Jophiel wrote:
Circuit City's warranties are handled through a third party. Still probably more annoying than just going to CC and ******** but at least you have coverage.
So was my first plasma TV Joph. When it broke, I went through the third party. They gave me the run around. They finally picked up the TV to check it (with no replacement or loaner I might add). A month later, after hounding them, they finally got around to looking at it and saying it couldn't be fixed. And gee... that's too bad, cause if the original seller was still in business, they'd have to replace it with an equivalent TV (or closest) from their stock, but since they weren't, here's a check for a few hundred dollars more than you paid for the warranty. Go buy a new one. And I guess you just suck up the cost for delivery, installation, etc...
You want the original store to be in business exactly because replacements come from their stock and will be based on the current model of whatever line of product you purchased. If you bought a Samsung 3 years ago, and that model isn't in stock, they have to give you a Samsung that is closest to the features/price of the one you purchased from them. You usually get the equivalent of an upgrade on a brand new TV (or whatever) in this case. Also, they're obligated to actually replace the TV (ie: deliver it back to you) and continue the original warranty.
If they're out of business, the third party will only give you the current market value of the set you had. That's *never* going to be as good of a deal. Not even close. I was awarded the base price for an equivalent TV (which was significantly less than I'd paid originally). Of course, that didn't cover installation, obtaining a new wall mount, warranty, etc... They're not legally required to provide more than the base purchase price of a new set, and they can essentially find the *lowest* equivalent to what you had.
I've been through this. It's a nightmare. Don't *ever* buy an expensive TV from a company that you even suspect might maybe go out of business sometime in the next 5-10 years.
Oh. I forgot one thing. This is more relevant to large flat panel TVs. Those things tend not to be repairable. Thus, the third party can't do anything (they don't sell TVs). That's why it's a problem. For an item where warranty service and repair is likely to actually solve whatever problems you're going to have, it's not nearly as much of an issue...
Edited, Feb 18th 2009 6:47pm by gbaji