boxst

I'm finally looking at upgrading my television to an LCD one.

It is all rather confusing with so many options, but they are more unreliable than a normal CRT? Is a 5 year guarantee a must?

I belong to CostCo (who give free guarantees) but the prices seem to be quite high to start with in comparision with the sales.

If anyone wants to suggest a 40" TV for £500 ish, please feel free...

Thanks!

Steve

Ray T

Start here. Richer Sounds - The UK's Hi-Fi, Home Cinema & Flat Panel TV Specialists! they also do the 5 year guarantee for 10% of the product price.

Scooby Soon!

yes you should get a 5 year gurantee, if you look online you will see a lot seem to go wrong after about 2 or 3 years.

I purchased this SAMSUNG PS42B430 42 inch Plasma TV HD Ready Freeview £399.95 @ RicherSounds - HotUKDeals Forum from John Lewis for £450 with 5 year warranty which has been perfect for in my bedroom picture is very good (although I only use it with virgin and DIVX.)

Rob_Impreza99

iTrader: (3)

Your best bet is John Lewis, they do a free 5 year guarentee on all televisions and their aftercare is second to none.

They will price match any reputable high street store so if you find the set your after cheaper elsewhere then just ring your local Johns Lewis who should price match for you + you get the free 5 year warranty on top.

Dedrater

Under the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002 all TVs should do what they are supposed to for a reasonable length of time, this length of time is a minimum of six years, there is a recent judgment that was made on this.

If it fails within six years you complain to whoever sold you the goods as the contract was made with them and they are liable, not the manufacturer.

So any guarantees do not replace your rights they add to them, so if you ever pay for one you have generally been ripped off, but the service must be better/quicker or so other plus points in regards to the basic law.

dpb

I heard comet,currys were pretty reliable

Jamz3k

I'm nearly sure you are quite wrong about being ripped off by taking an extended warranty. If your TV has a one year warranty and in 18months time it breaks down the retailer you bought it from only has to help you get it fixed, ie. point you in the right direction of a suitable repair agents or help you out with the cost of repair. As long as the retailler has shown a reasonable level of helpfulness thats all they have to do anything else is at their disgression.

So really, i'd just get an extended warranty safe in the knowledge i won't be out of pocket.

Dedrater

Hi Jamz.

Extended Warrenties, Warrenty and Guarantee are completely different in the UK, as opposed to EU regulations, which do not apply to us, as we already had The Sale of Goods Act.

To change that would of meant a massive reform in consumer rights, so it was never done, it was amended, hence the 2002 stature modification.

Statutory Limitation, in the terms we are talking about, is the reasonable time limit you/me can enforce, I hand on heart guarantee you that is six years minimum

Shop Warranties, Manufacture Guarantees and the like, have to go above and beyond the minimum basics, as such there is a written contract within your purchase.

dpb

Does it not depend on what constitutes a failure - cue Petes 50 page saga

corradoboy

Add another £68 Pana 42" plasma with 5yr manufacturer warranty


Panasonic Plasma TVs | Sound & Vision - Delivering A Better Deal

Panasonic LCD TVs | Sound & Vision - Delivering A Better Deal

John Lewis will match S&V's instore prices. There's a big guide over on AV Forums on how to get the best deal from JL.

Jamz3k

Dedrator, back when LCD's/Plasma's started to hit it big, I was the Deputy Manager of a Richer Sounds store and my previous post was going by what the score was back then. that was a few years ago thou. I can rememeber that if a TV was faulty outside warranty we'd offer to get an estimate on it, really to check out what the actual fault was before proceeding onto anything else. After this it was at our disgression. Generally we were very good with customers in terms of helping them out but in the few instances were we didn't give the customer a new screen or pay out for repairs, legal action went nowhere because A: at the time of purchase we offered an extended warranty and B: we paid for the estimate on the TV to help out the customer.

It was always a very grey area as from memory as not all parts of the tv are covered by this whole 5/6 year minimum useage period.

ShyTot

I agree with the above; buy it from John Lewis for the peace of mind and price matching.

I don't see them being unreliable though, We have 5 LCD TVs and 1 Plasma TV in the house (plus the computers) and have never had any trouble with any of them.

Our last CRT TV was a Sony, and it broke down twice in the 6 years that we had it.

Although, why anyone would buy a big LCD TV instead of a Plasma is a bit of a mystery to me. You get a PROPER black on a Plasma, whereas your brain just tells you that the black is black on the LCD TVs

boxst

Thank you for your help, I bought a Toshiba 42RV635DB today at Costco. They had £50/off (total £499) and it comes with a 5 year guarantee.

Steve

GC8

He isnt wrong, although in Scotland and Norn Iron your statutory rights protect your for five years, as opposed to six years in England & Wales.

GC8

*rubs chin*

I dont doubt that this is what you did, but if the customer was well-informed, or well-advised, then the store (company, really) would either be paying for a repair or offering a depreciated credit (either before or after the introduction of the revised law).

scoobyvirgin

Having just bought an Lcd from Richer sounds, I declined the 5 year guarantee they offered me, the chap then said that if it breaks after a year and I take it back to them, they charge £150 (to repair or diagnose, I can't remember)

So, with this 6 year rule, If it broke, I should take it back to Rs, get it repaired and not pay a penny?

SunnySideUp

As has been said above - a guarantee is in addition to your consumer rights - don't get confused by thinking the 12 month guarantee means that after 12 months you are on your own .... you are NOT!

A TV has to have a reasonable service life ..... all that time the dealer has to honour your rights and repair/replace/refund free!

That's why experts agree says that Extended Warranties are worthless - you are covered WITHOUT them!

One of the biggest cons of the modern age - and so many people fall for it out of ignorance.

That said, John Lewis is the place to buy - forget CURRYS, Dixons and PCWorld!

Jamz3k

ah here we go! We all know what our Consumer Rights are apparently, fair enough! just remember that it is up to YOU as the consumer to prove that the TV is faulty due to manufacture defect, NOT the retailer. So if your TV is faulty you have to get it assessed at your own cost before judgement can be made on a claim against the retailer.

Retailers are not out to con you and generally will bend over backwards to help you. A good warranty is nothing more than good customer service, offering you a trouble free way of getting a product fixed regardless of your consumer rights.

SunnySideUp

If less than 6 months old it is up to THE RETAILER to prove the TV was NOT faulty at time of purchase ....... up until that point the TV was faulty when bought. End of story.

Dedrater

There is a consumer white paper coming out in March that will sort all this out.

Jamz3k

are we not talking about TV's outside of warranty?

SunnySideUp

Oh, maybe .....

In that case, it is pretty simple to see if a TV is faulty or not.

Wheel it into court and show the judge, he will see it is faulty and order the retailer to repair/replace/refund ..... plus, of course, refund all legal costs

It's about time the consumers stopped taking crap from retailers .... but there are some John Lewis style retailers out there ....

Jamz3k

How? are you a TV engineer (not that it would matter if you were) or is the Judge a TV engineer? If you can't prove its faulty due to manufacture defect the Judge won't do anything!

Just like the Retailers, the Customer needs to be reasonable.

I like your heroic style of Extended Warranties Are A Con but really i just think its bull****.

Option 1 - Don't take a warranty, 3 years later TV fails. Two things could happen. 1- You get the TV assessed, the retailer then has to confirm this so by now you're probably into week 2/3 after all the twoing and throwing, once the parts arrive in and all is repaired week 4/5 is probably where you'll be at. 2- TV assessed, Retailer believes fault could be down to neglect, you drag them thru court kicking and screaming and causing you person grief and eating into your personal time to end up with a repaired TV or a TV of similar or equal spec to your 3year old model.

Option 2 - Take a 5 year extended warranty for £60 on a £600, TV goes faulty, they pick it up, 7 days later they drop it off or if parts can't be sourced a brand new TV of equal spec. Easy.

Now personally I could write off that £60 extended warranty due to the time and personal annoyance that would be caused by not having it.

mervil

iTrader: (5)

I bought two LCDs from Costcoand they have a policy that they will sort any problems up to 90days after purchase (even if you don't want it). The 5 year Manufacturer's warranty will then begin after the 90 days (no extra cost)

SunnySideUp

I am better than a TV Repairer, I am an Engineer.

Any fault will be obvious to a Judge - a TV is a visual item, after all.

The simple fact is that a retailer would not attend court, in the customers home town, and risk the distinct possibility of losing ...... quicker, cheaper and easier to give the customer what he/she wants - and that's why I never buy an overpriced warranty, no need ..... just make the retailer do what he shoould do anyway.

Jamz3k

ah i forgot you are a troll, sorry i thought i was having a conversation with a person for a minute there.

SunnySideUp

Don't be a dick ..... I took CURRYS to court as they had your attitude - the customer wins everytime.

You may not like it, it doesn't make me a troll

Jamz3k

do you really think that a judge would look at a TV and make a judgement on it being faulty? come on SSU, realms of reality here what does a Judge know about TV's? most likely nothing as such he/she wouldn't make a judgement without the proper information that you would need to provide.

My TV as said is 3years old, are you trying to say i could get it water damaged, sling it infront of a judge and say I want a new one because its faulty and it must be a manufacturers defect because when i turn it ON nothing happens and you can visibly see than it isn't turning ON?

SunnySideUp

My point is that an extended warranty is not required.

As a customer can, quite easily, get the retailer to deliver.

I am quite capable of writing an Engineers Report - if the retailer wishes to dispute the findings he can do, in Court. The retailers report is as independant as mine - but mine is written by a much higher qualified person.

Dedrater

Actually, this is incorrect now, an EU ruling has outdated this (directive 1999/44/EC).

Easy Reading Corner - Booklets: Europe on the move

Go to page 7 in the Word format.

The EU rule does not require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product and not down to their actions either.

It is all rather confusing, probably why a White Paper is being published to clarify things.

Jamz, there was a ruling on this in a magistrates, someone took a major company to court after his TV had broken down after 5/6 years and won and if you think about it, if your TV stays in the same place 24/7 like mine does, it must be a manufacturing fault. A £50 technical report and £30 court costs, which are reclaimed if you win, jobs a good un'