Ask by enphaduated: Good Guys/ GE Extended Warrenty[Service] Plan HELP?
Ok, so here is a doozy.

My family bought a 42″ SONY LCD TV back in Sept 4 2005 from Good Guys before they closed down. We paid $ 1,599.99 + 299.99 in extended warranty.

A little while later, the TV starts making this weird clicking noise which we decided to call in on the warranty after it kept doing that. My mom spoke with a Jacky from GE in July of 2007 and was told to fax in her warranty contract [which is only the receipt really]. She did so and also sent an email like asked. She waited and waited and no one ever got back to her. When she called to ask about it, she was told it takes a while for them to process such things. Eventually she gave up as she was tired of being ignored and passed along.

Then just a month ago, I noticed a lightening shaped color distortion going down the front of the TV that just kept getting bigger and bigger. Thus we called GE again and was told yet again to send in our contracts.

The first lady my mom spoke with said that it’s useless because our extended service has expired in 2008 and that they never got our original fax. So I called Sony and they said generally they offer a 1 year warranty and generally if you buy an EXTENDED 3 year warranty it would equate to 4 years total. After learning this information, I called GE again and spoke with a Patty. I told her what I had learned and she said that “That sounds about right” and said that I had to try my best to find the contract documenting the warranty info and fax it to them as they have no way of accessing Good Guy’s info. I did so later that night after some digging.

I called the next day and spoke with an Arlene and she said they haven’t gotten it and to call the next day. I called the next day and spoke with an Art and said that it generally takes 48 hours so Thursday would be the day.

So I called this morning and spoke with a Micayla and she pulls up the fax right away and after I tell her the whole story, she tells me that she use to work for Good Guys and their Extended Service Plans starts RIGHT away at the date of purchase ALWAYS. Confused, I asked her why it says my warranty expires 04 Sept 09 on the receipt [which I faxed over] and she says she doesn’t see “such a thing”. SO I directed her to where it says that and she says “That looks like an 8. It’s not clear.” So, annoyed, I just said I’ll re-fax it and hanged up.

I called right back and spoke with a different person Jesse. I give him the case # and the story and he says Good Guys offered 2 different types of warranties, one that started right away and one that started after the original warranty.

So I waited while he looked up the records and while I waited I read the ESP brochure that came with the purchase [that i also faxed over] which under 2 different sections claims 2 different things. Under Sec 6, it claims that “your warranty starts 31 days after date of purchase” and under Sec 14, it claims that “it does not cover the first 90 days of MSR”. After he took me off of hold, Jesse tells me “Yeah…actually, they’re warranty starts the day you purchase it”. SO thus I tell him that I was actually researching while he put me on hold as well and read to him what section says what and what my receipt says and what to do about all of these discreptancies. First, he asks if I was positive a 3 year warranty was purchased and not a 4 year one as it says that it expires 4 years after the date purchased. When I tell him I believe so because we paid 299.99 and was told it’s $ 100 per year and then directed him to the receipt. He tells me to fax it over with the brochure. And when I tell him I did fax over a 6 pg fax, he says “I can’t find anything/ pull up anything on the system”. And when I ask why Micayla whom I spoke with 5 minutes before him was able to pull up the fax info no problem in seconds, he says maybe it’s because he’s department is slow on receiving faxes from the people who direct them [even though Micayla is in his department] and gives me another fax number which is his “department’s direct fax number” and asks me to call back in 1.5 hours.

Don’t mean to sound skeptical, but I feel as if GE is a load of crap who keeps dodging me. With a little research, I also discovered that other people had some similar issues as well. Can anyone offer some USEFUL advice on what to do next or how to get to fix my TV? This is urgent because the date on the receipt is approaching in 3 weeks [which will probably take them that long to fix it] and because a TV repair man said that it would cost $ 937 to fix the LCD TV that we paid a total of almost $ 2000 for. =/

What can I do, if anything? Anyone out there work for GE or use to work for GE?? PLEASE help??? :] Thank you so much for your time and I do apologize for it being so long!

Answer:

Answer by Joe
Take it to a different place for a quote on a repair, and don’t tell them about your problems. If you tell a tv repair person about all the hassles, they will see you as a blank check and try to take advantage of you. Remember, tv repair people aren’t exactly college educated professionals
As for your ‘warranty’, most of them are comprehensive and sit on
top of the manufacturers warranty to cover what the mfr does not (which
is just about everything.), therefore it would only be a total of three years
not four. However, since you bought in in 05, it was before alot of states
passed legislature allowing the ‘extended warranties’ to be underwritten
by insurance underwriters (making them much more comprehensive), therefore what you bought probably doesn’t cover much-only what the mfr covered-which is very little.

Your biggest problem is that Sony has one of the worst customer service reputations among the brands. They will take responsibility
for absolutely nothing.

1.)check and see if there is a recall on your tv
2.) forget about your warranty as it probably doesn’t cover your problem.
3.) get a second and third opinion, without showing you frustration.
4.) you will now have piece of mind.
5.)there is only one ‘extended warranty’ company that is 100%
compliant and have very good plans. The name of the company
is callled ‘NEW’. Look for retailers whose plans are by them,
A lot of legitimate places will have plans buy them, because they don’t want the hassle of poor service like GE.

Answer by none
please remember to always thank the people who give you answers, right or wrong-though in this case………………right.

Answer by megan n
The problem with your tv: this shape on your screen. Can you see this mark when the tv is off? If you can then it’s a bad LCD panel. This is the panel coming unlamented, and this is a well known problem that sony has. Sony may help you with this repair, it may be worth a few more calls to them. As for GE, we do their repair, but we try to steer away if we can. They are slow and cheap. If this is still under their warranty then I doubt they will pay for this repair. They may offer you a buy back deal or give you monies toward a new set. The panel is probably close to 00.00 if not 00.00. And GE knows about this repair just by hearing your complaint. You need GE to set up a service call to have an estimate submitted. Sony may also have a shop look at it for evaluation.

If Joe had any education he could have tried to help you with your problem and gave you alternatives, instead of telling you how you screwed up

Please leave your answer in the comments! Thanks.