Tweeter's Service Plan with yearly on-site tech visit. (1 Viewer)

[EmaxJS]

I've finally made my decision to go with the Sony 51" KP-51HW40.

I've narrowed down the best local prices as being at Best Buy or Tweeter's (2299.99)at BB the extended warranty is 299.99 and they are also including a free progressive scan DVD player right now. At Tweeter's I was quoted "around $350" for 5 years, but you get a yearly visit from their tech to adjust your TV. I verified that it wasn't just some guy coming in with AVIA and tweaking the menu options.

Are either of the extended plans worth it, or should I save the money.

I do plan on getting an ISF tech in after a month.

 

[Jim FC]

Good choice - the Sony is a nice TV. $350 might be a little on the high side for the service plan for a $2300 TV -- ask if you can get a better deal on the TV if you take the plan -- but I'd still recommend it on any RPTV you can't afford to replace if it craps out. The Tweeter one covers tune-ups, which makes it an even better deal - one such service call can easily be $150, so if you get five of them on top of parts and labor, that's pretty sweet.

The one thing I'd recommend, though, is that you get something in writing that assures you exactly what the tune-up visit entails. You won't get an ISF guy out there once a year, but many times these check-ups are no more than cleaning out dust & dead bugs, pushing "flash focus," and calling it a day, so it never hurts to get it in writing and cover your own a$$, just in case. Just my $.02.

 

[Michael Lomker]

I bought one of those plans (through another store) and it indeed was nothing other than blowing bugs out of the set. A complete waste of money, imho. I figure the set is either going to fail within one year or it'll go for five. I haven't heard from anyone that made out on one of those plans (of course I've had the same experience with cars and any other extended warranty that you could think of).

 

[Jim FC]

>>...the set is either going to fail within one year or it'll go for five

 

[Brent Harritt]

I have to disagree with you Jim. It is a proven fact that "solid state" electronics do have a high "infant mortality" rate. After this initial high failure rate, the rate drops to a very low level until near the end of its life, which is likely many years. Thus, the failure rate for "solid state" electronics does exhibit the classic "bathtub shaped" curve (high at the ends and low in the middle).

The high failure rates you note for modern electronics are, in most cases, mechanical failures! Mechanical things that move like tape transport mechanisms, hard disk drive read heads, etc. are what fail frequently. It is rare that the electronics fail after the first year. That being said, about the only component of a home theater system that is almost pure solid state electronics are receivers/ amplifiers and these rarely fail, after the first year, unless you do something stupid like pour coffee in them, drop them, or short out the outputs. All of the other components such as DVD players, VCRs, Camcorders, and yes even speakers and TVs, contain mechanical and/or non solid state electronics such as CRTs. This may fly in the face of your common sense, but if you talk to a few electronic technicians, you will find this is indeed the case.

And yes, I do agree with you about getting an extended warranty on a big screen because they typically contain 3 CRTs which are quite expensive to replace and can fail at any time.

 

[Jim FC]

Brent,
I disagree with the assertion that you disagree with me -- you said the same thing I intended to say, you and I just used the term "electronics" differently. When I referred to "modern electronics," I meant the more general term of electronic-based components, not literally the electronic parts within said components. But your point about differentiating between mechanical systems and electronic systems is one well taken, and I agree that properly designed electronics (definition B), when given a steady power source and an optimal temperature in which to work, should last forever. It is, as you noted, the mechanical systems within a component that will more quickly grow prone to failure as the unit ages

I think the initial "mortality rate," as you put it, is more a testament to shoddy workmanship by today's manufacturers than it is to the reliability of a properly-built piece of equipment - mechanical, electronic, or otherwise. Most of the things than do happen in the first couple of months relate to bad solder joints, loose boards, and the like, rather than an actual failure of any given system within a component.