3 and 5yr warranties - where are they now?

[DaveR]

A while back (possibly late 2009) it seemed that 5 year warranties were being offered everywhere you cared to look.

Some time later it seemed to have changed to 3 year offerings. Still not to be sniffed at.

Now if I were to Google, say, TX-P42G20B (can you see where this is going?) and click on a few of the different results it seems to be 12 months. I'm assuming that the longer periods previously on offer were sponsored by Panasonic in some shape or form.

So does anyone who might happen to have the inside line on such matters happen to know if it there might be a resurgence in longer Panasonic warranty periods being offered again anytime soon?

[Plotloss]

Our channel has the three year on Panasonics until the end of this month.

I'd guess its the same for the independants too, sure E31Shrew will be along to confirm or deny in a bit.

Remember there will be different deals on for distance and face to face sales.

Edited by Plotloss on Tuesday 6th July 17:15

[NewNameNeeded]

I recently (3 weeks ago) bought the P42G20B and also found a whole host of different prices, packages with freebies and warranty offers available.

As Plotloss said the Panasonic retailers seemed to have offers on for 3 years free Panasonic warranty. In the end - because of the price match and the offer (free 250 GB bluray recorder) I bought the TV from John Lewis which has just their own 5 year warranty (can't speak for how thorough that is versus the Panasonic one, but know my own home contents insurance pretty thoroughly covers issues with TV if it comes to it).

Edited by NewNameNeeded on Tuesday 6th July 17:40

[aberdeeneuan]

I bought my last tv from John Lewis and had a 5 year warranty on. 4 years in and the tube started going, phones them up, they took it in and couldn't get the parts, so just offered to go on store and choose a new one, up o the same value. Couldn't complain about that at all!

This time round, panny were doing 5 years so got it from a local independent place instead. Not had an issue so far, but they'll have to go some to meet the jl warranty.

[Hoover.]

Don't loose your reciept though with JL.... a credit card statement does not prove what you brought.

My sister had issues after 4 years but had lost her recepit (proof of purchase of said tv) and could only find the credit card statement... tried to get JL to match transaction which they couldn't.

No way slagging JL off as I blame my sister for not keeping important papers safe.

[JohnRS4]

Panasonic had an offer recently on all their 2010 range TVs extending the warranty to 5 years if you bought from one of their approved dealers between 1/4/10 - 30/6/10

[B16JUS]

Richer sounds offer a 5 year warranty for 10% of the purchase price which i think is good.

e.g

£500 tv £50 for 5 years
£1000 tv £100 for 5 years

J

[wiggy001]

I don't understand this warranty malarky - electronic goods must be fit for purpose for a "reasonable" amount of time, so on something like a TV I think that's deemed to be 5/6 years (there is some EU ruling on it if you Google).

If a TV fails within that time, they must repair or replace, warranty or no warranty.

It's the reason I recently had my 3 year old LCD replaced by Toshiba without a warranty (or even a receipt come to think of it).

What am I missing?

[Scott330ci]

Kia offer 7 year warranty

[Plotloss]

wiggy001 said:

I don't understand this warranty malarky - electronic goods must be fit for purpose for a "reasonable" amount of time, so on something like a TV I think that's deemed to be 5/6 years (there is some EU ruling on it if you Google).

If a TV fails within that time, they must repair or replace, warranty or no warranty.

It's the reason I recently had my 3 year old LCD replaced by Toshiba without a warranty (or even a receipt come to think of it).

What am I missing?

The fact that the 'reasonable' period is a sliding scale.

So if a product was £500 and went bang in year two you'd have a maximum claim potential of £400.

If it went bang in year 5 then it would be £100

It's also not an automatic right, it's litigation and you must prove your assertion in an open court.

[bradders]

wiggy001 said:

If a TV fails within that time, they must repair or replace, warranty or no warranty.

Can someone clarify this - as I was under the impression that you had a right to expect the offer of repair or replace, but not that it should be free of charge, outside the warranty period - but within the "reasonable" period?

Edited to add reasonable period bit.

Edited by bradders on Wednesday 14th July 14:08

[wiggy001]

Plotloss said:

wiggy001 said:

I don't understand this warranty malarky - electronic goods must be fit for purpose for a "reasonable" amount of time, so on something like a TV I think that's deemed to be 5/6 years (there is some EU ruling on it if you Google).

If a TV fails within that time, they must repair or replace, warranty or no warranty.

It's the reason I recently had my 3 year old LCD replaced by Toshiba without a warranty (or even a receipt come to think of it).

What am I missing?

The fact that the 'reasonable' period is a sliding scale.

So if a product was £500 and went bang in year two you'd have a maximum claim potential of £400.

If it went bang in year 5 then it would be £100

It's also not an automatic right, it's litigation and you must prove your assertion in an open court.

Thanks for the explanation. So, in summary, I was quite lucky to get a straight replacement?

Saying that, I heard an internet rumour that this was a design flaw and that Toshiba didn't have the required parts in stock any more (which apparently is against some EU ruling), so had little choice but to offer a replacement.

[Deva Link]

wiggy001 said:

Plotloss said:

wiggy001 said:

I don't understand this warranty malarky - electronic goods must be fit for purpose for a "reasonable" amount of time, so on something like a TV I think that's deemed to be 5/6 years (there is some EU ruling on it if you Google).

If a TV fails within that time, they must repair or replace, warranty or no warranty.

It's the reason I recently had my 3 year old LCD replaced by Toshiba without a warranty (or even a receipt come to think of it).

What am I missing?

The fact that the 'reasonable' period is a sliding scale.

So if a product was £500 and went bang in year two you'd have a maximum claim potential of £400.

If it went bang in year 5 then it would be £100

It's also not an automatic right, it's litigation and you must prove your assertion in an open court.

Thanks for the explanation. So, in summary, I was quite lucky to get a straight replacement?

Saying that, I heard an internet rumour that this was a design flaw and that Toshiba didn't have the required parts in stock any more (which apparently is against some EU ruling), so had little choice but to offer a replacement.

You were pretty lucky - it's often a huge battle. The warranty takes away that hassle.

I've won a few - bizzarely one of the easiest was Dell with a 33mth old laptop which had a failed screen, they even came to house to change it.
I failed miserably with a 16mth old fairley expensive Panasonic microwave. Made the mistake of buying it from makro and consumer rights don't apply there (yet if I'd bought it from Costco it would be effectively guaranteed for ever). Panasonic were useless.

[bonsai]

Loads of Sonys seem to come with 5 year warranties.

Just been looking at this for the office - http://www.directtvs.co.uk/Sony_KDL37EX403_LCD_108... - the Sony KDL37EX403 - and it comes with a Freeview HD tuner. Now that's no good as our poxy region doesn't get Freeview HD for another year! So.. is a freeview HD tuner backwards compatible with regular Freeview or will we be unable to get any picture using the built-in tuner?

I would be staggered if it only worked in Freeview HD areas since half the country isn't freeview HD enabled so surely there's be a warning if that was the case!

[Deva Link]

bonsai said:

I would be staggered if it only worked in Freeview HD areas

It has both analogue and digital tuners.

Surely you should wait for Freeview HD?

[bonsai]

Deva Link said:

bonsai said:

I would be staggered if it only worked in Freeview HD areas

It has both analogue and digital tuners.

Surely you should wait for Freeview HD?

It's just to go on a meeting room wall, it will have a slideshow on it more often than TV.

So, it will only get analogue (bbc1, 1, itv, c4 and c5) in our region until the switchover?

Edited by bonsai on Thursday 15th July 16:28

[Deva Link]

bonsai said:

Deva Link said:

bonsai said:

I would be staggered if it only worked in Freeview HD areas

It has both analogue and digital tuners.

Surely you should wait for Freeview HD?

It's just to go on a meeting room wall, it will have a slideshow on it more often than TV.

So, it will only get analogue (bbc1, 1, itv, c4 and c5) in our region until the switchover?

Sorry, I hadn't twigged that the tuner was already HD.

Sony's spec says the digital tuner is DVB-T2/T, so it will do both (T2 is HD).

[bonsai]

Deva Link said:

bonsai said:

Deva Link said:

bonsai said:

I would be staggered if it only worked in Freeview HD areas

It has both analogue and digital tuners.

Surely you should wait for Freeview HD?

It's just to go on a meeting room wall, it will have a slideshow on it more often than TV.

So, it will only get analogue (bbc1, 1, itv, c4 and c5) in our region until the switchover?

Sorry, I hadn't twigged that the tuner was already HD.

Sony's spec says the digital tuner is DVB-T2/T, so it will do both (T2 is HD).

Nice one, cheers.

[IforB]

This thread has reminded me that I need to give Der a ring to chase up the 5 year warranty on my telly.

[E31Shrew]

Panasonic 5 year warranty extended until end of Aug 2010.