Avoiding Harmony Remote Scams, Rip-Offs and Bad Biz! : eBay Guides

Take it from one who knows, the Harmony Remote secondary market can be a dangerous place for the uninitiated. Villains, thieves and scoundrels lay in wait to part the unsuspecting from their hard-earned money. Or, sometimes the seller is unwittingly auctioning a piece of junk. Certainly, you are probably safe from danger if you are looking to buy a NIB retail package. But, even purchasing a customer-return can be risky. And, if you are like me, looking for a good deal on an as-is purchase for parts, repair and refurbishment, then you are swimming in the most dangerous of waters. Here are a few things to watch out for as you search the listings for your perfect Harmony Remote deal:

• Be especially careful when an auction states “LCD lights up, remote works, sold as-is No Returns”. This does not mean that the remote will work for you. Many, many remotes are being sold that have been disabled by Logitech. These remotes, which have been replaced under warranty, can no longer be programmed, so your device configuration cannot be loaded. There is no fix for this condition, (unless you know how to swap out EEPROM chips), and although the remote can still be salvaged for parts, it cannot be refurbished and sold, or function for personal use. You must ask the seller “Can the remote be programmed?” If they cannot answer, you buy at your own risk.

• Another scam is to sell a disabled remote with a broken USB port. The auction may state “Working remote, broken USB port, sold as-is, No Returns”.  You may think you’re getting a great deal and all you need to do is solder on a new USB port. But, unscrupulous sellers have been known to deliberately destroy a USB port. The remote gets sold for a much higher price than if it had been advertised as disabled and then, when you repair the port and try to program, you get the dreaded “remote has been disabled” message. Again, try to get some confirmation that the remote can be programmed.

• In the same vein, new owners sometimes get a remote replaced under warranty due to some small defect and then unwittingly try to sell the old remote on Ebay. They may not even realize that the remote has been disabled.  If you buy a remote from someone who says they had their remote replaced, ask if Logitech replaced it under warranty. They may be sending you an expensive paperweight.

• Sometimes the firmware on a Harmony remote gets trashed and this presents great opportunity and great risk for ‘as-is’ buyers.  Sellers may advertise remotes that  ‘do not power on’  or  ‘will not boot past the Harmony splash screen’ or ‘power on and then shut off’, etc, etc.  Sellers who don’t have the time (or don’t particularly care) to debug these events will sometimes let these things go for a song – to the advantage of the buyer. However, other more savvy sellers have already tried everything that you are going to try (i.e. Safe Mode, battery only boot, USB-only boot, charging cable removal, Web UI vs. Client and other (sorry, can’t give away trade secrets). These sellers already KNOW that the remote is cooked and they are not going to tell you. Not much you can hope for here, but it never hurts to ask. Maybe a seller with a conscience will tell you that he tried Safe Mode and it did not work. Truth is, it may actually work the next time, but at least a more full disclosure will take some of the risk out of your buying.

• Now, I know this sounds strange, but when an auction says “Remote does not work, sold as-is, No Returns”, you should ask if the remote has any ‘guts’, anything  in it at all. Some floor models are sold and the reason they don’t work is because they are just a pretty shell – no PCB, not even a real LCD screen, just a dummy picture!

• Folks, I've seen some ads recently from sellers who are auctioning off Harmony One's with cracked LCD screens. Some of these guys are saying that you can purchase a replacement LCD screen for this model for as little as $10, or are suggesting that it is an easy user-installable repair. Don't believe it! First, H1 LCD screens are available, but only for late model H1's that have been manufactured since early 2010. It is almost impossible to find LCD modules that can be used on the earlier 1st generation logic boards. Second, the average price of an H1 LCD (that you install yourself) is about $45. Third, if you are going to install this module yourself, you had better have at least intermediate soldering skills! This module is connected directly to the board via a 20 pin FFC with a 1mm pitch - this is not 'plug-and-play' like the modules used in the 880/890 series. Also, H1 and H900 LCD modules are not interchangeable! So, don't buy one thinking you can swap modules between models. Contact me if you need guidance on this! 

Bottom line – ask questions, look for robust descriptions, non-stock pictures.  As-is buyers like to gamble a bit, but at least we can reduce some of the risk by trying to squeeze out a little more disclosure from, shall we say, ‘reluctant’ sellers.