LCD TV Customer support Nightmare

[biscuitboy]

Hi guys,

Probably not the correct forum for the thread, but I will post here and can be moved if required..

A few months ago I purchased a Philips 1080p 42" LCD Tv from a company called 3pins.com The TV was advertised as New but un-boxed, and was only £460.

I travelled to birmingham to pickup the TV and was excellent for the first 2 weeks. The TV then began to make an intermittent shorting sound from the back and took a persuasive tap to stop...

I then called the company and they said bring it in for repair, which I did... A week or so later they said it was ready and I returned and picked it up only to find a few days later the fault was still there.

I took it back again and they were very apologetic and said they would sort it. They called me a few days later and again said it was fixed. I went to birmingham again to pick it up and we tested it in the shop to make sure it was fixed and the problem appeared again (luckily if anything as it saved me another wasted journey.)

They then told me a few days later it was fixed.... and then a week or so down the line... Same problem.

I returned the TV AGAIN to 3pins who then switched the TV for an LG 42" model (42LG5010) and were V. V. apologetic and said all my problems should be resolved.

After a week or so, guess what. Same fault, different TV.

After a week of complaining and phone calls, it transpired they had a faulty batch of tubes that were the same in both the philips and the LG TV's.

They have said bring it in and they will fix it, stick me a new 12month warranty and pay me £15 for my fuel for the journey...

However, I think this is still not really adequate compensation as I have made over 6 trips to Birmingham (130 mile round trip) and I have to wait for 2 hours for them to fix the TV.

What do you guys think is a fair arrangement for this, or should I just ask for a refund and run??

Comet are selling this Toshiba: http://www.comet.co.uk/shopcomet/product/578495/TOSHIBA-40LV665DB/tab/specification

for the same price and has more HDMI ports...

Cheers for the advice guys!

 

[Diablo13]

Personally I would tell them it was not fit for purpose and with all the hassle you have had you want your money back! Or else ask them for a FREE 3 year extended guarantee.

There's lots of good deals around at the moment. Have a look at Richer Sounds, they are online and have shops. Pretty sure there will be one round your way, Birmingham , Nottingham, Leicester and some more I can't remember. They are part of the Empire Catalogue group, so quite a big firm.

I got an LG 47" full high def set from them brand new for £599. I love it, got both freeview and Sat HD built in. Awesome set. 5 year guarantee only costs £59, cheapest you will get anywhere, and they deliver cheap and give great service. Can't praise them enough. No I dont work there, just very impressed how cheap and helpful they were. The same set I got I saw earlier that day for £999 in Comet, and they said it was on offer, reduced from £1399, liars!

Incidentally, how can you have a TUBE in an LCD tv? You had tubes in the old crt tv's!

Or do they mean a backlight tube? I'm no telly engineer but it sounds like BS saying they had a faulty batch of tubes?

 

[nathan]

Personally I would tell them it was not fit for purpose and with all the hassle you have had you want your money back! Or else ask them for a FREE 3 year extended guarantee.

There's lots of good deals around at the moment. Have a look at Richer Sounds, they are online and have shops. Pretty sure there will be one round your way, Birmingham , Nottingham, Leicester and some more I can't remember. They are part of the Empire Catalogue group, so quite a big firm.

I got an LG 47" full high def set from them brand new for £599. I love it, got both freeview and Sat HD built in. Awesome set. 5 year guarantee only costs £59, cheapest you will get anywhere, and they deliver cheap and give great service. Can't praise them enough. No I dont work there, just very impressed how cheap and helpful they were. The same set I got I saw earlier that day for £999 in Comet, and they said it was on offer, reduced from £1399, liars!

Incidentally, how can you have a TUBE in an LCD tv? You had tubes in the old crt tv's!

Or do they mean a backlight tube? I'm no telly engineer but it sounds like BS saying they had a faulty batch of tubes?

once in richer sounds the other day, just cant remember any of the deals, sorry! I'd recommend them though.

...on a side note diablo, could you tone your text down a little, it's giving me a headache!!

 

[zak4994]

In my opinion I would say refund it and run.

The fact that you have had such a bad experience with them already can only mean that you will have bad experiences with them in the future.

Now it may not be their fault but you already left yourself quite a reputation there.

Oh and Comet ftw. Comet are epic with their deals and services.

 

[nepas]

Oh and Comet ftw. Comet are epic with their deals and services.

Pfffft. Comet my ringpiece! Give the Co-op electrical a try,i deliver a load of their gear and people are always saying how cheap they are

 

[zak4994]

Pfffft. Comet my ringpiece! Give the Co-op electrical a try,i deliver a load of their gear and people are always saying how cheap they are

Ah lol.

I never meant they were the best.

I was only pushing biscuitboy towards that comet offer.

But you should always listen to Nepas (!)

 

[nepas]

But you should always listen to Nepas (!)

Suck up!

 

[zak4994]

Suck up!

Notice the sarcasm. -_-

(!) = sarcastic sentence.

 

[biscuitboy]

Cheers guys. Have to say, think Diablo is right on that richer sounds website tho, No ideas why companys like that dont do more to get onto the google shopping search!

The Toshiba in comet is a good deal and tbh, the warranty will be alot better. Couldnt find anything cheap on the co-op site, thanks tho Nepas!

I'll give them a call tomorrow and chase a refund, still wont be compensated for all my p1ssing around though... What model was that LG by the way Diabolo? Might chase one myself!

Will let you know how it goes tomorrow!

 

[Diablo13]

You will get a better deal at Richer Sounds M8. Please check out the full spec on that Toshiba carefully. Apart from it only being 40" it will only be a normal 50hz refresh rate, the newer sets are 100hz or above so that you get no motion blur. It's obviously up to you but there were a few things on it that show it as an older model telly.

If you can afford a bit more you will get a much better deal. My LG is an LG 47 7000. Cable and satellite hd tuners built in, 47" and 100hz refresh rate. Three HDMI sockets, 2 scarts, optical audio out. It also has a swivel stand which is useful if you get a few people watching it. It's got a usb socket on the back for pictures and music playback, and a PCMCIA slot for pay tv cards as well. Energy saving auto brightness features and all sorts of settings.

I got a 5 year warrenty on mine for just under 60 quid. You really can't lose. Let us know how you get on

 

[biscuitboy]

To update this thread guys, I gave them one last chance to get things sorted and they promised me an upgrade to a 100hz samsung as compensation for all the crap Ive been through.

I arranged to pick it up lastweek and when I arrived at the shop I waited for over an hour and was then told they didnt have anything to give me and said they would refund me the money.

They refunded me the original amount with no compensation for the 7 trips I had made (almost 1000 miles of travelling) and just apologised for all the crap.

Needless to say, I took the money and ran to currys. Cost me an extra £140 but managed to get a brilliant 200hz LG 42" set.

They then took over a week and a half to refund the money to my card and in the end I had to call them and get them to BT the money directly into my account.

I wondered if I have any legal rights to compensation or any recourse for the money I spent in fuel and the time and hassle? It was a RTB warranty, but surely 7 trips is an exception?!!

 

[Socks]

Hey dude. Just seen this after jumping on here. Seems like people are throwing out televisions but not looking into whats going into them properly. by throwing out, i mean producing.

This SUCKS!!! Feel so bad for you dude about the entire thing. Nothing worse than spending all your hard earned cash on something to find its damaged, then damaged again, and again, and again...etc etc.

Id cry or lose my rag if i went in store and they said that to me, then it kept messing up.

Im debating what to do now too myself. I think im just going to get a refund and do the same, looking about a bit more i see theres alo of good deals about, and i think buying from a shop is going to be the best thing for me to do with a purchase like this.

As for the compo, i doubt they'll give you anything, companys arent nice to anyone anymore, too much hassle involved in being good to the consumers imo.

Let me know what happens dude. Ill be keeping an eye on this thread.

All the best.

Tim

 

[infinityv]

Hey ya, just got done reading about your ordeal.

If you lived in the US I'd say that you should be happy to have managed to get a refund as litigation can run into some money really quick and far to many companies are more then willing to name their customers at fault with issues such as yours. I'd just be glad they didn't tell you to contact the manufacture to have it sent in under warrenty because in my experince that could have taken a few months and have cost you in shipping as well.

If you can, just let it go. It's taken more then enough of your time as it it. At least thats how I see it.

Cheers.

 

[biscuitboy]

Yeah, I think I would be flogging a dead horse, however the company fully admitted liability.

They actually sold me a boxed end of line tv supposedly. It turned out to be a refurbished TV with a replacement backlight.

Then, the subsequent 4 sets also contained backlights from the same batch. (apparently philips and LG share the same Backlights.) They then discovered (mostly through my ordeal) that the backlights were from a faulty batch.

So, I was not only unhappy with the crap I went through, but also unhappy with the fact that they gave me a refurbished TV and also replaced it with a further 4 refurbished TV's when I was sold a "New, end of line" TV.

 

[Diablo13]

After hearing of your experiences with this firm I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!

Selling refurbished sets as, new end of line, or even ex display models is surely illegal and just plain THEFT to me. Not as if it was a one off mistake either is it!

Three Pins obviously got their name from what they think of their customers. They don't give three pins for them.

Glad you got something back to use against a decent sellers telly's m8.

 

[infinityv]

Oh, that reminds me, you have a BBB (Better Business Bureau) in the UK right?

(Sorry, dumb yank question :wavey: )

If you do be sure to file with them. While it won't net you anything other then another outlet to vent on it could help save some other unknowing buyer who might otherwise end up in the same situation.

 

[thestepster]

that would be the trading standards mate

 

[Landerin]

Hi, i just read through the thread, and it seems like you were messed about major style which really sucks. In reply to what Diablo was saying about the law on the sale of goods, yes it is in fact illegal to sell a used/refurbished/repaired under false pretenses like saying the product is pristine.

I work for a company as a customer service adviser and we recently had an incident where a customer bought a tomtom which was sold the the customer as pristine but unfortunately the product was in fact pre-owned and still had previous customers data on the item which was the postcode programed in for the destination of home along with favourite destinations. The final result was that the customer went to trading standards who then got involved which lead to a hell of a lot of problems for the store along with our store manager nearly being taken to court/being sued over it, so yes selling good not as described in that sense is illegal.

 

[lionsden]

hi just read this and my opinion is if they sold it as new (ok end of line) and was infact refurbished isnt that false advertisement and surely a valid point for compo