19" LCD Digital TV £189.99 Aldi Sunday 30th

woodface7

We also queued for one and half wish we'd missed out.

In Granadaland (we're in sight of the Winter Hill transmitter), Freeview frequencies are mainly at the very top of the spectrum - up to Channel 68.

This tuner's sensitivity seems to die as you tune up there.

Ch68 is where the Channel Five stations are here, machofairy. There are only six multiplexes, so if there's any signal in your location, your local frequency shouldn't take long to find manually.


SCART and S-Video are fuzzy.

Motion is blurry - smoketrails on your football, anyone?

Sound only listenable via external speakers.

No HD source here, so it's possible everything's fab via HDMI. But I think this will be back at Aldi before we go HD.

We'll save up for the new Samsungs at £249.

Tolleydog

I would reinforce the warnings given by others regarding Aldi’s return policy and 3 year warranty. The no-quibble guarantee system changed several months ago – now you only have 30 days, not the months/ years you used to have. The guarantee was great in that it gave peace of mind if you were worried about quality issues with any items.

I bought 2 identical electronic items late last year. A couple of months later, one became faulty. I returned both and requested refunds on both, in line with the no-quibble returns policy that had been in place when I bought them. The manager thrust a leaflet under my nose, pointing out that the policy had since been changed. If I wanted to sort out the broken item I would need to contact the “service contact”; furthermore, Aldis would not refund the second item as it was considered outside the new 30 day “peace of mind” window.

I rang the service contact, who appeared to be either the manufacturer/ importer. They said I would need to return the item at my expense for them to look at.

I made some cursory investigations regarding the Sales of Goods Act and wrote to Aldi. I pointed out that with respect to the broken item, it was Aldi as the retailer who was responsible for sorting out defective products; there was no onus on me to deal with the manufacturer. Furthermore, Aldi were responsible for sorting matters out without undue inconvenience or cost to me. I also requested that Aldi honour the “no quibble” guarantee that was offered when I purchased the items. I was delighted when I was phoned by an Aldi area manager who said that in the circumstances that they would do both.

The problem came when I went back to the shop. I thought I had brought back everything – including the shrink wrap plastic that both items came in and instructions, but was missing the installation CD for one item. The manager point blank refused to refund the second item until I also returned the CD. He explained, and I do have some sympathy with him as to why Aldi changed their policy, that people abused the guarantee e.g. people returning lawnmowers after a summer’s use and that Aldi’s suppliers were toughening up on their returns policies.

The manager admitted that with regard to electronic goods, that the products had a high failure rate post-sale. But (to paraphrase him) how did I think that Aldis managed to sell things so cheap?

I admit that I have a bee in my bonnet over this. When I did find the installation CD and managed to return the item, I was then in the absence of the manager given by a supervisor a roughing over and shocking customer care for daring to return an item – despite the area manager sitting in the main office a few feet away. The problem seems to stem from the fact that any returns that are accepted now directly affects that particular store’s trading margin and therefore the manager gets it in the neck.

Don’t get me wrong. Despite the abuse, I have been back to Aldi a couple of times since, but try and avoid this particular branch. There again, I used to be a very regular customer. In general, I would recommend Aldi’s grocery lines – but electronic/ electrical items? Caveat emptor!

shown73

Exactly my point in my previous post. Aldi continues to be great for non electrical items, but do be wary. I have a feeling that it was the big plasma tv's that really finished them, but it was their own fault. At £1000 for a tv, you are entitled to expect it to work properly, and an awful lot of them didn't, including mine. You are also entitled to expect that it will do what it says on the box, i.e. to be HD ready, which the first ones were not. They shot themselves in the foot. There is no point in selling high spec items at bargain prices if it's basically no good, and then offering very generous warranty terms. That said, my present Aldi plasma, now that it has been sorted by the manufacturers agents is brilliant, but it wasn't an easy ride, and it took a long time, and it's the second one, not the original. It will be interesting to see how this carries on, because I have the feeling that Aldi is flounting the sale of goods act, at the moment.

jaibeebee

We brought this TV from Aldi in July. As soon as we got it it had a problem with the DVD player humming constantly, even when not in use. We contacted the manufacturers who sent us a CD with some software on which fixed this.

Now the sound has gone wrong. We can hear the sound when the volume is on max, but anything else is inaudible.

I've contacted the manufacturers again who suggested retuning. This didn't work so we were told to contact the warranty dept.

I've contacted them to be told that they will arrange a replacement. However, it won't be a new one. It'll be one that someone else has already returned with a fault and has been fixed. I was told that I "can't expect it to be replaced with a new one, it'll be replaced with one the same age as the one I've got."

In addition to this, I have to wait for someone else to return one, which can then be fixed, before they can send it on to me.

This doesn't seem quite right to me. I paid for a brand new TV, not a second hand reconditioned one. Is this reasonable or should I just demand my money back?

dontgetcaught

You have the right to have your money back if it goes wrong in first 6 months, look up sales of goods act and you will find full details, it is the retailer who is responsible not the manufacturer, these products are deemed to be faulty unless the retailer can PROOVE otherwise, which is near impossible if the produce has not been abused. You can check with trading standards, I thing a quick word with Aldi head office will sort most problems, especially if you are aware of your rights.


(Aldi being the provider of the guarantee in the first three years, it is there responsibility after the 6 months)