Archived from groups: alt.tv.tech.hdtv (More info?)
Hi, we purchased a Samsung 61" DLP HDTV almost a month ago and we are
still debating the purchase of the Best Buy Service Plan. We have
some concerns, however:
1) Our TV was purchased on sale for approx. $3800-3900, the service
plan price quoted was $400 for 4 years. This seems high to me. Is
it?
2) Is Best Buy reliable with their service? ie. Will they do what
they say? We are interested in knowing if anyone has had any
experience with actually trying to get things fixed.
3) We felt the sales manager was exaggerating with his stories of all
that could go wrong, even in the first year, with these TV's. He had
horror stories of possible $1500 repairs and such. At the minimum he
suggested that the bulb would need to be replaced at least every 2
years, which at $200/bulb would recoup the cost of the service plan.
I question this. With a 6000 hour bulb life, say we watch a maximum
of 5 hours/day on average, that gives us 1200 days which is over 3
years.
4) We are not even sure the service plan WILL cover the bulb as the
sales manager claims. It does not specifically mention the bulb. It
does offer "complete coverage if your product fails due to normal wear
and tear/usage", BUT it also says "not covered are replacement costs
for lost or consumable parts (knobs, remotes, batteries, bags, belts,
etc.)" We are afraid they could argue that a bulb is a "consumable
part".
We are not naive enough to think that just because the sales manager
says something is covered, that it is. I have read the performance
plan brochure carefully, and unfortunately, it is written for a
variety of products and not specifically for an HDTV.
So, should we or shouldn't we? $400 is a lot of money and we don't
want to throw it away. Thanks!
Hi, we purchased a Samsung 61" DLP HDTV almost a month ago and we are
still debating the purchase of the Best Buy Service Plan. We have
some concerns, however:
1) Our TV was purchased on sale for approx. $3800-3900, the service
plan price quoted was $400 for 4 years. This seems high to me. Is
it?
2) Is Best Buy reliable with their service? ie. Will they do what
they say? We are interested in knowing if anyone has had any
experience with actually trying to get things fixed.
3) We felt the sales manager was exaggerating with his stories of all
that could go wrong, even in the first year, with these TV's. He had
horror stories of possible $1500 repairs and such. At the minimum he
suggested that the bulb would need to be replaced at least every 2
years, which at $200/bulb would recoup the cost of the service plan.
I question this. With a 6000 hour bulb life, say we watch a maximum
of 5 hours/day on average, that gives us 1200 days which is over 3
years.
4) We are not even sure the service plan WILL cover the bulb as the
sales manager claims. It does not specifically mention the bulb. It
does offer "complete coverage if your product fails due to normal wear
and tear/usage", BUT it also says "not covered are replacement costs
for lost or consumable parts (knobs, remotes, batteries, bags, belts,
etc.)" We are afraid they could argue that a bulb is a "consumable
part".
We are not naive enough to think that just because the sales manager
says something is covered, that it is. I have read the performance
plan brochure carefully, and unfortunately, it is written for a
variety of products and not specifically for an HDTV.
So, should we or shouldn't we? $400 is a lot of money and we don't
want to throw it away. Thanks!