Hopefully posted on the correct side this time…

Was hoping to pick up a Sony Bravia 46″ W4500 LCD Tv in the sales,however the prices have not dropped as much as I had hoped so to save a bit of cash thinking of sticking with the free 1 year Sony warranty instead of the extended 3 or 5 year ones offered by the shops.

So is this a wise decision and are the warranties worth the extra money or are they just additional income for the sellers and full of small print with get out clauses if your tv goes wrong.

RicherSounds have the best price at the moment and are offering a 5 year warranty for 10% of puchase price.

Any advice welcome (apart from the obvious forget tv and get out on your bike)

As a general point, I’d say to avoid. Add up the cost of all these extended warranties (TV, PC, washing machine,etc etc etc), and over time you’ll be paying more for them than you will in replacements and repairs.

Some Panasonic LCD’s come with 5 yrs as standard.

A long shot but my bank give an extra years warranty on anything I buy with my debit card. I’m not offering to buy you a TV, but maybe check the bumf on your bank / CC acc’s…
PT

Buy from Costco and get a 5 year warranty as standard – best one out there.

As above – I got a Panasonic LCD earlier this year with a free manufacturer 5 yr warranty (which are normally better than 3rd party restrictive warranties)…

Don’t John Lewis offer 5 year warranties as standard on their TVs? They’ll match a high street price too (but not an internet one I don’t fink)

John Lewis and Costco both give 5 year warranties as standard. House of Fraser used to as well, and might still.

In my book I’d go for the warranty unless you’re saving a lot of money. I haven’t owned an LCD long enough to have it fail but I have had CRTs replaced under warranty in the past.

I’d only go for warranties on things you cant replace the parts on cheaply and easily, like TVs and expensive audio equipment. Things like washing machines, fridges, freezers etc can be pulled apart by any ham-fisted spanner wrangler and/or fixed fairly cheaply by the trade. A large LCD panel isnt cheap regardless of source or repairer. I’d go with the 5 year warranty.

Lookout for Sony’s dead pixel policy though – it just says “a few dead pixels is considered normal” – leaving you open to arguing the definition of “a few”.

Move to Norway

Eveything you buy here comes with a 5 year warrenty…although the **** shops still try to flog their own extended warrenties…c§§ks

I’d be impressed with standard 5 year warranties (since a lot would be the same goods everyone else got) as many electrical items I’ve had have lasted just fractionally over 12 months lol.

Don’t know if it helps at all, but when our Sony CRT TV went wrong a couple of months out of its 1 year warranty, Sony paid for the repair as a goodwill gesture. I am talking almost 10 years ago, so things may have changed in the more ruthless world of today, but worth bearing in mind when considering the value of paying for an extended warranty for Sony kit.

Thanks guys,

John Lewis will match a cheaper high st price but both products must have identical warranties to qualify.

Dead pixels, is this a common lcd problem ?

I know someone who is a Costco member, I’ll ask them to have a look for me.

Don’t know if it helps at all, but when our Sony CRT TV went wrong a couple of months out of its 1 year warranty, Sony paid for the repair as a goodwill gesture. I am talking almost 10 years ago, so things may have changed in the more ruthless world of today, but worth bearing in mind when considering the value of paying for an extended warranty for Sony kit.

Very rare. I had a £200 car stereo that died, was 1 month outside warranty. Was sent the option of a bill of £384 or they would dispose of it for me.

Muke – LCDs, yes, they do tend to suffer dead pixels. These can be in the form of “hot” or “cold” – i.e. they can be red green or blue and can fail to either full on or full off. They just look like a tiny pinprick of colour or darkness. Not a massive problem if you a) arent observant b) dont see it and find it incredibly frustrating and magnetic like a rock in the trail that you’re GOING to crash into c) if they arent in the middle of the screen.

Someone I know just bought a TV and hasnt noticed it yet but theres a hot green pixel on the right hand side of the screen, could be seen in any dark frames – drove me nuts, I had to stop watching the TV.

dead pixels are probably as common as pc monitors, but with a tv screen being bigger, i can imagine they’re more visible when they are dead – especially if there are ‘a few’ centred on one area. maybe that’s why sony use ‘a few’ – a few scattered across the screen is different to a few in one area.

i’d imagine you’re less likely to suffer dead pixels with a sony than with many (especially cheaper) brans.

cp – for reference the friends TV I was just on about was a sony bravia top of the range version, more likely to happen on cheap ones though of course 🙁

That’s funny, I’ve just been reading about dead pixels. I got a new computer yesterday and the screen has one dead pixel. From what I’ve read so far it doesn’t look like it would be replaced for just one. Can’t say it bothers me too much to be honest.

Just bought a Sony 40W400 could not stretch to a 450 but the sony centre seem to be knocking them out fairly reasonable price with a free 5 yr warranty.
On the minus bought mine last week but will not be in stock untill the 21st

Very rare. I had a £200 car stereo that died, was 1 month outside warranty. Was sent the option of a bill of £384 or they would dispose of it for me.

A Sony?

A warranty is of course also in addition to your statutory rights, and it is possible to suggest that a high end bit of electrical kit failing due to manufacturing fault after 14 months or so wasn’t fit for purpose. Have to admit we were pleasantly surprised at not having to pay anything – were just hoping for Sony to chip in a bit (needed a new tube).

Buy it off the net, if it has dead pixels you can send it back for no reason for your money back. Alternatively buy it from argos, take it home, look for dead pixels, then use their 16 day return policy if required.