Cost of service? (1 Viewer)

[NatL]

I am pricing out RPTV's and generally as I sift through the various sites and prices I take into account how much a 3- or 4- year extended warranty would cost.

But if I could get a set for, say, $1600 shipped from one site without any warranty (lets say none is available) or $1900 from another but with a 4 year warranty, I am wondering if I'd be better off saving my $300 up front.

I do not know how much it would cost to get a repair man out to my home to fix the average thing that would go wrong with my RPTV over the years.

Any advice?

N

 

[Brian Glaeske]

A board on my Toshiba with labor was $700 and that was not in home service.

Brian G.

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

Many, many, many extended warranties are a complete waste of money, especially on lower cost electronics, speakers, etc. (They usually do NOT have problems, and most of the few problems occur out-of-the-box, and most of the rest occur within the first 30 days, and most of the rest occur during the normal warranty.) That leaves very few "others," statistically. On most items, they are almost pure profit for the dealer or manufacturer who offers them. Most, believe it or not, are sold for costing less than $180.00, which also makes them rather silly. I was asked to buy one for the $74.99 VCR I bought for the kids' bedroom. Now, really, do I want to spend $44 extra on an item where I would probably throw it away if anything serious happened, otherwise?

However, RPTVs are an exception. I have seen many posts around these forums of repairs that cost $300, $400, $500, $600 and $700. It is (typically) a big ticket item. I would urge you to consider purchasing the 5-year extended warranty, in this case. Usually, I advise against it.

I bought one for my 65" RPTV. It was the first extended warranty I had purchased in the past 16 years.

-Bruce in Chi-Town

 

[Chet Hayes]

"But if I could get a set for, say, $1600 shipped from one site without any warranty (lets say none is available)"


I'd run from that deal. If there is no warranty at all, you're dealing with a grey market vendor. Generally, these are unauthorized shops selling units that are not intended to be marketed in the US. Over the years, I've heard plenty of stories of people being burned in various ways, including getting shipments in previously opened boxes, missing manuals, manuals in the wrong language, different features in the actual product because it was not the US model etc. These were for things like cameras, electronics, etc.

And these guys are not known for being easy to accept returns or give refunds.

 

[MichaelFusick]

The place you buy it from matters as much or more than the set you buy.

Buy it from a local brick and mortal national MFG authorized dealer with their own service center capable of supporting you down the road after your initial purchase.

It worth more than the $300 you might save... Trust me!

The idea that you can not simply plug in you new $2K-3K and use it might not sit well for you... but it's the god's honest truth. If you want maximum picture quality, not only should you have the set tweaked and calibrated by a trained professional, you should also have yearly adjustments and service visits to clean the optics, mirrors, re-touch up the focus, and a re-fix of the convergence parameters via the service mode.

Failure to do these things and your only cheating yourself out of a great picture.

 

[NatL]

I was considering buying from Onecall.com - I've heard lots of great things from them in these very forums - are they one on-line store which can deliver B&M service?

N

 

[Steve Mehs]

I agree extended warranties can be a waste, but they have been used numerous times on my computer (modem twice and floppy drive once). There's this one local electronics retailer around here, called the Stereo Advantage that has the best darn warranty program I've even seen and I can't imagine ever purchasing anything no matter how cheap, with out an extendednted warranty. There policy is Lifetime warranty, including both labor and parts, and if the item cannot be repaired you get a new one, the cost is $10 of the purchase price. My moms 48" analog 48" Sony RPTV was $1700, the lifetime a lifetime warranty coasts $170. We also got our Sony Digital 8 Handycam from there, the camcorder cost $800, lifetime warranty was an additional $80. That is one deal that's hard to beat and one I'll never pass up.

 

[NatL]

I thank you all for your responses. I am definitely going to buy the biggest extended warranty I can.

Now I am just trying to figure out if I ought to go with B&M or a reputable etailer like Onecall.

At this point it looks like I can get the same TV from OneCall plus 4 year warranty at the same price as I'd have to pay at BestBuy - not including the warranty or tax.

Therefore I think I'd be looking at a good $300 difference to go to Best Buy.

Is that worth it?

N

 

[BruceSpielbauer]

NatL

>>>Now I am just trying to figure out if I ought to go with B&M or a reputable etailer like Onecall.