Vizio Tells Owners Their TVs Are Un-Repairable

No Vizio's for me unless i get it dirt dirt cheap and i tack on my own aftermarket warranty, like a Mack or CPS warranty. NO parts? no problem, they just cut you a check...
 
DeathPrincess said:
Haven't vizio always been a joke brand?
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It was actually supposed to be a decent middle tier brand, better than Westinghouse and the Funai rebrands like RCA, Magnavox etc.

But if this goes viral then it's another nail in their coffin.
 
SJetski71 said:
It was actually supposed to be a decent middle tier brand, better than Westinghouse and the Funai rebrands like RCA, Magnavox etc.

But if this goes viral then it's another nail in their coffin.
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Wasn't there some story a year ago about how 8/10 TV returns were vizios? (this might have just been in europe)
 
I am amazed a product would be designed and built where changing out the lighting isn't as simple as, well, changing a lightbulb.

Why isn't the "lamp" accessible and USER changeable?

Geeeeze. isn't this like predatory business practices?
 
I got a 37" Vizio for free. Bad power supply board. Part was $40 on EBay. Grabbed it and have a nice TV now. Very sad part was that it was 6 months old. Vizio said it couldn't repair the TV within the warranty. So, I fixed it myself.

Not a bad TV for $40 and a screwdriver.
 
Steve said:
This is why I like Samsung TVs and monitors.
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I'm with Steve. Samsung for me. I also like Sony. I have no idea what their customer support is like though ... because I've never had to RMA anything from either company. :)
 
DeathPrincess said:
Wasn't there some story a year ago about how 8/10 TV returns were vizios? (this might have just been in europe)
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There's probably a whole whole lot more to that story than "8/10 TV returns were vizios"

They probably had a bad model or two that were selling like hotcakes out of some major retailer. And if those specific models were built shitty then it would inevitably lead to many returns and complaints. Am i saying it's a near equivalent to Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba, Sharp, LG in build quality? Of course not, it's on a lower tier than them.
 
Back when I sold computers, when people brought in broken hardware (store policy to RMA for customers), the two easiest company's to deal with were ASUS and Samsung. They didn't ask a lot of questions, I just figured they knew the people who bought their products were above average intelligence as to not require them to do the most basic of things to troubleshoot which usually proved to be useless, and they would RMA it and were usually quick about it too. The same can be said about my personal experience with their products, I've never had to RMA any ASUS or Samsung product I've ever bought.

As for something like this, it doesn't surprise me. I work technical support for the local cable company in my city and while all other TV brands have a more standardized program code for our remotes, Vizio TV's are different in which they have three codes, one that will power the TV on and off but not operate the volume/input selection, as with the other two codes one will not operate the volume but operate the power and input selection, and the other will operate all three, really a pain in the rear end, especially when dealing with the elderly and/or hard of hearing people who need you to repeat the same thing 2-3 times over. lol
 
That would be fun in EU - we have 2 year mandatory minimum waranty and if device RMA isnt resolved in 30 days they have to give you full refund or new device - customer can choose.

 
nobody_here said:
so i can tell you my friend recently had a Visio hdtv that got taken out by lightning and even though walmart didnt have to, they actually made arrangements for a local repair shop to fix it and covered it 100%
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nice. I have my issues with walmart but at least someone is trying to take care of the customers.
 
I blame Steve Jobs and nefarious scheme of global domination.




Or Bill Gates and that evil Winnders Software
 
My brother works on on TVs and all sorts of other electronics (except PCs lol).... He has said that Vizio TVs are the best to work on... Samsung on the other hand are all but impossible from what I have gathered from him.
 
Just wondering...
The TV model indicated on a link from the original post (links to Amazon) is a VIZIO XVT553SV, which uses a full-array LED back-light.

What make of panel/backlight is Vizio using on this model? I only did a quick search, but I can't seem to find anyone that is offering full-array BLU's for sale to do repairs.

Of course this does not justify Vizio regarding the way they are handling service on these products (they should have least offered a heavy discount on a new or refurbished unit), but maybe they have a point, from the technical point of view?
 
Wow...nice job Vizio. Glad I bought a Samsung. Actually, the Samsung started the clicking and not turning on thing last year, it was 2.5 yrs old and OOW. I did some research, three capacitors cause the issue. I called Samsung and they sent a tech out to my house to replace the caps, no charge. I was impressed and would buy a big screen from Samsung again.

That being said, I also inherited a Samsung 23" P2370 monitor with a flashing garbled and blanking out screen that was deemed 'unrepairable'. It was the cheapest construction ever. Long story short but it took me 15 minutes to fix it, with no parts needed. All I did was pop the back cover off by pulling on the stand and pressing against the back side of the case edges, then pull the tape off the top edge of the LCD ribbon, press my fingers over the ribbon a few times and put the tape back on. It's been working fine ever since...thats a few months and running so far.

So, no brand is perfect but I would give companies that do have OOW support much better 'buy' ratings than one like Vizio or Apple. (Yeah, I have a 27" doorstop iMac that the parts to repair cost more than a new replacement iMac, it died at 1 yr and 2 months and Apple said fuck you...buy a new one).
 
This is why I bought a 52" Samsung ToC. For the known history of bad ass products and customer support. I'd never buy a Vizio.
 
no lcd for me, just bought my bosses 36" sony wega for $300, works perfectly sounds great and aside from weighing a ton is regarded as one of the finest crt sets ever made.
 
This is exactly why I decided to go with Sharp for my recent LED TV purchase instead of one of the lower-tier brands. The icing on the cake was calling the support line not long ago and not having to talk to some dude in India.
 
Valset said:
nice. I have my issues with walmart but at least someone is trying to take care of the customers.
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it floored me....he actually had two taken out, lightning hit the transformer next to his house, he lost a bunch of stuff, the one tv was under warranty, so he took the receipt to them. when he mentioned he actually had two get taken out, they asked to see the receipt on the visio which he also bought at walmart. Even though it was technically out of the exchange/warranty period, they gave him a "courtesy warranty extension" and covered both tv's repair at 100%

i would have never believed it if someone else had told me but i know this to be true
 
I've always considered vizio to be a bit of a sketchy brand. From what I have read, cheap tvs are cheap due to build quality and extensive use of lower-end components = you get what you pay for and should probably consider them disposable.

Count me as another Samsung fan. I've only purchased 2 LCD monitors, but they have both been Samsung. Zero problems with either. The 5 year old 19" LCD has been kicked to its box in the basement waiting for kid duty, while my 25" ToC handles current monitor duty beautifully.
 
Vizio?

Crap TV's, rated cheap and low end.

I have 3 Samsungs, best ever no problems.
 
brian770 said:
no lcd for me, just bought my bosses 36" sony wega for $300, works perfectly sounds great and aside from weighing a ton is regarded as one of the finest crt sets ever made.
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Your boss sounds like a smart man.

.
.
.
.
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...to find some idiot willing to give him $300 for an antiquated CRT. :D
 
Another example of why one shouldn't buy cheap brands that don't have an established long-term reputation of decent quality (though cheap functionality) and decent service - that goes for any product. It is why Americans increasingly get less and less for their money - everyone demands/buys cheap/flashy/gimmicky instead of value/quality - and in the long run that is more expensive/more time-wasting/more aggravating for consumers and more profitable for business.
 
I could be wrong, but doesn't Samsung make Vizio TVs. I know the ir codes are the same between the two. That usually suggest same manufacturing company.
I have a vizio now but if they are not standing behind their products I will take that into account my next purchase. Apple, Sony, Ubisoft, EA, ATT and now Vizio. That is a lot of products that will never see my dollars or praise.
 
Ain't hard to replace a backlight by yourself, and you'll probably only be out $100-200 last I looked.
 
Budzman said:
LCD repairs are cheap and simple as long as it's not the panel itself.
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Bingo. I used to make a fair bit of cash fixing LCD monitor backlights that went bad because of poor solder.

Elf_Boy said:
I am amazed a product would be designed and built where changing out the lighting isn't as simple as, well, changing a lightbulb.

Why isn't the "lamp" accessible and USER changeable?

Geeeeze. isn't this like predatory business practices?
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It depends on the monitor. See, in order to minimize backlight bleed, the backlight assembly has to fit tightly against the diffuser panel (on edge-lit monitors, it's the piece of plexiglass that distributes the light evenly across the panel) so that light doesn't leak out. On some monitors I fixed (certain Dell Ultrasharp models), the backlight assembly slid in and out quite easily after cracking open the monitor shell. Others required a complete disassembly of the LCD panel.

The reason backlights typically aren't easy to replace is that they're a very reliable component. This has been true of CCFLs for ages (although I've replaced a few bulbs), and is even more so now with LEDs--now, there's no glass bulb to break and everything runs at a relatively lower (and DC) voltage. In fact, it strikes me as quite odd that an LED backlight would go out. How do I know? Because I've actually built one from scratch--backlight, driver, and everything. It's a supremely simple circuit with only a handful of components.

One thing to note is that Vizio's response is that the affected units are "beyond economical repair" (emphasis mine). That doesn't mean "irreparable," it means "it costs too much to diagnose and repair it." In the cases where the panel itself was going back (red or green lines across the screen), that's understandable. A bad backlight (or driver), however, should be easy to diagnose and fix.
 
Both the HDMI inputs on my 36" Vizio died after a year. Now you add this, and there's no way I'm buying that brand again.

Meanwhile, my 24" Westinghouse monitor is still going strong after almost 4 years.
 
hmm.
I've had my Vizio 37" for over 4 years now. Still works perfect. Not the greatest picture compared to other high end sets, but it looks a hell of a lot better than my buddies entry level 50" SAMSUNG.
 
Mr. Wolf said:
My parents were about to buy a big Vizio LCD TV back in March. Fortunately, mom had dad call me while they were in the check out line at Brandsmart. As soon as I heard the word Vizio I ordered them to get out of that line NOW!!! I had them look at some Samsungs and they bought a nice 50" model. All is well. :)
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See, the story is a dick move on the part of Vizio but this stuff is ignorant. The Vizio 553SVT (also 447 and 442) are/were considerably less expensive than most LED LCD TVs of the same size, offer better picture quality than virtually all LCD alternatives, and offer a ton of features. Nor are their failure rates above the norm.

It's popular to bash on them because their quality wasn't up to snuff in 2005-2006, but lets get with the times here. These days (crappy OoW support aside) they are a quality brand.
 
Runningflame570 said:
See, the story is a dick move on the part of Vizio but this stuff is ignorant. The Vizio 553SVT (also 447 and 442) are/were considerably less expensive than most LED LCD TVs of the same size, offer better picture quality than virtually all LCD alternatives, and offer a ton of features. Nor are their failure rates above the norm.

It's popular to bash on them because their quality wasn't up to snuff in 2005-2006, but lets get with the times here. These days (crappy OoW support aside) they are a quality brand.
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We have a 471 that's been going strong for almost 2 years now. While it may not be "top of the line" we like it and when it goes I will have no problem getting another Vizio in the future.
 
I'd be fine with them not fixing it. As long as I got a new one, with the warrenty extended. I basicly had the same thing happen with a Toshiba LCD years ago. Since then I've gone through a Sony, and loving the hell out of my new Panny DT30.
 
I never got why people buy vizio they always looked like junk too me (both image wise and style wise).
 
__hollywood|meow said:
no. no they arent...lol
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Care to provide some proof of this? The xvt553sv is just about as well reviewed as any LED backlit TV out there (yes, this includes picture quality) and costs far less than many that have worse reviews.

Their quality has dramatically improved over the last half decade and they are far better than most any "off-brand" companies around these days.
 
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