Best Buy TV replacement story and question (1 Viewer)

[Matt-Z]

I have a 53" Samsung HD set that crapped out over the summer. I got it four years ago and by some stroke of genius, I happened to have bought the extended service plan (set to expire Nov 04). So, I called the service guys in August. Long story short, I still have no TV. Now the good news. I got my wife to call Best Buy's national service number and ten minutes later got the good news. And therein lies my question. The good news I got was that the guy said to my wife, " That's way too long to have waited for a TV, I'm going to get you authorized for a new TV." Now, we are to call Monday and confirm that we have been approved. My question is this. What does this mean? Do they pick out an "equivalent" set? Do I get store credit? How does this work and what should I expect? I would prefer store credit, but I don't know if that's what's being offered. The set I have is 4:3, I don't think they even have those any more. What would you do if you were me? Thanks in advance!

 

[Paul-D]

I don't know how it works with thier TV's, but I once bought a laptop from them. I also purchased the extended service plan. In there it states that if they can't fix the problem within 3 tries they will replace your computer with one that is of equaal or lesser value. I got a new laptop after having my for just over a year and a half. I'm guessing they'll do the same thing with your tv. You'll be able to find one for the same price you originally paid. If it's better now that is their fault.

Good luck and let us all know how it turns out.

 

[Matt-Z]

Thanks Paul! Oh, and I just got the call. I am fully approved. They are delivering my poor old Samsung on Tuesday. I then will return it to Best Buy. After that, do I just try to find a TV as close to my original purchace price? I want to get a SP4805 but since they don't have them... What do I do? Should I just buy something for 2G's (my OPP) and then turn around and try to sell it? Do I just get the X1 and lose 1300 in value? I really don't know what to do. I really DON'T think I want another RPTV. I am pretty excited and I think it's making me stupid. I don't want to find out later that I could have done something smarter. Please help me stick it to the Man!

 

[Mike Boniferro]

I would try and find someone that you know who is looking for a TV and try to work out a mutually agreeable deal. If there is definately no TV there that you like, then you could get the TV for someone else and have them pay you, say 75% of the value and it's win win.
You are very patient to have waited that long before calling. The warranties that they have in Canada (like future shop's) is a 2 month max before they replace your product (just got a brand new PDA... I didn't actually get full value for it, since there was an extremely comparable model to my old palm M105)

 

[Ed B]

Best Buy's site has the Mitsubishi HC3 not sure how that compares to the X1 but they have a few other projectors on their site. Still slim pickings, besides you will need a screen too, perhaps you can talk them into the X1 and a screen so you dont loose so much in the trade up value.

Ed

 

[Matt-Z]

Yeah, I'll just have to play it by ear, I guess. I just had a minor heart attack when I went to my filing cabinet to retrieve the original receipt. IT WASN'T THERE! Oh man, I almost started hyper-ventilating. We had that thing for FOUR YEARS and it sat on the TV all the time we were waiting. I kept such good track of it until maybe a month ago. My one year old found it and was waving it around for a couple of days... Anyway, my just wife put it in a different folder. Whew! I figured that was just my luck- to get the green light from BB only to find that I shot myself in the foot by losing the only thing I needed to hang onto. But it's still all working out. Keep your fingers crossed for me, and if you think of any fast ones I can pull, fire away!

 

[DaveGTP]

I bet you will get store credit for it - I would push for that.

I noticed that the bestbuy.com website has the Optoma EZ Pro 739 @ $1500ish. It has very good reviews on projectorcentral.

avsforum thread about it

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showt...ghlight=EP+739


No one seems to know the wheel speed. Maybe you could call optoma. Sounds like it is most likely a 4x to me...

 

[Matt-Z]

And what happens if the set I want is a little more than I originally paid? Can I throw some more money at them and get an even better set? Is a projector considered a television? And finally, if you HAD to spend exactly 2000 bucks AT Best Buy, on ONLY a television, what would you get? (Ah, all the important questions in life). I'm drawn to the Sony 34" widescreen KD34XS955, myself. Does anyone know if Sony is still the one making the tubes for these? I heard they were going to stop, but I don't know if that was just the tubes or the sets entirely.

 

[FredHD]

This one

 

[Matt-Z]

I'm off to BB to see the goods in person. I'll report back if anything strikes me. 2000 bucks seems like a lot of money, but also not enough simultaneously. What to do, what to do?

 

[Matt-Z]

Well, I went, I saw, and I am at a loss. I did not see one TV for $2000 that I would own. What is up with that? Everything is like ten inches smaller than a couple of years ago. Now, they are also maybe five inches slimmer too, but I don't care about that. And I'm certainly not willing to sacrifice PICTURE size for it. I DO NOT like RPTV anymore. From talking to the repair guys so often I got the impression that they are just crap. I admit the picture looks pretty good, I mean, my samsung was GLORIOUS! I am just not willing to own something that has such a short lifespan. I mean c'mon; I've had christmas trees longer than this thing. I feel like everything I saw over there was just the beginning (and therefore smallest) of the new slimmer versions of television. I remember just last year there was a samsung that was 65+ and was only $2200 (give or take). What's going on here? Does anyone know how long I will have to select my replacement? When do new television models get released? I wonder if they will give me a replacement that is available on their website? Any advice, suggestion, or dubious scheme is appreciated.

 

[Mike Boniferro]

Why are you so concerned with trying to rip them off in this situation? You have a 4 year old TV that crapped out on you, and they are making good by allowing you full credit towards a new TV! I am assuming your Samsung wasn't HD, and therefore if working, would still be pretty much worthless in today's market.
My suggestion is to either go with a big Mitsu or Toshiba CRT RPTV, or throw some extra money down and get what you want. Most people replace their TV every 5 years or so, you have an opportunity here to do it with a $2000 head start. You are not going to end up with a 60" plasma for nothing out of this deal. just pick the TV you like the best (regardless of price) and pay the difference and enjoy it.

 

[Mark Larson]

You should clarify with BB what you can use the store credit for. If you can use it for anything, then just try to hawk the GC on ebay or something, and buy a projector with the money.

 

[Matt-Z]

Mike, I think you may have mistaken my admittedly poor attempt at humor for a serious attempt to rip them off. Let me make it clear that I am MOST happy with the way Best Buy has treated me. They have done exactly what I had hoped they would do. The guy my wife spoke to was actually more shocked and outraged than either me or my wife was. I am not looking for any trouble. I was merely seeking the sage advice of this community, hoping for some informed discussion about what my options are. Given my lack of interest in their current selection, I joked about "dubious schemes" because I'm trying to figure out a way to get what I want. I believe this will involve some creativity, which is why I'm fishing for as many ideas as possible before I go in to talk to the BB guys. I have a tough time keeping all my thoughts in order under pressure, so it's important to me to have thought about everything a couple of times before making a deal. Plus, I'm always the guy who does something, only to find out a week later that I could have done it ten times better if I had been paying attention. I'm trying to not make that mistake here since I only get one shot at it. Oh, and it WAS HD. I actually loved that TV and am sad to see it go. I'm having a hard time finding it's equivalent. And that, I think, is my whole problem.

 

[Jerome Grate]

That Mitsubishi, looks to be a nice one. I know it's rear projection but I think that model may have the 9inch guns as oppose to the 7 inch guns that's placed in most RPTVs. The RPTVs of today is far better than when you bought it few years ago.

 

[aaron campbell]

I think only the Diamond series have 9" guns.

Aaron

 

[MikeEckman]

I dont want to get into it, but Circuit City's replacement plan is much less convenient. I had a TV go bad at the end of July, took 2 weeks for the guy to even come look at the TV to exclaim, "it's broke". He was supposed to order some parts. A whole month goes by and a couple attempts have been made to come to my house,but theyre either rescheduled by the service center, or the guy doesnt show at all. I was bounced around their service call center in India, to their main headquarters in the US about 3 times, each time spending more than 30 minutes on the phone. I made 5 calls to their corporate office asking for help. I issued several complaints. I was blown off a second time by the service guy. I lost time at work arguing with them. Another month goes by and as I am about to give up, they finally relent and tell me they will give me a new TV after I told them I threw the TV away and bought a new one (I really didn't). They want the old one back and I said fine, but I had to bring it to the store. They said that they wouldn't come get it and that i had to carry all 180 lbs of it. Im so pissed off, I dont even have the energy to argue with them on their IN HOME warranty. I bring it to a nearby store and I get my new TV. That was mid October.

I will never buy a warranty from them again.

 

[Matt-Z]

Mike,
I found the actual Best Buy people to be pretty good at taking care of business. The service people they contract with however, are another story. It all started way back in August. My tv went green. I deduced that it was really the "black" of the tv that was the problem. I would turn the tv on and the black screen would appear- only to "keep going" into green. Then a couple of days later, the remote stopped working. By that I mean that the tv stopped receiving or processing it's commands. then I couldn't turn it off. THe buttons on it stopped working. I had to plug and unplug it to turn it on. Then it died. All of this happened within three or four days. I called the service guys and they were there the next week. The guy said "oh it's just the main board" " I'll order one and it'll come to your house then I'll come back and throw it in". So it came about three weeks later I called them back and the sent someone out about a week later. It was a different guy though and when he got there HE said" why did that guy order THIS part?" That's not your problem, your problem is that you have a leaky gun". So he left, saying that they needed to take the whole tv in for service. So about two weeks later the guys come in a truck and take my tv. After we loaded the truck, I asked them for my paper work, or some kind of receipt that stated that they were taking my tv. They looked at me like I grew a finger out my nose. They said I could sign THEIR papers if I wanted, but that they had nothing to give me. I immediately called the service place and asked if they had guys out at my house which, after a while , they were able to confirm. Oh , and to backtrack, when I had the appointment for that day (I learned my lesson) and called that morning to confirm that they were coming. They told me that NO ONE was coming that day; that they had no orders for a pick-up at all. I then RE-scheduled and went about my business. BY PURE CHANCE, I happened to be stopping by my house to check the mail and noticed a big ass truck out front. I rolled down my window and said "are you here for my tv?" they said "yup". Ug. So any way they took it away for service. Two weeks later I call and see what's up. They tell me that they havn't gotten to it but to call back a week later to see what they had found. so a week later, I call and hear that they were waiting on the insurance company. A week later they got the go ahead and week ordering parts. a week later the were waiting for parts. A week later they were ordering parts. A week later they were putting it all back together. A week later they were ordering more parts. Every time I have called them in the past month they have told me it's almost ready. That I should wait by the phones since my tv is SO almost done. Well, I had my wife call the Best Buy national service line and got some dude on the phone. He called the service place and got their parts orders. THEY HADN'T ORDERED PARTS until NOV 12!! So that's when they hooked me up. Whew. I can't believe I never got pissed off. I guess it's the fact that my one year old has me so worn out that I hardly care about getting totally screwed over anymore. That's the story. Let's hope the happy ending happens as it's supposed to.

 

[John Alvarez]

It's not that way with just T.V.'s. I just went through that crap with Sears for my Washer and Refigerator....

 

[BrianAe]

I had the screen to a BB bought HP laptop go bad and they replaced it with a cheap after market screen that doesn't do nearly as good a job. I was happy that they replaced it but not that happy with the results. I thought about fighting it but didn't have the energy since it was an older tercerary system. Glad to hear that people have had better results...