[avahifi]

I never buy extended warranties, but just one I did.

Nearly 5 years ago I bought a 200 pound Sony XBR Vega 34" CRT HD TV set.  I chose it because at the time the picture quality was much better than any of the LCD types, and it was much less expensive than Plasmas.  It has given me excellent service until almost now.

The Sony XBR series TVs are more expensive than the standard Sony models, but come with a much longer warranty, actually two years on the unit above.  As the "two year mark" was coming up, I got a letter from Sony offering to extend the factory warranty for another three years for $350.00.  I was just about to toss the letter when I thought, well maybe I should check a couple of things out.  I called a Sony repair facility and asked how much a picture tube replacement would be for my TV.  I was told about $1500 for the part, plus lots of labor!  I decided that just this once I would go for the extended warranty and spent the extra $350.

Well, about a month ago I noticed that the good old Sony was not as good as it used to be.  What caught my attention first was that the scrolling auto race scoring banner across the top of the screen was cutting off the top part of the lettering.  This was slowing getting worse.  I thought about my experience from long ago when a sign of a picture tube was on its last legs was "balloning" - -  the picture getting too big for the frame.  I did a search and actually came up with my now nearly three year old Sony extended warranty paperwork and called them.

Sony's response was very polite and instant.  The asked for the name of a nearby Sony dealer and faxed them a form to come out and look at my unit (its way to heavy for "carry in" service).  The service man showed in a couple of days, and after a couple of tests told me it needed a new CRT and another expensive circuit board.  That info was relayed back to Sony.

Very promptly, Sony responded again, first a call, then a letter telling me that the big CRT model was not economical to repair any more (actually the really high def. picture tube had been discontinued a couple of years ago).  So what they were going to do was just replace the unit with a new TV if that was OK with me.

What model I asked?  I was told a new KDL40XBR7 unit, a 40" very top of the line LCD unit!  Its actually as expensive as my old one.

It was delivered Saturday and is very very very nice.  I am thoroughly impressed with the quality and promptness of Sony service.

There is one big problem though.  Over the past several years, I have been told that it is time for me to re-arrange all the living room furniture.  I had a great excuse - the 200 pound Sony TV would have to be moved and that would require a fork lift truck.  That excuse is now eliminated. 

Hope you all didn't mind reading this.  I am happy to find that a big company still cares about consumers and does its best for them without any evasion.  I still won't buy extended warranties on "normal" stuff, but guess what, for the new Sony, I did do that again.

Best regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[Wayner]

Frank,

My friend here in town is a Sony Dealer. When the 16 X 9 CRT TV's came out from Sony, he had almost 50% shipping damage on every shipment he received. Don't need to do much new math to figure the Sony was on the losing end on this deal. They also discovered that the picture tube was affected by the magnetic field of the earth. As you would turn the TV, the picture would develop strange hues and such. However, the picture (with a good working TV) was incredable (when orientated properly), perhaps better than any LCD, especially up close. Well as time and scrap have proved out, the 200 pound CRT screen is a dinosaur, and lost to time. The new XBR LCDs are great.

[Anji12305]

My first High-Definition set was a SONY KF42WE610.  Just before the NHL playoffs, it developed a curious blue cast along the bottom of the image.  At first, I thought the skaters on the bench were merely exhausted and cyanotic.

It turns out that this is a known defect, and was subject to warranty repair... until six months ago.
I'm out of that "grace period".  They were kind enough to offer me a discount off their retail price on the Sony Style webpage.  My New Panasonic Viera was less money, and has a warranty that may actually mean something.

I know that a maker can't cover every aspect, but this seems feels like Ford and the Pinto gas tanks to me.

http://esupport.sony.com/US/perl/news-item.pl?mdl=KDF42WE655&news_id=261

[Wayner]

Here is a heads-up on all Sony equipment: They will pay all disposal fees for any Sony product at end of life. You must bring it to an authorized Sony reclaimation (recycling) facility.

Wayner

[rcag_ils]

Do the auto companies offer the same warranty work? I have never purchased extended warranty from auto dealer.

[turkey]

Do the auto companies offer the same warranty work? I have never purchased extended warranty from auto dealer.

Extended warranties from car dealers are often not even worth the paper they're printed on. Some of the companies backing these warranties are disreputable and they go in and out of business in the blink of an eye.

The warranties backed by the car manufacturers are better, but they tend to have a lot of exclusions and mostly cover only the things that never break anyway.

Extended warranties are a source of tremendous profit though, so the dealers always push them.

[DustyC]

Do the auto companies offer the same warranty work? I have never purchased extended warranty from auto dealer.

Extended warranties from car dealers are often not even worth the paper they're printed on. Some of the companies backing these warranties are disreputable and they go in and out of business in the blink of an eye.

The warranties backed by the car manufacturers are better, but they tend to have a lot of exclusions and mostly cover only the things that never break anyway.

Extended warranties are a source of tremendous profit though, so the dealers always push them.

I bought an extended warranty on the wretched Fiero I bought back in '84. When the engine decided to self destruct one day the only thing standing between a $2500 engine repair and my wallet was that warranty. That was the only time I have ever bought a extended warranty. Being it was a new model back then, I just had a feeling about it.

[turkey]

I bought an extended warranty on the wretched Fiero I bought back in '84. When the engine decided to self destruct one day the only thing standing between a $2500 engine repair and my wallet was that warranty. That was the only time I have ever bought a extended warranty. Being it was a new model back then, I just had a feeling about it.

I had a friend who had at least a half dozen Fieros that other people had blown up.

The cooling system was very complex and you evidently had to know how to properly bleed the air out of it or coolant would stop circulating.

From what he said, even the dealers often didn't know how to do it.

He drove them around, souped them up, gave one to each of his kids, etc.

I got to drive one of the ones he had souped-up. It was a bright red one with a V6 and a 5 speed, plus lots of go-fast parts. That was an enjoyable little car!

[JoshK]

Great story.  I am glad to see such stories as I have grown quite cynical of big biz customer service these days.   I have never bought such warranties before because I always felt like they were an easy way to generate profit without having to actually deliver anything.

I wonder what happened to CC customers who bought extended warranties when CC went bankrupt?  Actually, I think I know.

[Philistine]

Great story.  I am glad to see such stories as I have grown quite cynical of big biz customer service these days.   I have never bought such warranties before because I always felt like they were an easy way to generate profit without having to actually deliver anything.

I wonder what happened to CC customers who bought extended warranties when CC went bankrupt?  Actually, I think I know.

I too never buy extended warranties, but when I bought a Mitsubishi DLP TV from CC decided to go against the grain and got an extended warranty.  CC sold the warranties to third parties and they're being honored, just had a new lamp and ballast (total retail cost $750) with no hassles from the warranty company.

[pjchappy]

That's a great story, Frank!

I have had great experience with Sony customer service, too.  After a wee bit of a hassle on the phone (I would say mainly due to language barrier), they said they were going to replace my then ~1-month old DVD-RW in my new Vaio laptop.  I was very surprised that the replacement arrived on my doorstep the next day.  Just took out the old one, popped in the new one and I was good to go.

[DUP]

Frank, I've never ever had a tv fail ever, plus I never buy anything Sony, they are over priced and over rated.  I have only had Philips commercial series of  sets from several crt based units back when they had the Sylvania tag in their fold, that thing went for 20 years!!  None of my large CRT Philips sets never failed but after 10 years I figured it's time to move on up 3 PHILIPS HD  LCD systems now one going into 3 years of every day useage, never a burp.  Plasma is obsolete and a dead product LCD got all the improvements, and that will in 5 years be replaced with OLED.  Guess who makes Sony tagged stuff, it's Samsung most likely, the name on front means nothing anymore.  LG Philips was making lotsa LCD panels Philips sold off their portion as LCD panels ain't making profits enough anymore, it's OLED time.  A tv under 10 years old should NEVER fail, I've never had a tv fail so fast as your's did.  If Sony can give you a new LCD tv for $350.  guess where it's made and how much it really costs on the overpriced Sony sets..but then Sony is going broke lately.  How come AVA stuff never needs extended warranties or ever fails, ever?  And how did you dispose of the 200 pound beast, do they recycle in MN.? Mandatory?  Or just give it to the garbage man and off it goes...recycling helps keep Chinese,Bangladeshi or Mexican kids employed from about age 5-15 picking them apart one part at a time.

[Wayner]

DUP,

See above post, Sony recycles for FREE!

I've had 2 TVs fail in short order. They were both Magnavox brand, after they quit making them in the states. I think this brand is complete junk, at least with my experiences.

I also had to buy a new coffee maker yesterday, after the new one I bought in November crapped out. Of course, there was a one year warranty, but I need coffee today. I think lower cost consumer goods quality is at an all time low.

Wayner

[turkey]

"DUP" huh?

It seems to me that "DUP" was the moniker that CE person used over on the Stereophile forums.

I really hope we don't have to suffer through that again here.

[avahifi]

Actually this was only my third large screen Sony TV over the past 45 years.  The first was a 25 inch set purchased in 1963.  We used that for 20 plus years and replaced it only because internal remodeling required a cabinet size change (#1 was a long lowboy shape, there was not room for in in the revised room location).  I gave it to my brother who used it for another 10 years and got a 32 inch Sony that we used until the year after I moved to Woodbury about 5 years ago.  That unit had two low cost service calls over the years, for simple solder connections cooking themselves intermittent, and it happened again in Woodbury, twenty years after its purchase.  This time I decided to replace it because HDTV was the coming thing.  I got a new Sony picture tube model because plasmas were way too expensive then and LCDs were still not good enough. The aging of the new set probably was accelerated by my unfortunate habit here of falling asleep in the big recliner at night and letting the set run for 24 hours at a time quite often.  Not only the set, but I, was aging!

The disposal of the old 200 pound set was quite simple, I gave it to a friend and they hauled it away.  It still performed very well overall, just not perfectly, and probably still has several years of good service in it.  The only real flaw, the scrolling banner at the very top of the screen showing the race car standings on Nascar Nationwide series events was partially cut off.  It was enough of a flaw that Sony replaced it with a new top of the line LCD 40" unit, but I would hardly call my Sony products "Junk".

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[avahifi]

My new warranty replacement 40" Sony Bravia XBR flat panel tv has been up and running for a few weeks now.  Just an outstanding picture and halfway decent sound.

Does anyone have any info on the strange thin flat faced rectangular speakers used in this set, located in the vertical trim strips on each side?  They seem to work better than they should.  Sony customer service and product literature have nothing at all to say about them.

Frank Van Alstine

[Tone Depth]

deleted less than helpful reply.

[Wayner]

They may be using a new technology "film" speaker. The speaker has a thin film membrane and on either side are piezo motors that expand and contract with the signal, hence, pulling or relaxing on the film according to the signal. This is what I knew Sony was going to do, however, I do not know if it is implemented yet. It's kind of like the MartinLogan electrostatic speaker, except the film has the motors insted of the static charge. I had a short-cut to the inventor's website, but that was at work and well.........

The motors are microscopic so if you can imagine this, HTI is working on this type of suspension called dual action, which allows the reader head on the hard disc drive to be "fine tuned" over the disc. That is accomplished by a very tiny piezo motor(s).

Wayner

[skrivis]

Does anyone have any info on the strange thin flat faced rectangular speakers used in this set, located in the vertical trim strips on each side?  They seem to work better than they should.  Sony customer service and product literature have nothing at all to say about them.

Perhaps they are using NXT technology? I demonstrated a speaker system using this technology to you at an AKFest a few years ago.

My demo suffered from my own stupidity, since I wasn't really listening to what I was playing. I was concentrating on everyone's reaction, and didn't notice I had turned up the volume too far. Nevertheless, you can get rather surprisingly good sound out of an NXT speaker.

[Wayner]

I wish I'd remember the name of the speaker I was mentioning, but, I also know that Sony does a bit of signal processing for improved audio on their better TVs. My 36" XBR sometimes suprises me.

Wayner