Don't buy Vizio televisions!! Their new policy sucks!!

Vizio, at its best, was only #1, because of its massed produced cheap Lcd,s and Bose type marketing scheme,, There tv,s are along the lines of the LG,s and Samsungs, that are massed produced, just for Wallmart,, Junk.

thesurfer wrote: »

Vizio, at its best, was only #1, because of its massed produced cheap Lcd,s and Bose type marketing scheme,, There tv,s are along the lines of the LG,s and Samsungs, that are massed produced, just for Wallmart,, Junk.

Your saying all these models are junk? Do you own one thats had problems? What tv do you own

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Your saying all these models are junk? Do you own one thats had problems? What tv do you own

I think he is aiming twards tv's that were manufacutred specificly to be sold at Wal Mart. Wal Mart likes to be the bottom dollar seller. In order to do this they have been known to have specific models or versions of models made in order to under sell the competition.

I think it is funny when you see these people comming out of wal mart with black friday tv's. It doesnt get any cheaper / low quality than that.

Gee, I bought my 32 inch TV at Wal-Mart for 300 clams. Yeah, it 720p and I've owned it for 2 years and it's a Emerson. So far so good. Yes Wal-Mart sells inexpensive TV's for those of us that can't afford a more expensive one.
I also notice that they sell big TV's that sell for a lot of money. More than I can afford. So just because a set cost less doesn't mean it is not reliable. I don't need a higher def TV than this because I have Sudden Link Cable and they could not deliver a high def picture to my house if their life depended on it. They are crap.

We are consumers that live in a disposable world, just about anything produced today be it TV's, Refrigerators, Washing Machines,
etc are produced overseas crap that is meant to be replaced and not repaired, 90% of the time it is cheaper to replace than repair.

There is no news in the first post. No complaints about their warranty service; the EU (at least) has regulations about maintaining stocks of parts and repairing electronic equipment (although I don't know if it applies to consumer electronics) but I cannot imagine that it would extend to investigations of mfgr. claims of "un-repariability". In a free-market economy, I'd say the best thing an out-of-warranty Vizio customer with an un-repairable set would be to learn from the experience and buy from another maker. The same "problem" could, of course, still happen... but I suspect that far less expensive televisions are available from other manufacturers - thus lessening the bottom-line financial impact of a "doorstop" TV.

My early 1980s Toshiba CRT TV is looking better to me all the time...

PS I have never heard of VIzio... but I don't much care about TV.

Too much junk out there nowadays, TV panels are a prime example of that. Paying top dollar for product that barely outlast the warranty is indeed criminal. My oldest Sony CRT is getting close to 15 years, still works great and never had a single repair. Try find a panel that lasted that long? I will stay away from this crap for as long as I can, no matter which brand it is. Vizio and Walmart may look appealing but again as mentioned you get what you pay for! Until pricing is adjusted to the quality that is sold, not of that crap is getting into my home!

People gave me grief when I got an extended warranty, doesn't seem such a silly idea to me for such cheap peace of mind.
http://www.dtvexpress.com/

stangjason wrote: »

The best part about Wal-Mart is that you could probably take one of these out of waranty Vizio TV's to them and they would probably give you a refund if you had the receipt and if you didn't they would give you a gift card.

That's the truth right there. Walmart will do for Vizio what it can't do for itself because of Walmart.

I've shelled out big bucks for an HDTV before I got my projector, only to be disappointed. When it came time to replace the one I spent north of $3,000 on that was used in my bedroom, I dropped $600 on a closeout Vizio.

That thing gets tons of use and the PQ is more than sufficient for my needs. That thing has been going strong for a long time and if it ever craps out, I'll take it to a TV repairman or consider buying a new one. I would never expect them to fix or replace my TV now that it's out of warranty. If I had issue with the quality, which I don't, that would be a consideration for me looking elsewhere.

Generally, consumers should not expect the products they buy will fail, especially not just outside of warranty.

bobman1235 wrote: »

...Complex technology is almost by definition going to be MORE FRAGILE, and thus less reliable. If you want a 32" tube TV with a single RCA jack in the back, go get one, and it will likely not break on you for 20 years. It also won't do 1% of what modern technology can do. These are the trade offs.

Here's a counter-example; automobiles are far more complex and sophisticated than they were one or more decades ago; they're also, on the average (vis-a-vis the "1985 Audi" comment), far more robust and reliable.

1%, eh?

I'm surprised to see you concede that point.

The reliability of cars to get one from Point A to Point B is better than ever, true. That's a testament to the technology that went into making engines and drive trains more reliable with tighter tolerances. However, more goes wrong with cars these days than ever before. Back in the 70s I didn't have to worry about shelling out north of $500 to get my airbag light to turn off like I'd have to do today in my Honda because they didn't have them.

The TVs of today have the same problem. There's much more jammed into them than the TVs of old, thus, more to go wrong.

dcmeigs wrote: »

What is sadly missing from this thread is the discussion of repair-ability. When the manufacturer says the product is not repairable, I hear him saying he can't find a way to make money on the repair. One poster points out the cost of shipping as an issue and I suspect that is indeed the key issue (shipped anything heavy lately?). Most cities, however, have repair shops that specialize in repair of consumer electronic gear, and there are innumerable forums and user groups that cater to diy repairs.

I'm sure Vizio could make money on repairs, the question is would anyone be willing to pay more than the cost of the TV to repair it? If you can buy a new TV for 500 bucks, and it's gonna cost you 600 to repair it, who in their right mind would do that?

There's also a question of having to keep parts in stock - you'd be AMAZED at how fast electronics parts go end-of-life nowadays. Trying to find reliable replacement parts for something even two or three years old is often VERY difficult if they're not common parts. So throw all that together with shipping and labor costs, I could easily see a relatively simple repair being "not worth it" from either the consumer or the manufacturer's standpoint.

dcmeigs wrote: »

I imagine there is very little labor involved in the actual (probably robotic) manufacture of the TV, but the repair involves an hour or two of a tech's time on a US or European wage scale. I propose that the repair could still be done for significantly less than the purchase price if the shipping cost were zero.

It would be good to hear from a TV repair tech on this subject.

A lot of time the thing that breaks may be small but what has to be replaced ends up being much more. If a single chip fries on a circuit board in your tv, it's likely that that entire board will have to be replaced (for various reasons), and that one chunk may be a significant portion of the cost of the TV all on its own. Throw in the labor and processing overhead... it doesn't have to cost the same as what a TV costs, but how many people would pay even HALF what their TV costs just to fix it two or three years later, when they could have a shiny new one for the same price?

gdb wrote: »

People gave me grief when I got an extended warranty, doesn't seem such a silly idea to me for such cheap peace of mind.
http://www.dtvexpress.com/

The big scam of today’s throw away technology! Instead of standing behind the highly priced Chinese manufacturing of today, companies throws at you those highly priced warranties to save face. I do not know about the US, but here in Canada there government hidden product warranties which is actually the typical lifespan of a product. TV dying shortly after their 1 year warranty means there is big problem with that TV, and if people were more educated they could turn toward consumer protection to get satisfaction.

Demiurge wrote: »

There's a key phrase here:

OUT OF WARRANTY

When I go to a store and buy anything these days, even a CD, I'm asked a simple question "Would you like to buy an extended warranty?" My answer is almost always "no."

With that answer, comes risk. One of those risks is that the manufacturer won't fix or replace your defective merchandise for free or at all. I don't know about the OP, but when I buy economy class products, which Vizio universally is, I'm not expecting much on the CS front. Legally, they're doing nothing wrong. I wouldn't expect an insurance company to cover me for a crash in December if I dropped my insurance in July. Interesting what standards are placed on companies depending on the product or service that's offered.

Now, what about going the extra mile for your customers? Again, this is Vizio, a budget brand TV that's profit margins are tighter than a drum head. This is not Polk Audio, to use an example of a company with great CS. You can't sell cut rate TVs unless the product is crap (which it's not, they make good TVs for the money) or cuts are made elsewhere. Clearly they don't put much into CS when their products are out of warranty.

If Vizio won't fix or replace your out of warranty set, there are great solutions, like finding a TV repairman to do the work, or maybe buying a higher end brand that has generous grace periods on warranties.

I'll rescind my bashing comment with a caveat. If someone started a thread titled 'Don't buy Polk Audio' because they weren't fixing or replacing out of warranty products, the response from the forum denizens would unanimously be:

"It's out of warranty! Deal with it!"

I wouldn't expect such a response from Polk Audio as we would get from Vizio, but that's what everyone here would be saying. The company models are clearly different. Given that, so should be the expectations.

As pointed out, if a TV dies shortly after its 1 year warranty there are big problem with that product. No one can tell me it is normal that it should cost you 500$ and up a year or 2 to own a TV. This is a good reason for keeping the trusted old technology around.

As far as Polk, you omit to mention even their lowest priced speakers are 5 years warranty NOT 1 year (exception of powered amps which are 1 year). Polk too buys Chinese manufacturing but they at least have the decency to stand behind their product (even the very inexpensive one).

bobman1235 wrote: »

The Vizio "policy" (though it doesn't sound like a policy written in stone so much as an experience from one person) is not great, but just to address the usual crap going on in this thread :

- "My ______ from 20 years ago is still going strong." So are a lot of people's Vizio TV's. One experience with one instance of one product does not prove anything. Someone out there has a 1985 Audi that never had a mechanical problem, it doesn't mean that Audi's in 1985 were good cars.

- "Things used to be built better." There's lots of things that are built to crappy standards, Chinese blah blah blah manufacturing, nowadays, no doubt. But things are also impossibly complex and dense compared to a TV from 20 years ago. As someone who works at a company that manufactures computer components, you just have no idea how hard it is to verify that all these parts, that have 86 solder joints all hidden under a chip that impossible to see and probe, are working perfectly, or don't have hairline cracks that may form. But that's the price we pay for HD this and 19 inputs and 120Hz and everything else. Complex technology is almost by definition going to be MORE FRAGILE, and thus less reliable. If you want a 32" tube TV with a single RCA jack in the back, go get one, and it will likely not break on you for 20 years. It also won't do 1% of what modern technology can do. These are the trade offs.

First, how can you say a lot of people owning Vizio would testify that their Vizio are still going strong when the company was founded les then 10 years ago (http://www.vizio.com/about/?SID=32v60lsvee6elpdm42e57btl02).

My personal experience with Sony TVs is not limited to 1, I actually own 3 that are still kicking. The oldest one which would more likely be from the early 90s (20"), then my 27" Trinitron which I bought new in 1997 (if I recall) never failed me and never was repaired. The last but not the least used to be my mom's TV, a Sony Wega which I believe we bought her in the early 2000, used all night as my bedroom TV (I believe my mom would fall asleep on it and therefore was more likely running all the time).

I also operated my repair shop in late 90s and early 2000 and Vizio to me is comparable to the Emerson, Goldstar garbage of the time; frequent in-shop brands, people bring for repair but finally close to be cheaper to buy another piece of such junk with the so called 1 year warranty.

Your are correct with Chinese manufacturing as being cheap, throw away technology started way before that but Chinese garbage has just made it worse and what is actually worse, companies still sell you the garbage at a premium. They pay dirt cheap for the un-reliable components but still charge consumer the same price and even more.

Actually, as I mentioned the declined started much before Chinese manufacturing got into North America. We all thought surface mount was the big thing but while it brought high tech way up there, it also brought the quality way down along with making repair un-affordable since it brought repair to board level rather than component level. Then came outsourcing to Mexico, Korea, Taiwan and China.

I'll give you that the technology brought newer TVs to higher resolution and smaller in room foot print but to say that older CRT TVs (the latest models) do only 1% of what newer sets do is a false statement. You watch TV basically the same way you did in the past except that you have higher resolution and more channels (I basically watch 1 at the time anyway and smaller TVs (below 40") do not need the higher resolution so much anyway.

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm sure Vizio could make money on repairs, the question is would anyone be willing to pay more than the cost of the TV to repair it? If you can buy a new TV for 500 bucks, and it's gonna cost you 600 to repair it, who in their right mind would do that?There's also a question of having to keep parts in stock - you'd be AMAZED at how fast electronics parts go end-of-life nowadays. Trying to find reliable replacement parts for something even two or three years old is often VERY difficult if they're not common parts. So throw all that together with shipping and labor costs, I could easily see a relatively simple repair being "not worth it" from either the consumer or the manufacturer's standpoint.

You are proving my point again; those panels are throw away technology, met that way so it cost more to repair than buy the junk new again.

Your parts comments also points to the throw away technology scam. It was met to be that way, more expensive to fix than buy the cheap product again (hard parts to come by, module/board replacement along with difficult for man repair).

dcmeigs wrote: »

I believe that is the point I had intended to make. Vizio can't make money on the repair unless they can do so at a price that is rational for the end user. I suggest that they cannot. If something can't economically be repaired for less than the new cost, something’s amiss. Here we have repair costs that are way out of line with manufacturing costs together with round trip shipping costs. I imagine there is very little labor involved in the actual (probably robotic) manufacture of the TV, but the repair involves an hour or two of a tech's time on a US or European wage scale. I propose that the repair could still be done for significantly less than the purchase price if the shipping cost were zero. It would be good to hear from a TV repair tech on this subject.

Edit: One other thing, when you throw away a TV full of solid state components, there is a heavy environmental cost that is deferred, and we are not factoring that into our fix vs replace discussion. That's something of a problem, given that that cost must eventually be paid.

Those manufacturers do not have interest in consumer to get their goods repaired, much more beneficial for them to sell you new products and cut down on labor. Labor cost and diminishes their profits... A good example is your local technical expertise, they do not benefit from the labor an authorized repair shop charges you but that is the way out of shipping back to the company, right? The manufacturer much prefers to stay away from such as it is hungry for mega profit and is not willing to share the profit with repair shop. Look at Polk for example, it still has authorized repair shops for their products, will gladly provide you the replacement parts, and lead you to a local authorized repair shop.

gudnoyez wrote: »

We are consumers that live in a disposable world, just about anything produced today be it TV's, Refrigerators, Washing Machines,
etc are produced overseas crap that is meant to be replaced and not repaired, 90% of the time it is cheaper to replace than repair.

True....I would imagine the costs involved of setting up a repair shop, and staffing it, is a big drain on profitability. Thats why many outsource the repairs and only supply the parts. Sign of the times I guess.