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Are there any lawyers etc out there.?If I buy a telly costing about a grand how come I only get a 12 month warrantee?Why should I pay another ?300 for extra peace of mind for some insurance?Surely I can expect something costing that much to last a reasonable time..12 months and a day is surely too short.Is this an example of another customer rip off...anyone out there got any experiences or tips?Thanks in advance.

If you can afford a new TV at a grand, you can afford another pissy ?300 for insurance.
Seriously, thats the only guarantee you get on electrical goods these days, whether its a cheap microwave at ?29.99 or a Plasma TV at a fucking grand

Don't take any extended warranties at all, they're all additional profit for the dealer, nothing more.

But in the duration of life, some things you buy break the day after the warranty runs out and others last for 30 years or more. It's just swings and roundabouts. I've had TV's and videos give up the ghost after 18 months - yet there are two portable TV's I bought in 1979 that are still going strong - I would throw them out, but I'm more interested in how long they will actually function as the pictures are still fine.

I have been in the service trade for 24 years since I left school, so I obviously know a thing or two about buying a TV.
There are a few questions that my customers regularly ask and I answer honestly and completely objectively every time -
1) What is the best tv to buy? Answer - there is no such thing! They say, "But what about Sony or Panasonic (or any make you can think of) ? My mate says they are the best and never go wrong".Well, that's his opinion and he will be lucky if his one dosen't go wrong! If you were to buy the same set as your mate, you may have a very different opinion (as is very common in my experience).
2)These extended warranties are a con aren't they ? Well, again, this is a matter of opinion.Insurance is a gamble either way, wether it's home/contents insurance, fully comprensive car insurance or consumer electronics extended warranties.One has to decide wether it is worth the gamble or not.The thing with modern tvs is that over the years the costs have not gone up (relatively speaking) while everything has.Twenty years ago, a 24 inch tv might have cost ?300 and that is still the case today! How is this possible? The short answer is that modern tvs are crap!! So my advice is this- When you go looking to buy a tv, have in mind a budget that includes an extended warranty, pick out a telly that you like and don't get talked into anything else.

As I mentioned before, I have 24 years experience behind me and now more than ever I would recommed this as a worthy thing to spend your money on.There was a period in time when manufacturers would set out to make quality gear, but things have changed somewhat.Modern tvs are more about quantity, rather than quality.People want bigger screens, more channels, more and bigger speakers, gadgets and buttons to press and things to impress (and out do) their freinds with.All of this hi tech stuff means hi tech servicing.No longer can you take your broken telly to J. Bloggs corner shop to be repaired as the technology to perform diagnostics and repairs is beyond most independant small repair shops.

No doubt others here might disagree with me, but I see it as I call it.Remember, I am seeing this technology EVERY working day and seeing them fail time after time and seeing the disappointment and anger on peoples faces.Wether it's your cheap set from Tesco or the latest 42" Sony, they all go wrong.A good example is this tv Known for randomly shutting down, there is already a modification that needs doing to it!!

It just goes to show that all manufaturers (and retailers) are interested in is profit margins, wether through sales of goods, warranties, or exhorbitant servicing costs.

Well, I hope I haven't scared off too many people from buying a new telly, that wasn't my intention!! but to highlight some things that are really worth knowing.If anyone wants any impartial advice on buying a tv, than I am more than happy to oblige.

Rob.

I wouldnt bother with these warranties.Also i wouldn't bother getting electrical stuff like DVD players or Televisions from certain catalogue stores like Argos or Index.( because if it breaks down and these companies change there catalogues and promoting different items,sometimes a techician find it hard to replace parts of the product if the companies stop producing the items). My sister found that out when her television pack up which she got from Argos and the store and local technicians she tried from yellow pages couldn't fix tv because parts were no longer in existent to the model of tv.

I got caught out donkey of years ago when i bought a VHS player(Dvd wasn't around then) and i got mine from a store called Tandys,but i had a warranty, problem was my video was knackered after 8 months and the Store i bought from "tandys" closed down and i think most of the stores closed down so i just stuck trying to find a nearest Tandy store near me which there wasn't(i think there went in recievership or just went bust(you dont see this store now) so i just threw the video player away in a skip in the end because it was badly damaged and it was cheaper to just get a new one.

Carl

Everything electrical I've ever had repaired under warranty has never been done satisfactorily. I had an Hitachi TV and a Mitsubishi Video that came with 3 year warranties (different stores) - they were in and out of repair every few months and either came back with the fault unfixed or just broke again after a few months. The circuit board on the TV used to spark and it would switch itself off every few minutes - they couldn't even fix that (House of Fraser). At the end of the warranty period I scrapped both and replaced them with much cheaper models and have had no problems with them. sometimes paying for quality gives you the exact opposite.