Been a long time since I have been on any forums but I have had a frustrating experience and while I know it can and likely will eventually be resolved, knowing that isn't helping me right now. I guess I just need to vent a little...

I bought a PA800 at the end of August. I really liked it, and coming from working for many years happily with the PA80, I like the sounds and the OS of the board.. Unfortunately, just over 3 months later, the touch screen decided to freeze up and won't work at all. I brought it back to the dealer, as there is an "authorized" repair shop in their building. I left it there and received the floor model as a loaner. This was in the first week of December. I wasn't totally comfortable with the loaner, as it has none of my personalized settings, and it isn't "mine", meaning I don't particularly like being responsible for someone else's board, but at the same time, I was grateful that they let me use it. At about the 10 day mark I called and the repair person stated that he didn't "get around to looking at it yet". He told me he'd let me know as soon as possible.

Well, I let it be, as I was busy as the Holidays came and went. Finally, I called yesterday. I get.. "Hang on a minute.. Oh it's done !!. Really ? Glad I called or else I might have never known. "OK, I am going to pick it up on Saturday" I said, and the repair guy stated that it was fine. Weekdays are difficult for me because of the conflict in hours with my job. I go to pick it up today and the desk guy tells me that there is a $ 75 dollar fee. Really ? It should be under warranty. I just bought it in August. He says he has no control over it because the repair shop is a "separate" entity. I remind him that the people who sold me the board had me bring it to this "separate company" that just happens to be in their store. I argued back and forth, but I had already turned the loaner in and tonight I am playing out so at this point I need the board, so.... Under "protest" I decided that I would either have to pay or I was walking out with no keyboard.... I paid and decided that I would try to straighten it out this week when the owner and the repair guy are there. Again, weekdays and logistics ( the store is an hour plus from me ) are a problem making doing this in person very difficult ... Meanwhile I am a tad aggravated because I feel like the buck is being passed. OK, maybe the repair guy is a separate entity, but did the store even tell him that the board had been sold less than 4 months prior at the time he got it ? Maybe it makes no difference, but I have spent probably 20 grand at this place since the late 80s.. I realize that doesn't "entitle" me to anything, but even before this happened I could not help shake the perception that things changed over the years after they expanded as opposed to when they were a small "hole in the wall". It just seems that the service was a good bit more "personal" and the employees were helpful, and more customer friendly.

But great, I got my PA800 back right ? Except that after 90 seconds of use the screen is again locked up. Now I am out several hours of my time, gas money, and to boot I have NO working Keyboard since I sent the loaner back. I got by with my Tyros 2 just fine, as it is my backup board., but truth be told, I'm just so used to the way Korg does things that I struggle a bit with the navigation on the Tyros. Plus... the Organs and the electric guitar sounds on the Tyros do NOT please my ears all that much( personal preference I know )

Here we go again, round 2 and I am wondering how long it is going to be before this is made right. ... Sorry.. I am beside myself and I just HAD to vent a little...

I am really sorry to hear about your bad experience with the dealer authorized service center/and-or the music store where you have made the PA800 and previous purchases.

Is ashamed that good customer service is hard to find this days.

In other topic, I had no one, but 3 different new PA 800s, and none gave me that problem, check that you have the latest OS loaded, I also have a PA 500(touch screen also, no problem so far).

I hope soon you get resolved all those issues favorably, one advise to you would be to make sure you calibrate your touch screen as soon you get it, and of course, make a backup

of the current resources and save all your performances and user styles, in case that you may have a corrupted OS, I would consider reload the the OS and Factory resources just in case,

with the backup previously made, you can reload your user styles, performances, global, etc...I hope this helps.

When you find time, take it back with the $75.00 receipt (you didn't get what you paid for so the $75.00 should be refunded, while you give them back the keyboard - unless you want to pay another $75.00 for the same problem).

Next, get the loaner once more. When you go back to pick up yours (keep loaner in car) - test it for about 30mins before making any decisions!

Just my thoughs on this one. Sounds 'mean', but ... fair I would say.

AJ

All Good suggestions guys. Thank for the responses. I have everything backed up though. All the way back to the beginning of the PA80 too, I still have all of those files as well. I learned the hard way many years ago with computer stuff after having a hard drive go down causing me to lose hours upon hours of recordings/instrument tracks that had I made. Everything gets backed up and I have more than one backup too.

Given how long I had the board I still don't think that I should have had to pay a dime in the first place, but right now the bigger concern is how many trips I'll need to make and hours I will have to spend before this is right.

I had a similarly difficult experience with an early run PSR2000 many years ago, and it took quite a while (months) to resolve, but the dealer ( same one ) did his best to help every step of the way. I don't see that type of commitment quite as much in the early stages today, but the company has grown a good bit and there are many new faces.. The other concern here is that unlike the PSR2000, which was widely known to have some problems very early in it's run, the PA800 is at the end of it's run and my problem seems to be very isolated. After having searched quite intensely, I cannot find a similar incident with it anywhere on the 'net, although the M3 has been known to have similar display issues ( my M3 has worked flawlessly since day one )

I like this board when it is working as much as anything I have ever owned. Ironically, I play it more with no styles or with very minimal backing than I do using the full style mode.

Hi AJ,
great to hear from you again.
Sorry to hear about your Korg.
My screen went too, it went black though. Unfortunately it was out of warranty & I had to replace it.
You did try re loading your os? just in case it was software related ?

I must admit I luved my PA800, my PA3x even moreso.

I swore to myself at the time I'd never buy another korg BUT, currently I've got 2. haahaa

Hi Rikki. Nice to talk with you again. I want to reload the OS, but I cannot even do that because the screen is frozen. It is completely unresponsive. The tech treated it as though it was a mechanical problem, something to do with poor connections or some kind of dust or other substance on contacts for the display, but I have my doubts that this is the issue at all. That would make no sense, unless it was a display model or somehow re-packaged as a new board.

The board has been kept covered when not in use and is in pristine condition and has been taken out of here only a few times, I only play out on a few rare occasions these days. I tend to think it is related to the unit's software.

The other issue is that I was already considering replacing it with a PA3x right before this happened, but every day that the board is out of commission is a day that I cannot put it up for sale and it will continue to lose value. On the other hand, I am at a point where I am beginning to wonder if I will have a "lifetime" of problems with the display on this particular board and I would be somewhat hesitant to sell it anyway because I wouldn't want to pass that on to someone else.

HI AJ,

Is this Alto in Middletown NY? This sounds WAAAY out of character for that store. I have personally had outstanding service from that store. I had a Tyros 2 screen repaired under warranty with no Fee charged and they gave me a loaner as well.

Who were you working with? Chris in keyboards?

Al

Yes it is Al. I haven't been able to deal with Chris directly except over the phone because He wasn't there when I dropped the board off and he wasn't there when I picked it up either, but he did make the loaner arrangement for me. Again it is difficult for me to go there on a weekday when he is there without being off from work and if I do go it is usually in the evening when he is already gone. He has been very good with me in the past, but it feels like an alternate universe inside there on the weekends...

I agree Al, they did very well by me when I had the PSR2000 issue, which was related to computer chips that didn't work properly in some of the early run models. I also had the T2 screen issue but it was well after the warranty and it cost a small fortune to fix ( no fault of Alto's though and I did not ask for a loaner as I got by fine with PA80 and software rig for backup ). . At this point I want this board fixed properly ASAP or I want a new one.. I have had it about 4 and a half months and for the past month and change no board. The loaner was ok but the display on it was a lot less bright for some reason and hard to see. I was also reluctant to load my personal settings which are important to me.

The experience has done nothing for me in regards to wanting a new board. After shelling out big bucks for the T2 repair and now the issues here, I tend to want to go back to an all software rig with a reliable workstation as a midi controller and for it's acoustic sounds ( Motif ES always worked well for that ) , but the main drawback for me of course is the intense work needed to match styles to software sounds. I know can pull it off though because I like doing mainly acoustic sets.

Hi AJ,
do you know if you had the latest o.s. 2.1
http://www.korgpa.com/pa_root/en/products/pa800_soft.html?en
though strangely enough, I think I have 2.2 but not sure where I downloaded it?

You actually do start the process with the keyboard switched off. Might make matters worse, Suppose depends how desperate you are & you would want to check if it nulls some sort of warranty.

I tried it, didn't help. As I said, my screen went dark, but I knew it wasn't totally dead, in certain light I could see shadows of the icons.
I had no choice but to replace.
[quote=Bluezplayer]Hi Rikki. Nice to talk with you again. I want to reload the OS, but I cannot even do that because the screen is frozen. It is completely unresponsive. The tech treated it as though it was a mechanical problem, something to do with poor connections or some kind of dust or other substance on contacts for the display, but I have my doubts that this is the issue at all. That would make no sense, unless it was a display model or somehow re-packaged as a new board.

I have 2.1 Rikki and I would have liked giving the OS thing a shot but at this point I am concerned that there are other issues and I am afraid to try it for fear it will only get worse or make problems for me with the warranty. I spoke with the regular keyboard guy there today ( Chris ) at the store and I am confident that he is going to do his best to make this right. I have worked through him for many years and he has always been top notch. It really is like an "Alternate Universe" there when he and a couple of the other regular crew isn't there though.

I think maybe that's just the growing pains of expanding from what was once a small store that was about the size of a small house to the giant store they have now that is the size of a city block ( along with two other locations that they opened since then )

If it all goes well, I will probably add the extra bucks and upgrade right to a PA3x, or if not... a properly working 800 will more than fit the bill for me.