Sony SLV-998HF VHS VCR

I got SONY SLV-660HF at Best Buy when it was a close out product and was available at a discount for $215. This is older than SLV-998HF model. Initially it worked great and its features are easy to learn. It has average features with Hifi stereo sound and VCR Plus capability to automatically record TV programs by programming the program code from local listing. After one year, I had similar problem with it, as mentioned in the opinion regarding newer model SLV-998HF, that the gear mechanism was giving problem and the cassette stopped loading properly. I took it to VCR repair and they asked around $100 including the part (gear wheel) and labor. Even after they replaced the gear wheel, that made the problem less frequent but it still did exist. I took it back to the repair shop 2-3 times but they couldn't fix the problem completely so I demanded a refund of labor charges and decided to keep the new part and later on I opened the VCR myself and found out that the gear wheel and gear shaft used to get off due to lose casing and the metallic gear shaft started cutting the plastic gear wheel. This looks like poor design from a reputed company like SONY! I finally pressed the casing and fixed a constraint on one side so it doesn't get lose again and its been working fine since then. I will not recommend somebody a SONY VCR. Thought the functional quality is great but durability is poor. I will always recommend an extended warranty with such a product.