Entertainment Center: TVs, Stereos, VCRs and DVDs - VCR Keeps Ejecting Tape

My 80 y.o. mother put a new tape in the VCR along with the small card that comes with the labels. She walked away from the unit and it kept trying to reject it. Once we noticed it and took the tape and the paper out, and tried to reinsert the tape, the VCR kept rejecting the tape. The tape never fully inserted down into the unit. We tried everything but it will not work. The VCR is made by Quasar. Can anyone help so that we do not need to run out to buy a VCR.

Unless you can see any scraps of paper/cardboard that are stopping the mechanism from seating down properly then the cassette housing may have got damaged.

Sometimes cogs can jump teeth if they are prevented from moving properly either by incorrect tape insertion, or by foreign bodies being inserted into the housing.

Unplug the video recorder, turn it upside down and try giving it a side to side shake. If there is anything stuck in the mechanism this treatment will normally dislodge it.

Other than that, the video recorder will probably need experienced attention.

I tried your suggestions, but the VCR still will not accept the tapes. Oh well, thanks.

Originally posted by threesheds
Other than that, the video recorder will probably need experienced attention.

Or replacement. It would probably cost more to have a tech take a sideways glance at that thing than it would to get a new Quasar VCR.

Or replacement. It would probably cost more to have a tech take a sideways glance at that thing than it would to get a new Quasar VCR.
Generally, very much the case but there may be exceptions. I expect services must vary from place to place.

One of the TV/video recorder shops I used to do some work for is willing to gamble five minutes of their time to glance inside a video recorder for free.

Some faults make a simple repair for an experienced person. A head clean, putting a cog back in sync etc. The willingness to cast an eye over a machine without a charge can pay off.

Not much money can be asked for any repair because of the price of new video recorders, but they take the view that just some money for a very quick repair must be worth having.

I think they are right. So much so that I'm thinking of filling that niche myself. A free ten minute look - no repair no fee service. Cap the charge at 15 - 20 Pounds for a successful mend. Something like that might be good for a couple of years yet.

There maybe someone offering that near you. Well, you never know your luck! :)

To Threesheds
It’s a nice concept but I think you will find that once customers find out about your new service, it will end up like this.
You will look at 20 units a week. You will fix 5 units. And you will get paid for 3 units and have 15 junk units to throw away yourself. I hope you grow your own vegetables.

Dakota

You maybe right. It depends under what terms the repair is taken on.

I never did have a service charge when I was self-employed and have to admit that I did sometimes lose out because of it.

Overall though, it was a successful policy that made me a fair return for my efforts over the years ...and home grown tomatoes taste great.

Boy dont know about over there threesheds But here had a VCR go out in the kids room. Got a new 4 head for $38.00 US. I looked at it and couldnt get it to work( I have worked on them some in the past) and know it would have cost me $25.oo US to just have it looked at it to say if it was worth fixing. ED;)

for sure on the tomatoes home grown are the best. Here they pick them green and gas them over night to make them red. look real good taste not worth a D**

Interesting ...especially about the tomatoes :)

Regarding repairs I'd say things are a bit different here. An inexpensive video recorder in UK is around the £50-00 mark ($91.00). £140-00 ($255.00) can still be paid for a good make nicam stereo video recorder. One typically owned by most will lie somewhere between those prices I suppose.

So, if someone has a video recorder that cost them say £80-00 ($146.00), I think they would be willing to get it looked at on a no repair no charge basis. Certainly they would be put off if the repairer was not willing to gamble 10 minutes of his/her time on a free evaluation of the fault. Who wants to spend anything on a video recorder just to be told the repair isn't worth doing?

Waive that bit of things and some easy repairs will appear. Those that aren't worth it to either repairer or customer can be given back (that's the way I always operated even when video recorders were worth a bit more). I'm fairly sure that the number of paid successes would amount to more than the 3 in 20 suggested by Dakota.

However, if people in US are only paying $38.00 for a 4 head machine I really can see your point. It seems there is no leeway for making anything on video recorder repairs, especially if everyone charges just to look at it. Are all video recorders now that inexpensive in US, or are there some 'up-market' ones that cost more?

The good thing about video recorders having more value here is that there may be a couple of years left in video recorder repairing.

Your biggest hint to remedying Mom's machine takes one of Threeshed's replys a step further: remove the top covering from the VCR(typically 2 screws on the left and right sides, and anywhere from 2 to 4 on the back panel.)

Visually inspect the tape loading area for ANY STICKERS THAT MAY HAVE COME OFF AND ARE STUCK TO THE LOADING/EJECT MECHANISM!! Hint: Is the labeling card missing any labels other than what you may have put on the cassette?

Can't believe y'all didn't think of that one sooner.

best regards,

Originally posted by Jackofalltradez
Can't believe y'all didn't think of that one sooner.
From an earlier post:
Unless you can see any scraps of paper/cardboard that are stopping the mechanism from seating down properly
Doesn't that about cover it?