jury rigging

[dmb182]

I'm in america, have a shadow, and it was having a problem reading discs. I sent it to avolites for repair and they replaced the hard drive and floppy drive. The first show i used it at, i tried to load some personalities and it still wont read discs. In fact now it wont read discs at all. So i'm at a show, with a full intelligent package on the up stage truss, and couldnt get them to work.

I had a bunch of studio spot 250's, cb12tr's, colorado1's. So with no way to control them, i put the cb12tr's on an auto scroll at the power supply, put the colorado's on a solid color (truss warmers), and patched the closest personality i could find to a studio spot (intellabeam i think it was) and had control over dimmer pan and tilt and limited colors... it KIND of worked. i dont think the spots were at full dim, and i could hear other wheels in side the fixture spinning endlesssly. but i got through the show. any one else have any crazy stories like this?

on a side note, i called avolites america today to get the board fixed and they went through some steps with me on the phone before deciding to get the board sent back. the thing that sucks though is one of our biggest events of hte year is next week, and i really needed this week for prep time in the shop with some new fixtures and such. now maybe this is just me, but since i sent the board back with a problem, got billed, and the board was still broke, i thought they'd be very apologetic. they were not. when i inquired as to weather or not the repair would be free (which i thought was an obvious answer?) they said it depends on the problem. also, i was told they dont have ANY loaners to send to me just in case this one isnt back in time? ummm what? WHAT? they dont have any spare boards to send me? They represent avolites in america and they dont have a handful of desks that can go out just in case this very thing happens?

now i was asking the question almost as a courtsey... OF COURSE IT WOULD BE FREE! I SENT A BOARD BACK THAT DIDNT WORK! GOT BILLED! AND IT STILL DOESNT WORK!? Quite frankly i was surprised he didnt erase the initial repair bill as well. And now i have to send it back because i basically have no options, because as far as i can tell they are the only avolites dealer in america. quite honestly this is making me regret going with avolites over HES because despite the board's ease of use, i'm a slave to their customer service.

[Olie]

I am sorry you feel this way and you have had so many problems.

From what you describe this sounds like standard practice for products that are out of warranty and is not just Avolites. I am sure Avolites America is doing everything they can to resolve your problem but these kind of problems can often be difficult to solve. I also know that Avo America holds the largest amount of spare parts of any of our distributors and this is a fact they are proud of.

I will make Avolites America aware of your post but for now I am locking this thread. If you wish to reply then feel free to PM me and I will append it to the thread.