Television maker Vizio, which sells lower-tier LCD, high definition, flat screen televisions, has reportedly been advising the owners of its relatively new, but out-of-warranty sets that their broken televisions cannot be repaired. The company instead offers these customers the chance to purchase a refurbished replacement set from them, often at a price higher that of a new Vizio television.
At least one consumer, who owned a nearly $2,000, 55-inch television, reported having complained in writing to Vizio’s corporate headquarters about what certainly appears to be company-wide policy of Vizio’s customer service unit advising consumers that their televisions, which are as little as one month beyond the factory warranty, are totally “unrepairable.” The failure reported primarily involves breaking of the television’s backlight unit, which lights the screen from inside the set. Scores of consumers have reported that out-of-the-blue, their Vizio sets, which are not old, have gone black and never worked again.
Indeed, a consumer complaint website reports that it has received over 61 complaints about Vizio televisions failing, and the lack of any satisfactory response from Vizio to recurrent complaints of sets breaking shortly after warranty expiration without any repair solution offered by Vizio customer service.
While Vizio sets are not the only manufacturer’s sets that break, HD television guru, Gary Merson, polled other well-know television makers who stated that they do not have a “unrepairable” TV policy; and that they do try to fix problem sets, and when a situation arises where a repair would really be uneconomical, they make every attempt to replace the set with one of their new sets at a significant discount so as to keep the consumer satisfied and with their brand set in that consumer’s home.
Several of the top-tier TV makers, such as Samsung, and even mid-tier electronics producers, like Best Buy, which markets a house brand called Insignia, reported that their TVs are repairable whether in or out of warranty, including those with failed backlights. The repairs on the older sets that are beyond the factory warranty are fixed at a reasonable repair cost.
If you own a Vizio, LCD, flat-screen, HD television that has had a blacked out backlight, or some other defect, and Vizio has refused to repair the set, please contact us to discuss your legal rights