RPTVs: Talk to me about Best Buy's $249 Warranty Plan
 

4 years, of course.

How often have those of you who have RP HDTVs needed to use this? The sales guy gave me the shpeel about convergence and it made sense but I question whether or not it is as big of an issue as he made it out to be.

We're considering taking it because the TV is going into a mountain home that is nowhere near civilization and from my understanding, they'll come whereever the TV is, regardless of whether or not it's across the street or up in the mountains.

We bought the 55" Mitsubishi RP HDTV, btw.

i just purchased a mitshubishi 48" widescreen hdtv.
model # ws-48313

I took the performance plan for the following reason;

1) I was told that mitishbishi, only gives a 90 days warranty. thats only three months. For Spending the amount of money into a tv of this caliber, i wanted to have a warranty that will last.

2) i was told that the warranty covers anything and everything, and that they will come out to my house to fix it if neede. For 4 yeasr thats not bad, and you have the options to to extend the warranty twice. meaning after the first 4 years, you can opt in for another 4 years (12 years total)

My feeling is, I want my investment tobe covered, if some natural diaster happens.

good luck in your decision.

- Kthemmes

By the way I was told by a salesman that if you want them to come out to do a cleaning and re alignment you need to say the majic phrase: "My TV does not look as good as the day I bought it"

On another site I saw that you can actually register for the Mits waranty then when it is over you can renew with them instead.

Wouldn't you be better off tweeking it yourself? I guarantee Best Buy ain't sending out an ISF-certified calibrator. Forget those crooks at Best Buy! I would extend the warranty through the manufacturer before I depend on Best Buy for ANY type of service.

Mits only has a 90-day warranty on RPTVs? That is the stink!

That's really hard to believe. Pioneer Elite has a 2 year warranty, non-Elite has a 1 year warranty. Use a gold/platinum visa to buy it and you'll add a year on top of that for free.

well if I find out diffrent, when I get the TV, ill be marching back into the store, and bitchng out manager, and the sale clerk for telling me something false.

best buy is selling specific models that are exclusive to them from what I had heard. So maybe the warranty is shorter on purpose to allow BB an easier sell on the extended warranty.

I am actually glad i got mine since my Sony has the flicker problem and I will be using the warranty to fix it either thru BB or Sony. Of course i got the salesperson to drop the price to cover the warranty and throw in a bunch of Monster cables :)

BB does not sell specific Mitsu's that only they have. That happened last year or year before. Their models are the same models you can buy anywhere else.

I have a 48413 coming tomorrow and it is my understanding that the warranty from mfg is
30 days screen
1 yr parts and labor
I bought 5 yr plan, which really extends only 4 yrs past original mfg warranty. But I felt that with such a high investment of money it would be unwise to not get extended warranty.

:lol:

I guarantee that any Best Buy trained idiot is going to be much more adept at fixing a TV than this idiot will ever be.

I am pretty sure that no extended warranty out there covers burnin issues.


And metman, is correct regarding the mfg warranty.

1 year part/labor, 30 days on screen.

They will offer extended contracts when you are near the end of the 1st year.

I was old the warranty covers power surges, burn ins, and pretty much any mechanical problem, unless I take a hammer or break the screen or TV myself. Just the way things are sounding, im headin back to BB on monday, and talking with the manager. One I was lied to about the MFG warranty, second, I want in writing what is and is not covered under the BB warranty. Ill make sure to bring in the hidden tape recorder as well :)

kthemmes - Definitely read the the extended warranty before buying to see what and how things are covered. I doubt BB's warranty is like this but I have read of people who bought third party warranties that were so good it basicly said that if the TV ever was not performing like new it would be fixed or replaced. Something like this would cover burn in. However there are warranties being sold that are pretty worthless for a number of reasons. How would you like it if they needed to remove your TV for 2 months for repair and didn't give you a loaner? How about if the warranty company sent out a tech to do the repair who isn't knowledgable about your brand? Don't by any warranty and don't sign anything until you've read it to see if the service the salesman is telling you is really in the contract. Remember they'll say anything to make a sale on warranties since they get their biggest commision from those not the item they sell.

The plan does NOT cover burn in. Trust me, I work there. If you want to know what is covered, just look at the pamphlet that you receive when you buy the service plan, and you must keep for the full four years that the TV is covered. (You lose pamphlet you lose coverage) It will list everything that the plan covers relating to the item that you purchased.

As for having them come out for convergence... well, that is a bit of a stretch. Most TV’s now have auto convergence built in, so when you call the 1-888-bestbuy number, they will have you do the auto convergence on the set. If that does not solve the issue they will come out to your home to see if there is an issue. If you feel that the set needs to be calibrated and call the best buy number to get it serviced and at that time the tech. determined that it was not needed, you will be charged for the service call. The plan has its good points, but a lot of the people who work in the home theater dept. say that the plan covers a lot of stuff that it really doesn't so that you the buyer will also get the service plan with the TV.

Always remember, while we do not work on commission... our jobs depend on us selling service and accessories to people. If the employee’s attachment to an item is low, you can bet that that employee will not be working at Best Buy for a long time.

I find it difficult to believe that the warranty would cover burn-in. Causing burn-in is pretty much the same as taking a hammer to the set.

Like I said read it over first and I did doubt that BB's warranty covered burn in but supposedly CC's does as long as it wasn't from video games.

well I will deal with this on Monday, when I am off from work. Sounds like from what everyone saying the BB performance plan isnt all its carcked up to be. I have the Best Buy salepersons name that told me stuff that is covered that is not, and from the info you posted here, it was wrong for him to promise something that isnt included.

Thanks for the info,

kthemmes

BB does sell an exclusive lower end model. I picked up the Diamond 55" several years ago and elected to get the warranty. The Diamond came with a 1 or 2 yr, I forget and I got the 5 year plan. $250 to extend a $4000 purchase wasn't bad.

KTHEMMES, If i were you I would go buy the same tv from ultimate electronics, why? Becaause they are probably lower in price if not they will match, but also they give you a 5 year plan for less money than best buy's 4 year plan, with this additional kicker, if you do not have a warranty problem you can get half of the price of the warranty back in in store credit. If you would like me to help coordinate all for you I would be glad to help.

I decided against a warranty when I bought my HDTV, but that was because I only have $1300 for it, and if I get 3 good years out of it, I'll be happy, and $249-$299 ahead when I go shopping again. If it dies in the next 2 years, oh well, I rolled the dice and lost. If the warranty cost was 5% of the purchase price for 3-4 years of coverage, than it's a no-brainer, but in my case, 20%-30% of the purchase price for the additional warranty years just wasn't worth it to me.

I got my 50" Toshiba from www.onecall.com with an extended 3 year warranty and free shipping...for the same price I would have paid at Best Buy for JUST the television.

That seemed like a good deal to me, but it was specific that it doesn't cover burn-in, which shouldn't be a problem if you a) calibrate your set and b) don't watch CNN or play video games for 10 hours straight or something insane like that.

I was just going to post the same thing about going to Ultimate Electronics better service and trained techs come to your house to calibrate it. A guy I work with just did this and was happy as a pig in slop. Kent I would avoid Best Buy especially since you already think they lied to you. The one in Maplewood is horrible.

Sorry Guys,

I already went to Best Buy. Teddy It was the one in Woodbury, MN that lied to me. My RPTV arrived yesterday.

I tried giving Ultimate Electronics a try before I went to Best Buy. I was at the one in Woodbury, Last Tuesday. My sister and I, spent 30 minutes in the store, and I couldnt get one sales associate to help me.

They were all up towards the front of the store polaying around. i even went as far to ask for someone to halp me in the HDTV section. Not one person would help me. I was willing to throw my hard earned cash on a TV there that day. My sister spent her 30 minutes over in the speakers dept. She wanted to pick up some speakers for her yamaha home theater reciever. Needles to day she couldnt egt one sales associate over to her as well.

So I left went down the street to Best Buy, and purchased the same Mits. RPTV thats I was willing to buy at Best Buy. Am i hurt about Best Buy lying to me about the warranty Yes.
One thing, is Im getting a $100 best buy Gift card, and with the reward zone pints i recived, Im getting an additional $80.00 in best buy gift certificates back.

Teddy, i have a question for you though. Do you know of anyone Proffesionaly, in Minnesota That calibrates RPTV's I did some searching at Hometheaterspot.com, found one guy thats willing to travel from Iowa, but if I can find someone closer I will

Thanks again for everyones advice,

Kent B. Themmes

I don't know of anyone professionally but I woulld get either the DVE (digital video essentials) or the Avia disk to help set it up.

Yes fast track in bloomingotn has isf guys