When you buy a pricey new HDTV, you expect it to last for at least 5 years, hopefully 10 or more. But one man says his big screen died right after the warranty ran out.
Stephen Anderson turned on his 2-year-old Sony LED TV and gets....nothing. "It just flashes that partial Sony sign and goes back off," he said.
So he called Sony customer service, but got some bad news: It was 10 months past the one year warranty. "It's out of warranty, there is nothing they can do about it," he said.
So he called a repairman, and got even worse news about the set that cost him $1,800.
"He turned it on, turned it off, and I had to write a check for $95 just to do that. He said, there are not even any parts available if you could fix it."
Stephens discovered he wasn't alone. He went online, where he found 8 pages of complaints on Sony's website, from dozens of people all saying they had the same problem with this TV.
Disposable TVs
The website HDGuru.com has coined a term for many HDTVs: It calls them disposable TVs, because they are essentially not repairable.
Because of that, it suggests purchasing a "protection plan" for an expensive TV from Square Trade, Protect Your Bubble,and similar companies with good Better Business Bureau reviews.
Or it suggests you buy a TV with an American Express card, which doubles the warranty to 2 years.
We contacted Sony. After investigating, Sony reached an amicable settlement with Stephens, finally ending his expensive lesson in disposable TVs.
As always, don't waste your money.
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