Would you buy a TV online?

pearsall001
pearsall001 Posts: 5,359
edited April 2008 in Electronics
With out tax return my wife wants to put a TV & furniture grade stand up in the living room. I'm thinking around a 32" would be fine. I'll check out all the local places...but can you recommend any good internet stores.

What are your thoughts on buying a TV online as far as shipping damage, warranty repairs etc. I would feel a lot safer from a local store but I just want to compare pricing & see if an internet purchase is worth it.
Post edited by pearsall001 on
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  • daboyz
    daboyz Posts: 5,207
    edited April 2008
    I don't believe I could buy a TV online myself. Too big of a purchase and too many possibilities of a problem.
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  • greg2350
    greg2350 Posts: 544
    edited April 2008
    I bought mine online no problems.

    http://www.plasmahouse.com

    bought this one
    http://www.plasmahouse.com/productdetail.asp?productid=1532
    TV: Philips 42" LCD 1080p
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 52,152
    edited April 2008
    I bought one from Fry's.com. The first two arrived damaged via DHL. They got the 3rd here in one piece. I had no problem dealing with Fry's. DHL on the other hand, suck monkey nuts.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

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  • shadowofnight
    shadowofnight Posts: 2,735
    edited April 2008
    Bought 2 58" Panasonic Plasmas from here.... http://www.visualapex.com/ ....from website to delivery top notch place.
    The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club
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  • mantis
    mantis Posts: 17,611
    edited April 2008
    No I would not.
    Dan
    My personal quest is to save to world of bad audio, one thread at a time.
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,672
    edited April 2008
    Yes I would. Bought a projector and LCD online.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • Ricardo
    Ricardo Posts: 10,634
    edited April 2008
    No; I prefer to use one of those BB/CC no interests for 18-36 months offers.
    _________________________________________________
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  • tcrossma
    tcrossma Posts: 1,301
    edited April 2008
    I always start looking online for them but never seem to pull the trigger on it. I always end up going to a local store and end up talking them down to where I don't need to take the online risk.
    Speakers: Polk LSi15
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  • MKZ
    MKZ Posts: 1,068
    edited April 2008
    I bought 40" LCD from Amazon last year. They used the shipping company called Eagle with White glove delivery. Which means they delivered and set the TV IN your house to make sure everything OK and they took the trash back out of your house also. One thing you have to consider if you want to buy it from the Store is most big TV will not fit in back seat of the Sedan. Check Fry's or Costco also, their price are nice when it is on sale.
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  • billbillw
    billbillw Posts: 7,956
    edited April 2008
    I wouldn't hesitate to buy online, as long as its from a well known company.

    Amazon, Crutchfield, Vanns, and One Call are a few that I would trust.
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  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited April 2008
    I bought a set from Crutchfield once. It went very well. They have great customer service.
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited April 2008
    wingnut4772 wrote: »
    I bought a set from Crutchfield once. It went very well. They have great customer service.

    +1, they are top tier for internet electronics.

    RT1
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  • honda cber
    honda cber Posts: 267
    edited April 2008
    one caveat:
    make sure and check their dead-pixel policy if buying LCD. for example, newegg.com has a policy that either 4 or 8 (cant remember) dead or stuck pixels is a-ok and not returnable as defective. with the bigger screens and increased viewing distance, you might or might not notice, but personally, i am NOT ok with even one dead or stuck pixel.
    i found this out by buying a 22" widescreen lcd monitor from them. only one dead pixel, almost right smack dead in the center of the screen. very annoying, and yes, i always notice it. will they take it back? nopers. all i got was the often heard (by me) "we are sorry mr. royal, but....."
    a
    gear list:
    1 down, 4 up....
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  • Jstas
    Jstas Posts: 14,999
    edited April 2008
    We get a discount from Phillips/Magnavox where I work and you can only buy stuff from their website. I bought a TV for my parents and I have several friends at work that bought TV's and no one had any problems at all. We also got a TV for my brother from Crutchfield and it arrived cracked. Called up Crutchfield immediatly and they said "Is the shipper still there?" I was like "Yeah." They said "Don't let them leave, we will have this fixed in 2 minutes." They put me on hold and just as they got back on the phone with me, the shipper dude got a notice on his little hand-held jobby and a return shipping label printed out. The dude on the phone apologized and said that another was already on the way and being expedited. That arrived no problems and they even took it to the room it was getting installed in for me. Awesome.

    I'd buy a TV online again. Figure they get shipped around the world in huge piles in the original packing, it should be able to survive the shipping to my house too.
    Expert Moron Extraordinaire

    You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you!
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  • WilliamM2
    WilliamM2 Posts: 4,809
    edited April 2008
    I'd buy a TV online again. Figure they get shipped around the world in huge piles in the original packing, it should be able to survive the shipping to my house too.

    They are not shipped individually around the world, they are shipped on pallets. The store I bought my Toshiba from also recieved them on pallets. This is much safer than individual shipping.

    I would order from Crutchfield, as they are very easy to deal with. But then Crutchfield usually charges full retail price, which kind of defeats the purpose.

    I bought mine locally, got a better price than online anyways. The first set had 31 dead pixels. The exchange for another was very easy, and only took 45 minutes to drive to the store, exchange, and drive back. If you have any sort of a problem, it is much better to have bought locally.
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  • fossy
    fossy Posts: 1,378
    edited April 2008
    i bought a 42" from Dell --- had no problems -- but i was concerned about it as far as the shipping as I've heard some nightmare-ish stories about damaged tower speakers during shipping but all went well
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  • hockeyboy
    hockeyboy Posts: 1,428
    edited April 2008
    Go here and buy from a highly rated online retailer:

    pricegrabber.com
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  • Gadabout
    Gadabout Posts: 1,072
    edited April 2008
    I bought my DLP from amazon. At the time, it saved me about $500 from what Best Buy had the same TV for.

    No sales tax, no shipping charges and I got it within 2 days of when I ordered it. It was shipped out of Dallas. The delivery guy called the next day after I ordered it and then brought it to the house and set it up the next day. (Setup was included too)

    No issues with the TV. I would certainly buy another one online as long as the company was reputable.
    Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid. ..... Frank Zappa
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  • mightymouse
    mightymouse Posts: 254
    edited April 2008
    I bought my 332" from Costco online. The TV was too big to fit in the back of my car. When I made my purchase, for that particular model, Costco had the lowest price anywhere. And in case something goes wrong with your TV, you can't beat Costco's generous return policy.
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  • agfrost
    agfrost Posts: 2,482
    edited April 2008
    Bought a 32" Samsung LCD from Fry's. It arrived essentially OK from DHL (Box had some superficial damage) but the TV had an electronics problem, if random, full-volume static is a problem in your book.

    Dealt with Samsung rather than ship back at my dollar--The "local" repair people had to repair the main board twice and the speakers as well.

    It's perfect now, but I would have preferred to have been able to return the bum set to a B&M store. The time spent in multiple diagnoses, part-orders, and service calls pretty much negated whatever money I saved by buying online.

    I guess it's a bit of a risk/reward thing, you've got to decide how big the price savings is vs. the potential for headache.

    Jay
    Jay
    SDA 2BTL * McCormack DNA 0.5 amp * Oppo BDP-93 * Modded Adcom GDA-600 DAC * Rythmik F8 (x2)
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    Preamp rotation: Krell KSL (SCompRacer recapped) * Manley Shrimp * PS Audio 5.0
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  • unc2701
    unc2701 Posts: 3,587
    edited April 2008
    46" from amazon, saved $1000, no issues at all AND they're authorized for everything they sell.
    Gallo Ref 3.1 : Bryston 4b SST : Musical fidelity CD Pre : VPI HW-19
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  • SDA SRS 1.2
    SDA SRS 1.2 Posts: 255
    edited April 2008
    Bought two Samsung LCD's (23" and 36") from Amazon - no sales tax and free shipping. Arrived two days after the order - no problems. Saved a total of $450 on both compared to the nearest Best Buy and Circuit City.
    Main System: Polk SDA SRS 1.2 Speakers, Sunfire Signature 600~two Amp, Carver C-16 Preamp, Carver TX-11b Tuner, Marantz 6350Q TT, Philips CDR-775 Recorder, Teac V-707RX Cassette Deck, Signal Cable Double Run Speaker Cable

    Upstairs Den: Marantz 2325 Receiver, Marantz 5220 Cassette Deck, Marantz HD-880 Speakers, Marantz 6370Q TT

    Exercise (Kabuki speaker) Room: Kenwood KR-9600 Receiver, Pioneer CS-99a Speakers, Sansui SP-X9000 Speakers (not pretty, but LOUD! :) )
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  • PolkWannabie
    PolkWannabie Posts: 2,763
    edited April 2008
    Would and did ... Last purchase being a Samsung 56" DLP ... was $600 less this way + free shipping and no tax ... They brought the unit to right where I wanted ( upstairs ) set it up and verified it was working before leaving ...
    Rick
    HT+ Sunfire TG IV, Dual CG Sig II's, CinePro 1K2, Oppo 981, Audio Technica PL120, Polk SRT's & F/X1000's, Samsung 71" DLP
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited April 2008
    No, never.
    polkaudio RT35 Bookshelves
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  • bondslex
    bondslex Posts: 109
    edited April 2008
    Every weekend onecall has a super sale on 21 items. My last 3 LCD tvs have been purchased from them. Shipping is also included and it is shipped on its on palate by a trucking company. When I bought my last 46" Samsung LCD, I saved over 800+ dollars compared to the local BB & CC stores. My advice is go the stores and look at what you want. Then find it if you can online and save hundreds. The tvs at onecall have the same onsite warranty as any local store....
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  • MacLeod
    MacLeod Posts: 14,358
    edited April 2008
    I would not.

    Im leary of buying anything online anyway and Im just not sure they could get it to my house in one piece. Plus there is that whole waiting thing which I hate to do. It took me long enough to get the scratch together to get a great tv, I WANT IT NOW!

    As for price, if you do some digging and shop around you can usually get one on sale at damn near the price of a discount online retailer.

    Best thing about buying from a store, if you do have a problem youve got a place you can go back to and a guy you can pull across the counter if you need to. Buy from an online joint and you may have to wait on hold for 2 hours or wait a couple days for your email to be returned (except for Crutchfield of course).

    When that happy day comes and Im finally able to get me a big plasma, Ill be heading directly for my local Circuit City!
    polkaudio sound quality competitor since 2005
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  • SKsolutions
    SKsolutions Posts: 1,820
    edited April 2008
    Bedroom plasma from www.plasmahouse.com . First one came with a crack, and a new one was shipped within an hour of my phone call, highly recommend. Living room plasma was online as well, I forget the store. No dead pixels on either panel. Much less expensive, even after shipping.
    -Ignorance is strength -
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  • apphd
    apphd Posts: 1,514
    edited April 2008
    Bought my 42" Panny plasma from One Call saved a lot of $$ (mostly tax and shipping) but was nervous as this was my first big on line purchase. It came banded upright on a pallet as should be. Was only supposed to be curb side but the driver helped me get it to the porch. One Call had a specific receiving procedure (basic common sense) they email you and also go over on the order confirmation phone call, to make sure any shipping issues are covered before the truck leaves.

    I think if you stay with authorized dealers and research the sellers' track record, then carefully read their return policy, just in case, you are safe.

    One other thing I found when I was shopping, at least for TV's, prices seem to fluctuate almost weekly. If you miss what you think is a killer deal at one site, chances are good (but not a quarantee) you will find an equal deal somewhere else within a month or so.
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