Sid repair: Don't use Kramer Micro!

[Expidia]

By the time I read the bad threads on Kramer Micro I had already mailed the unit to him BIG MISTAKE.

I sent it to Kramermicrorepair.com (Northhampton, MA).

The result was he tried to scam me into paying him $259 as he said he tried repairing mine but could not get all the pixels back. "No clock". The reason I sent it to him in the first place was No Clock and a few other lost pixels.

I said hold on, your site advertises a repair for $69 or an exchange for $99! He said since your SID has been repaired now (BY HIM) He needs to charge me the full price for another one because my exchange unit is now unrepairable.

This guys website is convincing enough, but the bottom line is he can't repair your SID. What he trys to get you to do is send him $69 plus $10 return shipping and then he tells you it's not repairable. He offers you a $25 refund to send it back to you knowing most people would take his word for your unit being unrepairable and then trys to get you to send him another $190.

I told him to send it back to me with the $25 refund.

I then sent it to BBA Remanufacturing www.bba-reman.com (they have a toll # on their site) and they repaired mine n two days for $69 plus $5.00 return postage. Received it today and it's perfect.

My experiences with this guy Kramer Micro are echoed by others in various threads as they had the same bad experience with him.

My advice is stay away from this guy, far away.

BBA (Taunton, MA) is excellent for SID repair or exchange. They also work on units that some have tried to fix themselves (kramer won't).

This thread should be a sticky, so others don't get sucked into this guy!

[toxicavenger]

alot of us have been down that road to bro!

[abdukted1456]

that's too bad.

i used Kramer and got a SID back in like 2 days, working 99% perfect.

then after a week or two, it lost a couple pixels, but still 90%

WAY better than not being able to read it at all.

[stipud]

My BBA reman is still at 100% after a year (and it comes with a lifetime warranty!)

BBA can have my manbabies.

[toxicavenger]

just wait and I bet by the end of the year you won't be able to read anything. BBA has done 2 of mine and made them 100%. One of them was one Kramer said he couldn't fix. The other one had a rippeed ribbon.

Originally Posted by abdukted1456

that's too bad.

i used Kramer and got a SID back in like 2 days, working 99% perfect.

then after a week or two, it lost a couple pixels, but still 90%

WAY better than not being able to read it at all.

[Jssaab]

Originally Posted by abdukted1456

that's too bad.

i used Kramer and got a SID back in like 2 days, working 99% perfect.

then after a week or two, it lost a couple pixels, but still 90%

WAY better than not being able to read it at all.

Uacceptable BBA is 100% and if you lose andy lifetime warranty....

[Tailspin]

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=131971

Total cost = zero

[Jssaab]

THis fix only works lke 50% of the time and often fails withina a few months...

[raquettelaker2]

Yeah and then you can also be stupid like me and leave the iron on too long and have the cable melt right off, so you can't even send it out to be repaired if you ever decide to cough up the cash. I had to buy a salvaged one from Goldwing. I'm happy though, it looks GREAT.

[Tailspin]

Originally Posted by Jssaab

THis fix only works lke 50% of the time and often fails withina a few months...

I'll keep that thread updated then, I hope it doesnt deteriorate!

[cdp88]

Just out of interest I went and had a look at the classifieds section here for the 9-5. The SID repair company that is being criticised in this thread has an advertisement there.

If this company is as bad as the discussion here would indicate why is it allowed to advertise on the site?

Or, is it the case that anyone is free to advertise and it is up to the buyers to decide whether they want to do business with the company based on feedback from other buyers?

I can understand both points of view but was curious as to which one has been adopted by the forum.

[Al's Red Wagon]

Welcome to the classifieds. It currently remains free for private advertisers to place advertisements here. Trade advertisers, please get in touch for our rates.

In either case, I certainly hope that they paid for their ad space.

[valbowski1980]

Originally Posted by stipud

My BBA reman is still at 100% after a year (and it comes with a lifetime warranty!)

BBA can have my manbabies.

................. The will have to settle for my business

[alexofc69]

Yep,
Kramer Micro sux. I sent my original unit in. apperently the ribbon was bad. Therefor he couldnt repair. So, I ended up paying $275 for another unit. Not too long it started loosing pixels and gets worse every week. They refuse to just send me a replacement from their stock and says if it gets worse they will re-repair. Why should I have them re-repair a unit that came from their stock??
Had I dont more research here before I sent my unit in i would have sent to BBA.

[Bbmin7(b5)]

thats funny. i tried BBA and they couldnt get my unit repaired. I ended up buying one off ebay.

[alexofc69]

Originally Posted by Bbmin7(b5)

thats funny. i tried BBA and they couldnt get my unit repaired. I ended up buying one off ebay.

I can understand no being able to repair the existing unit. But, Kramer sent me a completely different unit that is going bad and is refusing to exchange it.

[toxicavenger]

Then yours must have been pretty bad because my ribbon was completely seperated from the board and they fixed it. And my first had a torn ribbon and it came back fixed. So you were lucky they didn't do like Kramer did to me which was send me back one that was only around 90% and started to decline as time went by. So it is the one of the ones I sent to BBA and it still almost 2 years later.

Originally Posted by Bbmin7(b5)

thats funny. i tried BBA and they couldnt get my unit repaired. I ended up buying one off ebay.

[go4gr8]

Originally Posted by Tailspin

http://www.saabcentral.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=131971

Total cost = zero

I'm going to try this DIY. Looks pretty simple! We've got no pixels now and kind of need it on our road trip.

[Josdek]

I am all in favor on trying this repair yourself. But....my only advice is to be conservative in your efforts. I repaired mine by very gently using a relatively cool iron. I restored about 95% and then succumbed to the "if a little is good more must be wonderful." On the second pass with the iron the substance that holds the ribbon cable on had had enough and seperated with almost zero force on it. It appears that whatever it is (it's sort of glue-like but isn't exactly glue), it will tolerate some heating once, maybe twice, but then starts to delaminate.
Let us know how it works, vicarious success is better than none at all (I think).

[raquettelaker2]

Originally Posted by Josdek

I am all in favor on trying this repair yourself. But....my only advice is to be conservative in your efforts. I repaired mine by very gently using a relatively cool iron. I restored about 95% and then succumbed to the "if a little is good more must be wonderful." On the second pass with the iron the substance that holds the ribbon cable on had had enough and seperated with almost zero force on it. It appears that whatever it is (it's sort of glue-like but isn't exactly glue), it will tolerate some heating once, maybe twice, but then starts to delaminate.
Let us know how it works, vicarious success is better than none at all (I think).

Same happened to me. I would just cough up the $70 and send it to BBA-Reman and have it done right the first time.