Monday, May 09, 2011
HDTV WARNING!!!
My HDTV died this weekend: nothing happened, it simply died.
After doing a bit of a search on the net, I have discovered that this is not uncommon for HDTV's.
Life expectancy of 18-24 months!!!! Outrageous!
Repair cost is $310 plus tax, for a TV I got- on a super special doorbuster at Walmart on T-day- for $278... but replacement is $378.
A TV should last forever- or close to it. My Trinitron lasted over 20 years. Under fairly abusive conditions (complete home gut/reno... right there in the middle of it! Actually, it still works...)
I e-mailed Sanyo:
Hello,
First let me say I have a couple of Sanyo products and like them very much.
That includes my beautiful 32 inch HDTV. However, I have a serious issue with this now.
I bought this on Thanksgiving 2009 at my local Walmart.
Model# DP32649
S# ******************
Purchased: 24 November 2009
Before one year was out, I had to have the sound card replaced, which was covered under warranty: surprising, but as it was under warranty, no big problem.
It is now 18 months old.
This weekend, I turned it off, went and did some chores, came back and turned it on and nothing! The power light went on for a few seconds, then went out, and nothing. I unplugged it, thinking maybe to re-set something, and a few hours later plugged it in again with the same results.
Nothing had happened between the time it worked and the time it stopped working, specifically, no lightening storms or any other stress or abuse: it simply died.
I did some searching on the internet and have found that this is not an uncommon problem, not only for the Sanyo brand, but for HDTV's in general.
My repair man says it will be $310 plus tax to fix this, with his cost for the power board alone being $200.
That it needs to be fixed at all is outrageous: a life of 18-24 months? My last TV lasted 20 years and I expected this to do the same. I certainly did not expect, and will not accept, a life expectancy of 18 months. In fact, I consider that a defective product.
I ask that you make good on this.
Thank you for your consideration,
Jud Hindes
I expected the first reply to be the standard "out of warranty- sorry- thanks for using Sanyo' reply...
Actually, what I got this- which might also be standard- or they don't want to put anything in writing: "Please call 1-800-877-5032 7:30 a.m. till 7:00 p.m. central time Monday thru Friday. Please have the model number and serial number ready."
I called, and of course, they had no way of seeing what I wrote, so I repeated most of it. And got the reply I expected: "out of warranty- sorry- thanks for making it Sanyo."
I aksed for the supervisor: not available, asked for him to call me.
Ten minutes later, got a call from Sanyo and the guy said, HEY! We are going to take care of this! Should last 10-15 years!
Jerry- at Sanyo! Good man! No fussing about, simply, we are taking care of this! NOW! BAMM!
Good for Sanyo!
ANYONE who has an HDTV still under warranty, I would suggest you buy the extended warranty immediately (though I think that whole thing is a scam, but in this case, quite probably a needed one). This is NOT isolated to Sanyo. Check the net!
