The trials of replacing a TV

We had a 14 month old 19" Samsung HDTV in the bedroom that has really good image and sound quality, but it developed a fault where the picture wouldn't display, but the sound continued. It had a 3 year warranty so we took it back to Argos.

However the Manager (who looked 16) refused to give us a full refund, trying to offer us a Pro Rata refund of £140 (it cost us £180 new in a sale) which as you can imagine we would not accept. He said Argos only honour the first year of a warranty then the customer has to go directly to the manufacturer after this for repairs. I pointed out that in the warranty card it stated to bring it back to the place of purchase, not Samsung. And after we got him to actually read the warranty card he agreed. However he still wouldn't give us a refund, but instead said he would get a Samsung engineer out to repair it and so he placed it on the returns shelf while we filled in the warranty card for him.

However, here is the good bit. Whilst filling out the warranty card the TV fell off the shelf and smashed on the floor! "You won't be repairing that TV now, will you!?!" said my wife sarcastically. He went bright red, sheepishly said no and refunded us the full original price! http://www.amibay.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif Nice!

So now we had the refund, but still didn't have a replacement TV. We had looked though the Argos catalogue before returning the TV and found the original model we returned was no longer being sold. However there was a newer better 19" Samsung model now being sold (which now had built in freeview), so we added the extra £19 and got a replacement Samsung 19" HDTV. So we went home happy.

This new TV was a Samsung Series 4 450 19" HDTV Model LE19B450. But we were not happy with it. On setting it up the image quality was even better than the old one, but the audio was horrible. It was tinny at low volumes and the case vibrated. So we decided we couldn't live with it and took it back to Argos for a full refund.

Eventually after some looking at other 19" TVs we decided we didn't like the image quality of any other make for smaller TV sizes. So we really wanted another Samsung. After some discussion and looking around we decided to take a gamble and get a slightly bigger TV from the same Series 4 450 range as the one we had returned with the bad sound. We ended up getting a 23" Samsung HDTV. The image quality is just as good, but being larger looks even better, the menu systems are the same, and with a few extra options, and to our relief the sound was much better. No vibrating casing, no tinny sound and really nice crisp and clear sound. So it seems only the smaller 19" model is suffering from bad sound, and others had said the same about it online. The 23" model is completely different and a very nice TV.

So finally we are happy and would definitely recommend this new TV to anyone looking for a smaller TV. If anyone is looking for a smaller TV it is the Samsung LE22B450.

Originally Posted by :
However, here is the good bit. Whilst filling out the warranty card the TV fell off the shelf and smashed on the floor! "You won't be repairing that TV now, will you!?!" said my wife sarcastically. He went bright red, sheepishly said no and refunded us the full original price!

I would have paid to see that one ! :lol:

Life - the greatest of soap operas! LOL! Glad it worked out for you. Very sneaky of you to mod the TV's base so it fell down in the store. Good Skills! :p

It's quite a common fault with large HDTV's - the picture sometimes comes on, sometimes doesn't and all you can hear is the sound. Or the picture doesn't come on at all!

Must be a common component that fails, or a common design flaw.

I expect it is something simple like a capacitor fault that causes such faults. But as with most complex electronics these days quite hard to track down. And the price of these mass produced LCDs now means the manufacturer is probably not that interested in repairing them.

Originally Posted by Harrison:
I expect it is something simple like a capacitor fault that causes such faults. But as with most complex electronics these days quite hard to track down. And the price of these mass produced LCDs now means the manufacturer is probably not that interested in repairing them.

Nuts, isn't it?

There is a small, independent TV sales and repair shop on my road, run by an old codger. It's obviously been there for decades as the manufacturers' names in the window attest: PYE, Furguson, Sanyo... He sells new and reconditioned TVs but I think he gets most of his income from installing digital aerials and boosters as reception in Horsham is pants.

Long may that little shop prosper.

We have a local TV repair shop, where our family has had numerous TVs repaired there over the years. Not been there myself though so I don't really know anything about it.

My Grandparents recently got a new 22" Sony TV for their bedroom to replace a 14" Trinitron. I set it up and found it to be very good, just like the massive TV they bought a year or two ago to go downstairs, replacing a larger worn out Trinitron. The Trinitron TVs from the bedrooms (one from about 1996 and one much older) they decided to get rid of (only one was replaced). I told them not to take them to the tip as someone would probably want them, but after they had been sat on the floor for a couple of weeks, they took them to the tip. Then their son was really upset as he wanted one to replace an old SCARTless TV and he had promised the other one to one of his friends. My grandparents ended up going to the tip to get them back :p.

Its good that you finally got a good TV Harrison. I am not too familiar with the design of LCD TVs as i have never opened one up, but since they don't require the high voltages that CRTs require, and how everything is digital and will need decompressing, alot of things will be done with programmable ICs which will probably be surface mounted on tiny PCBs. Hence quite difficult to repair.

My Freeview reciever (Goodmans GDB3), which I bought in 2004 broke recently. Not sure what happened, but I have rearranged some of my bedroom (again), and moved the TV to the other side of the room, and set it up with my new VCR (which is slightly older than the previous one but better). I didn't move the freeview box though and now I came to plug it in a few days later and it didn't work. Fortunately we have a PVR downstairs if a digital channel needs to be watched.

I might see about replacing it with a Sony one. They seem to be quite readily avaliable on ebay and quite cheap compared to the brand new price (I fancied one back in 2004, but they were about £100 which was too much). This will automatically trigger the VCR on the rare occaision that I want to record a programme. Just need to find a standalone DVD player now, then I will just keep my VCR/DVD combi as a spare.

Why not invest in a HDD/DVD-RW/VCR combo unit? Sony and Panasonic make some great ones that come with freeview built in.

The Panasonic DVD-RW/VCR combined unit is very good quality and a huge difference to the cheap VCR/DVD combo units most people think of when you mention these. But going for one with an HDD recorder built in means no media is even needed, but the DVD-RW is there if you wish to keep a copy of something on the HDD.

I have seen some of the DVD/VCR/HDD combis and they look very good. I'd be very tempted to get one if it weren't for the fact that they were expensive.

But the VCR I recently got was a Sony model from 2001 (has been at my Dad's house since then, used by me alot, but since he is now renting the house out to someone else, I took it) and is very good. I don't really record much, nor do I watch many prerecorded DVDs, so I can't really justify spending too much.

Originally Posted by Harrison:
However, here is the good bit. Whilst filling out the warranty card the TV fell off the shelf and smashed on the floor! "You won't be repairing that TV now, will you!?!" said my wife sarcastically. He went bright red, sheepishly said no and refunded us the full original price! http://www.amibay.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif Nice!

Hahaha! Incredible! :lol: Great sarcastic remark from your wife. :thumbs: