Best Buy Service Plan for Samsung DLP HDTV - Advice needed

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 09:31:29 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

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.

It doesn't say if a light bulb is a consumable the only thing specifically
mentioned is batteries. BB is making this representation to everyone,
several different salesmen said it to me and someone said it to the OP,
presumably in another part of the country. BB is inviting a lawsuit if
they don't honor these service contracts.

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 14:27:00 -0400, General Schvantzkoph wrote:

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 09:31:29 -0400, Jim Gilliland wrote:

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.

It doesn't say if a light bulb is a consumable the only thing specifically
mentioned is batteries. BB is making this representation to everyone,
several different salesmen said it to me and someone said it to the OP,
presumably in another part of the country. BB is inviting a lawsuit if
they don't honor these service contracts.

One more thing, I bought the service plan for my cell phone from them
because they said it covered batteries. My battery wore out and they
replaced it, no questions asked.

I think the way you have to think about extended warranties is not in terms
of one individual transaction, but rather in terms of the overall practice
of buying them -- or not buying them -- over a long period of time, for many
products. On average, over time, does the practice of buying extended
warranties pay off for you, or are you better off to just "self-insure"? I
believe that, over the long term, it is cheaper for me not to buy them.

You also have to consider special circumstances. If a product has some
problem that seems very likely to arise, then that may make buying the
extended warranty more rational in that circumstance. That is, if the
service you would get under the extended warranty would be of sufficient
quality. That can be hard to determine.

mack
austin


"Rob" wrote in message
om...
"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

Actually, on the PSP brochure it lists AIG Warranty Guard Inc. I went
to their website and it is the most convoluted mess I ever saw. The
information there is NOT aimed at the individual consumer. I was
hoping to find a number to call to ask about the bulb coverage, but no
such luck. (The 1-888 number listed on the front dialed directly to
Best Buy, not AIG).




Richard Ray wrote in message news:[email protected]
True. Best Buy sells warranties administered by NEW, National
Electronics Warranty Corporation. Not knowing how they work for HDTV,
but I can speak for my experience. My wife handles claims for DirecTV
for them. Claims are scheduled with factory authorized contractors who
install, set up, and provide warranty service. The contractor that came
out to service our multi-satellite receiver knew his job and was
finished promptly. We would have received the same treatment even if my
wife didn't work for NEW, as she has to play the bad guy and send a tech
out if there are still problems with a subscriber's equipment after they
closed the job. And the tech gets paid by the job, not by the clock.

HDTV-slingr wrote:

On 30 Sep 2004 16:54:29 -0700, (JDeats) wrote:


DO NOT PAY BEST BUY MONEY FOR AN EXTENDED WARRENTY. Ever! Espeically
not on a HDTV, something like this you'll want only an authorized
service tech to touch your set should something go wrong.


Best Buy does not have service techs. Factory authorized (I would
assume) subcontractors perform warranty work on the electronic items
they sell.

"Jim" wrote in message
om...
Actually, on the PSP brochure it lists AIG Warranty Guard Inc. I went
to their website and it is the most convoluted mess I ever saw. The
information there is NOT aimed at the individual consumer. I was
hoping to find a number to call to ask about the bulb coverage, but no
such luck. (The 1-888 number listed on the front dialed directly to
Best Buy, not AIG).

Seems to me, you probably have to pay extra for "bulb coverage" and you have
to question if you really want it, anyway. The lamp is something that is
fairly likely to go out at some point but is easy to replace, following
instructions in your TV's manual. If you buy a spare one (about $200 for a
Sony RP-LCD HDTV lamp) and keep it on hand, you can get your TV up and
running in 10 minutes instead of waiting a week for the tech to get there.
If you are lucky and never need the spare lamp while you have the TV, it's
still sealed in the box and you can probably sell it on Ebay for much of
what you paid for it.

mack
austin

"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
...
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.

That does not mean that they are any good, nor that they are a good value
for service. In this market, I have had to go behind Sears techs who had
not a clue about how to deal with very routine service problems.

Consumers need to shop for service as carefully as for the products.

With respect to extended warranties, one should read the fine print, contact
the company that underwrites the contract, contact the servicer that
supports it, and be sure that they are both reputable, experienced,
accessible, and can answer the questions that need to be asked.

Leonard

On Fri, 1 Oct 2004 08:56:12 -0400, "Rich" wrote:

}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.

BB replaced the lamp on my 40 inch Panasonic Rear Projection LCD in May
which was under their extended warranty (bulb blew literally on the 366th
day of the factory 1 year warranty period). I bought the extended warranty
because the salesman (their TV dept manager no less) said it was covered
and NOT a consumable. Note that Panasonic does cover their lamps for a full
year along with the warranty of the set itself. I specifically asked the BB
salesman if the lamp was considered a consumable as it is rated by the
manufacturer at 5000 hours (he said it was covered even if it smelled
funny).

According to the BB service tech, BB changed their corporate replacement
policy on lamps literally the week before -- nearly a year after I bought
the set. He said they were replacing them but it was costing them so much
money, they now consider it a consumable item and no longer covered. Due to
my complaining about being lied to they replaced it no charge this time
only (mainly due to the sympathetic service tech -- he called the local
store manager direct). Otherwise, I would have been out a $300+ lamp AND a
$300 extended warranty. Bottom line is the salesman will say anything to
get you to buy their warranty, so caveat emptor...

Read the BB extended warranty carefully. It is written so generic that they
can change almost anything at will, making ANY part they find to fail often
a consumable and hence not covered. Think about it this way, the normal TV
picture tube gets used up too, but over several years and not in 1000's of
hours...

What I did was this, I bought a replacement lamp off eBay for less than 1/2
the factory cost. It is here waiting for the replacement bulb to fail next
time. As for the extended warranty, I figure getting the lamp replaced once
paid for it but I still feel cheated and lied to. Had I known the set could
cost me nearly $300 a year in lamp replacements, I never would have bought
a $2400 rear projection set no matter how good the picture is...

Later,
Dave

On Fri, 01 Oct 2004 14:27:00 -0400, General Schvantzkoph
wrote:

}It doesn't say if a light bulb is a consumable the only thing specifically
}mentioned is batteries. BB is making this representation to everyone,

You are correct. The BB salesman said even if the lamp smelled funny it was
covered (see my earlier post).

Later,
Dave

FWIW, the salesguy (pretty knowledgeable too) at our local Bernies
here in Western Mass said they have a service plan that definitely
does include the bulb.

Also, maybe Sears does their own work, I'm not sure, but I'd bet
dollars to donuts none of these retailers have factory-trained staff
sitting around waiting for a DLP set to crap out. It's all contracted
out to a few local "factory authorized" service centers.


On 30 Sep 2004 09:57:18 -0700, (Jim) wrote:

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!

wrote in message . ..
FWIW, the salesguy (pretty knowledgeable too) at our local Bernies
here in Western Mass said they have a service plan that definitely
does include the bulb.

Also, maybe Sears does their own work, I'm not sure, but I'd bet
dollars to donuts none of these retailers have factory-trained staff
sitting around waiting for a DLP set to crap out. It's all contracted
out to a few local "factory authorized" service centers.


On 30 Sep 2004 09:57:18 -0700, (Jim) wrote:

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!

Up until last week, I worked for Best Buy for 22 months in the Home
Theater dept. For 22 months, I was placed under EXTREME pressure to
sell their PERFORMANCE SERVICE PLAN to 'every customer, every time.'

IMHO, BBY exaggerates to the extreme, the so-called 'need' for their
PSP. The bottom line is that a $400 PSP costs BBY less than $100 and
it is a HUGE source of revenue. I was instructed to 'tell the customer
whatever was necessary' in order to close the sale for a PSP.

Yes, things can go wrong after a mfg's warranty expires--but as long
as the unit is protected by a high quality surge protector, the chance
of anything failing is minimal on a high quality product. My advice
would be: If you plan on keeping the set for more than 4 yrs and use
it a lot, it might be worth considering--However, w/all the
technologiical advances coming at such a rapid pace, you might be
surprised that you'd be willing to 'upgrade' your set in 4 yrs, and do
w/o handing BBY another $300 in pure profit.