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I'm with Navindra here. The NV10 is a lot, a real lot of money. The responsibility lies with Kawai here.

Kawai customer service must be slipping because they were awesome when I owned their products. I called and talked to people directly, got parts for free, and excerpts from service manuals when I needed them. My biggest concern when I switched to Yamaha was that they wouldn't meet the high standard of customer service Kawai has. I wonder if the same people are at Kawai America Corporation that were there 3 years ago?

God Bless,
David

It could just be the pandemic; less people in the office at the same time, regulations that prohibit quickly sending out technicians to fix issues, that sort of thing. I know I've been working as hard and as long as ever since the pandemic, but I also know that some people in my company are complaining that my department's "service" has been slipping. (Apart from product development, we're also the very last helpdesk line; i.e., if everything has been tried, there's a chance there's a problem with the code, and then a ticket will end up with us). And yes, to some extent it has slipped a notch: less people in the office, people working from home (which is going just fine, but to some extent it _is_ slower due to having to do Teams meetings, and the home <-> work internet up/download through VPN just isn't as fast as directly on the company network, etc...), and some priorities that have shifted to keeping some services running online, that first were handled person-to-person.

I assume that, after the pandemic, everything will slowly return to normal, including Kawai's service.

In my case, the dealer has intervened, and Kawai has reacted ("Something got stuck in the system; we didn't have document X...."), and put my request through to a local technician shop. They have also reacted (asked for my purchase receipt), but that was just before easter. I haven't heard anything since. I'll wait until next week and then e-mail them.

The pandemic is the reason that I'm somewhat laid back about this instead of going up in flames about it.

Compared to some people nowadays, I'm somewhat different in my priorities for products:

1. Long term support and service
2. Build quality
3. Functionality
4. Price

In other words, I don't care about the price of a product. I set a budget and that's it. Then I set my standards for 1-3, in that order, and then buy the product that meets those as well as possible. If there isn't any, I'll either raise my budget and save longer, or I'll buy nothing. The one thing I might do is pare down on functionality, like I did with the LX-17 (no grand piano keyboard; but at that time, I couldn't have afforded the NV-10, it actually didn't exist yet, and I didn't like the N1 and N2 because of their age).

I don't have any problems with the fact that something can be wrong, or break, or whatever; stuff happens. What I do have _huge_ problems with is lackluster service on very expensive items that can be expected to last 15+ years. As said, the reason why I haven't seriously pushed this issue is because of the pandemic (and because the NV-10 is not broken: it just needs to be adjusted a tiny bit).

I'm sure it'll be done on the next two weeks or so.

When I had the Kawai CA79, I wrote to info@kawaius.com with no hope of any reply. But a manager did respond well within the day with an apologetic message saying he sympathises with me on the issues with the DP. I was well aware he couldn't really directly resolve the issues. But for me, that reply was huge after almost a year of silence from Kawai.

Navindra, if you wish, can you PM me your email, and I'll pass on the contact details of the Kawai US manager who responded to me? I've not talked to him, but his email signature has some contact information.

Yes, Kawai owes you a screw.
But if covid is causing delays ... I'd prioritize the notion that you owe yourself a proper repair.
I'd just go buy the screw.

Although I tend to agree:

What if. Something goes wrong later. And I reach out for a warranty issue. And Kawai tell me they won't take the item for warranty repair because I used a non-Kawai screw? What if they state that I attempted to open and put back the instrument myself so they void the warranty? Given the bureaucracy of Corporate America, fine print that I've signed without reading, catches not explicitly stated etc. etc., how would I feel if that's the response given to me after I decided not to bother Kawai with a simple screw issue?

If that happens, I'll eat the screw.

James
x

Hi Navindra,

Thanks for the good wishes. I sold my AG N2 because it was more than 10 years old and the sound is not compared to new models like N1X or NV10. Why not N1X? Because of the action. I am confident that the one of NV10 is better. I hope it will be fine.

. 🤣

The question of warranty is always ones that concern me. On the few occasions I've read the fine print replacing a screw like this will void the warranty. So you move from having a legal protection for the warranty to relying on the company's desire to maintain goodwill in satisfying the obligations of a warranty.

I've just read the warranty that applies for my MP11se and it is the case that any repair by a non authorised person voids the warranty. Perhaps the wording of these warranties should not be so strict and then we would not find ourselves in the position where the common sense approach can be easily interpreted as voiding the warranty.

There are laws that define the enforceability of such warranty provisions. In the US, manufacturers can't enforce such a "3rd party repairs void the warranty" or "peeling this sticker/seal voids the warranty" terms enforced, unless the 3rd party repair (or peeling the sticker) is what caused the issue being claimed for warranty.

Yes, it's a legal protection and that means you have to know your rights and bring the manufacturer to court (ultimately), but companies know what the law is, and they know what they print on warranty statements in order to reduce the instances of potential issues caused by "unauthorized access" or just to reduce total warranty claims because people read it and think they're out of luck. But if you make a warranty claim and they push back because of a 3p repair, the onus is on the manufacturer to prove the 3p repair caused or contributed to the issue, and you can push forcefully against their waffling; they'll eventually honor it because they know they'd lose ready in small claims (and it'd cost them way more than the repair just to show up).

KevinM, where did you see that in the warranty? Because I don’t see it (US warranty). I only see that any damage caused by an unauthorised repair is not covered. Which is kind of obvious. But as long as the unauthorised repair does not cause any damage, the warranty is not affected. And even if it does cause damage, any areas not related to that damage are still covered. Just not the damage itself.

See the second last "-" point under exclusions https://www.kawai.de/service/kawai5yearswarranty.pdf

That’s the Kawai UK warranty. Seems that their conditions are indeed worse than what e.g. Kawai US or Kawai Germany have. Both of those do not have such an exclusion (that I could find). Shame on Kawai UK I would say.

It says nothing about "wrong screws".This sort of warranty worry is widespread. And it's nonsense.
So just get the screw and be done.

If it is nonsense why is it written like that?

1. Depends on the warranty law in the UK.

2. Even if the warranty law doesn't allow such terms, manufacturers sometimes rely on severability, and keep those clauses in so they can cut down on warranty claims (not claiming Kawai is doing this, but it IS a common, and yes, nonsense, practice).

To chip in a more positive note, my NV10 got delivered today. Love it. It's beautiful, sounds & plays like a charm.

I did notice they had some struggles with some of the screws. Not going to remove them.

So moving on to the bigger problems with this piano: If only the screen would go fully black and it would even look more stunning with red felt ;-)

I was referring to the unfounded worries, not to the warranty.The warranty is not nonsense.