Comments on: Sharp’s Dull Service / My eCommerce Nightmare

By: Rich Rosen

Rich Rosen — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:24:47 +0000

52″ for the guest room? where's the invite? When this happens write the CEO (not email). You'll get a call from the executive cust service.

By: Dave

Dave — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:02:51 +0000

I bought a 47″ Vizio from CostCo. When I set it up, it had a blue line down the left side – almost not noticeable, but annoying once you did notice. Called CostCo, they sent me to Vizio. Called Vizio, they asked for photos. Sent photos, they got me on the line with a technician who quickly determined that it was the TV, not the setup. They scheduled a replacement from a local vendor. Vendor showed up, set up the new TV and tested it, and took the old one. New one has been great, knock wood.

In other words, although it would have been better if the first one worked perfectly, they did everything afterward right and it was easy to see how it slipped by QC. I think repairing a brand new TV is a completely unacceptable solution. Furthermore, I wouldn't blame the online retailer, I would blame Sharp. ALL retailers – online or otherwise – rely on the manufacturer and their third-party reps. Vizio, which by the way is probably half the price of the Sharps and Sonys of the world for what appears to be the same TV, seems to take care of its customers.

By: Steve Bergstein

Steve Bergstein — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:23:14 +0000

Seems to me that you ought to copy your post into an email and send it to Sharp's customer service people and a few other selected members of their organizaion (perhaps the President, NA). I bet they'll hear you better that way.

By: Damon Cali

Damon Cali — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:08:53 +0000

Ouch. That smarts. I have the same TV (bought from Amazon, too, but not an affiliate – beware the affiliate!). My experience was identical to Luca's – they would not leave until I set it up, plugged it in, and gave them the verbal that the TV was ok for me. I practically had to push them out the door.

For what it's worth, it's a great unit, and my one experience with Sharp's support was great (on my older 45″ LCD) – they picked up on the second ring and solved my problem – on a holiday. Turned out it just required a reset. Who knew TV's had reset buttons?

By: John

John — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:59:22 +0000

As much as people whine against Sears, my 60 year-old father bought his large-screen TV (Samsung 42″) from there. Took it home, plug it in, and it didn't work. Went back to the store and got a new working model with absolutely no questions asked.

By: fronesis

fronesis — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:13:28 +0000

Dude – that blows. I'm with Luca, I don't think the operative distinction is necessarily brick&mortar/online, but reputable reseller/not-so-reputable reseller. It was a while ago, but I bought a 42″ plasma from an online place that guaranteed the unit against DOA – and promised to send out a new unit if the one out of the box was not up to spec.

In general, I steer far clear from any reseller that tells me I have to go to the manufacturer for warranty claims on brand new items. It's one thing to deal with the manufacturer directly for a 9 month old unit; it's another thing entirely on something I've just removed from the box.

But you have me VERY nervous. I need to buy a new TV soon; I was already nervous about the decision, but now I'm worried as well. But you have helped with deciding WHICH TV to get, as I had narrowed it to Sony LCD or Panasonic Plasma and your story gives me no reason to broaden that…

By: Chris Scurto

Chris Scurto — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:50:12 +0000

I refer to my experiences similar to yours as customer service by submission. You put up with it for so long that you have been beaten into finally accepting your fate and submit to either a less than acceptable product or having to put up with an ongoing nightmare the offending company calls customer service. This stellar customer service strategy has me re-lighting the pilot light at least twice a month on my top of the line, very expensive, two year old Sears water heater. Why would I put up with it? Because it is easier and more convenient than having to put up with one more visit from the brilliant Sears authorized repair guy (sure I can be home between X and y) who has already made four attempts at the repair. One last point, I noticed you also had the privilege of suffering through the “replace the same part multiple times” routine. I refer to this as the “hope and a prayer” repair. As in “Gee I am going to do the same thing I did the last three visits and hope it works this time.” And why wouldn’t it?

By: David I.

David I. — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 09:21:15 +0000

So, I just posted on Jason's blog that my parent's went through a mess as well when they re-outfitted their house with HDTVs.

Their Sharp HDTV arrived broken (green blinking light of death was how it was described online), but my Dad refused to allow a Sharp tech come out and fix it. He said that if the TV hadn't arrived broken, he would have done that, but because it came out of the box not working, it wasn't his responsibility and he demanded to return it or have it fully replaced. That worked…

As you now know, it takes weeks for Sharp to fix their HDTVs and its not for replacement. Why should anyone have to buy a broken TV and then have it repaired?

By: Bill Burnham

Bill Burnham — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:15:27 +0000

Wow. I actually have the same TV but was spared the mother board issue.

This is kind of cruel given what you've been though, but turn on the set and tune it to either a pitch black screen or a dark gray screen. Do you see and vertical bands where the screen is slightly lighter?

By: Luca

Luca — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:55:35 +0000

I think the valuable lesson from your experience is to not buy a big ticket item from a vendor you don't know and trust, whether online or brick & mortar. And no, an Amazon affiliate is not like Amazon at all.

I recently bought a TV from Amazon. The guy who delivered it would not leave without testing the TV to make sure it was working properly. He even had all sort of long cables of his own to get all the way to wherever the satellite receiver was.