I had my 37" Westinghouse 1080p LCD monitor for about year when I noticed it had what looked like burn-in from a desktop wallpaper I had used for a few months. You could really only notice it when displaying medium colors but it was getting worse. So I called up Best Buy to use my service plan. They dispatched a tech on the weekend to take a look at the monitor and the guy said the panel was defective and that he found a new panel to replace it with and it should be repaired within a week. 2 weeks later I get an automated call from BB service saying my part is backordered. Well since my monitor was one of the last that BB sold/offered (it was even a floor model) I knew the part was no longer even made so I called them after another week and they said they'd research the part. A week later I call again as the issue was becoming a bigger annoyance to me but they're still researching the part. Finally a couple days later I get a call telling me that my monitor has been approved for exchange. So I bring my old monitor in to the nearby store with all the receipts and paperwork and the Magnolia manager looks it over and tells me the 37" LG HDTV that is on sale for $1199 is my replacement. However I had a MONITOR which had no tuner, cost me $1500 at the time, and I require DVI inputs for my HTPC. I also don't like gloss screens since I get glare in my apartment and this monitor doubles as a secondary monitor to my 24" Dell LCD which is also matte. The manager tells me that I'm free to choose any TV they have in store for $1199 and that he'll throw in a DVI-HDMI adapter for my HTPC cable. Forget 37", I went to the 47" Westinghouse they had on sale this week for the same price. Unfortunately a replacement fulfills my 4-year service plan that cost me $180 at the time and I had to purchase another one for my new TV. Still and all I'm very glad I got the service plan for a big-ticket item like this. Aside from the delays (which I purposely used to my advantage by only calling them once per week) I was happy with the service I received at the store giving me flexibility on my replacement. If you have to do an exchange watch the ads for the cheapest same-size TV as your own and then look at other options for that same price. They also said if I wanted to upgrade that they'd take that $1199 off of my purchase price, but I'm finding this 47" to be almost too large for my living room and certainly a bit large as a second monitor :laugh: See below for the before and after pics of my home theater.
as a tv tech any of the new tv's are well worth the extened warranty. I have been seeing a lot of pannels going bad, and you don't want to have to pay for that. also I am not 100% sure on this but I know ultimate used to do this if you do not use the extended warranty at all you are entitled to half your money back. I think this goes for all forms of extended warranties weather it is on a TV or a car or what ever.
Best Buy pro-rates whatever would be left on the PSP. Ex: $400 3-year PSP is returned after 1.5 years of TV use. You get $200 back.
thats if you return while it is still active. If you do not use it you get money back. I believe. I can not remember who told me but I believe it is a law of sorts... who knows I may have no clue!!
^^^Thats a good deal if you never have to use the extended wtty. If I buy another LCD big screen it will always be with an extended warranty, due to the cost of replacing parts (especially the screen). There is one thing I must say, buy quality, and sometimes price equates to quality. MY 53'' Sony XBR rear projection digital monitor has never had a problem, and I have used the auto focus feature, maybe 10 times (on the front of the tv). It was $2500 back in 2001, but if anyone would wish to buy it... and wants to be in charge of all the transportation, I will sell it . Stick with the bigger LCD, that looks nice!
