TV Repair Shops?!?!

Has anyone ever had to take a tv to be repaired or to a repair shop?

We got a free 42 in Plasma tv. Its not omg old but its not brand new. Supposidly it worked at the other persons house but I have my doubts considering that we got it and now all of a sudden the picture doesnt work. We dont get anything, no volume control no channel numbers nothing. So I googled what could be wrong via the product number and maker and found some solutions but neither myself nor df are exactly tv techs. So we are thinking about taking it to someone to have them look to see what could be wrong with it and if its fixable how much it could cost to fix it. Im hoping that its cheaper than buying a new tv considering I can get a 48in for about $600.

If you took a tv to a repair shop what was it like and was it better than buying a new tv? Did the repair last? Basically I just want to kinda know what I should expect and if its worth it because Im cheap and I dont wanna spend the money to fix this tv when I could potentially save myself the hassle and just get a new one. Plus...its a plasma...I dont care for them most plasma tvs Ive seen look like they have a film over them like they are dirty from a cleaner or something like that. But Im not one to turn away a free tv. Free is my favorite four letter word next to sale. LOL

Originally Posted by 3CatsN1Dog

Has anyone ever had to take a tv to be repaired or to a repair shop? If you took a tv to a repair shop what was it like and was it better than buying a new tv? Did the repair last? Basically I just want to kinda know what I should expect and if its worth it because Im cheap and I dont wanna spend the money to fix this tv when I could potentially save myself the hassle and just get a new one. Plus...its a plasma...I dont care for them most plasma tvs Ive seen look like they have a film over them like they are dirty from a cleaner or something like that. But Im not one to turn away a free tv. Free is my favorite four letter word next to sale. LOL

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The most common problem is for the circuit board to go bad, and it costs pretty close to the value of the whole TV. I used to do a little TV repair, 30 years ago, back when they still had tubes. The last TV I repaired I did for sentimental reasons, since it had been my mother's, but I could have bought a new one for the same amount of money.

Almost any shop will charge you $50 or so for diagnosis. That assumes you can actually find someone who does repairs, any more.

Ughhh I had a feeling that was the case. This bites.

I found 4 places to call and talk to but none of them had reviews or anything online and atleast 3 of them have stuff for vehicles as their main thing but tv repair as like the last thing listed so I dont know if its actual tv repair or just like the monitors for a car.

This tv was 2k when it came out and the last thing I want to do is put close to that amount into it when its already 5+ years old and we can definately get a tv for $600 thats bigger and not a plasma...add into having to transport the tv. Thats a risk all in itself.

Im seriously thinking that buying a new one would be best especially since it wouldnt be anything to hop over to Delaware over a weekend and get one without having to pay the extra 80 bucks in taxes.

I just looked at Costco, and they have a 47" for $590. Sam's has a 46" for $600. Fry's has them in the same price range.

I know I was shocked to see the price on the 37" model we bought a couple of years ago for $800 is now down around $480.

If you can find someone to diagnose it, it might be worth it. I suppose it could be an internal circuit breaker or something, although I would doubt it.

If we bought new it would be from Sams Club...in Delaware..kinda hard to resist the whole no sales tax deal over there. LOL especially when its easy access for us to hop over there for a weekend.

Im going to atleast call the places and see what they say and if its gonna cost more than Im willing to spend then Im just gonna put my foot down we are going to buy a new tv.

Stamm's in Lewisburg does tv repair work, but I wouldn't recommend them to anybody. A couple years ago, we took my old (like an OMG-old) bedroom tv into them. They said they'd get back to us within the week as to whether it would be worthwhile to replace.

About five weeks later, I was in town over lunch and stopped in. The tv was right where I had placed it....they never bothered to look at it. Meanwhile I had been waiting to see what was going on. He gave me some excuse...it was really old, it was a bother since new ones were so cheap.

And then he said, "Why don't you look around and see what you'd like to buy?" Um, no. No thanks. We went to Lamprino's and bought a 42-inch JVC from them. Haven't set foot in Stamm's since. I'm not upset that he said the tv was not repairable; I am frustrated that he promised to get back to me "within the week" and, had I not gone into the store, I might still be waiting.

Does Peters in Sunbury still do tv repair? We've had them do repair work on our washer and we liked them. Not terribly expensive either. Oh, and I think John's TV in Milton used to do very good work, but I don't know if they're open anymore. Somebody said that he was retiring. But he was good.

Check the Yellow Pages or let me know if you need phone numbers.

(And, as an aside, like I said, we went to Lamprino's for the JVC. We started talking to the older man....he's the owner....and told him that we wanted to keep our business local and out of the "big box" stores. Which we really do do as much as we can. He paid the tax on the tv and his son delivered it right to our bedroom and calibrated it. For nothing.)

have you tried to contact your cable provider? They might be able to help (they did with me when I couldn't get a picture). might be something simple as a faulty wire or something

If you buy from Sams Club... see if they have a floor model available. They will sell it to you :-)

We got a 42" modern tv as a floor model for $400. Steep yes, but much cheaper than the price tag.

It used to be cheaper to take a TV in for repair than to buy a new one. However, things are made so cheaply these days that they break down sooner and are far more expensive to repair than to purchase a new one.

A shame really, because it just contributes to the junk that is in our landfills.

Originally Posted by Natalie_ca

It used to be cheaper to take a TV in for repair than to buy a new one. However, things are made so cheaply these days that they break down sooner and are far more expensive to repair than to purchase a new one.

A shame really, because it just contributes to the junk that is in our landfills.

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Isn't that the truth. Just makes me mad.

Not a TV story- but a fridge one. The fridge side of our side-by-side fridge didn't feel quite right last week. Dh took it's temp and sure enough- it was in the 60's. He took the back off the freezer and there was this huge chunk of ice on the coils. Defrosted it- and it started working fine.

Meanwhile- we know there's a problem with it. I called Sears to come and look at it- but in the meantime dh was researching on how to fix it. He narrowed it down to 2 things. For Sears to come out and fix it- the part he's looking at is $60. It's a $65 service call, and I'm sure it's $100 or so for labor. Now we're looking at over $200. To fix a $600 fridge. That's 3 YEARS OLD.

Cheryl

TV repair man? Oh I remember them from long ago. I think my last one I seen was in the late 80's. Who remembers when they used to come to your home because all the TVs were these big console things. They would go POOF and fill the room with smoke.

The problem is that most electronics today are built in modules. You can't buy one part; you have to buy a module that includes the part you need.

This is true of cars, too. You don't want to know what it costs to have a bad gas gauge on you dashboard replaced!

Originally Posted by mrblanche

The problem is that most electronics today are built in modules. You can't buy one part; you have to buy a module that includes the part you need.

This is true of cars, too. You don't want to know what it costs to have a bad gas gauge on you dashboard replaced!

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Actually I kind of do know how much it costs to replace a bad gas gauge

The one in our 2000 chevy Venture went bad a few years ago. At this point- with the teenagers driving it, and that it has over 120,000 miles on it, it's just not worth that much. So- what I've done is every time I fill up (and at the moment- since the child has no job it's me paying for it) I just set the trip mileage to 0. And she's supposed to kind of keep track of it to tell us how many miles she's traveled on that tank of gas. I know it's about 400 or so miles to empty- so at 200 she's supposed to tell me. And she did on Friday.

Cheryl

Originally Posted by Sneakymom

Actually I kind of do know how much it costs to replace a bad gas gauge

The one in our 2000 chevy Venture went bad a few years ago. At this point- with the teenagers driving it, and that it has over 120,000 miles on it, it's just not worth that much. So- what I've done is every time I fill up (and at the moment- since the child has no job it's me paying for it) I just set the trip mileage to 0. And she's supposed to kind of keep track of it to tell us how many miles she's traveled on that tank of gas. I know it's about 400 or so miles to empty- so at 200 she's supposed to tell me. And she did on Friday.

Cheryl

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LOL I love that solution...Mine is to whine and complain to dh that something is wrong and then pull the car into the garage and hide the keys until he fixes it. LOL

Pam I did a google search and found a result for the Yellowpages and found 4 places. AGS Electronics in Sunbury, A&B Electronic Service on the Old Trail, The Upholstery Shop in Selinsgrove, Creative Audio Video in Selinsgrove and The Stereo Shop in Selinsgrove. Im going to call them today and see what they say. I have a gut feeling though that this tv is not fixable because the peson who gave it to us is kind of a tool. There is a crack in the plastic on the top and it looks like something was melted onto the stand so we think that he knew it was broken and gave the tv to the middle person to give to us just so he didnt have to get rid of it. Hes not the type of person to just up and give something df without there being some kinda string or something involved...I dont trust him but then again I dont particularly trust anyone.

I told Df about what ya'll have said and we did find something on a tv repair site that it was probably some Y-sus thinger and X-sus thinger and I googled a kit or something to fix it and found one on ebay for 40 bucks....not that I trust ebay any more than the tv giver. But Im going to call and see how much it would cost if anything to look at the tv and tell us what is wrong and if its fixable. If its fixable and more than 50% cheaper than buying the tv that I picked out we will probably fix it but at the same time because of the crack on the top of the casing, I worry that it wont be something long term. Theres nothing that irritates me more than spending money to fix something and then a little while later it breaks again and Im still stuck buying new.

I just want a tv that isnt the size of my toaster over in my living room. Stupid free tv breaking...Beh I hate spending money.