So I ordered one of these from Amazon ($40 after rebate) last week and it arrived yesterday. However, once I pushed the power button, the green light came on but nothing happened. I couldn't get the tray to open at all. I must have left it on, because I came back a little later and there was a msg in the LCD. The tray opened and I was able to play several discs.

However, I turned it on today and the same thing is happening. But this time the light is green and NOTHING is happening, even after letting it sit for a while. Has anybody else had this problem? I've tried calling Apex, but both the toll-free number and the regular number have been busy for hours. Suggestions? Thanks for any help...

Sorry to say but you pay for what you get. Buy cheap stuff and this is what happens. just my 2 cents

Wow...Thanks a lot for that useful bit of information.

Just for the record, I do have another player (Toshiba) that has been good to me for a long time. However, the Apex's have a reputation for playing everything imaginable (MP3, JPG, WMA, VCD, SVCD, etc.), so I bit on it. When I can get it to work properly, everything about it is great. I think I just got a bum unit.

Does anybody have any stories to relate about contacting Apex's support? I tried all day and only got busy signals. Am I better off just contacting Amazon and getting them to replace it?

My Apex AD-600A is still going strong after close to 4 years.

I think something going bad quickly is acceptable. Hardly any company QAs everying so some defective units are sure to get out to consumers. I consider it lucky when it goes bad quickly instead of right after it can't be exchanged.

I just got a hard drive that went bad on its second day. Since I don't trust anything until it's run for a while I had no problem having to get a replacement which has performed perfectly well. I also bought a $30 DVD player on BF which I'm using as much as possible while I can still get an exchange.

Don't screw with Apex's support. Just exchange it with Amazon for another one and see how that one works. If it's bad you might just want to give up and return it. If it's good just chalk it up to your having to be the QA tester.

That really is an ill advised statement! Yes, you shouldn't expect a $40 player to perform as good as a $300 one or be as compatible with different formats as a more expensive one BUT you should expect the dang thing to actually operate! Not even being able to open the disc drawer is NOT acceptable at any price! It's just a QC problem that slipped by and it could happen just as easily with a $300 player as well!

Apex CS is terrible. As you've experienced, they don't answer phones, when they do they lie outright, don't return calls and do anything they can to avoid giving service.

I had one bad experience with them, and that was enough.

Well, I didn't even bother calling Amazon. Just went through their site and within minutes had a pre-paid UPS shipping label. After dropping it off I had an e-mail waiting for me from one of their CSRs. Basically, he apologized for the inconvenience and indicated that they would be shipping out a new unit via 2-day shipping before they even received the bum played back. Props to Amazon and screw Apex's CS...