[bars] MFJ?

Fri Sep 25 21:24:20 EDT 2020

You misunderstood me and their policy.

When it’s an MFJ Item you can return it to MFJ yourself or ask the retailer to do it for you.  It does happen that retailers will replace the item out of stock and send the defective one back to MFJ, working it out with them themselves.  You can always get a copy of your receipt from retailers even if you lost the original.  MFJ backs up retailers customers the same as their own.

By purchasing MFJ product from a retailer, you do not lose the benefits of getting it from MFJ direct.  I would say that MFJ is better than most manufacturers of Ham stuff.

What you quote is the fall back policy for all Ham retailers and some on line sellers as well. That doesn’t mean that it’s always what happens.   Pro Tip: Open the box carefully, retain all packing material, keep manuals etc. clean if you can.  Don’t take plastic protection off of displays until you have seen the rig basically work.  Read the manual very carefully and observe all precautions.  If there is a problem, seek solutions not drama.

W1GCF, Geoff

From: Tom Walsh [mailto:k1tw at comcast.net] 
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 8:51 PM
To: 'Geoffrey Feldman'; hgcsenior at gmail.com
Cc: 'Andy Wallace'; 'BARS Reflector'
Subject: RE: [bars] MFJ?

Hi Geoff,

Not at HRO;  maybe others.  

>From the HRO website: “Defective items may be returned for an exchange, return or upgrade within 10 days of the purchase date. Non-defective items returned within 10 days for credit or refund will be subject to a minimum 15% re-stocking fee."

Unless I am missing something , HRO’s 10 days and a 15% restocking fee is not as good as MFJ’s 30 days with a full refund. 

Tom

From: Geoffrey Feldman <geoffreyf at comcast.net> 
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 6:31 PM
To: 'Thomas Walsh' <k1tw at comcast.net>; hgcsenior at gmail.com
Cc: 'Andy Wallace' <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com>; 'BARS Reflector' <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: RE: [bars] MFJ?

30 day return also applies to retailers.  I’ve seen some returns that they really didn’t have to honor and did, sending out a completely new unit.

Geoff W1GCF

From: bars [mailto:bars-bounces at w1hh.org] On Behalf Of Thomas Walsh
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 4:42 PM
To: hgcsenior at gmail.com
Cc: Andy Wallace; BARS Reflector
Subject: Re: [bars] MFJ?

I too like MFJ. If you buy direct, You can’t beat their 30 day return policy so the risk is low. Just pay shipping    And 12 month warranty is decent. 

Tom K1TW 

On Sep 25, 2020, at 3:52 PM, hgcsenior at gmail.com wrote:

MFJ, is a big bang for the buck, and it’s made by hams for hams in the USA.   I sent my brother their 949e antenna tuner, and it does the job, it does the job for less than $200, it’s not built like my James Millen tune which cost $300 plus made in Malden MA 42 years ago, Ten Tec  had a similar business model, I wish they would come back.

Henry

From: bars <bars-bounces at w1hh.org> On Behalf Of Andy Wallace
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 11:35 AM
To: Jim Idelson <jim at k1ir.com>
Cc: BARS Reflector <bars at w1hh.org>
Subject: Re: [bars] MFJ?

Wow, that’s a guarantee that even the folks under the BARS Near-Fest tent wouldn’t give us! :)

Sorry just made N1HTS blow coffee out his nose. 

Andy

On Sep 25, 2020, at 10:03 AM, Jim Idelson <jim at k1ir.com> wrote:

MFJ is a wonderful asset to our community. Many things at low prices. But, as others have mentioned, quality issues arise too frequently. My experience is that MFJ always takes steps to quickly resolve such issues; you don't have to fix it yourself.

I ordered parts for repair of a HyGain 204ba - an ancient antenna. The parts arrived and remained in the box, unopened for 18 months. When I opened the box to start the repair project, I found that the part kits were incomplete. Would MFJ make things right on my word alone after such a long time? They did. One call and the remaining parts were shipped on their nickel.

73 Jim K1IR

On Fri, Sep 25, 2020, 9:18 AM Andy Wallace <soldersmoke01 at gmail.com> wrote:

Tom Walsh brought over a small MFJ antenna tuner - the 100W mobile one - for me to fix. This was shown in a previous BARS newsletter. 

The failure was shorting of one of the variable caps at a certain dial setting. It turned out that a design defect (sheet metal front panel poorly stiffened) or assembly mistake (stiff wiring connecting the cap terminals) caused misalignment of the plates. Reflowing the solder joint caused the cap to release the tension and recenter itself. It would be really nitpicking to say this was a junky product. Plus Tom had used it for years. 

My father left behind a damaged Cushcraft R7 vertical which I’d like to repair. That model isn’t around anymore but they make similar ones and I hope to call MFJ and get parts as Bruce says. 

Support the companies that support us, I say. 

Andy

KA1GTT

On Sep 25, 2020, at 8:48 AM, Bruce Blain <bruce.blain at charter.net> wrote:

I’d like to  chime in….

Besides acquiring all of these failing amateur radio companies, they manage to  keep supporting a lot of the old products that these companies manufactured in the past.  Plastic parts for your Cushcraft antennas?  No problem.  Amplifier parts for your 30 year old Ameritron amplifier?  No problem.  And while they could charge an arm-and-a-leg for these parts, I find them quite reasonable.

So even with the quality perception people have, those of us with older products would have a much harder time maintaining them without MFJ.  I give them a lot of credit, and agree with Andy that we are lucky to have them.

Bruce, K1BG

From: bars [mailto:bars-bounces at w1hh.org] On Behalf Of Andy Wallace
Sent: Friday, September 25, 2020 8:12 AM
To: William Smith
Cc: bars at w1hh.org
Subject: Re: [bars] MFJ?

They have also acquired other companies like Hy-Gain and Cushcraft over the years so they may have better reviews factoring those companies’ successful products. 

But we ARE lucky to have a company selling so many ham products at all. 

Andy

KA1GTT

On Sep 25, 2020, at 7:41 AM, William Smith <w_smith at compusmiths.com> wrote:

Way back when, before the turn of the century 😎 we always called MFJ "Mighty Fine Junk", as it was pretty low quality, not very durable or reliable, and very inexpensive.

Now that I'm getting back into Amateur Radio, I'm noticing a lot of ads and some pretty good reviews for MFJ, did they fix their quality issues and are now considered decent quality, or did they just increase their ad budget?  🤷‍♂️

73,

Willie

N1JBJ

William P. N. Smith
ComputerSmiths Consulting, Inc.

978-600-1621

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