Feel Im getting ripped of

[Mountnsea]

I got a rockford fosgate 5002 amp which has a thermal light that comes on if the amplifier ovrheats, which has been coming on as soon as I turn the amp on. My problem is Ive taken it to a local shop in town who said he spent 1 1/2hrs cause some of the solder joints were weak so he had to replace them, when I got it home he had seagulled soldered 4 joints at a cost of $120, anyway I took amp home and thermal light came on, took amp back, he has now hooked it up to a 750w amp apparently and said the problem is you have blown transtistors and will cost $25 each???? I got the feeling this guy doesnt know what he is doing, what do you guys think, and what do you suggest is wrong with amp? Cheers for your thoughts Regards Tony

[luka]

HI

lol man, he is ripping you off like a joke... I don't even see why you paid him 120, if it didn't even work. I would want my money back... And never pay 25 for one transistors, you can get 10 of them or more for that money...

[Perry Babin]

In my opinion, if the problem is precisely the same, he should repair it for no additional charge. It is possible that the problem is intermittent and that he worked to find the problem, found some suspect solder joints, resoldered them and the amplifier no longer went into thermal protection. Intermittent problems can do that even if you don't find the problem. If he charges by the hour, it could have been a legitimate repair charge.

You said he connected your amp to a 750 watt amp? I think there was a bit of miscommunication there.

The information about the transistors is a bit vague. You didn't indicate whether that was the cost of replacing the transistors or the actual cost for each transistor. If the transistors are the outputs and you needed to have two or three replaced and he charged by the hour, it may well cost $75 to have 3 output transistors replaced. This would be inline with what a shop could ligitimately charge.

I'm always a bit cautious when people claim they're being ripped off by a repair shop. There are certainly bad shops that will rip you off but I've seen my share of people who claim they've been ripped off when that's not actually the case. If you go back to the shop and calmly explain that it's still going into thermal protection and that's what he had supposedly repaired, he may repair it without charging more.

[1moreamp]

seagulled soldered 4 joints at a cost of $120

So you opened the amp and went through his work ? And only saw 4 reworked solder joints...Hummmm..... And the amp failed Immediately ?? or did it play and then fail ??

Fist off I seal up my work to prevent prying eye's and I give detailed written explanations of all work performed and I return all parts to the owner. And in certain cases I open the amp and review my work with the owner, BUT I seal my work after that and if the seal is broken so is your warranty.

You could have damaged the amp more and now want warranty coverage of part that were not bad in the beginning. Did you re-install the amp yourself ? and how many years of professional install background do you have ??

Most people have no idea how to setup a amplifier fresh off a tech bench < all controls tested and not set as original> And the first thing most novice installers do is set the gains wrong and blow the amp < which might be the case in your situation, and maybe not>

RF amps are MEHSA and the Thermal issues tell me that their was something seriously wrong with the amp in the beginning. And with no serious work listed by you, I can't understand how you got it repaired. So I can not pass judgment on the tech weather he is competent or not. As there are not enough details on What, When, Where, and the lack of professional reinstall means that anything could have happened in between.

If in the future you get anything fixed ask for it to be bench tested before you leave the building, I have done this many times for some of my clients. It takes ten minutes and places suspicion to the side and builds customer client relationships.

Sorry to hear about your troubles, And I wish I could help you, maybe some of my advise will be of help for your next repair situation...Good Luck..