Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[VishMeister]

It's been 3 weeks since I started my Samsung 61 inch DLP tv repair saga and would like to share the incompetent service that I have received so far with the PSP warranty. I have been a regular customer of Best Buy so far and have purchased more than 15k worth of products from them.But their incompetent warranty service has left me completely frustrated.

It all started with the TV not turning on and all the LEDs lighting up on the front panel.Since I am on year 3 of the extended warranty,I called Best Buy to set up the service call.
Apparently all the warranty services are done through a company called N.E.W.The technician assigned to me did not even come to the house to do a diagnosis.He just told me on the phone that the lamp must be bad and called NEW to get approval for the new lamp.All this took 7 days for the replacement lamp to reach the service center.

On day 10 the tech just came in with a lamp and screwdriver and even without turning on the tv,proceeded to replace the lamp. However even with the new lamp, the tv did not work! Now his diagnosis was that the DLP Light Engine needed to be replaced.Again I went through the whole approval and shipping process and on day 19 he arrived with a refurbished Light Engine.After an hour of trying to fit the light engine(lot of banging and shoving in the back of the tv,which possibly could have damaged something else!), he finally compared the light engine chassis versions and announced that they were not compatible. So now I have to wait another 7 days for a new part to be shipped and the saga continues...
He also told me that Best Buy cannot do anything, since it is all handled by the warranty company N.E.W and so this whole slow bureaucratic process will continue.
I am not even sure if changing the light engine will solve the problem.
It seems to be a hit and miss process to diagnose the REAL issue.I have spent hours calling up Best Buy to speed up the process but they do not
seem to care.In fact one supervisor told me it was perfectly normal to (mis)diagnose over the phone and perform a visit to replace a non-damaged part on a hunch. And then the "technician" just turns up with a single screwdriver ,nothing else to perform any basic testing. But, everytime he does his misdiagnosis I end up wasting 4 hours of my working day

Is there some way out of this endless loop of service visits AND is there any way I can actually get a working TV set in my house so that me and my family can get back to watching shows rather than complaining on forums?

[Dorothy-BBY Community Supervisor]

Welcome VishMeister -

Allan, one of our Community Connectors, should be reaching out to you in the next few business days regarding your concern.  Thank you for your continued patience!

[VishMeister]

Day 24 of the repair saga :

Still with no working tv and no resolution is sight.

Had to spend and hour on the phone tracking down if the correct part has been reordered.Spoke to a Geek Squad person who parroted the words that the new part has been shipped and it will take 5 to 7 business days for the part to be received by the service center and then the servic center  will call me to schedule an appointment.

Inquired if the process can be atleast speeded up (faster shipping,priority appointment etc) since they had already screwed up twice.The rep calmly tells me that though the PSP warranty guarantees the repair or replacement for a lemon, it doesnt mention anything about the time that will be taken for this!!

SO, this could go on for weeks and months!!!On asking about what action would be taken with the service center for mismanaging the whole process so far,she had no response.

I will keep this forum updated when I hear from the service center.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi VishMeister,

This sounds like a very frustrating TV repair experience, and I’m sure that with no end in sight it has left you feeling even more upset.

I will say that the lamp going out on DLP TV’s is the most common reason that these TV’s stop working, and it is often the case that the service center orders the lamp prior to them coming out to diagnose the issue. This is done so that they don’t come out without the lamp, and then just order the lamp (which would of course delay the repair even longer).

I truly do apologize that the service center was sent the wrong light engine, and I would like to look into your repair to provide you the quickest resolution possible in this repair. I am sending you a private message to start that conversation. 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,

[VishMeister]

Hi Allan,

      Thanks for reading through my message.I responded to yuor PM  and hope this laborious process can be resolved.We are into the 4th week with out a working TV.
 I would have agreed with you regarding the phone diagnosis of a lamp replacement,if that was indeed to save time as you mentioned.However the service center/technician did not do anything before hand.It was only on the day of  his visit, when I called to re-confirm the appointment,that the technician made this diagnosis over the phone.After he made this diagnosis,he just postponed his visit  by another 7 days since that is the time taken to ship the lamp after approval.So this diagnosis was not done to help  the customer,this was just a lazy technician who did not want to come and diagnose the true problem.

If this were indeed something that is done to help out the customer and since as you say that the lamp replacement is the most common issue,then wouldn't it make sense that a TV service center always have a few spares for the lamps OR at least the technician could have a replacement bulb he can use to test out his diagnosis.Of course that would need him to take a look at the TV and they dont do that..