The Harman Kardon TC30, the Monster Cable 300 both are Logitech OEM private branded remote controls.

Such privately branded remotes, regardless of there excellence, live fragile lives in the market place. They can be discontinued without support just as quickly as they appear on the market in the first place.

Case in point the aforementioned Harman Kardon TC30. I, along with many other paid upwards to $300 for this excellent remote. But, the TC30 celebrated it's third birthday, give a take a few months, HK suddenly cancelled further sales and cancelled in warranty and out of warrantry service! And forget about talking to Logitech. Those clowns could care less.

Within the last two months my personal TC30 began to experience problems. Just the other day I contacted HK about my problems and today received this sobbering reply. After you read it you will understand will I adviced you never to purchase a private branded OEM remote.

------------------------------------

Good afternoon and thanks for your inquiry. I can certainly understand
your concern regarding your TC30. Unfortunately, the TC 30 was abruptly
discontinued early this year and as a result we were left without a way
to provide support regarding replacement of any kind within warranty
and
outside of warranty at this time. We are trying to obtain replacement
units for customer issues however, it is not known if or when that will
happen. It is very unfortunately that the remote cannot be repaired
which puts customers such as yourself in a precarious position
regarding
operation.

Please bear with us while we continue to search on a feasible way to
service our valued customers such as yourself regarding this matter. I
will keep your email contact information available if we are to come
across a way to properly service remotes going forward.

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Marketing speak. If you are really a "valued customer", this would never have happened.

If it is under warranty you should read the warranty... they typically require repair or replacement.

I'd demand a replacement in a reasonable timeframe (e.g. 2 weeks) or a full refund.

If they refuse either then I'd start calling the home office mgmt. If they don't want to help, I'd threaten to file complaints with BBB & your state attorney general.

A large company like Harmon should have no problem rectifying the problem.

I think your statement is overly broad. And comparing the HK to the Monster is like comparing a 65 VW to a 2007 Lexus. Also one should remember HK's past foray into the RC game. I seriously question their committment to the genre.

On the other hand Monster has built considerable quality and usability into their units. They have come up with an entire line of home control devices based on their remote unit. It appears that they are in it for the long haul. Futhermore, I still see the Monster program site as more user friendly and intuitive than Harmony/Logitech. Is that to say Monster is perfect--of course not. Which one is? But when visiting this forum, I constantly read about quality control issues with Logitech devices. I have had my Monster for about a year now with NO ISSUES. I had the Logitech device and returned TWO of them for poor build quality. I have yet to experience the exasparation of the cradle/charging problem almost universally reported by Logitech owners.

I would recommend to anyone looking for an internet based RC to seriously consider spending the extra $$$ on the Monster. In this case you truly get what you pay for.