"Jim Gilliland" wrote in message
...
The bulb will not be covered. Rest assured that Service Plans bring in
more profit to the retailer than any other item that they sell. That
alone should tell you that it is in their interest, not yours.

The Samsung has four components inside it - the power supply, the analog
board, the digital board, and the light engine. The first three cost
about $200 each to replace. The last costs about $1500. If you lose
the Light Engine during year 1, the warranty will cover it. Samsung
provides in-home service under warranty (1-800-Samsung), no need to
involve Best Buy in the process. They'll replace the light engine even
if it's just noisy, or if it has a single bad pixel.

If you lose the Light Engine during years 2, 3, or 4, then the Service
Plan will have been a good purchase. However, the probability of the
Light Engine working for a full year, and then failing within the next
three, is very, very small.

Does the $200 for the boards other than the light engine include labor and a
service call? Is that dealer cost or retail? Are you sure that there are
not other parts that can fail that are not part of those assemblies? I have
heard this claim about the cost of repairing the Samsungs before and asked
these questions, but never get an answer... What happens if a fan, safety
switch, or temperature sensor goes bad (most LCD and DLP sets have several
of each and they have been some of the most common failures in most)? Do
you have to replace a $200 board to replace a $14 fan?

Bottom line is that replacing a power supply, analog board, or digital board
will likely cost more like $400 on average and from what I hear from the
guys servicing Samsungs, replacing light engines is much more likely than,
for instance, replacing a CRT.

Leonard

Leonard Caillouet wrote:

Does the $200 for the boards other than the light engine include labor and a
service call? Is that dealer cost or retail? Are you sure that there are
not other parts that can fail that are not part of those assemblies? I have
heard this claim about the cost of repairing the Samsungs before and asked
these questions, but never get an answer... What happens if a fan, safety
switch, or temperature sensor goes bad (most LCD and DLP sets have several
of each and they have been some of the most common failures in most)? Do
you have to replace a $200 board to replace a $14 fan?

Bottom line is that replacing a power supply, analog board, or digital board
will likely cost more like $400 on average and from what I hear from the
guys servicing Samsungs, replacing light engines is much more likely than,
for instance, replacing a CRT.

Certainly there are other minor components, some of which may (rarely)
fail. Certainly service companies charge for their labor, making a
total repair bill higher than the cost of the parts. My information was
simply intended to put things into perspective. It is possible that a
service plan will pay for itself, just unlikely. If you can't afford
the repair, then buy the insurance.

But before you buy the service plan, consider whether you may be able to
be "self insured". That means you save the cost of the service
contract, but take the risk of paying for the repair yourself. On
average, you'll be far, far ahead if you can absorb that risk. A very
few owners will find that they do, in fact, wind up with an expensive
repair. The rest will come out way ahead.

There is no dispute about this: Service Plans are a HUGE profit center
for the retailers that sell them and for the insurers who hold the
policies. That huge profit comes from the difference between what you
pay for the service plan and what they have to pay out to make repairs.

Thanks for everyone's advice. I think we have decided against the
Best Buy Service Plan. We were wondering, however, if Samsung offers
an extended warranty towards to the end of the year as the original
manufacturer's warranty expires.

We have purchased items in the past where we have received information
in the mail about extending the manufacturer's warranty, so we wonder
if that will be the case for this TV.

(Jim) wrote in message . com...
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!

"Jim Gilliland" wrote in message
...
Leonard Caillouet wrote:

Does the $200 for the boards other than the light engine include labor
and a
service call? Is that dealer cost or retail? Are you sure that there
are
not other parts that can fail that are not part of those assemblies? I
have
heard this claim about the cost of repairing the Samsungs before and
asked
these questions, but never get an answer... What happens if a fan,
safety
switch, or temperature sensor goes bad (most LCD and DLP sets have
several
of each and they have been some of the most common failures in most)?
Do
you have to replace a $200 board to replace a $14 fan?

Bottom line is that replacing a power supply, analog board, or digital
board
will likely cost more like $400 on average and from what I hear from the
guys servicing Samsungs, replacing light engines is much more likely
than,
for instance, replacing a CRT.

Certainly there are other minor components, some of which may (rarely)
fail. Certainly service companies charge for their labor, making a
total repair bill higher than the cost of the parts. My information was
simply intended to put things into perspective. It is possible that a
service plan will pay for itself, just unlikely. If you can't afford
the repair, then buy the insurance.

But before you buy the service plan, consider whether you may be able to
be "self insured". That means you save the cost of the service
contract, but take the risk of paying for the repair yourself. On
average, you'll be far, far ahead if you can absorb that risk. A very
few owners will find that they do, in fact, wind up with an expensive
repair. The rest will come out way ahead.

There is no dispute about this: Service Plans are a HUGE profit center
for the retailers that sell them and for the insurers who hold the
policies. That huge profit comes from the difference between what you
pay for the service plan and what they have to pay out to make repairs.

I was not disputing this at all. In fact, I have stated many times that
extended warranties are usually NOT a good value. It is importance to
understand what the actual cost of repairs are likely to be. What I was
pointing out was that you seem to be estimating on the very optimistic side
of things...not a useful perspective, but a biased one that is stacked
against the decision to purchase the warranty. I think it is more important
to get real info. I asked some questions and still have not received
answers. Has anyone actually priced these repairs with a Samsung ASC to see
what they would actually charge out of warranty?

In the case of newer, expensive products that are likely to be serviced
primarily by board swapping, it is possible that extended warranties may be
worth considering. You have to do your homework and consider the details of
the particular product and warranty before coming to this conclusion.

Leonard

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:06:59 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

The bulb will not be covered. Rest assured that Service Plans bring in
more profit to the retailer than any other item that they sell. That
alone should tell you that it is in their interest, not yours.

What makes you say that the bulb isn't covered? When I bought a 50" Sony
LCD projection TV from Best Buy they said the bulb was covered.

"General Schvantzkoph" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:06:59 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

The bulb will not be covered. Rest assured that Service Plans bring in
more profit to the retailer than any other item that they sell. That
alone should tell you that it is in their interest, not yours.

What makes you say that the bulb isn't covered? When I bought a 50" Sony
LCD projection TV from Best Buy they said the bulb was covered.

They lied to you. Sorry, but that's the truth. It's a consumable item,
like tires on a car. Call the number on the plan and ask, they'll tell you.

General Schvantzkoph wrote:
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:06:59 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

The bulb will not be covered. Rest assured that Service Plans bring in
more profit to the retailer than any other item that they sell. That
alone should tell you that it is in their interest, not yours.

What makes you say that the bulb isn't covered? When I bought a 50" Sony
LCD projection TV from Best Buy they said the bulb was covered.

They'll "say" all sorts of things. Read the contract. It says
consumables are not covered.

On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 23:34:39 GMT, "Badger"
wrote:

I don't believe THEY service anything. They contract it out. Their
service policies didn't used to be theirs either, meaning that they
sold a policy serviced by another company. I don't know if that's
still true.

That's still true. Sears is the ONLY major retailer that performs
it's own warranty work. Sears employees wearing Sears uniforms,
trained by the individual manufacturers, driving Sears vans turn the
screwdrivers on all of the televisions they sell... when it comes to
selling & servicing appliances and electronics, Sears is a HUGE "mom &
pop" in that sense.

Regarding this bulb/warranty issue, a salesman at Ultimate Electronics told
me that they used to sell two versions of their extended service (3 years)
plan for HDTV's, bulb-included & bulb not-included at a lower price. But
now, he said, they only have one plan, bulb-included, 3 years, $300. Can't
vouch for his accuracy. Salesmen are known to be wrong, and worse.

I would probably not buy an extended warranty, anyway. But to my way of
thinking, a non-bulb, lower-cost, extended warranty would be preferable. I
would rather buy a spare lamp and keep it in my closet in case the original
goes out since I can replace it, following the manual instructions, in a few
minutes. Why wait for a service tech to show up to do what I can do myself?

mack
austin


"Jim Gilliland" wrote in message
...
General Schvantzkoph wrote:
On Thu, 30 Sep 2004 20:06:59 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

The bulb will not be covered. Rest assured that Service Plans bring in
more profit to the retailer than any other item that they sell. That
alone should tell you that it is in their interest, not yours.

What makes you say that the bulb isn't covered? When I bought a 50" Sony
LCD projection TV from Best Buy they said the bulb was covered.

They'll "say" all sorts of things. Read the contract. It says
consumables are not covered.

"curmudgeon" wrote in message .. .
There is nothing to argue about. A bulb IS a consumable and not covered by
any warranty.

I totally agree that most extended warranties are much more favorable
to the retailer than the customer, and in general I won't buy them.
However, in fairness to Best Buy, I *did* buy a 3-yr warranty with my
new Canon S400 digital still camera for two reasons: a) it *does*
cover both the original and the additional rechargeable battery I
purchased - both of which are clearly "consumables"; and b) I was told
the warranty would even cover damage if the camera accidentally fell
in the lake. Since I'll clearly have to replace both batteries within
3 years, it seemed like a no-brainer.

So - about 14 months later, the camera was dropped on concrete. The
lens tube was out at the time, and was bent at a 30-degree angle.
Obviously, the camera was trashed. I took it into Best Buy and showed
it to them. The tech took one look, said it was not repairable and
that they no longer carried the S400 model. So I was given full
credit for my original $500 cost and told to go pick out a
replacement. I walked out with a new 5-megapixel S500, which had
replaced the S400 for the same $500 cost. The whole transaction took
less than 15 minutes.

I'm still not a big believer in warranties, but this time was sure
glad I had it. You have to read the fine print re. consumables - some
cover these; most don't.

Rob