Walmart- HDTV-?

[s dog]

I was in a super walmart saturday night and they had a pioneer 53'' hdtv for $1569.00 that sounded pretty darn good, BUT what if something goes wrong with the set how in the world would you get the thing fixed without haveing to send it some where, It was a pioneer sd- 533hd5 model,

[Smokey]

BUT what if something goes wrong with the set how in the world would you get the thing fixed without haveing to send it some where?

Stores that sell TVs and don't do their own repair (such as Bestbuy/circuitcity or Walmart) usually will refer you to local repair shop that have approval of the manufacture. And if TV is still under manufacture warranty, the repair shop deal directly with the manufacture.

[woodman]

I was in a super walmart saturday night and they had a pioneer 53'' hdtv for $1569.00 that sounded pretty darn good, BUT what if something goes wrong with the set how in the world would you get the thing fixed without haveing to send it some where, It was a pioneer sd- 533hd5 model,

You bring up a very valid reason not to buy an HDTV set from Wal-Mart under any circumstance. It's just not a good idea. Of course, pretty much the same situation exists at BestBuy, CircuitCity, and others like them. As Smokey pointed out in his reply, all retailers that don't have their own service dept. have to rely on independent servicers for any needed repairs on the sets that they sell. This puts the consumer at the mercy of a service co. that has absolutely NO interest whatever in his/her well being or satisfaction ... only in how quickly can they "dispose of the problem" and collect the meager compensation that most all mfgs. provide for warranty service.

TV sets today are quite reliable (fortunately for consumers) but at the same time, they are also vastly more complicated and difficult to troubleshoot than at any time in the past. At the same time, competent technicians are a rapidly disappearing breed. This is a combination that can best be described as potential disaster waiting to happen.

The only way to stand a good chance of winning at this game is to buy from a dealer that does have a service department to take care of any problems that arise in any of the sets that he sells. In most parts of the country, Sears is a retailer that meets this criteria. Even better yet is Costco - who, while they don't have any service dept., do have the most consumer-friendly return policy imaginable.

[s dog]

thanks woodman and smokey for the input , one other thing if i take a tv to my local hi-fi dealer who i know very well and who has sold me a lot of stuff in the past, and ask him to fix my wal-mart tv he is not going to be very happy and will hose me real good on the repair bill, Im sure that real pisses them guys off when people bring tvs in to get fixed they didnot buy there,