Originally posted by: Caminetto
Certainly agree with craftech that the Consumer Reports repair records should give a good indication of reliability. The Consumer Reports repair evaluation is simply the survey of the hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
Keep in mind that repair rate and failure rate are not at all the same.
For example.
#1. 10 Toshiba 27" sets are sold for $300 each. These should last 10+ years without issues.
But like anything, a freak thing can go wrong, so in two years 1 TV breaks.
#2. 10 No-Name 27" TV's are sold for $200 each. These are "made" to last 2 to 3 years, thrown out, and another bought.
In 2 years, 4 have broken, right on schedule. But like above, a freak thing happens, and one actually lasted 6 years!
#1. The owner of the broke quality set calls in, then has it repaired for $65 (that is our actual average repair cost for good sets).
Repair cost was about 20% of replacement cost, and TV should then last 10+ years like it was built to.
#2. Out of the 4 cheap sets that broke, 2 throw them out and buy new, while the other 2 call in for repair estimate.
Because of the low quality, most shops will tell them to throw them out, as it is not worth putting money into junk.
We have to stand behind everything we do, but have no control over parts quality, so we don't marry junk sets.
Should they still insist on wanting to go against the grain, and have it repaired, they then must fight the manufacturer's goals.
Parts and availability will be priced to steer customer away from having it fixed.
With these disposable sets, parts can be 2 to 4 times more than the good sets, and it can take months for some to arrive,
(Have had some Emerson parts on back order for 8 months, and some Sanyo's tuners on back order for 2 months).
So then one of the two customers decides to wait, while the other goes with professional recommendation and throws it out.
The remaining customer buys another cheap 27" TV for $200 anyway, so he can watch something while waiting for parts to arrive.
Parts arrive, and the idiot pays the $120 parts and labor charge to fix his $200 TV. You do the math.
End results are 1 out of 10 Toshiba's were repaired, and 1 out of 10 junk sets were repaired.
That IS an example of how we see these EVERYDAY in the real world of TV servicing.
More times than not it is much worse for the disposable sets.
Most days we are lucky, and all buyers of the disposables throw them out.
That ends up being 1 out of 10 good sets were repaired, while 0 out of 10 cheap sets were repaired!
So Toshiba would have a worse repair rate than no-name brand.
Also, who subscribes to Consumer Reports and fills out surveys?
I would guess that most that buy lowend sets do not sub to CR, while those that are more financially able will subscribe.
This leads to very erroneous stats, as the chances of seeing Daewoo or Apex TV's in expensive homes are not as great
as seeing them in trailer park residents home that don't subscribe to CR.
Some brands, like Apex, and Zenith, as well as RCA/GE BS's, we no longer touch no matter what, and give those owners another
shop's phone number to call.
However, there is much more to the formula, such as some of those that bought disposable sets, take them back to Walmart,
while sometimes a quality manufacturer will pay to have a TV repaired even well out of warranty (Have seen both Sharp and
Toshiba foot the bill if customer wrote to them. Have also seen letters from RCA/GE/Proscan stating that they are sorry TV broke
after 7 months, but warranty period has expired, and they will do nothing after warranty expires).
I understand that in these forums what matters most is the upfront $$ spent, and most feel lucky based on previous TV's life.
You will pay more in the end if you buy lowend TV's.
If you want a good $200 TV, then buy a 1 to 4 year old used Sony, Toshiba, JVC or Sharp (well for $200 you can almost buy a
new Sharp). At least then you will have a good TV that should still last you 10+ years, and most shops give you the same 90
day warranty that you would get with a cheap new set. (you may even impress your friends with name brand stuff in your home).
Even better, shop around, and you can probably find 27" versions of used quality sets for $100 or less.
Flame on, but I am again done in this thread, and will not comment further.