!!!Avoid Prima Plasma TVs!!!follow this thread (1 Viewer)

[Steve_Wingman]

Check this out... My SEVEN month old PRIMA 42" Plasma EDTV is DEAD! Not being loaded for cash I gambled on this TV and so far have come up a looser.
The first TV had a dead pixel in the upper right hand side of the screen but the retailer ( F. S. in Canada) replaced it under their 30 day policy. The second TV was ok for six months then started to push a lot of red on the RGB input. Now the thing is dead. Here is the Killer> IF you don't buy the extened warranty from F.S. at about $400.00cdn, you are stuck with manufacture's warranty. That maybe ok with a major brand name but Prima uses a warranty company (PWW) that covers several China made products that are shipped to the US & Canada. -< Their M.O for claims >- They take your name & number (after an extened hold time on the phone) and say that a service center will call you in three working days. Those days come and go, I call back complaining that no one called. I am now assured that the sevice center will call in another three working days.
So I am going on three weeks with a impressive black peice of modern nonworking art hanging on my wall!
Follow this thread, I'll post updates as they arrive!
-Steve

 

[alan halvorson]

Yer pays yer money and takes yer chances .......

Your plight does not justify your title, however.

 

[Jack Briggs]

"Dead pixel"? In a plasma panel?

 

[Phil Iturralde]

It's the nature of the design.

FYI: See Dead Pixel Locator website for more INFO and a FREE Windows PC based program to help you locate the 'Dead Pixel'.

Phil

 

[Sam Pat]

Thanks for that, Phil! Very handy.

On a non-related note: in your signature, shouldn't it be 'advice' and not 'advise'? 'Advise' is a verb and makes a gramatically-incorrect quote.

 

[Phil Iturralde]

Your welcome and I corrected the signature Sam Pat - thanks!

Phil

 

[Steve_Wingman]

Hello everyone!
Thanks for the replies!
The dead pixel thing was not an issue.The problem is with PWW warranty service not following up after my second call complaining about no one from the repair company had contacted me to schedule a repair after two weeks and they were promising contact in two working days. The third call was more helpful though, I had managed to contact a CSR that actually followed through and found that a workorder had been created but there was no indication that it was faxed to the repair company! He faxed and confirmed.
I had a call the next day to setup a repair date.
The repair company tech stated that the powersupplies for these TVs are full of very cheap capacitors and tend to fail early. He said that he rebuilds the p/s's and puts high grade caps back in under warranty which will solve the problem IF that is what is wrong.
Stay tooned folks!
-Steve

 

[Steve_Wingman]

An update if anyone cares...
I finally got in contact with a PWW warranty call center rep that could go beyond the standard "the designated repair company will call you in 3 days" routine. This rep followed up on my work order and found that the THREE previous reps never checked to see if the work order was even faxed to the repair shop ! He faxed and I had a response in a day (woo hoo!) The local shop picked it up, checked it and got back to me in a day.
SIX WEEKS LATER, still waiting for a new main board which may be in on the 30th of Aug.
NOTE: the repair shop tech has indicated that he has seen a lot of plasma & lcd's with simular "heat related" issues and is going to look into moding the housing for a couple of small computer style cooling fans for the hot spots.

BTW, I think the title of the thread is fine. I'll avoid this brand and many others like it in the future. I spent many weeks looking at reviews and found none bad for this model. Most of my issue is with the CSR's at the warranty center that can't do their job right and the fact that there seems to be no parts reserved in North America for warranty repair. Yes, you pay your money and take your chances, it sucks I took the chance. If this thread saves some one else the hassle of buying a poorly made product or suffering through warranty issues, all the better. If I had read some thing like what I have posted it would have helped in deciding on what to purchase and to extend the warranty. This forum is the best place for feedback on products and I'm just doing my part keeping everyone informed!
-Steve.

 

[Radioman970]

Awwwww....I had a Viewsonic 19" crt monitor with a cute little dead pixel near the bottom. I loved that little guy! MY little dead gray pixel would just sit there not doing anything while I surfed the net, watched movies or played games. It didn't bother me at all. Too bad the monitor failed just before the warranty was up. I decided to just get a different brand. Nice Samsung. I don't know how their big TVs are but they are the first brand I'll look at when I get ready to buy one.

And...thanks for the useful info. It's amazing that just doing a little would help customers. But to save a buck these companies aren't going to do it. It's best to go out shopping for a warranty. Then buy the product it's matched up with.

 

[ChrisCAB]

Here's another to avoid - any of the Best Buy Insignia brand lcd monitors. We got one, it broke shortly after the incredibly short warranty, Best Buy won't fix it. Apparently they are very difficult (nearly impossible) to get parts for as well.

 

[Steve_Wingman]

Hello All!
Good news, the parts that were ordered to fix the TV arrived.
Bad/good news, the TV is unrepairable and will be replaced.
Wait and see news, I have to wait for the paper work to get to the repair shop and the shop to release the authorization for replacement to me.
I then have to return to the same FS store and exchange the TV.
I hope I'll be able to get a store credit and upgrade to a major brand name.
Any recomondations on 42" plasmas?
-Steve

 

[Davis]

I got the Panny edtv from Amazon. The price was very good. Delivery was good. The install was very easy. After calibration, to my personal preference, the picture is very good.

 

[Curt Palme]

I hate to say this guys, but you get what you pay for. There is sooooooo much crap out there, it's all price driven by the consumer that wants the newest gadget but doesn't want to pay for it. Even the higher end manufacturers have followed suit to compete, the name goes on before the quality goes in, the parts in the set are lower grade than they were a few years ago.

Just go punch up the words 'as is' on eBay and see how much late model electronics is out there. Piles of it, all unrepairable.

I have installed commercial grade electronics equipment for 21 years now. 15 years ago, a good quality name brand 250 watt per channel amp was $1800.00. Now I can sell you a 500 watt per channel amp for well under $1000.00, typically $750 or so.

Problem is, the 15 year old amp is still out there working. The amp I sell you today will die in 4-5 years and I'll sell you a new one. And I'm talking name brand amps here, Crest, QSC, Carver, etc. If I approached you and sold you a top of the line $1800 amp today that didn't cut corners in the design and construction, you'd go down the street and buy the $750 one from someone else.

So to me, until people stop buying entry level junk and go back to buying stuff that lasts, you'll end up with stories like this post. I hear about them every day.

I mean heck, you wouldn't go to Best Buy to get your car tuned up. Why do people go to Canadian Tire to buy a VCR? (and for that matter, why buy at Canadian Tire at all? THe MOtomaster stuff doesn't last either, I found out the hard way...

OK, rant off!

 

[sarah99]

Most enthusiast equipment is replaced in a year or two, so why build it to last longer?
Buy it, chuck it, replace it with the latest tech.
I love landfill!

 

[BrianTwig]

Curt,

"15 years ago, a good quality name brand 250 watt per channel amp was $1800.00. Now I can sell you a 500 watt per channel amp for well under $1000.00, typically $750 or so." Maybe, maybe not true.

What did a home computer cost 15 years ago and what was its capability? Today how much more powerful and versitle is a basic home PC compared to a top of the line one 15 years ago and its probably about 20% of the price. Maybe less!

 

[Mort Corey]

Bought an IBM PC in 1981....upgraded to 64kb on the motherboard and a double sided 320k floppy drive (came stock with 16k ram and a cassette port) and serial port for about $4K (with a green mono 12" screen). Still have it!! Still works as well as it ever did........just can't bring myself to chuck it.

Mort

 

[Curt Palme]

I understand, but I've got an old Apple II from 1982 that still works. (not that I use it, but it's nice to say that I still have one) Can't say that about any of the new stuff.

Just FYI, I'm a circuit board level tech that works on this stuff daily along with installations and sales, so I see the internals. I'm all for progress and have many of the latest gadgets myself, but when I see massive heat damage on a 3 year old Carver amp (PxM900) due to the fan missing two of the tiny heatsinks of the output transistors instead of a solid 10 lb block of aluminum the way they used to be built, I wonder if it's really progress. (that amp was used in a freaking grocery store, so it didn't see heavy use let alone ever come close to the clip point... ever.)

Is it too much to ask for a manufacturer to provide a product that will last 10 years, will cost a reasonable amount, and where the end user isn't the Beta tester? Heck, for what I use my digital camera for, the old Olympus 1.3 meg camera that I bought in 1999 would still suit my needs, but nooooo, it died, and I had to buy a 3.2 meg one.

I'm 42, and I can say for the last 10 years I've shopped a lot more carefully for ANYTHING that I buy. I won't just go to WalMart and buy the cheapest thing out there like I used to. Heck, I learned more about the POS pressure washer I bought at Home Depot at the service place that I had to take it to after it died than I ever did asking anyone at Home Depot.

But again, I ramble..

 

[Curt Palme]

I do understand, but then NO ONE can ever bitch and start threads like this one. Wouldn't it make a lot more selse to pay say 20% more and get 50% more life out of something?

 

[Seth=L]

I put fans on my amps, keeps them there transistors real cool like....(spits)....yep.

 

[Steve_Wingman]

Let's put into this perspective, this TV cost three times as much as the old TV I replaced it with (13yr old RCA Hometheater 27" CRT) which is still working with out ever breaking down. I expected at least half that life out of this new one. But still, it's not the fact it quit working as much as the problems getting the warranty taken care of. Call it a bitch fest if you want, I'll call it an advisory.
-Steve