Best Buy Service Plan for Samsung DLP HDTV - Advice needed

"You're correct - Sears does their own warranty work with
factory-trained techs with experience on DLP's, LCD's CRT's, etc. As
I understand it, in some places, Sears techs actually perform the
warranty work under contract for other retailers. Those Sears vans
travelling around your town are carrying factory parts and
factory-trained Sears employees who are performing warranty repairs at
manufacturer standards. No other major retailer does this."

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

"Lola" wrote in message
om...
"You're correct - Sears does their own warranty work with
factory-trained techs with experience on DLP's, LCD's CRT's, etc. As
I understand it, in some places, Sears techs actually perform the
warranty work under contract for other retailers. Those Sears vans
travelling around your town are carrying factory parts and
factory-trained Sears employees who are performing warranty repairs at
manufacturer standards. No other major retailer does this."

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

Don't assume that Sears techs are any good, nor that they are very much
trained. Some may be but the vast majority are likely techs that can't cut
it elsewhere. We go behind them all the time and fix things that they
couldn't, wouldn't, or botched.

Leonard

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:39:40 -0400, "Leonard Caillouet"
wrote:

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

Don't assume that Sears techs are any good, nor that they are very much
trained. Some may be but the vast majority are likely techs that can't cut
it elsewhere. We go behind them all the time and fix things that they
couldn't, wouldn't, or botched.

Maybe it's just in-store propaganda (every company has that) but they
tell us the customer satisfaction ratings for our techs is 97% out of
a possible 100%. Sears service also has an 86% "problem fixed on
first visit" record currently. Not perfect but respectable enough to
have Consumer Reports rate their service at #1.

Yesterday, one of our local techs was telling me that since we sell so
many different brands and models (almost 300 on display in my store -
one of our superstores), he often goes on a service call to work on a
TV he's never even seen the guts of. He explained to me that they are
directly "online" with the individual manufacturers' engineers in the
repair vans who instantly send the schematics to them for these
instances. They are talking on the phone with the manufacturer's
engineers as they are looking directly at the schematics for that
particular television. I found that to be quite an interesting
concept... but it works quite well!

Sure, mom & pop techs tend to be the best in the biz. It would stand
to reason that the best of the best would wish to go into biz for
themselves and make the BIG BUCKS instead of working for the largest
service and repair agency in the country. If one wants _the_ best
service, one should buy from their local "mom & pop". In our area,
you pay a lot more for the item and for the labor from a "mom & pop"
because they simply do not have the margins the Best Buys, the Circuit
Citys, or the Sears' have.

On the other hand, if you want to get a great price on your product,
buy from a big box and take advantage of their price-matching
policies. If you want to get a great price on your product AND get
some very decent and capable service from the same place, buy from
Sears or find a "mom & pop" who's willing to sell at little or no
profit on the front-end in hopes of winning your back-end buck. I'm
sure they're out there if you can wheel and deal and if you can find
an open-minded "mom & pop" in your area. Like I said, these don't
exist in my own metro area.

On 24 Oct 2004 15:02:13 -0700, (Lola) wrote:

"You're correct - Sears does their own warranty work with
factory-trained techs with experience on DLP's, LCD's CRT's, etc. As
I understand it, in some places, Sears techs actually perform the
warranty work under contract for other retailers. Those Sears vans
travelling around your town are carrying factory parts and
factory-trained Sears employees who are performing warranty repairs at
manufacturer standards. No other major retailer does this."

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

Lola, I agree, of course. I think it's inexcusable that the corporate
offices of Sears have failed to put these two facts out there enmasse
for the consumers to learn. It's just about always been this way -
the price matching and the fact that they do their own warranty
repairs and do it pretty well... but the corporate offices would
rather gush on and on about "the softer side of Sears". This is total
ineptitude and Mr. Alan Lacy, the CEO should be fired immediately for
this.

It's maddening to me that when it comes to high end electronics,
service and all the other important things to those in my department
that we have to rely almost solely on a slowly-developed (via word of
mouth) clientel.

Here we have the largest selection of televisions in my state, we
price match, we service what we sell, we work on commission (unlike
the other big boxes) so we are "whupping boys" who jump thru hoops for
the customer long after we ring them up... and hardly anybody knows
ANY OF THIS! It's completely rediculous that the powers that be do
not think consumers would be interested in knowing these things about
our company!

It just steams me to be sitting at home and see these absolutely
kick-assed commercials from my main competitors (CC & BB) and then our
commercials come on and there are women sniffing linens and candles
and crap like that with no mention of our obvious advantages over our
competitors when it comes to appliances and high end electronics.
People think dresses and tools when they think of Sears... and I see
STUNNED people daily taking that long escalator up to our department.
People who've shopped at Sears for years are shocked to know that we
have a huge selection of electronics. Again, somebody needs to be
fired for this, Lola, and it starts at the top.

Sorry for the rant but I feel it also accurately answers your
question.... THIS is why everybody who wants to buy at a big box
doesn't buy from Sears. Hardly anybody knows what you now know and
you had to come to a freaking UseNet newsgroup to learn this
information! The answer is, ineptitude at the top. Time for some
heads to roll. :-)

"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:39:40 -0400, "Leonard Caillouet"
wrote:

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

Don't assume that Sears techs are any good, nor that they are very much
trained. Some may be but the vast majority are likely techs that can't
cut
it elsewhere. We go behind them all the time and fix things that they
couldn't, wouldn't, or botched.

Maybe it's just in-store propaganda (every company has that) but they
tell us the customer satisfaction ratings for our techs is 97% out of
a possible 100%. Sears service also has an 86% "problem fixed on
first visit" record currently. Not perfect but respectable enough to
have Consumer Reports rate their service at #1.

Yesterday, one of our local techs was telling me that since we sell so
many different brands and models (almost 300 on display in my store -
one of our superstores), he often goes on a service call to work on a
TV he's never even seen the guts of. He explained to me that they are
directly "online" with the individual manufacturers' engineers in the
repair vans who instantly send the schematics to them for these
instances. They are talking on the phone with the manufacturer's
engineers as they are looking directly at the schematics for that
particular television. I found that to be quite an interesting
concept... but it works quite well!

Sure, mom & pop techs tend to be the best in the biz. It would stand
to reason that the best of the best would wish to go into biz for
themselves and make the BIG BUCKS instead of working for the largest
service and repair agency in the country. If one wants _the_ best
service, one should buy from their local "mom & pop". In our area,
you pay a lot more for the item and for the labor from a "mom & pop"
because they simply do not have the margins the Best Buys, the Circuit
Citys, or the Sears' have.

On the other hand, if you want to get a great price on your product,
buy from a big box and take advantage of their price-matching
policies. If you want to get a great price on your product AND get
some very decent and capable service from the same place, buy from
Sears or find a "mom & pop" who's willing to sell at little or no
profit on the front-end in hopes of winning your back-end buck. I'm
sure they're out there if you can wheel and deal and if you can find
an open-minded "mom & pop" in your area. Like I said, these don't
exist in my own metro area.

Purchasing a service contract from a company who admits their technicians
aren't trained on many of the items they sell (because there's just too many
differnt models to choose from) doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.
That might work for a treadmill or a dishwasher but not something like a
HDTV,
I looked into Sears earlier this year and when I asked them if part of the
set up and warranty was a professional calibration they said no it wasn't.
In fact all they would guarantee is that a broken set would be restored to
factory specs and settings. They don't even offer calibrations

Ed.

On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:55:13 -0800, "Ed T"
wrote:


"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:39:40 -0400, "Leonard Caillouet"
wrote:

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

Don't assume that Sears techs are any good, nor that they are very much
trained. Some may be but the vast majority are likely techs that can't
cut
it elsewhere. We go behind them all the time and fix things that they
couldn't, wouldn't, or botched.

Maybe it's just in-store propaganda (every company has that) but they
tell us the customer satisfaction ratings for our techs is 97% out of
a possible 100%. Sears service also has an 86% "problem fixed on
first visit" record currently. Not perfect but respectable enough to
have Consumer Reports rate their service at #1.

Yesterday, one of our local techs was telling me that since we sell so
many different brands and models (almost 300 on display in my store -
one of our superstores), he often goes on a service call to work on a
TV he's never even seen the guts of. He explained to me that they are
directly "online" with the individual manufacturers' engineers in the
repair vans who instantly send the schematics to them for these
instances. They are talking on the phone with the manufacturer's
engineers as they are looking directly at the schematics for that
particular television. I found that to be quite an interesting
concept... but it works quite well!

Sure, mom & pop techs tend to be the best in the biz. It would stand
to reason that the best of the best would wish to go into biz for
themselves and make the BIG BUCKS instead of working for the largest
service and repair agency in the country. If one wants _the_ best
service, one should buy from their local "mom & pop". In our area,
you pay a lot more for the item and for the labor from a "mom & pop"
because they simply do not have the margins the Best Buys, the Circuit
Citys, or the Sears' have.

On the other hand, if you want to get a great price on your product,
buy from a big box and take advantage of their price-matching
policies. If you want to get a great price on your product AND get
some very decent and capable service from the same place, buy from
Sears or find a "mom & pop" who's willing to sell at little or no
profit on the front-end in hopes of winning your back-end buck. I'm
sure they're out there if you can wheel and deal and if you can find
an open-minded "mom & pop" in your area. Like I said, these don't
exist in my own metro area.

Purchasing a service contract from a company who admits their technicians
aren't trained on many of the items they sell (because there's just too many
differnt models to choose from) doesn't fill me with a lot of confidence.
That might work for a treadmill or a dishwasher but not something like a
HDTV,

Ed, they're in a joint-venture with the original manufacturer. If
they can't fix the problem, they replace the set. The manufacturer's
engineers train the Sears techs and they stay in direct contact with
them. In the vast majority of the calls, the set is fixed on the
first visit. In the remaining cases, the set is replaced, or if parts
need to be ordered, a rental tv of equal comparison is paid for while
waiting for the parts. What more do you want?


I looked into Sears earlier this year and when I asked them if part of the
set up and warranty was a professional calibration they said no it wasn't.
In fact all they would guarantee is that a broken set would be restored to
factory specs and settings. They don't even offer calibrations

Sears apparently does offers calibrations. It costs $179.99 above and
beyond the standard set up and delivery fee. See your salesman for
more information.

"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 20:39:40 -0400, "Leonard Caillouet"
wrote:

Wow, I din't know this at all.
Well, then why would people buy from anyone else?
I was on their website the other day, and i saw that they offer
price-matching + 10% of the difference.

I think my next TV is going to be coming from Sears...
How an you beat that?

Don't assume that Sears techs are any good, nor that they are very much
trained. Some may be but the vast majority are likely techs that can't
cut
it elsewhere. We go behind them all the time and fix things that they
couldn't, wouldn't, or botched.

Maybe it's just in-store propaganda (every company has that) but they
tell us the customer satisfaction ratings for our techs is 97% out of
a possible 100%. Sears service also has an 86% "problem fixed on
first visit" record currently. Not perfect but respectable enough to
have Consumer Reports rate their service at #1.

Yesterday, one of our local techs was telling me that since we sell so
many different brands and models (almost 300 on display in my store -
one of our superstores), he often goes on a service call to work on a
TV he's never even seen the guts of. He explained to me that they are
directly "online" with the individual manufacturers' engineers in the
repair vans who instantly send the schematics to them for these
instances. They are talking on the phone with the manufacturer's
engineers as they are looking directly at the schematics for that
particular television. I found that to be quite an interesting
concept... but it works quite well!

Sure, mom & pop techs tend to be the best in the biz. It would stand
to reason that the best of the best would wish to go into biz for
themselves and make the BIG BUCKS instead of working for the largest
service and repair agency in the country. If one wants _the_ best
service, one should buy from their local "mom & pop". In our area,
you pay a lot more for the item and for the labor from a "mom & pop"
because they simply do not have the margins the Best Buys, the Circuit
Citys, or the Sears' have.

On the other hand, if you want to get a great price on your product,
buy from a big box and take advantage of their price-matching
policies. If you want to get a great price on your product AND get
some very decent and capable service from the same place, buy from
Sears or find a "mom & pop" who's willing to sell at little or no
profit on the front-end in hopes of winning your back-end buck. I'm
sure they're out there if you can wheel and deal and if you can find
an open-minded "mom & pop" in your area. Like I said, these don't
exist in my own metro area.

I'd be willing to bet that the best techs in your area are not at Sears.
Look for the local independent servicers who are factory authorized for a
given brand or who service a lot of that brand. Sears techs have no access
to tech reps and documentation that other ASCs don't have. It might sound
impressive to be able to access schematics online while on the job, but it
is only a matter of being authorized to do so and having a computer.

When it comes to price, Sears service in our area is no bargain. They are
mostly board swappers even on things that can be fixed much much less
expensively with a little troubleshooting. As for percentage of fixes on
the first trip, I'll bet that includes declined estimates that other shops
go behind and fix for half the cost, after Sears has charged $96 for a
service call to guess at which board needs to be changed. I just did
another of these last week.

Leonard

"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:55:13 -0800, "Ed T"
Ed, they're in a joint-venture with the original manufacturer. If
they can't fix the problem, they replace the set. The manufacturer's
engineers train the Sears techs and they stay in direct contact with
them. In the vast majority of the calls, the set is fixed on the
first visit. In the remaining cases, the set is replaced, or if parts
need to be ordered, a rental tv of equal comparison is paid for while
waiting for the parts. What more do you want?

You keep touting Sears' techs being factory trained. What does this mean?
"Factory Trained" can mean lots of things. I was at the only factory
training offered recently for a major manufacturer sold by Sears and there
were exactly zero Sears techs there. Sony offers classes on line that we do
every couple of months and I rarely see a Sears tech on the list of
attendees. From what I have heard from former Sears techs, their "factory
training" is mostly hype. Why don't you check it out.

Leonard

The only thing I would buy from Sears is craftsmen tools.

Leonard Caillouet wrote:

"HDTV-slingr" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 24 Oct 2004 22:55:13 -0800, "Ed T"
Ed, they're in a joint-venture with the original manufacturer. If
they can't fix the problem, they replace the set. The manufacturer's
engineers train the Sears techs and they stay in direct contact with
them. In the vast majority of the calls, the set is fixed on the
first visit. In the remaining cases, the set is replaced, or if parts
need to be ordered, a rental tv of equal comparison is paid for while
waiting for the parts. What more do you want?

You keep touting Sears' techs being factory trained. What does this mean?
"Factory Trained" can mean lots of things. I was at the only factory
training offered recently for a major manufacturer sold by Sears and there
were exactly zero Sears techs there. Sony offers classes on line that we do
every couple of months and I rarely see a Sears tech on the list of
attendees. From what I have heard from former Sears techs, their "factory
training" is mostly hype. Why don't you check it out.

Leonard

I've checked it out, and they get Sears-specific classes from the factory.

What do you recommend instead of Sears?

At least Sears will backup up their warranty -- if they can't fix it, or if
there are more than 3 failures of the same part, they replace the set w/ a new
(equivalent) set. I speak from experience, they couldn't fix an intermittent
screen blank problem on a top of the line Hitachi RPT that developed near the
end of my 3 year contract, so the told me to go an pick out something new at
the store based on my original $4000 purchase price. Got a brand-new Hitachi
60" LCD projection set, couldn't be happier. Not many service contracts are
willing to do a $4000 replacement that I'm aware of...