I could write a book on this bad situation but I will keep it as short as possible. It is still long but all necessary...
(Takes a deep breath)
I purchased a Phillips 42" LCD HDTV one year and 10 days ago with the 4 year in home service plan for an extra $329.99.
About 3 months after the purchase I had a big white/gray spot in the top right hand corner of the panel. (about 8 inches)
I called the Service Department and they told me that someone will call me back in 2-3 business days to schedule an appointment for someone to come out to my house and service my HDTV.
2 days later, a technician calls me back and schedules an appointment for next week.
The technician comes to my house and looks at the white spot and calls Phillips. The technician tells me that I will probably need a new panel. Phillips tells him he has to do a panel re-alignment first before they send Best Buy a new panel. So the technician does it that day but the white spot does not go away. He tells me that he will call Phillips back and request a new panel and then schedule another appointment to replace it because it takes at least 10 business days for shipping and 2 technicians (3-4 hours) to replace a panel.
I asked the technician and called the Service Department for an exchange instead of wasting mine and the technicians time, but my requests were denied.
Almost 3 weeks go by and the technicians come to my house and replace the panel. The panel cost was $2280.00 and the labor was $150.00 but I paid nothing. I found out from one of the technicians that if I would have waited until after the 1 year manufacturers warranty, they probably would have switched out my HDTV for a new one instead of replacing the panel.
A couple months after that, I encountered another problem. The HDTV menu kept popping up at random and every time I would go to cancel it, the menu would popping up. The menu takes up the whole viewing area and it was impossible to watch TV.
I called the Service Department and they made the mistake of telling me that there wasn't any technicians in my area, and that it would be 2-3 business days to schedule an appointment.
2 days goes by, and the Best Buy Service Department calls me back, leaving a message on my machine, telling me I had to call Phillips because it was a "troubleshooting problem."
I immediately called the Best Buy Service Department and asked them why I have to do the work in fixing my HDTV when I paid $329.99. After getting no where with the "service specialist" I speak to a manager. He tells me that it is a "troubleshooting problem" and not a service issue. After arguing my point, and bringing up about past problems, he asks me if I had the Phillips number and hangs up up me. I never once swore or said anything remotely rude. By the way, his name was Kyle.
I call Phillips (waiting 15 min on the line), and they said I needed a Firmware upgrade and they sent me a USB flash drive which fixed the problem. I found it funny how the Phillips service person asked me why I was calling and not Best Buy.
Now for my last problem. My new replaced panel has dead pixels all over. Also, since the Firmware upgrade I am noticing 3 vertical lines (about 2 inches thick) on light color backgrounds.
So I call Best Buy and the service person tells me I have to call Phillips because it is still under the 1 year manufacturer's warranty. I told her that is was expired a couple days ago and she said that it doesn't matter, that my problems I had were in the 1st year. I then asked to speak to a manager. He admitted the service person made a mistake and he would put me on hold to find a technician to come out and look at it. Of course, he comes back and says that there is no technicians in my area (mind you I live about 7-8 miles away from a Best Buy). He said it would be 2-3 business days for someone to call me back. I quickly explain the WHOLE situation with my HDTV about how if they would have switched out my HDTV in the first place, we wouldn't be in this situation. I even through in how I was hung up on last time talking to Manager Kyle.
I receive a phone call the next day from a mom and pop TV repair store in my area. Yep you heard right, a mom and pop TV repair store. The guy who called sounded really old but was REALLY nice. I told him the problems and he said I would probably need a new panel. He said they could pick it up and it would be about 10 days. I said I paid Best Buy for an in-home service plan and I don't want anyone to take my HDTV. I then told him about the whole ordeal. He understood and asked me if I wanted to do a "Buy Back." I told him I either want my money back or a new HDTV. He said he would call Best Buy and work it out.
He called me back the next day and said that the "Buy Back" was started. He said it would be 7-10 business days. It has been 2 business days and Best Buy has yet to call me and verify anything.
Why this situation is ridiculous:
1. Best Buy replaced a panel that costs $2200 just because they got it free from Phillips because of the 1 year manufacturer's warranty, instead of giving me my money back or giving me a new HDTV
2. Bad customer service-MANAGER hung up on me and no one else knows what's going on
3. I paid $329.99 for a in-home service plan in which one of the problems I had to waste my time and work out myself. I have to also waste my time on hold on the phone, wait days for someone to call me back, and wait for the technician to actually come out to my house just to say he will be back to fix the problem
4. Best Buy sold me a $329.99 service plan not having any technicians in my area and none of them are Phillips certified.
5. All this could have been solved in 1 hour by me taking the HDTV back to the store in exchange for a new one
