Is John Lewis wall mounting TV service worth it?
Discussion
Hi,
I'm about to buy a £1300 Panasonic OLED TV. This is to be wall mounted into a recess in the living room. The previous owner had a TV there, so there are screw holes already there - although no idea if it would fit my mount.
John Lewis charge £120 to mount the TV. They also state that the TV mount must be bought from them.
They have two for sale - one at £80 and one for £130 which seems quite a lot.
My reason for considering paying for help is I am extremely bad at DIY - seriously... if I tried to put a book shelf up, I would probably burn the house down or something.
I could maybe look at local handy men who may do it cheaper, but I quite liked having the peace of mind if something went wrong. Also to go in a recess, the actual fit is important.
Thanks
I'm about to buy a £1300 Panasonic OLED TV. This is to be wall mounted into a recess in the living room. The previous owner had a TV there, so there are screw holes already there - although no idea if it would fit my mount.
John Lewis charge £120 to mount the TV. They also state that the TV mount must be bought from them.
They have two for sale - one at £80 and one for £130 which seems quite a lot.
My reason for considering paying for help is I am extremely bad at DIY - seriously... if I tried to put a book shelf up, I would probably burn the house down or something.
I could maybe look at local handy men who may do it cheaper, but I quite liked having the peace of mind if something went wrong. Also to go in a recess, the actual fit is important.
Thanks
I had my local AV / TV shop fit it. I'm actually very good at DIY but I thought the £120 was worth it.
The guy ended up chasing some plaster out the wall to and drilling into the existing channel so he could run a hidden cable to my Sonos soundbar as well. It was well worth the money!
I like John Lewis, but do you have a local independent who will match JL prices? My only concern is JL fitting is you have no idea who they have sub-contracted to do the work, and they are probably only paying them £90.
The guy ended up chasing some plaster out the wall to and drilling into the existing channel so he could run a hidden cable to my Sonos soundbar as well. It was well worth the money!
I like John Lewis, but do you have a local independent who will match JL prices? My only concern is JL fitting is you have no idea who they have sub-contracted to do the work, and they are probably only paying them £90.
£200 is a lot to mount a TV, you can get perfectly good mounts off Amazon for £20. If the screw holes are already there, that’s the difficult part done assuming they’re into a stud and level. You may need some secure plasterboard fixings if not
The new mount will have lots of holes to fit whatever is already there, then the nervy bit is lifting the TV on and walking away!
The new mount will have lots of holes to fit whatever is already there, then the nervy bit is lifting the TV on and walking away!
redrabbit29 said:
Thanks - here is the recess. I can see the shape of the mount they must have been using from the screw holes. That is a concrete party wall but VERY solid.
I will probably get the VonHaus one on Amazon for £25 which has great reviews
For £25 just buy the mount from Amazon, if the mount lines up with existing fixings then save £120. If not send the mount back and get JL to install.I will probably get the VonHaus one on Amazon for £25 which has great reviews
gottans said:
For £25 just buy the mount from Amazon, if the mount lines up with existing fixings then save £120. If not send the mount back and get JL to install.
Funnily enough that was exactly what I was going to do! Will be ordering now and hoping it fits the mounts - I may even order a couple just to see if one fits
redrabbit29 said:
Hi,
My reason for considering paying for help is I am extremely bad at DIY - seriously... if I tried to put a book shelf up, I would probably burn the house down or something.
I could maybe look at local handy men who may do it cheaper, but I quite liked having the peace of mind if something went wrong. Also to go in a recess, the actual fit is important.
Thanks
Just pay it if I were you. But get the best mount they sell so will hopefully fit your future TV too.My reason for considering paying for help is I am extremely bad at DIY - seriously... if I tried to put a book shelf up, I would probably burn the house down or something.
I could maybe look at local handy men who may do it cheaper, but I quite liked having the peace of mind if something went wrong. Also to go in a recess, the actual fit is important.
Thanks
Yes it's £120, but depending on where you live, it may be reasonable money for 2 men to spend a couple of hours.
You are paying for the convenience - if your man turns out to get rubbish, or takes too long to book in, or drops the telly and damages it and so on, you will regret saving a few quid.
I paid about £350-400 for mine to be put up although that was B&O and included carving out a channel in the wall and filling it in again (they didnt charge extra for that and also cabling for speakers plus full set up of all ancillary devices that work through the B&O remote).
The John Lewis price sounds reasonable and I would be interested in using them if I buy my next TV from them.
The John Lewis price sounds reasonable and I would be interested in using them if I buy my next TV from them.
In my experience, JL subcontract to just about anyone!
If you’re an installer and struggling for work, you can work for them, but at VERY low rates.
(They claim around 50% of what JL charge including travel)
I’ve never know any good installers that aren’t fully booked via word of mouth alone.
It’s the same mixed bag as sub contracted Sky installers. Some are amazing, most are below average.
But some are scaffolders / gardeners etc, who think it’ll be easy to do some AV.
It’s pot luck.
Isn’t there a good local retailer you can support, plus use their affiliated / employed installer?
Edit : Also that recess was not well designed. The power and cable access points were incorrectly placed, so they’ll be visible after the TV is fitted.
(This looks like a DIY or builder AV design)
Ideally this needs to be rectified and repaired, so the desired effect can be achieved.
A modern TV will also be pretty shallow, so ideally, some timber pieces will be used to bring the Panasonic forward, so it’s not down a hole.
The last TV mounted there, looks to have had different mounting locations to the recent Panasonic OLED offerings.
If you’re an installer and struggling for work, you can work for them, but at VERY low rates.
(They claim around 50% of what JL charge including travel)
I’ve never know any good installers that aren’t fully booked via word of mouth alone.
It’s the same mixed bag as sub contracted Sky installers. Some are amazing, most are below average.
But some are scaffolders / gardeners etc, who think it’ll be easy to do some AV.
It’s pot luck.
Isn’t there a good local retailer you can support, plus use their affiliated / employed installer?
Edit : Also that recess was not well designed. The power and cable access points were incorrectly placed, so they’ll be visible after the TV is fitted.
(This looks like a DIY or builder AV design)
Ideally this needs to be rectified and repaired, so the desired effect can be achieved.
A modern TV will also be pretty shallow, so ideally, some timber pieces will be used to bring the Panasonic forward, so it’s not down a hole.
The last TV mounted there, looks to have had different mounting locations to the recent Panasonic OLED offerings.
Edited by Red 5 on Tuesday 25th May 08:09
I always until very recently looked to support local businesses and businessman/women. However, this has rarely been easy and has been more trouble than it's worth.
Maybe it is just me but everytime I ask for recommendations and I'm told "Try Dave on 07384793..." or "Try WeFitAnyTV" or whatever the business is it's just griefy.
People saying "Oh we can pop round on next Wednesday but not sure when". It's often very vague too and doesn't fill me with any confidence.
John Lewis may subcontract to these same people but at least if it goes horrifically wrong I am confident they will sort it and sort out the mess after
Maybe it is just me but everytime I ask for recommendations and I'm told "Try Dave on 07384793..." or "Try WeFitAnyTV" or whatever the business is it's just griefy.
People saying "Oh we can pop round on next Wednesday but not sure when". It's often very vague too and doesn't fill me with any confidence.
John Lewis may subcontract to these same people but at least if it goes horrifically wrong I am confident they will sort it and sort out the mess after
redrabbit29 said:
I'm about to buy a £1300 Panasonic OLED TV. This is to be wall mounted into a recess in the living room. The previous owner had a TV there, so there are screw holes already there - although no idea if it would fit my mount.
Considering the price of wall brackets these days, I have no idea why people remove them when moving house.Why not simply ask the buyers if they'd like it left ? Even if you were feeling tight, ask if they'd be prepared to supply a replacement in exchange for the bracket being left in-situ.
Removal causes more grief than the savings can justify, IMHO.
redrabbit29 said:
I always until very recently looked to support local businesses and businessman/women. However, this has rarely been easy and has been more trouble than it's worth.
Maybe it is just me but everytime I ask for recommendations and I'm told "Try Dave on 07384793..." or "Try WeFitAnyTV" or whatever the business is it's just griefy.
People saying "Oh we can pop round on next Wednesday but not sure when". It's often very vague too and doesn't fill me with any confidence.
John Lewis may subcontract to these same people but at least if it goes horrifically wrong I am confident they will sort it and sort out the mess after
I agree. Finding a local person competent in AV, that you can book yourself, will be hard work! Maybe it is just me but everytime I ask for recommendations and I'm told "Try Dave on 07384793..." or "Try WeFitAnyTV" or whatever the business is it's just griefy.
People saying "Oh we can pop round on next Wednesday but not sure when". It's often very vague too and doesn't fill me with any confidence.
John Lewis may subcontract to these same people but at least if it goes horrifically wrong I am confident they will sort it and sort out the mess after
Your timed TV delivery and fitting would be arranged for you by any good retailer.
Once you have the job done, you’ll then know their AV person and can get them back anytime to do other related AV / Network tasks.
Red 5 said:
Edit : Also that recess was not well designed. The power and cable access points were incorrectly placed, so they’ll be visible after the TV is fitted.
(This looks like a DIY or builder AV design)
Ideally this needs to be rectified and repaired, so the desired effect can be achieved.
A modern TV will also be pretty shallow, so ideally, some timber pieces will be used to bring the Panasonic forward, so it’s not down a hole.
The last TV mounted there, looks to have had different mounting locations to the recent Panasonic OLED offerings.
The socket position is a valid point. (This looks like a DIY or builder AV design)
Ideally this needs to be rectified and repaired, so the desired effect can be achieved.
A modern TV will also be pretty shallow, so ideally, some timber pieces will be used to bring the Panasonic forward, so it’s not down a hole.
The last TV mounted there, looks to have had different mounting locations to the recent Panasonic OLED offerings.
Regarding the bracket, I'd go with a full motion type. That avoids the twin problems of (a) not having the space to lift the TV on to the bracket within the height of the hole (or having to compromise and ending up with it sitting off-centre vertically), and (b) not having space to access the tilt and locking mechanisms.
Using a standard flat wall bracket in a recess also makes it much harder to dress the cables neatly.
A full-motion bracket gets around all of this. The TV can be pulled out to access the cable points behind without the need to lift if off. Its much easier to work on. When done, the set can be pushed back to sit exactly flush with the main wall if required.
redrabbit29 said:
Red 5 said:
Once you have the job done, you’ll then know their AV person and can get them back anytime to do other related AV / Network tasks.
Great idea, I'll make sure I get their company name/number so I can reach them directly for any further workGassing Station | Home Cinema & Hi-Fi | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff