Carillon Audio, Carillon Audio Systems, CarillonUSA ripoff London New Jersey

I received my Carillon computer tower in February of last year (2005) after waiting months. Originally, I was notified that it would take only 3 weeks to arrive. Now, after a little over a year, I have experienced serious problems starting with the CD burner going out, high noise problems connecting the MBox external sound card through the USB connections, and now finally, total failure of the motherboard.

Originally, I contacted a knowledgeable tech who would call back usually within 5 to 10 minutes of my original message to help with issues. Now Carillon's customer service in the US consists of emailing incompetent techs who refuse to even contact me at all by phone when I made them aware of the computer spontaneously "shutting down". The email replies were of no help and basically redundant.

Finally, I was forced to contact a local computer repairman to find out why the computer was shutting down. He notified me that the processor was running at a dangerously high 190 degrees and that too much thermal compound had been applied at Carillon's factory between the processor and heat sink. Therefore, the processor was holding in heat and causing the computer to shut down. Two capacitors on the board had been blown and the board was scorched (which I could see visibly). He also notified me that the motherboard was, in his opinion, inferior quality, along with the power supply, which was also replaced.

After contacting Sony about the CD burner that went out, they informed me that the model in my computer was a lower end ($24.99) burner and I would be better off just replacing it. Needless to say, I started to get the feeling that my Carillon was a pieced together computer, thrown together with inferior parts.

In conclusion, I am not asking for a total refund of money or a new machine (although I would appreciate a new CD burner and the $220.42 it cost for repairs). I would like to believe that Carillon stands behind their product, but they DO NOT and they emailed a reply stating so. Carillon didn't live up to everything I read about previously to purchasing this machine.

Dennis
Kissimmee, Florida
U.S.A.