Vizo's customer service is horrible, just hope nothing happens to it.

A year or so ago I had the pleasure of speaking with the California Bureau of Appliance and Electronic Repair. I was told they had a room full of complaints against Vizio due to a lack of repair parts... actually none... which is a violation of California law. If a Vizio product fails out of warranty it's over, regardless of how minor the repair would be.

On the other end Panasonic has the best post-sales parts and service availability according to a client of mine who repairs TVs for a living.

Buyer beware: there's a cost to saving money

compcond wrote:A year or so ago I had the pleasure of speaking with the California Bureau of Appliance and Electronic Repair. I was told they had a room full of complaints against Vizio due to a lack of repair parts... actually none... which is a violation of California law. If a Vizio product fails out of warranty it's over, regardless of how minor the repair would be.

On the other end Panasonic has the best post-sales parts and service availability according to a client of mine who repairs TVs for a living.

Buyer beware: there's a cost to saving money

Yeah that makes sense, it must be why Vizio is #1 in sales and has been for a couple years now and was 2nd only to Samsung before that. Whereas Panasonic doesn't even rank on most sales lists... Vizio is also the #1 ranking for customer satisfaction which makes equal sense if they have no parts and you can't repair them...

bertrob84 wrote:Vizo's customer service is horrible, just hope nothing happens to it.

They're ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction... just saying.

Can this tv be mounted? Sorry if I missed this info. somewhere

elpeplow wrote:I agree. Glad you posted. I like to think of myself as one of the 99%. Woot, you were starting to sound like a member of the 1%. Say it isn't so.

Never fear. The writeup you're referring to is a satirical commentary on the current political scene. Hints, in case you missed them, were the groaning Atlas pictured on the TV screen, and the reference to exaggerated claims of physical prowess. Clever, Woot.

ikisat wrote:They're ranked #1 in Customer Satisfaction... just saying.

As I stated my info came from California BEAR and a client who repairs TVs for a living.

Try using a search engine for the term "panasonic hdtv reliability" There is an article from pcworld.com late last year. On top, LG and Panasonic. You'll find Vizio near the bottom of the lists.

Johnbetten wrote:Refurbished "fill in your product here" = wasted money

My Oppo refurb seems perfect. My Apple refurbs have always been so.

Not that I would compare either of them with Vizio.

I just check with Costco, for the 37" which is the only one available left on Woot. Costco's price for the model E371VL costs $354.99, with a 2 yr. warranty.
With Woot it's only 90 days, for the $30.00, you better off buying the Costco model is you want a 37".
Just my opinion!

compcond wrote:As I stated my info came from California BEAR and a client who repairs TVs for a living.

Try using a search engine for the term "panasonic hdtv reliability" There is an article from pcworld.com late last year. On top, LG and Panasonic. You'll find Vizio near the bottom of the lists.

Found numerous PC world articles about TV reliability... still haven't found one that puts Panasonic at the top or Vizio at the bottom... None of them even seem to be in ranked order lists it's just 15-20 brands and their ratings of "Better, Average, Worse" in each category without anything then putting them in order because over all they seem to mostly tie because people hate the remote design or some nonsense so it brings that brands over all average down...

Edit: Updating I found something but it's not from PC world it's sourced from Consumer Reports

"This information comes from Consumer reports. They surveyed 209,000 readers between 2007 and 2011 to determine Brand Reliability.

The number one most reliable brand was Panasonic with 2% of LCD owners requiring a repair or reporting a serious problem. For Plasma Panasonic was also top of the list with 3% of owners reporting issues.

The worst TV for reliability was Mitsubishi LCDs with 13% of owners reporting problems. For Plasmas it was LG on the bottom with 8%. Poloroid and Westinghouse were also at the bottom end of the LC list with scores of 10% and 7% respectively.

Some surprises we found were that Best Buy’s house brand, Insignia, had a respectable showing at 4%, slightly edging out other known companies like Toshiba, Philips and Samsung. There has been a bunch of talk about Vizio’s reliability and according the Consumer Reports it just doesn’t hold up. Vizio had a very respectable 4% problem rating."

bertrob84 wrote:Vizo's customer service is horrible, just hope nothing happens to it.

I've only had good experiences with their customer service. Replace our tablet without any difficulties, event though it wasn't their fault.

What is the warranty like on these tv's

Powerslave wrote:Walmart has a nice 47" for about the same price, 1080p, but it is 120Hz. I am beginning to see, this place REALLY doesn't have the deals, if you LOOK...

specs say this IS 120Hz!

Purchased the 47" to replace a 42" Samsung. The 42" will go into the bedroom to replace a 29" CRT MONSTER (weight). Later this year, I will purchase a 65" - 80" to replace this 47", move the 47" into the bedroom, then the 42" goes into the garage. Not sure if I will purchase the warranty from Square trade. I don't think woot is OUT TO SCREW the buyer, and if you figure, $489 including the shipping, its a great deal. I surfed the web the entire day while these were up for sale and didn't find anything that beat it. There were a few lower in price, but they wanted $150.00 shipping that made it greater than the woot price.

I also think that there are lemons in anything you buy. Some humans are born with lemon hearts and die just weeks weeks after being born ... does that make the entire human race a lemon? Answer: no.

So being solid state, if the thing lasts more than a few months, it will probably lasts years unless some external force changes it; water spilled into it, electrical surge, dropping...

... I feel better buying from woot than I would from ebay! That is for sure!

jonathandunbar wrote:Purchased the 47" to replace a 42" Samsung. The 42" will go into the bedroom to replace a 29" CRT MONSTER (weight). Later this year, I will purchase a 65" - 80" to replace this 47", move the 47" into the bedroom, then the 42" goes into the garage. Not sure if I will purchase the warranty from Square trade. I don't think woot is OUT TO SCREW the buyer, and if you figure, $489 including the shipping, its a great deal. I surfed the web the entire day while these were up for sale and didn't find anything that beat it. There were a few lower in price, but they wanted $150.00 shipping that made it greater than the woot price.

I also think that there are lemons in anything you buy. Some humans are born with lemon hearts and die just weeks weeks after being born ... does that make the entire human race a lemon? Answer: no.

So being solid state, if the thing lasts more than a few months, it will probably lasts years unless some external force changes it; water spilled into it, electrical surge, dropping...

... I feel better buying from woot than I would from ebay! That is for sure!

OK the TV arrived yesterday ... kinda pissed; I called Fedex and told them NOT to deliver the set before 2pm as I didn't want it just sitting on my porch. Well sure enough, I arrive home 1:20pm and there it is, just leaning against the front door!

So far, here are my experiences:

Everything is in physically mint condition which leads me to think that the original problem was electrical in nature.

The sound is just fine and better than the 42" Samsung it is replacing.

The picture is BETTER than the 42" Samsung it is replacing.

Setup was VERY straight forward; 4 screws to mount the screen to the base. The programming setup was VERY straight forward; had the cable channels viewing in a couple of minutes. I do need to get use to the Internet Apps.

The default picture was DIMMER than the Samsung, so I went into Menu and found that the 'Football' setting gives the best over all picture, but I did have to up the brightness a few points.

Everything responds quickly, but it does take a few seconds to turn on.

I have left the set continuously on since yesterday afternoon (on mute so I could sleep). This morning I got up, came down stairs and there was Perry Mason

So far, so good ... I am very proud and happy that I didn't listen to those of you who spoke ill of this set.

I will let it stay on continuously for a couple more days simulating a few weeks of actual use.

Something many of you don't know is that the EPA and the UN last year, banned lead in solder. This has causes a rash of electronic items to fail because without the lead, the solder 'whiskers' and causes shorts on integrated chip boards. No brand name or electrical device has been immune from this.

For $489.99 DELIVERED to my front door, and should this set last 2+ years or more, this was by far the BEST deal I have ever wooted! Been wooting since 2007!

Jonathan

P.s. If all goes well through the rest of the week, I probably won't buy the $75 1 year insurance. Maybe wait near the 90 day expiration of Vizio's warranty before I make that decision. Grats to those who got in on this deal and I hope your set arrives safe and sound.

Got it today and want to send it back. Remote only works once in a while...no s-video or composite
Video
More Cheap Chinese Crap.
Waiting for Return Auth.
If they give me a hard time,
I will dispute charges on C Card

snstaheli wrote:What is the warranty like on these tv's

ABOUT 48 HOURS

just got my 37" from UPS. turned it on and the screen is cracked!!

jsjt13ab wrote:I just check with Costco, for the 37" which is the only one available left on Woot. Costco's price for the model E371VL costs $354.99, with a 2 yr. warranty.
With Woot it's only 90 days, for the $30.00, you better off buying the Costco model is you want a 37".
I do not think Costco is selling "refurb"aka USED sets plus
this model has no composite video or S-VHS for you VCR.
Remote is so small U need a magnifying glass to see anything.
Poor human engineering.
Just my opinion!

Just got my 32" yesterday. Everything OK

My 42" was just delivered, no power cord, no remote, no mounting screws. Literally all I received was the flatscreen itself (and the shipping materials).

Appears to work ok, tho I guess I'll go online for the manual for finer setup points.

for the few posters who are kissing vizio's ass as far as their customer service you could not possibly be more wrong. Vizion could care less if one of their refurbished units dies even inside the 90 day warranty. I bought 3 tablets from Woot before christmas and they all died within six months. they replaced one of them which subsequently died as well. only one of them still turns on and that one looks like it was dropped when the screen comes up. They only problem is that the area that looks shattered moves when you turn the tablet from vertical to horizontal which i showed vizio techs with pictures. the response was too bad it's over 90 days. I will never buy another POS vizio product again.