When do you say no to repairing a tv today......

[bandit67]

Guys, about 20 months ago I paid $1500 for a Samsung QLED 4 K blah, blah , blah tv, with one year warranty . At 13 months old got a lightning pop and it quit. Recently found a local repair shop and they just said it will need main power board and two other boards, parts and labor $342 bucks. That tv now on Amazon sells for $978. It was a nice tv, good picture and I liked it. But, where is your cutoff point to fix or replace.

 

[eldubb440]

do the math....... if 342 solves the problem, spend it

 

[PROSTOCKTOM]

If I could get it repaired for a 1/3 of a new one then I would repair it since it's not an old TV.

I bought a top of the line 52" Sony XBR6 over 20-years ago and paid $3800 for it. Got it at H.H. Gregg (no longer in business) for 24-months same as cash.

6-months into paying I could go out and buy the same TV for half price, but I already owned it so I was along for the ride.

This TV had a 3-year warranty and started pixelating about 39-months after I got it and finally died after about 42-months of ownership.

Got an estimated over a $1000 to get it repaired. At that point I could buy a new XBR7 for $300 more than the repair cost.

I always liked Sony products up until that point. I haven't purchased anything Sony since.

I recently paid $800 for a new Samsung and will probably never pay anymore than that for any TV since I rarely watch it.

Tom

 

[GetX'd]

Guys, about 20 months ago I paid $1500 for a Samsung QLED 4 K blah, blah , blah tv, with one year warranty . At 13 months old got a lightning pop and it quit. Recently found a local repair shop and they just said it will need main power board and two other boards, parts and labor $342 bucks. That tv now on Amazon sells for $978. It was a nice tv, good picture and I liked it. But, where is your cutoff point to fix or replace.

In that situation - Personally I’d buy the new one. You probably don’t want to file an HO claim for that small gain. Lightening strike May be covered - don’t recall, read your policy. What it something else malfunctions w/the old one after repair. Just bad luck

 

[Fran Blacker]

A lighting strike I might fix it, wishy washy answer. Your finances are one thing if $900 hurts fix it. You live down south where the thunder and lighting roam buy a surge protector. Trip-lite was the brand to buy years ago, run both a/c and tv cable through it. Don't known if Trip-lite is one to buy anymore but if your buying don't cheap out.
GetX'd idea of home is good if you had a low deductible.

 

[Billccm]

I can tell you nothing is built to last regardless of the brand name or purchase price. A two year old TV is probably near the half life, or less.

I was a loyal Sony customer, too, but realized everything made today is junk. I buy the cheapest TV Walmart has to offer and send it to the landfill in three to five years like a good consumer of Chinesium is expected to do.

 

[Dave6T4]

We had a 40" Sanyo that only lasted about 4 years. I replaced it with generic Hisense that was on sale for less than $300.00. This one is a Smart TV that had Roku, and stuff that our previous one did not. I figure if this one dies early, we still did OK.

 

[72redbird]

I had the same thing happen at my house. You might want to check one of the other HDMI ports. I moved my cable to one of the other HDMI ports and it worked like normal. Lightning only knocked out that one port. Might be worth a try.

 

[WileERobby]

I can tell you nothing is built to last regardless of the brand name or purchase price. A two year old TV is probably near the half life, or less.

I was a loyal Sony customer, too, but realized everything made today is junk. I buy the cheapest TV Walmart has to offer and send it to the landfill in three to five years like a good consumer of Chinesium is expected to do.

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[Fran Blacker]

Have 11year old Panasonic 42" . Turn it on 9 am off at 10:30 pm, use it as TV/Monitor. Knock on wood.

 

[Cranky]

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But anything with the Samsung name on it is something I'll stay away from......always!

 

[GetX'd]

I bought two Samsungs just prior to the Super Bowl about 15 yrs ago - have never had a lick of problems w/either. They’re sort of smart - but not like today’s. Not really necessary as now I stream everything thru Roku and use Sling. I think 15 yrs ago you got better TV - although they cost a hell of a lot more…… $1500 apiece with some extras…..

 

[MarPar]

Don't known if Trip-lite is one to buy anymore but if your buying don't cheap out.

Yes it is. They still make a very high quality product. I have all my office equipment on tripp-lite line conditioner/surge suppressors.

 

[eldubb440]

 

[#41]

@ repair 1/3 the cost of a new one, I would junk it unless they can guarantee 100% it will be fixed for no more $$. It's already 2 years old and the warranty expired. How will you feel when it dies 6 months after its repaired and then you have to buy a new one? A new TV will have a warranty.

That's just the way things are now. Most everything is made to last a handful of years just past the warranty.

 

[Sam69sat]

There are a gazillion 50" sub $300 tv's out there for sale.

 

[68gtxman]

I still like taking them apart myself and looking for bulging capacitors. This is what usually fails and replacements are in the neighborhood of $2. Easy to remove and replace. What do you have to lose? Can you break it harder?

 

[kiwigtx]

But anything with the Samsung name on it is something I'll stay away from......always!

With all due respect, I disagree here Cranky. I buy a lot of Samsung gear.....it's good stuff. The South Koreans are masters of electronics and quality. Sure there have been a few cock-ups along the way....but so has Apple and many other big-name brands. Panasonic is the other go-to in my family. Helps that my brother-in-law is a Panasonic technician.

Just as an aside - I know that Panasonic has a memory chip that records faults and hours etc from the first time they are switched on....so don't try and tell lies about what problems the TV has had. I bought a new 55" TV a few years ago, and it was another 4 years before using it. The TV ran for about 3 days, ten started cutting out, and eventually quit. Turned out it was a faulty power board on one of the rails. Only due to family connections did I get a free repair - and overnight at that. But I didn't tell stories about how long it ran for - they told me exactly how long and what the problem was. It actually only ran well for about 4 hours.....just a random fault.

Personally, if a device fails outside the warranty period, it's time to evaluate how much do you use and need that item. If it's a TV, and the repairs are more than 25% of the new one....buy a new one. The prices are always coming down - especially at the end of the model year.

 

[Mopar Hunter]

Heat is the number one killer of TVs.

 

[Detective D]

Don't buy a TV that costs more then the 3/4 mark of whatever is at Sam's club unless you have throw away money. They all share compnents, very few have "better" guts throughout their build. It's all price point, with "premium" price stuff out their to lure in the small group of people that haven't given up hope that they might actually make a quality product yet.
There is no quality chinesium product, just a "good enough for this much money" product. All the china apologists will show up now saying blame the company that dictates the quality level but when you have one manufacturer on the planet of major components then all these companies have to bargain with that one place.

I bought a 50" plasma from a local smaller appliance store, it has like 5 HDMI, 2 component in's, an S video, and 3 regular component ins. It still works, it is not on the internet, it has a surge protector. Works great yet. I paid extra, because I trusted this store back then. Now the owners sold, the old sales people retired, and the younger crowd "gave up" but at least they tell you how it is lol. I still use them for appliances because of that.
But I get TV screens at Sam's. Because who cares, they are all the same, china gets all the money, so hell if I will give them more then I have to.