Samsung TV's = NO GOOD

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Master Geek

#258486 26-Sep-2009 08:59

Have a Samsung 50 which came with 2 years Manufacturers Guarantee and wouldn't hesitate buying another Samsung, actually all my tv's hav been Samsung lol!

Satch

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#258487 26-Sep-2009 08:59

alasta: ... If you go down to the Warehouse and pay $0.50 for an Electrosonic stereo then it's unreasonable to expect it to last as long as a $5000 Bose stereo, for example.

That's questionable lol.

Wade

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#258490 26-Sep-2009 09:15

Well call me ignorant but I had not even considered CGA, i was expecting at best to pay for an out of warranty repair, I have had a great run out of my major appliances and never been in this situation before now hence am very green with regards to the CGA. The discussion on this board is brilliant, I am now better informed, and it looks like i have a potentially painful but viable means of sorting the issue at minimal cost to me, big ups to the GZ crew!

ZollyMonsta

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#258491 26-Sep-2009 09:15

itxtme: With all these people waving the CGA around, how many can honestly say they have used it??

I have used it twice.. and won in disputes tribunal.

tonyhughes

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#258494 26-Sep-2009 09:34

itxtme: With all these people waving the CGA around, how many can honestly say they have used it??

I have. Often.

If you are well versed in speaking CGA, and have good people skills, CGA will win the argument every time. I have never been to court, and every company has backed down and fulfilled their obligations.

RustyGonad

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#258503 26-Sep-2009 10:14

I've also used it twice:

Case 1 - Fridge

My 5 1/2 YO F&P Fridge blew the heater element. Repair dude turned up, with new F&P parts to repair it. Installed heater element, fridge started hissing - turned out the new element was a US 110V part which proceeded to explode and burn a hole in the radiator, which in turn released all the nice environmentally friendly gas into the environment. After couple of converstaions on the phone - I had a loan fridge within a few hours, and was offered a half price replacement fridge. Mentioned the CGA (parts being fit for the intended purpose) and the half price turned into $0. Beer stayed cold, and meat stayed frozen. Cost me nothing - didn't even have to pay the repairman. Warranty period gets reset to day 1 on arrival of the new fridge. Thanks CGA your bewdiful.

Let say I had a 5 year extended warranty (which I was offered but declined, for $700 when I bought the fridge). I would have payed the repair dude $170, assumed my fridge was dead, gone oh sh*t my extended warranty has expired, oh well its time for a new one, zip/zap, there goes $2000 again, may as well chuck in one of those extended warranty things again, zip/zap $700, by which time all my beer would have gone warm and I'd be spewing BBQ meat and warm beer, cause it was about to go off before the new frige turned up. Thanks extended warranty you've just saved me -$3570. Worthless sack of sh*t.

Case 2 - TV

Made the mistake of buying a 40" Samsung Rear Projection a few years back. After 2 1/2 years the colour wheel bearing failed. This made a huge noise (like a 747 taking off), and turned the TV into a worthless pile of plastic. After speaking to Samsung in Australia, and recieving p*ss poor service, I rejected the set under the CGA (not being fit for the intended purpose, and not being durable). This meant I didn't give them the option to fix it. I sent one email to Harvey Norman, which was forwarded by them to Radiola. A couple of phone conversations later I had a new Samsung LA46F81BX sitting in my lounge. This was a fantastic outcome, once again I love you CGA. BTW - I had the option to receive my money back ie a FULL RETAIL refund. They also refunded a spare bulb ($700) bought for the TV. Once again warranty resets to day 1.

As a sideline, my dad also bought one of the same DLP TV's. Thought I'd give the CGA another go and sent another email to HN rejecting his TV under the CGA as well, even though it hadn't failed, as there was a significant amount of evidence on the web to suggest the colour wheel bearings were prone to fail due to a design fault. They'd run out of 46"' so he got a LA52F81BX. More hugs and kisses to the CGA - we're now loving you alot...

Had I purchased an extended warranty (zip/zap -$700) the TV would have got fixed for free, 2-3 years later it would have failed (sometime about now), once my extended warranty had run out. I would have spent $30 taking the wothless pile of plastic to the dump, and around $4-6k of another new TV. Once again thanks for nothing (-$5k) extended warranty...

Really, extended warranties give you nothing other than comfort from Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. You may not like it, or even be offended by being told that, but in NZ that is a fact. We have, from what I have seen the most draconian, and consumer biased piece of leglislation in the world. You really should choose to use it.

Satch

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#258508 26-Sep-2009 10:41

I purchased an iPhone for my girlfriend from DSE the other day. The salesman kept on banging on about purchasing an extended warranty for it, and I kept on saying no thanks. Actually, had I accepted everything he was trying to upsell me during that purchase, I would have walked out with a 1000 year extended warranty, a whole range of iPhone accessories totalling more than the $1000 phone itself, a toaster, one of those dodgy looking "face massagers" in the shape of a vibrator, and a smoke alarm...

On another note, my girlfriend's current phone crapped two weeks ago after it's 7 month birthday. Took it back to the retailer (unfortunately [added: the phone was] parallel imported) who sent it to their repair centre. Got told it was a broken flex cable inside the phone and therefore not covered by warranty. Despite a 30min phone call explaining that it was not caused by misuse or neglect (and the shop assistant even admitting that there was no physical damage to the phone), I managed to come out with a parts only charge (which I still haven't accepted). I'm not exactly sure where I stand so am doing some research...

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clevedon

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#258510 26-Sep-2009 10:53

ZollyMonsta: I see Plasma as an end of life product myself, so don't understand why people are still buying them (other than the dirt cheap prices).

People are still buying Plasma because they have a superior picture compared to LCD I believe ( and I'm sure many will agree ) We viewed and researched dozens of flat panels with all types of media in lots of different stores before getting two 50" Full HD Plasmas and retired a gifted near new top of the range Sony Bravia LCD ( the picture, which didn't even come close to the Plasmas ) to the spare bedroom. Price didn't come into the equation and never does for me. I don't understand what you mean - end of life product, they are still manufacturing them in the millions.

ZollyMonsta

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#258514 26-Sep-2009 11:17

By end of life, I mean old technology.. just like plain old LCD technology is likely heading into 'old technology' as LED branded sets become more and more available and cheaper.

d0tn3t

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Geek

#258516 26-Sep-2009 11:38

ZollyMonsta: By end of life, I mean old technology.. just like plain old LCD technology is likely heading into 'old technology' as LED branded sets become more and more available and cheaper.

That doesn't necessarily mean better though. Plasma sets are around 0.001ms response, whereas LCD still sits around 2ms. The LED branding you mention is still referring to the same LCD panel, but with LED backlighting as opposed to CCFL (100,000hrs vs 60,000hrs expected life). So there are a few benefits such as no mercury, more efficient, better colour gamut etc - however where you are most likely to find this LED branding is in the Samsung LED slim, which is only edge-lit, which is going to give you a poorer image than full backlighting.

For full LED backlighting you need to look at the Sony X, LG LH90 or I think the Samsung 9000

boby55

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#258517 26-Sep-2009 12:17

itxtme: With all these people waving the CGA around, how many can honestly say they have used it??

I've used it twice

once with my old Sony plasma 3 years old it stuffed out and Harvey Norman replaced it.

Second time was more tricky at DSE, 3 Years ago my Xbox 360 got RROD 6months into buying it, so I took it back, they sent it away. 3 months later , It got it yet again so Once again I took it back and they tried telling me they didn?t want to know about it and to contact Microsoft, I argued that it was still under their 12 month warranty and they ended up sending it back for repair. 14 months into the warranty the disc drive stops working. Once Again I go into DSE and they give me the usual it?s out of warranty speech and I say CGA says it should last a reasonable amount of time and they end up sending it back for repair.
21 months since I first brought it, It got Red Ring of Death again so I got legal advice from my friend who is a lawyer he recommended that I take it back and get a refund under the CGA as after 3 repairs you are allowed to ask for a refund. So I took it back and as expected I had to argue my point but after about an hour with the manager I ended up getting my money back and brought a ps3 ;).

I think my point here was that you would be surprised how many of us have used the CGA as we don?t all get suckered in by extended warranties.

Regs

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Snowflake

#258629 26-Sep-2009 22:18

ZollyMonsta: By end of life, I mean old technology.. just like plain old LCD technology is likely heading into 'old technology' as LED branded sets become more and more available and cheaper.

i think you'll find that some manufacturers are still working on new plasma tvs and technology and that there are still a bunch of people who prefer them over LED. I know i'm one who prefers plasma....

I also have a Samsung plasma TV that i'm very happy with. I had a philips CRT one previously which caused me no-end of grief but Harvey Normans took the philips back and let me swap it for a brand new Samsung (after nearly 2 years and both repair and complete replacement units with continued problems).

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paradoxsm

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#258797 27-Sep-2009 22:13

CGA is a great piece of legislation but can either be a case of "quote the CGA and your wish is their command" or it can be a bit of a hassle to getting a resolution by having to put time aside and even find time to get down to make the application.

Extended warranties can be good to avoid the hassle but then it depends on the company. I have had terrible service from one and superb service from another (the company that used the bad* one I notice has since changed)

* Bad: Defined as my experience with them.

I simply think if the goods are well looked after and kept in ideal conditions, they should last for a many many years. I have a Betamax video recorder among other other ancient stuff that still performs like new for example.

I had someone try and drag me along to fight the retailer about her phone, it looked like she'd used it as a hockey puck it was so smacked up, she finally agreed that she might have just been a bit rough on the phone and bought something a bit more robust.

I have a Panasonic 720p plasma which i'm very happy with, even upgrading to full HD has not tempted me to swap as this is just such a good unit.

vinnieg

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#258983 28-Sep-2009 13:39

Satch:On another note, my girlfriend's current phone crapped two weeks ago after it's 7 month birthday. Took it back to the retailer (unfortunately [added: the phone was] parallel imported) who sent it to their repair centre. Got told it was a broken flex cable inside the phone and therefore not covered by warranty. Despite a 30min phone call explaining that it was not caused by misuse or neglect (and the shop assistant even admitting that there was no physical damage to the phone), I managed to come out with a parts only charge (which I still haven't accepted). I'm not exactly sure where I stand so am doing some research...

if it's an NZ reseller the CGA still applies :) it doesn't matter if it's parallel imported.

If it's off Ebay then it's another matter :(

I've had the same problem with a flex cable in my camera(W760i) although mine was bought in HK. I've just spent the $9.50NZD to replace it :S and all seems good....knock on wood.

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

vinnieg

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#258984 28-Sep-2009 13:42

Oh and I have to say I support Samsung TVs, I've got them throughout my house, never had an issue with them or any Samsung computer monitors.

How exactly did your TV "break"? You haven't mentioned that yet...

I've always had good service from Samsung NZ and Radiola who import them out here in Porirua :)

I have moved across the ditch. Now residing in Melbourne as a VOIP/Video Technical Trainer/Engineer.

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