Dead TV, advise please.

[grockle]

Your thoughts please.

 

27 month old, £500 LCD tv has died on me, should i consider this to be the normal life span for a telly in this price range ?, or should i try my luck and see if the retailer will repair.

 

cheers

grockle

[buzby]

Depends what's wrong - LCDs are normally rated for a set number of hours before the panel illumination tubes wear out. If the TV is in constant use you might have reached this, but then I'm assuming you'd want the TV fixed anyway - the retailer may be able to arrange this or put you in touch with someone - however it would be a long stretch to hope they'd do it free of charge.

[ForestChav]

Not at all - £500 is a lot of money to spend on an item for it to last just over 2 years.

 

Most retailers will sell extended warranties for 3 or even 5 years on items, they wouldn't do that if they were more likely to fork out for a repair than not - hence they are expecting it to last longer.

 

Personally I would say a TV of that price has failed prematurely and provided this isn't down to wear and tear or misuse, you should be able to prove this is faulty sufficiently for your SOGA rights to get it fixed.

 

After all, trying and not getting it leaves you in the same position of needing to pay to repair or replace it - you might as well go for getting the retailer to fix it.

[dx100uk]

do some research also.

if others have had this fault, it may well be classed as 'unfit for purpose' and then you'll get a replacement FOC.

 

you will prob have to pay a small fee (£20-£30] for an independent eng's report.

eitherway, the point of sale is your first port of call.

 

if they agree to repair or its UFP, then the eng fee is refunded too.

 

dx

[buzby]

Sorry, this is giving hope where none exists. Equipment comes with established usage parameters. On plasma and LCD screens, the illumination tubes are rated at anything from 10,000 to 100,000 hours 0 sometimes longer. The difference between them is cost - a 10k panel is roughly half the cost of a 100k one. To suggest that both should exhibit the same levels of longevity is nonsensical - and as I noted earlier, if it is THIS that is causing the problem (as yet unconfirmed) then prior usage is very important - it cannot be ignored or glossed over.

 

Phrases along the lines that 'it should last longer than...' are emotive - but we're not talking about starting again, simply fixing what went wrong. It is done to cards, washing machines and the rest - so why are TV's any different?

 

After two years of daily use without a problem, it will be impossible to claim there has been a manufacturing fault (or that it was a 'friday' priduct), so unless additional insurance was taken out - the purchasers have to pay to maintain the device. There's nothing new or innovative about that.

[ForestChav]

By your logic:

 

Assuming 30-day months, 27 months is 810 days.

 

So to wear out a 10,000 hour bulb in 810 days would require 12 hours 20 minutes' (or there abouts) average TV watching per day. Presuming most of the day people are at work, that figure is quite high - people don't watch that much TV, surely.

 

And there's also the issue of whether panels/bulbs reach their expected lifetime - it is possible that these will be a fail-safe (similar to the best before dates on food) and that most bulbs will last longer than expected - certainly if a bulb was sold with an expected lifespan of 10,000 hours and it failed after 8,000 you'd feel short-changed?

[dx100uk]

we need to find out from the op 'what' type of fault this is.

 

it may have nothing to do with lifespan of backlight.

 

all tv's have an eng menu that will give up error codes, thypically this can be view via scart if it IS a backlight error.

 

for all we know it might not be powering at all.

 

dx

[buzby]

By your logic:

 

Assuming 30-day months, 27 months is 810 days.

 

No, that's your logic. I'm stating that electronic goods have a finite lifespan, they will not work forever, and some 'cheap' ones wonlt work for more than a year. To prove any case for a 'free' repair, you must either provide evidence the MTBF (mean time between failure) was unreasonably short for a similar product.

 

Blithely saying 'a tv should last for more than 2 years' proves nothing. It it's outlasted its guarantee by double the time-span, trying to get it fixed free is a useful exercise, but no more than that - and certainly there is no duty on the retailer or manufacturer to do so.

[ForestChav]

No, that's your logic.

 

No, you said:

Equipment comes with established usage parameters. On plasma and LCD screens, the illumination tubes are rated at anything from 10,000 to 100,000 hours 0 sometimes longer. The difference between them is cost - a 10k panel is roughly half the cost of a 100k one.

Taking the worst case scenario of the lowest life rating (10k hours) and the age of the TV... it would have to be in use an awful lot to reach its "rating".

I'm stating that electronic goods have a finite lifespan, they will not work forever, and some 'cheap' ones wonlt work for more than a year.

Oh come off it.

 

Of course they have a finite lifespan. Everything will fail eventually and you would expect cheaper items to fail sooner than more expensive ones.

 

As I said, retailers offer 3 and 5 year extended warranties on units like this. These are widely regarded as a cash cow for them, where they get money for doing little - if they had to pay out on every 27 month old TV which cost £500 to buy originally, then they would be making a loss on the warranties wouldn't they? They wouldn't sustain a position which was doing that.

 

£500 is also hardly cheap for a screen when they aren't too different from PC monitors which normally cost about a fifth of that. Personally I wouldn't be happy spending £500 on a new screen every 27 months. I have a TFT screen which still works from 2002. Cheap TFT costing about £200 from PC World...

 

You might expect only a year from a kettle which cost £5 but then it is cheap enough to replace that every year!

To prove any case for a 'free' repair, you must either provide evidence the MTBF (mean time between failure) was unreasonably short for a similar product.

If it is a bulb failure and the bulb is rated at 10,000 hours you would presume that is the case...

Blithely saying 'a tv should last for more than 2 years' proves nothing.

 

It it's outlasted its guarantee by double the time-span

Which is irrelevant because the manufacturer can supply the item with a warranty period of their choosing - they don't even have to give it a warranty if they don't want to. Some things come with a 3 year warranty. But something with a 1 year warranty doesn't mean that they only expect it to last a year. Either way it is not relevant to your SOGA rights and we know the warranty has expired.

trying to get it fixed free is a useful exercise, but no more than that

And if you can, then why not - most retailers will back down on a reasonable explanation and mentions of SOGA because it is then a customer retention exercise - if you kick up a huge fuss and refuse to fix it then they will probably buy their next set (and other items) elsewhere.

and certainly there is no duty on the retailer or manufacturer to do so.

There is on the retailer if you can prove all you need to under SOGA. The manufacturer has no contract with you other than the warranty.

[buzby]

As to the number of hours a panel is rated for - in this case, I've no idea. It could just as easily be 1000hrs. (My video projector bulb is rated for this but is still in service and showing 1,500hrs).

 

If you think this is a SOGA issue, I'll look forward (and indeed applaud the OP) for succeeding. However, let's be realistic. The chances of that happening would be so slim as to be speculative. 27 months of flawless (probably daily) operation does not to my mind equate to an 'inherent' shortcoming.

[grockle]

Many thanks for all the replies,

sorry to cause confusion, I should have been more specific regarding the fault in my first post.

Prior to the fault both picture and sound were fine, I switched the tv on, the configuration text comes on screen for about 5 seconds. then it reverts to standby mode. There is no way to get out of standby mode.

 

I did a quick search, and found about 10 posts where people have the exact same fault with this make and model, there does not seem to be a single known way to fix the fault, it could be any one of many components. I also found that the cut price "box shifters" are now selling this tv for £249, so there is little point in spending a load of dosh on an old set.

 

I think my chances of getting the retailer to fix it for free, are just about nill.

 

cheers

grockle

[ForestChav]

Nothing lost in trying though... which retailer is it? 249 is still quite a bit for a telly.

[dx100uk]

Many thanks for all the replies,

sorry to cause confusion, I should have been more specific regarding the fault in my first post.

Prior to the fault both picture and sound were fine, I switched the tv on, the configuration text comes on screen for about 5 seconds. then it reverts to standby mode. There is no way to get out of standby mode.

 

I did a quick search, and found about 10 posts where people have the exact same fault with this make and model, there does not seem to be a single known way to fix the fault, it could be any one of many components. I also found that the cut price "box shifters" are now selling this tv for £249, so there is little point in spending a load of dosh on an old set.

 

I think my chances of getting the retailer to fix it for free, are just about nill.

 

cheers

grockle

 

ah good nothing to do will bulb life......

 

well if they are only now worth £250, then it won't cost the retailer much dosh to replace it then, will it.

 

the only way a manu recognises they have a bum steer product that is 'unfit for purpose' under SOGA is by someone starting the ball rolling.

print off what you have found pop into the retailer and get the repair/replace on the move.

 

show them your info & ask p'haps if they would like to comment or consult with the manu first.

 

dx

Edited July 14, 2009 by dx100uk