My 2 cents,
I had purchased a Pioneer VSX 834 back in 2019, my first AVR. Everything was running smoothly, was loving it. But one day I heard a pop and crackle from left channel, then few from center. One day it went into protection mode! All this within a 2 months of purchase. This was a new unit bought from amazon. I called up amazon and they provided me the contact to Kripa Electronics, they were the dealer and distributors of Pioneer back then with 2yrs of warranty. Lucky me, Kripa Electronics is 10-15 mins away from my house.
They checked and gave me a replacement unit to test till they fix it. But I insisted I want a new one as it is not even 2 months this went bad.
They asked me if you want we can upgrade to higher tier with difference paid, take a demo unit of higher tier or a replacement, I opted for replacement. After a few days complete new replacement unit was provided and worked flawlessly till I sold it.
Moral of the story, be online or offline purchase, the dealers or distributors have to be good and take the responsibility of fixing things and giving piece of mind to consumers.
It is a Hit or Miss these days as so many dealers around us. Someone can make a thread for trustworthy dealers who have helped us after facing issues with their products.