Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[jim5000]

So I have a couple of questions and a concern.

First I purchased a 65' Mitsubishi DLP in Sep. 2007. I went in with Sony intentions but The Magnolia rep sold me on Mitsubishi saying it has 6 colors and best price for the size, and then said, "you should really buy the Protection Plan, if you have issues with the TV it'll be covered and if you continue to have issues we'll replace the TV or give a store credit for the original purchase price of the TV". So I did it, it cost me around $480.00. So that's the back story...

It was a great TV for almost 2 years, I even convinced a coworker to buy one, and then about 6 months ago things started going wrong. It started making a high pitched buzzing noise after it had been on for an hour or so, then the picture would get so dark, if I where watching show with a night scene you couldn't see what was going on, to make matters worse if you where watching a bright scene it was blown out, and lastly the color started to go, everybody's skin tones either went really pink or yellow. A Geek squad tech came out and saw all the things I just explained and said,"yeah that picture looks bad!"

The good news is he ordered a bunch of parts and it was all covered, The Bad news is the picture looks worse then before, it's so dark, Spiderman was on yesterday and when he's swinging around at night and all you see is a red blob in a sea of black. And any shadows on people look like they where painted on, there's no smoothness. and the color is over saturated, it's almost unwatchable. 

So beyond that when he hooked all the inputs back up, he screwed everything up. There used to be 4 inputs, DVD/Bose system, VCR, UVerse, PS3, now there's only 3 showing and they're screwed up VCR is DVD, UVerse is PS3 and Ps3 is UVerse and there's no VCR. Plus for some reason surround works on everything except UVerse where sound only comes out of one speaker. So I called the Geek SQuad to deal with that screw up first, the Tech group connected me to the Audio group who told me, "We can come and fix it but we'll have to charge you a Costumer Training fee" When I asked what that was they explained, "we show how to set it up so it doesn't happen again" Doesn't happen again? As long as you don't send that same guy back it won't happen again. But here's the thing I Paid $200 when I first got the TV, for one of the Geek Squad to set everything up so it would all be at top performance.

So here finally are my questions and concerns:

1) I don't feel I should pay for the Geek Squad to come out and fix all the input set ups, when their own guy screwed it up. 

2)  Are they also going to make me pay to have somebody come out and calibrate my TV? Or at least get it back to out of the box quality? (if that's possible on this TV anymore)

3) Will they ever really replace the TV if this continues or do they just keep this going until plan runs out? The only reason I ask that, is the bill for all the repairs parts and labor (according to the paperwork) was more than the same TV costs now at BB, they could've just replaced it and saved themselves around $600. Which leads me to believe they have no intent of replacing.

4) And lastly if they can't get it back to out of the box quality and finally realize the cost they're going to have to put into this TV is way more than honoring the store credit plan. Do you have to take the same TV? Once I started having problems with mine I checked online and found a string of complaints about this Mitsubishi, some the same but a lot different(I checked before I bought in 2007 it was so new there minimal reviews) Plus the coworker I mentioned is starting to have issues. I'm more than a little gun shy with the same TV, that's like eating at a restaurant and having a meal that makes you sick and when you complain, they give a coupon for the same meal. I should have went with Sony as I originally intended.

Sorry this is so long, but I'm frustrated, I paid a lot of money for not only the TV, but the Protection Plan and the home audio set up. The funny thing is I outright asked the Magnolia rep when buying the plan if I would get a hassle if it ever came down to needing to store credit, and he said absolutely not...I guess we'll see. 

Thanks.

[starhelper2587]

So here finally are my questions and concerns:

1) I don't feel I should pay for the Geek Squad to come out and fix all the input set ups, when their own guy screwed it up. 

2)  Are they also going to make me pay to have somebody come out and calibrate my TV? Or at least get it back to out of the box quality? (if that's possible on this TV anymore)

3) Will they ever really replace the TV if this continues or do they just keep this going until plan runs out? The only reason I ask that, is the bill for all the repairs parts and labor (according to the paperwork) was more than the same TV costs now at BB, they could've just replaced it and saved themselves around $600. Which leads me to believe they have no intent of replacing.

4) And lastly if they can't get it back to out of the box quality and finally realize the cost they're going to have to put into this TV is way more than honoring the store credit plan. Do you have to take the same TV? Once I started having problems with mine I checked online and found a string of complaints about this Mitsubishi, some the same but a lot different(I checked before I bought in 2007 it was so new there minimal reviews) Plus the coworker I mentioned is starting to have issues. I'm more than a little gun shy with the same TV, that's like eating at a restaurant and having a meal that makes you sick and when you complain, they give a coupon for the same meal. I should have went with Sony as I originally intended.

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1 and 2 - You don't have to pay for a re-install.  Under GSBTP warranty (standard and premium) terms, if the GS originally installed your TV within your 4 year warranty period, we can schedule an appt. to come do the re-install under the warranty.  Normally, GS HT services carry a 1 year labor warranty from the date of completion but since you're still under your 4 year warranty period, there should be no issues unless there's something I'm missing about your situation.

3 and 4 - You would be covered for an exchange under the No Lemon policy of your warranty.  The TV will be exchanged with a TV with COMPARABLE SPECS (the exchange is in no way based on price, just FYI) after 3 qualifiying repairs (hardware being replaced) and a 4th appointment to determine the NL Exchange.

[jim5000]

Thank you. Is there a contact number that is better to call than another? Or should I just call the general number?

Thanks again.

[starhelper2587]

Call 1-800-433-5778 (which is 1-800-GEEKSQUAD) and ask for Retail Dispatch.  Anyone in my department should be able to assist you in scheduling a redo.

[glamis44]

The DLP's are actually really great, reliable TV's. It just sounds like your bulb was going out. If you replace it every 18 months or so, you should have a like new TV all the time. The bulbs are easy to do, and do not believe the salesman when they tell you otherwise. They are only $125 at various online stores, and yes it is OEM.

Save your money next time and DO NOT BUY the WARRANTY. Its a waste of time and money. It would be worth it if they honered it and can do it right the first time................. 

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Hey jim5000 -

Allan, from our Community Connector team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern.  I appreciate your patience until he is able to contact you!

[jim5000]

Thanks for the input. I hope you're right, I've really loved this TV, it was great until about 6 months ago. I hope it all gets worked out, I'm an avid TV/Movie buff so looking forward to decent picture quality again.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi jim5000,

I’m sure it was very disappointing to have the parts installed on your TV just to have the TV look just as bad, if not worse, than it did before the repair was completed. Our technician should have looked at the TV before completing the repair, and if they saw that the parts didn’t resolve the problem with your TV they shouldn’t have closed the work order.

I do show that you have a Performance Service Plan (PSP) covering the repairs of this TV, and if a TV needs to be re-calibrated after a repair that would be a service that would be at cost to you since that isn’t covered by a PSP. This doesn’t sound like a re-calibration issue, and I would definitely suggest scheduling a technician to come out and look at the TV to see if there is a defect in the TV causing your picture to be so bad.

I am sending you a private message in order to work with you to get this resolved. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,

[starhelper2587]

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Allan-BBY wrote:

Hi jim5000,

I’m sure it was very disappointing to have the parts installed on your TV just to have the TV look just as bad, if not worse, than it did before the repair was completed. Our technician should have looked at the TV before completing the repair, and if they saw that the parts didn’t resolve the problem with your TV they shouldn’t have closed the work order.

I do show that you have a Performance Service Plan (PSP) covering the repairs of this TV, and if a TV needs to be re-calibrated after a repair that would be a service that would be at cost to you since that isn’t covered by a PSP. This doesn’t sound like a re-calibration issue, and I would definitely suggest scheduling a technician to come out and look at the TV to see if there is a defect in the TV causing your picture to be so bad.

I am sending you a private message in order to work with you to get this resolved. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,

---

If the client has a Premium GSBTP warranty instead of the Standard, a re-calibration actually WOULD BE included, per the warranty pamphlet.  This is verbatim from the Premium GSBTP warranty outline in the pamphlet,

"Post-Repair Recalibration - recalibration after repair services to ensure your pictures stays sharp after repair."

[CrystalWoW Valued Expert]

Star: As Allan stated, the customer has a Performance Service Plan which would have nothing to do with any of the black tie plans. This does not apply to this customer. Also, with the premium black tie which this customer does not have, the recalibration is only included if an initial calibration was purchased on the same receipt as the premium plan.