Looking at a factory refurbished Toshiba DVD recorder

Heel n Toe · 04-27-2009, 01:07 PM

Have any of you ever bought a "factory refurbished" electronic item? I'm looking at this basic Toshiba DVD recorder at savinglots.com, and as you can see, they say it "comes with a 90 day manufacturers standard warranty:" http://www.savinglots.com/lotprod.asp?item=DRW2x

I read customer reviews of it at Amazon, and it's got the basic capabilities I need, but the units listed at Amazon are used/refurbished and in those seller stores they have... IMO, those setups are very much "buyer beware" as I'm sure Amazon doesn't stand behind them. That's why I went looking elsewhere.

Here is savinglots.com's explanation of "What exactly does factory refurbished mean?"

http://www.savinglots.com/RefurbProductsExplain.asp

Which is fine if they're not lying.

I'd rather buy new, but I can't find this unit locally and it fits what I need. They're saying it's less likely to have a defect because it's been factory repaired and tested.

Anyone have any experience with savinglots.com? I've never heard of them.

vangndy · 04-27-2009, 01:37 PM

never dealt with them before, nor have i owned a toshiba, but my current phillips dvd player is a factory refurbed model, and has worked fine for over 2 years. if i had to do it over again i would get another model tough as this particular model is a little noisy, when watching late at night with the volume on low sometimes i can hear the dvd power unit buzzing and whirring. i think its more due to the lower end model i bought rather than any defect with it being refurbed. it wasn't noticeable when it was hooked up in my living room and sat 6 feet away from me but now that its my backup system and sits on a table about 3 feet from my desk it can be quite annoying.

Pazuzu · 04-27-2009, 01:44 PM

I buy refurbs all the time. Hey, it's likely that new equipment has never actually been QCed by anyone, so a refurb has been checked over by at least one person, instead of no one.

Yes, sometimes the stuff is DOA, but that happens with new stuff too. Every refurb I've had that failed did so immediately, well within the warranty period.

stomachmonkey · 04-27-2009, 02:09 PM

A lot of refurbs are open box items.

Returned for reasons other than they were broken.

Was at Costco last weekend. Returned a ceiling fan the wife bought online. Reason for return was the paint had a texture that we did not like but it did not show in the pics online.

Guy in front of us was returning a DVD player, claimed it did not work properly, seems the manager remembered him returning a different one very recently for the same reason. He was trying to explain to the guy that it was unlikely 2 different brands/models would exhibit the same problem and the issue was more than likely how he was hooking them up.

Heel n Toe · 04-27-2009, 09:06 PM

I appreciate the input, guys... I'm not concerned about the refurbished thing now.

Stanley · 04-27-2009, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

I buy refurbs all the time. Hey, it's likely that new equipment has never actually been QCed by anyone, so a refurb has been checked over by at least one person, instead of no one.

Dito, that's what I feel about refurbs too. My current DVD player is also a refurb, works great and was half the price of new.

onewhippedpuppy · 04-28-2009, 05:50 AM

I've bought refurbs in the past, never an issue.

I still have a Toshiba DVD player that I bought back in 1998. Those were my party days, so it has had EVERYTHING spilled on/in it. Ever come home to find your home theatre equipment covered in beer? I have. Damn thing still works like new. I also have a Toshiba LCD TV. I've always been happy with their products.