Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[fragmental]

That will be awesome if they replace your TV.  I bought a Toshiba DLP around that time, (52HM84 was the model, I somehow remember that) and that thing was a thorn in my side for a good year or so.  It worked great for 13 months, then the bulb went out.  That happens, it is supposed to happen, but it went out really early.  Apparently Toshiba had identified a problem with that model of bulb and they replaced it for me for free, even out of warranty as a result.

Then a few months later, all of a sudden a grid of vertical white lines, spaced about an inch apart, appeared running the fill height of the screen, probably 40 or 45 of them.  Like jail bars, but very very thin, with the picture displaying normally behind them.  They would stay there, and sometimes dissappear.  Sometimes for seconds, sometimes for days even, but always back and were there probably 90% of the time.  The TV was rendered basically useless as you would get sick watching for too long.  I searched high and low and found NO ONE anywhere, even in this internet age, describing the same problem.  I consulted repair shops, repair websites with professionals looking at it, etc.  Took pictures and posted it, nothing.  A local shop told me it was probably the light engine, but that they had never seen that problem and couldn't know for sure.  The cheapest light engine I could find was over $700 (at the time) and I wasn't about to pay that plus installation to fix a TV which, at that point in time (mid-2008) was probably only worth $1000 or so.  I had my father-in-law who used to be a TV repair man re-solder all the joints on the boards, taking the whole thing apart.  Eventually I found a light engine (used and rebuilt) from a small internet company here in the states for $250.  I decided to take the plunge, and by darn, FIGURED OUT how to replace it myself.  Finally fixed the problem.

First time I ever wished I had consider that extended warranty...  I eventually sold it to a friend.  It was a very nice TV aside from the light engine issue.  Judging by the fact that I couldn't find anyone else with that problem, I have to assume that I was just very unlucky.

[jayce75]

Mine is an 50HM66 - very nice picture and we love it - when it's working properly. I'd be happy if it was just fixed correctly once and for all and lasted me another 3+ years without any more problems

The TV is back to being so dim that you can hardly see it. I turned it on Sunday and turned it right back off because what's the point? We don't even want to bother turning it on anymore which sucks because it's in the living room. If we want to watch TV we have to go in one of the bedrooms. I'm going to have to move the DVR to one of those bedrooms so that we can watch the shows that we missed before it fills up.

Third party isn't answering their phone today - just went to voicemail again so I have no idea if the bulb is in for them to try one more time. Tomorrow will be a solid week since they ordered it unless they fibbed again. My wife (she bought me the TV) is going to absolutely lose it by Friday night if there's no resolution before then - and if that happens I'm just going to call the 800 number, hand her the phone, and go leave the house for a couple of hours. I'm trying to keep the faith that won't happen though...

[jayce75]

Update:

A Geek Squad agent left a message for me at my home number so I called them back - and explained the whole ordeal again (this is the fifth or sixth time I've had to do this). She tried to look at the history of the repair but says that her system is updating and cannot view it at the moment. She said that she would send it over to a specialist that would look it over and call me back within 24 hours.  I haven't heard anything from the 3rd party repair shop or the Community Connector person that I was supposed to hear from on the forums via post or private message either.

I'm getting to point now that I don't want this particular 3rd Party repair company to come back out - either assign my repair to someone else that knows what they are doing, overnight them the parts, and have them fix it right  - or replace my TV - whatever is quicker.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi jayce75,

After reading your description of this TV repair I have to say you sound like a very patient person, and I can completely understand you just wanting a working TV by now. I’m sure that it was very upsetting to find out that the technician was sent the wrong bulb when they were out on 1/4/2010.

I would like to address this issue personally, and 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,

[jayce75]

PM sent back - looking forward to getting a resolution!

[jayce75]

Third party is coming tomorrow to replace the bulb - keeping my fingers crossed that this is it...

[jayce75]

OH MY GOD - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!?! No tech - No phone call. I was supposed to take my lunch break to meet the tech at home so on top of that no lunch. Oh I am seriously about to lose IT

[jayce75]

Techs just left - TV looks as great as it did when we bought it. As long as it doesn't dim out again in the next few months we'll be good.

[Nokia]

Wow, 90 minutes was like night and day! Glad to see it's resolved.

[jayce75]

Now that the honeymoon is over and I've had time to let all of my emotions settle it's time for a reality check.

First of all my TV is working great! The picture is as beautiful as it was when it came out of the box and was calibrated. It's been so long that we forgot how bright the TV was/is supposed to be even with the brightness and contrast turned down to 50. We've been enjoying watching it over the weekend as if we have a brand new set! I am very glad that it is working as it's supposed to at this point!

With that said the experience to get to this point was not one that I ever want to repeat again. As I mentioned earlier, the service call was opened on December 9th and it took until January 15 to get my TV repaired and working properly. During that time between customer service, Geek Squad, and the the 3rd Party company I must have made over 20 phone calls to get this resolved. The warranty did save me a lot on expensive repairs so I consider that part of it a good investment, however the process of actually getting the service completed to my satisfaction was a harrowing one.  Things didn't really start moving until Allan got involved in the process and that wasn't until after 30 days of already having the issue and complaining about it.

When the technicians came to my home on Friday, I asked why it took so long to get the bulb in this time - before it only took a few days. The response that I was give was "that's Toshiba". I didn't ask why it took them two days after they left my house last time to even order the bulb. I'm not sure where the ball was dropped in the process but it's obvious that there was a lack of communication somewhere.

As I said before I'm glad that it's fixed and working properly now! I hope that I never have any more issues out of the TV - and if I do that the process to get it fixed is a lot better.