Repair Vs. New Purchase! (1 Viewer)

[Mike Darksyde]

GAH I am soo pissed off.

I bought a 32HS20 (Sony 32 inch High Definition Wega) on April 2002, it crapped out in July this year. So far the total to fix it has been 480 bucks, and they were bringing back the TV now, and all was gonna be done iwth it, but they hook it up and now there is another part not working. The Yoke?!? (Prolly at least another 500) Anyway. Now I am just about ready to say fuck it.

Go out and get a way bigger TV that is HD and not deal with it all. Or pay up again?

What would you do?

Is Rear Projection ok, or am I going to be displeased with it compared to tube.

I do play games on this TV, watch TV, and watch movies, Progressive Scan.

If you were gonna buy a new TV 2500 or less, what would you get.

 

[Mike Darksyde]

Not a single clue?

Is there somewhere if I wanted I could sell a broken Wega, does anyone have any insight on that as well.

 

[DeeAnn]

Did the second part break while it was in the service companys care? If so, it sounds to me like they should be responsible for repairing it no charge (unless there was some kind of waiver that wouldn't hold them liable for additional breakage).

 

[Mike Darksyde]

No the second part was left at the house...with me.

They took the board, but left the tube and yoke(?) When they brought back the board...and hooked it back up to the tube, this is when they found out the yoke is what caused the board to blow in the first place.

If I had known about this with the initial estimate, I would have never had it fixed and just gotten a new TV. Now I am really stuck, either out 500, or paying just about how much I paid for the TV over a year ago to get it completly fixed, I really am at a loss with what to do.

 

[DeeAnn]

Yuck. I'm not really familiar with Grand Wegas (or the repair process) and I'm guessing they didn't want to haul a lot of parts around, but it's too bad they didn't try to check initially what caused the problem. It's a tough call, but if there's no warranty options available to you and it'll cost as much as it did in the first place the best thing might be to cut your losses. It sucks 'cause you haven't had the TV that long.

 

[Jed M]

That sucks. Some how they could be to blame for misdiagnosing the problem. For 2500 you could get a really nice fptv is that interests you at all.

 

[ChuckSolo]

I just had a similar problem with a major appliance where the supposed technician misdiagnosed the problem. What should have cost me less than $15.00 to fix ended up costing me over 200 bucks and the problem still persisted. After the tech discovered the real problem on a return call,I was reimbursed for the $200.00 I already spent less the cost of the actual fix. I would demand that the repair company Fix the real problem and apply the money you already spent to the repair of the misdaignosed problem.

 

[Bob Graz]

Mike, Did you happen to buy the TV with a Platinum or similar card that has a warranty extension on it. If so, you may be able to get your repair money back.

 

[Steve Berger]

At $480 they didn't repair the board , they replaced it (and probably destroyed it when they powered it up) ; replacement is an option that only exists while the set is fairly new. Autorized Sony Servicers have training available to repair boards , but you need the whole set in the shop. That way hidden problems are found before replacement parts get damaged.

If they did replace the board then they can return it to Sony as "new defective" or "failed upon installation" for credit or replacement at no charge. Additional charges to you should only be for the additional part and minimal labor. (yokes usually run about $100 but I'd have to do a bit or research to pin it down exactly).

I can't conceive of any amount of actual repair work on a board that could run almost $500 , which is why I suspect they replaced the board.

First you need to determine if the board was a replacement , either from Sony or a third party rebuilder. If it was then they can return it and not charge you for it and return your original board. You can then turn down the estimate and be out a trip charge. (plus estimate charge?) and find a good independent authorized servicer who will repair the set to the component level properly. If they sent the board back before they verified the set was working properly then they are going to eat the cost themselves. I know that if I did something dumb like that (returning board too soon) in my shop I'd expect to eat the cost or else end up in small claims court.

If they did component level repair then they need to re-do the work (honoring their warranty on replacement repair parts) and only charge for ADDITIONAL parts and work. However since the set is still not repaired , you should have the option to demand that your original parts be put back in , refuse the estimate , pay the estimate and trip charge , and find another servicer. I am a servicer and if I failed to complete a repair in this manner then I would be obligated to do just that and have done so (only a couple of times needed in the last 25 years , you learn good repair practices very quickly if the mistakes are costly).

 

[Mike Darksyde]

Are you saying that at 480.00 - 60 dollar delivery, so 420.00 that I should have gotten a whole new board. They said they replaced the horizontal (disply maybe? something) and something else.

I wish I could remember.

They quoted me with the yoke at 130 or so, with no labor, so that was cool. So it looks like the total is going to be near 600 or so...

Are you saying that no repair should have ever cost this much?

IF they did do componet level repair, and they did blow the second or fixed board, they are covering all aditional costs witht that, only the new yoke charge has been added, and since the yoke was far less than I was expecting I am not over the top on repair cost, but it is still kinda high, hopefully these repairs will last, anythign else goes wrong with this tv and I am getting a new one.

 

[Mike Darksyde]

Bob no, I just bought it directly out of my bank account through bofa.

 

[Mike Darksyde]

P.S. thanks for the replies...This has been the most helpful board I have even been on.

 

[Steve Berger]

I wanted to check pricing on some of the parts before commenting further . The high voltage transformer (flyback or FBT) is unusually high priced on this model (might be the part replaced but a yoke failure would short out some transistors - almost never the FBT - unless a bizzare FBT failure took out the yoke). In fact they might have been able to replace the board cheaper than fixing it , considering their labor rates (not necessarily unreasonable for their location). Complete board cost should be between $250 and $275.

Attempting to fix a modern set without having the whole set in the shop usually leads to either multiple trips and excessive cost for the customer and/or multiple trips and no profit for the servicer - or both.

I still think their pricing was too high but maybe not by an extraordinary amount. Hauling the set in yourself could have saved guite a bit however.