So my 3 Year old 70" Sony just died. Won't power on and the standby light doesn't come on.
I contacted Sony who are arranging a repair but apparently they want me to cover the labour costs.
Has anyone had any experience getting a TV repaired / replaced under statutory warranty? Should they be expect to cover the entire cost of the repair given that the TV cost over $3000 at the time and I should reasonably expect it to last more than 3 years.
Yes, they should cover labour and parts. What's the betting the major cost is labour.:) If they disagree:
https://www.choice.com.au/shopping/consumer-rights-and-advic…
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/complaints-problems/make-a…
https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/complaints-problems/write-…
Unreasonable I would have thought.
I'd be expecting a lifespan of 10 years on a Premium TV, but then, I've just had our Made in Japan V Series Panasonic Plasma die on me at 10 years. Even so, 5 years would have to be the absolute minimum expectation of any TV no matter the pricepoint.
I guess the only problem would be determining the cause of the fault.
Damage as a result of a Power Surge is not a warranty issue.
Bummer. What are you replacing it with? (We have one of those too, the G series)
Probably the Sony 9000H from the minimal research I've done to date.
Looks like the best compromise between Picture quality and price.
We have a 9 year old G Series as well, so no great rush on the replacement.
I'm happy to wait until March/April when the new models should start to roll in and old models come out on Clearance.
Cheers. Just curious why you went for LED and not OLED?
@EightImmortals: I wont buy anything until I see them in the flesh and may still go for OLED.
But if Sony's local dimming is close enough in performance to OLED, as I have been lead to believe, I'd prefer to have the extra $1000 in my pocket.
This is most definitely covered under Australian consumer law (all costs associated with repair/replacement/refund).
Unless you did anything to cause the failure, they should be covering all costs of repair.
I've heard stories about Sony trying to charge customers to get their TVs fixed under ACL for years, unbelievable that they're still doing this without penalty.
Assuming three years is beyond Sony's manufacturer's warranty, the previous LG case is very relevant:
https://www.accc.gov.au/media-release/lg-to-pay-160000-for-m…
LG also claimed the consumer was liable for repair costs amongst many other false and misleading claims.
Yep pretty poor by Sony,
keep pushing for it.
Probably just a swollen capacitor on the main board.
Google your model number for common problems and solutions.
I've repaired a few dumped tvs for a $7 part and an hour of my time.
Old Soniq's especially love to blow their regulators. A few cents for an AMS1117. Usually have stock on hand too, so basically a free repair, and an easy diagnosis.
Would you say they blow their regulators regularly?
I managed to fix my old Samsung 40" TV's by replacing the caps years ago. Those were notorious for having cheap caps.
But given this falls well within the scope of statutory warranty it's not something I want to be doing myself as I'm not qualified to properly diagnose the issue and run the risk of making it worse.
yah but once that TV gets opened up there's no recourse for OP with Sony anymore.
Yes, ACL covers in-home repair costs for bulky items such as a 70in TV.
My Samsung 75 inch which is 3 years old got repaired for free. Amazing service. they had a tech out to fix it onsite ona public holiday.
When you fork out over a few grand for a TV under ACL warranty period is relevant. Its resoanlbel for you to expect tha the TV functions for a resaonable amount of time up to at at least 5 years. Put in a formal complaint to Sony then grab that complaint number and put a complaint in with the ombudsman. Even the threat of this should get the TV fixed.
Our Hisense TV just died after 3 years 1 month and 2 weeks. Hisense refused to take responsibility as it was 1 month and 2 weeks out of warranty. Contacted the retailer (HN) and explained they have an obligation under ACL. Advised if they don't repair/replace I will go to VCAT (empty threat really as I knew they would do something if I threatened).
Turns out the TV couldn't be repaired and our 50 inch TV was replaced with a new 55 inch TV at no cost. They even delivered the new TV to our house.
My then 3 year old Sony Bravia suddenly wouldn't turn on a few years back. It was completely out of the warranty period. I contacted Sony, given a case number and was instructed to bring it to an authorised service centre, let the fellow diagnose it, and we'll take it from there. I wasn't fobbed off that it wasn't in warranty, "not our problem." In fact, I was under the distinct impression that they were open to shouldering the cost.
Anyway, drove half an hour away to a service centre and they tested the power brick first. (Which was also my suspicion) Turns out the power brick was dead. Tested a different power brick for the TV and the TV was peachy. The service centre just gave me a new brick and told me he'd sort it out with Sony. No money changed hands and I didn't even have to do any paperwork.
The TV is still the main lounge room TV and still gets daily use to this day, six years after purchase.
This should be covered by ACL and you shouldn't be out of pocket.
It may take a bit of back & forth to resolve, so perhaps pay the labour costs to get it repaired and then pursue a refund under ACL.
Bad advice, once OP pay's there won't be much of a reason for them to refund. The companies know what they need to do, but sometimes need encouragement (from consumer affairs, retailer, etc.).
It worked for me when my washing machine broke down recently, outside manufacturers warranty.
I paid the callout/service/labour fee to get the machine repaired promptly.
I then asked for, and got a refund of this fee, on the basis that under the ACL guarantee I was entitled to a free repair.
As I said, it took a bit of back and forth. I reminded then that their warranty was in addition to my statutory right etc
So here's an update for those who are still following.
Sony rejected my request and instead offered me a trade in for my broken TV. They are offering me 30% off full RRP, non-stackable code to use on their online store.
Pretty disgraceful, I was actually looking at a X9000H prior to this but I think I'll look elsewhere when next years HDMI 2.1 TV's come out.
I've now reached out to The Good Guys who are arranging for the TV to be assessed at their expense, but they also haven't committed to covering the repair.
Still crossing fingers for you.
So a good outcome in the end.
In the end I never heard from TGG again and I filled in their online form for unsatisfactory outcomes under ACL - https://www.thegoodguys.com.au/product-faults-and-consumer-g…
A few days later I got a call from the original Sony rep that offered me the 30% voucher who told me that they had arranged a service call with my local authorised repairer to fix the TV at their expense.
I still don't know if Sony changed their mind or TGG simply followed up my complaint with them but the repairer arrived today and swapped over the power board which fixed the issue. They never even assessed the unit, just showed up with a spare mainboard and power board.
All in all I was without a working TV for around 4 weeks with Xmas and new years thrown in. Both Sony and TGG were very reluctant to help but did come through in the end as I was preparing to take this to VCAT.
Half baked warranties, push hard to cover a to z cost mate.