have 5200/9200/6000 units and currently have had no failures.

While at a training sesson for the ipronto, the rep from Philips talked about this issue and stated that it was a known problem and that we "the dealer" should not have a problem with getting those units repaired or serviced and this was the reason for the change to the "slide in" charger.

Brady,

I suspect we are talking about different things. Still we haven't seen post about 2000's around here before. I can certainly understand what would happen if you crossed pins. But, at least on this forum, the new charger has had more "bad experiences" than the old.

Anthony,

Yes, Daniel was one who had the experience. So was Barry Shaw.

Jim L

This or something like it happened with the 1000s too.

The son of one of my clients was intrigued by a crackling noise when he walked into the family room and he found that it was coming from the charger that the 1000 was sitting in. The remote was hot and the charger VERY HOT.

He disconnected it all and they called me. Our Philips distributor was out of stock again (which is why WE ONLY SELL MARANTZ NOW AS WE CAN ALWAYS BUY THEM), and it took him three weeks to get us a new unit. At that time, the distributor was doing over-th-counter exchanges.

The heat had left a nickel-sized black blotch on the screen, which faded as the weeks went on. By the time the replacement was available, the spot was gone, but we decided it was best to let this one go. It might be the one I got as a refurb when mine went bad....:)

I would strongly suggest you report this incident to the consumer product safety commission. You can do this on-line at www.cpsc.gov.

They wont help you get a new one, but they can help make sure Phillips doesn't try to cover up what sounds like a serious problem.

-- Doug

This is the first time I've ever heard of a TS-1000, TSU2000, RC5000 or RC5000i doing this. Those all use the same charger system and, except for problems GETTING the remote to charge, have been fairly reliable.

This case sounds like a bad contact heating up, however it's odd that the charger didn't cut out (I had thought there was an overheat protection circuit).

Comparitively, I've heard of many more cases of overheating with the new charger system - TSU6000's in particular - and yes, I have had this happen to my own unit. Hot enough to blacken the battery's label and melt an outline of four batteries into the back of the remote. In this case I believe it to be more of a charger design problem (something in the circuit sticks on) rather than anything physical.