Rant on Best Buy

Okay, I am really miffed with Best Buy.

At Christmas last year, my mother in law gave my husband a cash gift to buy a new television at Best Buy. We did, and we got the $100 warranty alongside.

We never expected the thing to break before it was two years old, I mean, face it. When we had tube televisions, the tubes went out, and you replaced the tube, and got your tv back. Then they came out with transistors, and you had to replace a circuit board, and then you got your tv back.

Now, it would appear that you have to replace the tv!

Our tv died last month. Since we had the warranty, we called Best Buy and they had someone come out and get it. They "couldn't" work on it in our home, so I suppose I don't understand why it took them 3 days to come and get it, but that's another story for another blog. Poor thing said "Fzit" and went to black and wouldn't turn back on.

We found out that if the repair cost more than the original purchase price, they would replace the tv with the SAME tv or one of better value, and that was our understanding.

What they DON'T tell you is that once you USE the warranty, it is then NULL AND VOID, so if you get another tv for replacement, you have to buy another warranty! The tv's get really hot, and that burns up the capacitors (which are cheap at the manufacturing level), which burns up the board, which can take out your screen (and those are the most expensive part), and then while you have a replaced tv, you have no warranty for it.

And of course, they don't tell you any of this--that the tv won't last but a year or so. They are basically throw aways. I don't know about you, but spending that kind of money on something you're just going to throw away in a year is too much!

I have a friend who replaces these capacitors....so if you DIDN'T buy the warranty, know that all is not lost. But they can only be counted on if it's a higher end television that will SHUT ITSELF OFF BEFORE IT BURNS UP THE CIRCUIT BOARD AND THE SCREEN IN THE PROCESS. So when you BUY the television, make sure that it has a SHUT OFF that will shut off the television before the capacitor burns out everything.

Also, if your television is continuously pixelated, it's probably telling you that the capacitor is going out.

Also, check the FAN frequently, and dust off the air holes. The bigger the fan, the better it will help cool the television.

So keep your eyes open for these things, and make sure of that shut off, it could save you hundreds of dollars.