After 12 months, Apex AVL-2776 is unrepairable-parts unavailable from Apex

[PMH]

I purchased this TV for my husband for Christmas, 12/19/04. The TV was in our bedroom and only watched occasionally-not every day. After 12 months, the picture suddenly went black. I have sound but no picture. We took it to an authorized Apex repair shop and they told us it was unrepairable. They can't get parts from Apex and we would need a new LCD display kit. Even if they could get the part from Apex, the cost would be over $800. For a TV that is watched 8 hours per week-MAXIMUM-and at a cost of over $1000, this TV should not be unrepairable. We are so upset, and feel we have been ripped off. The warranty is only good for 12 months. The authorized repair shop said they have had several of these same TVs (AVL-2776) come in but cannot be repaired due to parts not available. They ordered parts 2 years ago for one of the TVs and the part is still not in. They apologized but there was nothing they could do. We will have to deal directly with Apex. We have contacted Apex numerous times over the past 3 months. But I think we are dealing with employees located overseas, judging by their accents and limited English. We have tried to explain in simple terms what the repair shop said. The employees in the Apex service dept. don't seem to understand English very well. With each call we place, they continue to repeat they will place an "expediated parts order" for our TV. However, we can never get a status report on this "expediated parts order". They have no record of it. I don't believe an order was ever placed and they just say this to get you off the phone.

We have concluded that the $1000 Apex AVL2776 LCD TV is not going to be repaired. Has anyone else ever dealt with Apex with positive results? If so, what do we need to do?

[markw]

Unfortuantely, there's nothing we can do except take note of your experience and avoid Apex at all costs.

We have discussed Apex here in the past. From what I seem to recall about this brand, it comes in at a very low price in relation to the brand name cpompetitors. In this field, you generally pay for what you get. They accomplish this costs savings by skimping on parts and/or workmanship, not to mention by not maintaining an adequate inventory of spare parts for future repairs.

I can justify taking a chance on an inexpensive DVD or VHS player or CRT TV but I would think twice about going for the lowest cost option on a major purchase like this. Sometimes what may be a bargian initially may wind up costing more in the end.

Again, I'm sorry for your loss but the time to post about a brand here is before you purchase it. Then, you can get advice before it's too late.

[GMichael]

Truelly a bad situation. I have heard that they are going out of business. I also have an Apex TV that I got for 200.00 a couple of black Friday's ago. It's a 32 incher with fair color but the clearity is not good. Very grainy. There was a good reason for it to be so cheap.

Sorry for your misfortune with yours. Good luck. Try this company for the parts.

http://www.vancebaldwin.com/

[Woochifer]

Unfortunately, this is indicative of the state of things in the market. Apex declared bankruptcy in the fall, and their chairman was arrested in China for fraud. They are a U.S. based company, but function more as a virtual company because everything from the manufacturing to the customer support is outsourced. Apparently, they have a grand total of 100 U.S. employees, and this is for a brand that once generated over $1 billion in annual sales.

The way that they operate is to take bids from outsource manufacturers in China, go with the low bid, order a production run of thousands of units, and then have them shipped to retailers. Once that production run is done and all units in stores get sold, Apex does not keep resupplying them or maintain any kind of continuity with previous models. Basically, Apex starts the entire process all over again when a new model gets introduced. This means that Apex might have each of their TV models manufactured by completely different outsource partners, and the successors to their current models might have yet another different set of manufacturers involved. And because these Chinese outsource manufacturers open for business and close up shop with frightening regularity (supposedly 90% of the DVD player manufacturers operating in China three years ago were out of business by last year), there's no continuity or place to go for parts once any remaining inventory is exhausted.

Apex's business model is driven by low prices, regardless of the cost to customers. The reason why your TV cannot be repaired is symptomatic of how Apex operates -- they had thousands of LCD TVs made and once that production run was finished, the company that made them likely moved onto a different product. No parts, no specs, no support. Just a one-and-done relationship with the customer. Apex did not build any kind of track record or even attempt to build customer loyalty, and once other bargain brands entered the market, Apex had nothing to distinguish themselves from the newcomers. That's why they went bankrupt.

Apparently, one of their former outsource partners took over Apex's assets last year, so who knows where your customer service inquiries now go. Doubtful that they would make much of an effort to track down components for an older model, especially if that outsource manufacturer did not actually build the set and/or if the original manufacturer is no longer in operation.

Previous threads linked

Woodman, info on no-name brand TVs.
APEX in bankruptcy

[SlumpBuster]

Another point to be brought up is the issue of the extended warranty. Many of the new flat screen television technologies, whether LCD, plasma, ect., cannot be easily repaired and must be replaced instead. Thus an extended warranty is mandatory. While a warranty from Apex is not worth the paper it is printed on, if you had had a retailers extended warranty, you'd have a new TV by now.

Unfortunately, Consumer Reports and its ilk spent the last two decades drilling into people that the extended warranty was bad. Now along come products that just demand them including flat panel TVs and notebook computers.

If you replace your TV with another flat panel, get the extended warranty. It will be expensive, but still cheaper than a new TV every two years.

[thekid]

Wooch very good info on APEX.
I was aware of their bankruptcy but not their business model which unfortunately is becoming more common place in this global economy where business chases the cheap labor/manufacture cost rather than develop and produce their own product.

Slump
Based on the part issue I don't think the extended warranty would have been any help here. Extended warranties have their place but the best insurance is do your homework and have a sense of the brands/products reliability so you are not having a tv crater after two years. Of course reliabilty history is becoming a problem with the business model used by Apex and others who sub out so much of their work. It has become like free agency in sports. The players change around so much you really are justing rooting for a team brand. That is why I chuckle at some of the brand war threads that erupt from time to time here. You can never be sure when suppliers get changed and quality can appear and disapper almost overnight. Research is your best defense.

[SlumpBuster]

Slump
Based on the part issue I don't think the extended warranty would have been any help here. Extended warranties have their place but the best insurance is do your homework and have a sense of the brands/products reliability so you are not having a tv crater after two years

Actually, the best insurance is insurance, which is precisely what a warranty is. Many retailer warranties will allow the customer to pick a new comparable product off the shelf if it is no longer feasible to repair.