Last week I ordered my Denon AVR 1609 from Crutchfield ($100 off! Closeout! Whoo!)

This week, the remote just quit working. Well, actually, it just stopped controlling the AVR. It still works with other stuff it’s programmed for. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t get it working again.

So, this morning, sad me called Crutchfield support about it. After the (competent and American) support agent walked me through the troubleshooting, he put me on hold to “See what we could do”. His first offer on coming back? Exchange it. Oh, and the new one would be cross-shipped, and go out today. Oh yes, they will be paying the shipping both ways, and emailing a prepaid label for the return.

This, kids, is why Crutchfield charges MSRP for most things. It’s so they can afford to do stuff like this. Pay it, it’s worth it to have bought from them when stuff breaks or you don’t know how to use it (Yes, they can give useful setup help too).

Btw, they still have these AVRs up at the $250 price (Normally they go for $350), it sounds amazing. Sure, it doesn’t have all the fancy HDMI junk, but it DOES have Audyssey and a REAL 75w amp. And it weighs well over 20lbs. Unheard of for a $300-tier model.