Sadly, at around 500 p.m. CT on Wednesday October 26, our TV died aged just over 9 months old!
Does anyone have any knowledge of consumer law over here? I've called the retailer and the manufacturer to try and get a new one out of them, with no success. The best I can seem to get is a repair man out - next week, and at the moment it's looking like we'll have to pay large labour charges too - something in the region of $90 an hour was mentioned.
Well, why not start with where you purchased it...
Be nice and see what they say.
Next, how did you purchase it? If you bought it on Amex then you have automatic warranty, if you purchased it with another card the same might apply.
I think it has less to do with consumer law rather than going and having a nice chat with someone at the place you purchased it at..
In other words, I think consumer laws are rather thin on the ground so your best bet is to try the be nice and try tact route...
Has worked for me!
Andrew )
Don't TVs have at least one year warranty automatically? If the store won't honour it then the manufacturer has to.
In fact, it is hard to buy a TV nowadays where they don't try to sell you an extended warranty but you've always had at least a year on all parts.
Like McZipster says, I'd take it back to the store I bought it from and go from there.
Do you have your receipt?
I have the receipt and contacted the sellers (Best Buy), but all they would do is arrange for a service person to call - at a fee of $90 an hour!!! The thing was only worth $300. Andrew, I paid cash - I'm in the position here of not having a credit record (and neither does hubby), so we can't get any credit. No card guarantees in that case. I've been ultra-polite with everyone and it got me nowhere. sad
I called the manufacturer today (Philips), and asked to speak with a Manager. After trying the "ultra polite" thing, I asked him point blank if they expected their TVs to die after 9 months and he said no. I followed this up with a "neither did I" and said I really would like a replacement. Nothing doing! The best he would do was put me through to someone else at Customer Service, who said they would come to some agreement with me about the labour costs. I faxed them a copy of the receipt, and now it's a waiting game for a few days.
It would appear that no one over here feels any obligation to replace faulty goods, and the best we can expect is a free repair. I'm not really happy with this but can't find any guidance anywhere on how hard I can actually press within the law to get the set replaced. Obviously I'm not going to pay a lawyer to find out - I could probably buy a top of the range LCD set for the price they would charge. Besides which we just can't afford it.
The actual written warranty that came with the set says it's covered for parts and labour for 90 days, from 90 days to one year, the parts are covered, but not the labour.
I called the manufacturer today (Philips), and asked to speak with a Manager. After trying the "ultra polite" thing, I asked him point blank if they expected their TVs to die after 9 months and he said no. I followed this up with a "neither did I" and said I really would like a replacement. Nothing doing! The best he would do was put me through to someone else at Customer Service, who said they would come to some agreement with me about the labour costs. I faxed them a copy of the receipt, and now it's a waiting game for a few days.
Okay, here's what you HAVE to do over here. You have to keep going UP the food chain until you get exactly what you want, so if you're not satisfied with the response you get from this latest step, then keep going. It's the way of the world here.
The will cave in. Sadly, Brits have it too easy when it comes to this stuff so with anything here, you kinda have to strap yourself in and go on the march, but nicely.
Keep saying that your not happy with the response and do not get off the phone.
The only other suggestion would be is to take the TV back to the store and get everyone in the store involved......
Andrew :)
If you get a free repair, I reckon you're lucky and should make the best of a bad job. But it sounds like you might be en route to that.
If the warrantly says 90 days, then 90 days it is. Personally, I avoid products which only have 90 day warranties unless I'd be happy to consider it disposable and fork out the same again in 90 days.
Yes, it's disappointing, but a $300 Phillips TV is hardly the regular price for a nice Phillips and so you get the unusually short warranty to compensate. You really do tend to get what you pay for. I'm a big fan of the extended warranty options in the main -we just got our steam vac replaced after 2.5 years and for another $40 purchased a further 3 years of peace of mind )
Re the credit card thing -can't you get a secured card, which -whilst not actually providing "credit"- provides the protection of paying by cc and helps build up your record?
...and of course if you keep pursuing it, ask yourself how much is your time worth? If it takes you 30 hours, many letters and causes you stress, is it really worth it? Or is it better to learn from the experience and spend the TV-free time smelling the roses?
American TV sucks anyway 8)
Thanks for your responses - much appreciated. I'll have a think about going up that ladder and evaluate the time and effort that would involve.
monster, I have no idea what you would call a "nice Philips" or how much you would consider a "regular price" for one. My idea of a nice TV is a smallish flat screen with stereo sound, which is what we got, and it was actually a very nice set for the price while it worked. We don't happen to think those huge things that take over the house are in any way "nice", and we don't see the need to buy a back projection, plasma or LCD screen. Our idea of a "regular price" for a decent TV which does what we need comes in at under $500. For us, anything else is a waste of money which we would prefer to spend on something higher up our list of priorities.
As for the secured credit card thing, I looked into that already and the interest costs are sky high. I actually think the bank might work with me on this one - if we put x amount into a savings account (same idea as the secured card really) we can borrow against it at a lower rate. It will then probably sit somewhere earning what interest we can get to make up for the interest we have to pay on it. lol. The bank will also report on this kind of loan. I think that's the best way to start.
Funny isn't it though, that if you never get into debt no one wants to lend you money, but if you're in debt to start with everyone wants to get you further in, and the deeper you are in, the more money they will lend you. It's not a world where people are encouraged to pay their way any more and those of us who try to do this are penalised. Everyone is encouraged to live way beyond their means (my old granny used to call this "living on tally or living on tick", lol). Hubby and I are both used to the rather old-fashioned notion of "what you want, you save up for" (a home is about the only exception to this for obvious reasons).
The only reason we need credit at all is so we can actually buy our own home rather than pay dead money in rent. Oh well, the time will come. wink
Thanks for your responses - much appreciated. I'll have a think about going up that ladder and evaluate the time and effort that would involve.
monster, I have no idea what you would call a "nice Philips" or how much you would consider a "regular price" for one. My idea of a nice TV is a smallish flat screen with stereo sound, which is what we got, and it was actually a very nice set for the price while it worked. We don't happen to think those huge things that take over the house are in any way "nice", and we don't see the need to buy a back projection, plasma or LCD screen. Our idea of a "regular price" for a decent TV which does what we need comes in at under $500. For us, anything else is a waste of money which we would prefer to spend on something higher up our list of priorities.
As for the secured credit card thing, I looked into that already and the interest costs are sky high. I actually think the bank might work with me on this one - if we put x amount into a savings account (same idea as the secured card really) we can borrow against it at a lower rate. It will then probably sit somewhere earning what interest we can get to make up for the interest we have to pay on it. lol. The bank will also report on this kind of loan. I think that's the best way to start.
Funny isn't it though, that if you never get into debt no one wants to lend you money, but if you're in debt to start with everyone wants to get you further in, and the deeper you are in, the more money they will lend you. It's not a world where people are encouraged to pay their way any more and those of us who try to do this are penalised. Everyone is encouraged to live way beyond their means (my old granny used to call this "living on tally or living on tick", lol). Hubby and I are both used to the rather old-fashioned notion of "what you want, you save up for" (a home is about the only exception to this for obvious reasons).
The only reason we need credit at all is so we can actually buy our own home rather than pay dead money in rent. Oh well, the time will come. :wink:
You have to borrow money here to establish any credit rating and the way to start is by a secured card or a store ( like best buy )
.
The rates on a secured card are high true but buy something you can afford to pay for by cash and pay it off before the interest sets in usually after 25 days .
Then next month do the same thing and likewise each month after that, you wont pay any interest and after about 6 months you wil start to establish credit .
I m suprised you could,nt have got a *one year interest free * deal from best buy the interest is about 20% but if you pay it up in inder a year you dont pay any and it gets you a good credit rating .
1) Nice TV I agree, small is good, under $500 is good. But Phillips is a big brand name and most of their products retail above that mark. So for $300, a Phillips would probably not be a "nice" TV, it would be poorer quality, lower-end-of-the-mass-market stuff. Ours is a small (by American standards) Zenith, cost $300 came with a 1 year warranty, still going without a problem 5 years later (Phillips tube, apparently). Have probably watched about 3 hours of actual telly on it and that would mostly be the twin towers incident and the latest shuttle take off. I am not a wide screen plasma lcd screen type person either. But I'm sure you didn't assume that I was.
2) Credit Cards What does it matter what the interest rate is if you pay it off immediately and occur no interest? Just because you don't have to pay it off immediately when you get credit doesn't mean you shouldn't.
3) Credit Rating You don't have to pay interest to get a good rating -you just have to borrow money and pay it back. It's an urban myth that you have to pay interest to get a good rating.
Monster is spot on with the not paying interest bit regarding credit rating. You just have to have the borrowing money in the first bit. Just get a secured credit card, use it once a month and pay the balance straight away and there you go )
Twice we have bought electrical items that have had something go wrong with them. When the microwave stopped working, we had to take it to a place to be looked at. This was paid for by the company but if they came out to us they would have charged us labour costs. This may be what Philips has available. If they come out to your home they will charge you. If they have a contract with someone who will repair their goods but you have to take it to them for this to happen, this may be your solution to having your labour paid for. You may be fortunate to have a repair guy that lets you know if the part that has gone wrong on your TV is something that will always keep going wrong or not (this is what happened to us with our other electrical item - the part that went wrong had a good chance of always being faulty and we were advised off the books obviously to fight for a new oven rather than just put up with the repair). Either way, the parts that are being replaced are covered by the warranty and you should get the tv repaired at least. )
However much you pay for something, if you feel that it is a lot of money for you then pay for the extended warranty. When we buy electrical items we consider the value of the item to the person who is buying it. If our daughter has saved hard to get something (she bought a DVD player for her bedroom) she would find it difficult to replace that item if it goes wrong so paying the extra for the extended warranty is worth it for her.
Consumer laws are similar here to the UK. Anything that you buy has to be fit for purpose, i.e. it must do what you expect it to for the amount of time that you expect it to.
A warranty isn't worth the paper its written on because the seller can't dictate to you how long the item will work properly for. If you get a 90 day warranty you can rip it up and throw it in the bin, if whatever you bought goes wrong in 9 months it has to be replaced. Extended warranties are a waste of money too. You expect a TV to work for at least a couple of years and therefore if it doesn't, the manufacturer is obliged to replace it. And it doesn't matter if the item was in a sale or sold as an ex-display model, your rights are exactly the same.
Putting it into practice is a little trickier, but if you keep on at them (going up the food chain as it was put earlier) you will eventually get results because you are in the right.
The site here might be helpful
http//www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID/99FA12AD-B11E-4AD5-B08F0009724D1BB4/catID/498F840B-0B7B-4A9A-AE102EC156E16660/104/284/164/FAQ/
Again, thank you all for your advice on this one. I do really appreciate your input and your time. It's so good in a new country (even though i've been here exactly 12 months now it's still new to me) to have somewhere to come and gather opinions and information about stuff.
I'll let you know how things progress.
Hubby works very long hours at the moment and any work I do is done at home. Having been a very "public" person back in Wales for so many years, with a very wide circle of friends and acquaintances, I feel secluded, to say the least.
Life would be very lonely without ya'll. Thanks again. smile
Extended warranties are a waste of money too.
Actually, that isn't altogether true. We get our extended warranties through Best Buy themselves and theirs covers accidental damage also. My mother put James' cell phone in the washing machine and the extended cover we got on the phone covered it for a full replacement immediately. We didn't even have to wait for the phone to be inspected first or anything. Their extended warranties are valid for two years and we have found them to be money well spent. :)