My Tv Can't Be Fixed Under Warranty I'm Not Happy With Replacement Offered

akboy42

I have extended warranty with Currys for a 42 plasma TV bought in 2006. My original 'whatever happens warranty' promised repair visit within 2 days at home and usually fixed on the spot. Well now some 7 years later its all changed and I have to have it taken away to be fixed. I've paid 10.99 for 6 years for a service which has been changed dramatically anybody have any idea if I can get some kind of compensation. Secondly my £1800 tv cannot fixed and they've given me a £449 credit to replace. Sure I can get a 42 plasma for this money but I paid an extra £600 on top of the average model to have 'super dooper' one Hitatchi. I had 2 large side panel speakers great sound and an electronic swivel base. £449 will only get me a basic model what rights do I have ? I'm not trying to get a 60inch super tv I just want a like for like top of range 42 plasma..... Any thoughts

vyle

A six year old, £1800 hitachi MAY have been full HD, but probably wasn't. Hitachi aren't known for their amazing picture processing, so a £500 UT50 panasonic would likely give you a better picture.

You can't really get amazing audio quality in TVs these days, nor do they tend to have electric swivel bases.

Your problem is that you could very well get a better specification of TV for the money currys offered you. The extras you mentioned are no longer standard, or really available in most mainstream TVs. If you got 1800 back, you would actually be getting a considerable upgrade.

Saying you want a "like for like top of the range plasma" is an oxymoron because if you get like for like, you'll arguably getting an upgrade by going for a mid-range set.

A top of the range plasma would put you to a panasonic VT50, or a GT50 if you want upper mid range. The latter will set you back about 1k and would spank your hitachi in ways it didn't know were possible.

unholyangel

Well when they changed the terms, you basically had 2 choices, either accept them or cancel the policy and go elsewhere. So the most compensation you'd be due for the changes to the policy would be a refund of monies paid for the warranty.

As for their offer........you would have to read the documentation of your warranty to see whether they have processed your claim as you contracted them to do.

bris

You can get a better telly for you money, what more do you want. The price you paid is irrelevant, it's what it would cost to give you a tv with similar spec or better now that counts.

akboy42

bris wrote: »

You can get a better telly for you money, what more do you want. The price you paid is irrelevant, it's what it would cost to give you a tv with similar spec or better now that counts.

But say if you bought a top of the range 1600cc Toyota and they replaced it with a 1600cc Hyundai you wouldnt be best pleased.

akboy42

unholyangel wrote: »

Well when they changed the terms, you basically had 2 choices, either accept them or cancel the policy and go elsewhere. So the most compensation you'd be due for the changes to the policy would be a refund of monies paid for the warranty.

As for their offer........you would have to read the documentation of your warranty to see whether they have processed your claim as you contracted them to do.

The problem is I wan't notified or didn't receive notification

akboy42

I know a full £1800 is unreasonable, but when i bought I spent that that extra to get a better Tv but the £449 offered will only get me a basic 42 not a high end one. Ps was HD ready is that the same as full Hd didn't need any further equipment when the HD channels became available.

vyle

akboy42 wrote: »

But say if you bought a top of the range 1600cc Toyota and they replaced it with a 1600cc Hyundai you wouldnt be best pleased.

The difference between cars and TVs is that cars aren't really defined by their base specification as much as TVs and other entertainment tech is.

You bought a TV at the start of the HD generation. If it was a Pioneer, I'd understand your reticence, because Pioneers are the only TVs where some of the models are still held up as being some of the best pictures on the market, but even then, enthusiasts will concede that panasonic's plasmas are as good as, if not slightly better now.

I'm not really sure what you're after, because hitachi isn't exactly a brand to write home about. Are you !!!!ed off that your TV's spec has devalued over time? Because that's how tech works. It gets better, the improvements flow down the range, until your amazing gadget from 12 years ago is now laughed at by most calculators.

My PC I bought for £1000 back in 1998 is less powerful than a £300 smartphone now, and that's me being generous about my PC. Let's say I was paying into this scheme you paid in to and my PC failed. Should I ask for a £1000 PC which bears no resemblance to what I bought, demand the same spec as what I bought, effectively shooting myself in the foot by demanding obsolete tech (what you're doing it seems) or take the sensible option of money towards what is essentially an upgrade, understanding that things have changed since I got my previous item.

vyle

akboy42 wrote: »

Ps was HD ready is that the same as full Hd didn't need any further equipment when the HD channels became available.

HD ready effectively means it supports resolutions no higher than 720p.

Full HD supports 1080p.

Neither of those have anything to do with the capabilities of the HD tuners. Only TVs released in the past two or three years will have an HD freeview tuner in them, and those are the ones that don't need extra equipment to pick up terrestrial HD channels so you certainly don't have one of those. These sets can be either full HD or HD ready depending on the whims of the manufacturer.

Your TV may have a freesat tuner of some sort in it, but again, freesat HD didn't exist when you bought your TV.

unholyangel

akboy42 wrote: »

I know a full £1800 is unreasonable, but when i bought I spent that that extra to get a better Tv but the £449 offered will only get me a basic 42 not a high end one. Ps was HD ready is that the same as full Hd didn't need any further equipment when the HD channels became available.

No. HD ready and full HD are different, with full HD being the better of the two.

As I said above, you'd have to check the terms and conditions to see what your policy states. If they state (for example) that they will refund you an appropriate amount to buy another tv of similar spec or if they state that the amount they will refund will be proportionate to the age and value of the item etc.....then they're fulfilling their contractual obligations.

Technology advances pretty consistently and quite rapidly. A high end 7 year old set wont even be as good as a mid range new set.

Around 10+ years ago I bought a 42" £2000 tv. Last year I got a 48" 3D smart tv full HD with 5 year warranty for £600. However, although the new one cost less, it has a much higher value than the old one. In other words, if i still had my old tv....i wouldnt have a tv worth £2000, i'd have a tv that cost £2000 but is now only worth probably £100 or so if even. Cost and worth are 2 entirely different things.

MamaMoo_2

Go online to CEX, eBay completed listings, Cash Converters etc, and find out what your old TV retails at second hand. If its under £449, be grateful. If its more (on average, not just you saw one priced at 1k) try and negotiate a better payout.
To be perfectly honest, if someone offered to replace my 720p plasma with potentially a 1080i LED 3DTV the same size, or larger, I'd bite their hand off.
I have a Smart TV which I paid through the nose for when they first came out. I could replace it for a bigger model with a better quality picture for half the price I paid for it. I could probably sell it on for 20% of what I paid for it 3 years ago, at a push.
Things depreciate in value, technology does so at a ridiculous rate.