Poll: Fix it or buy a new one?

[Praying Colonel]

Our 3 year-old Sony HDTV suddenly stopped working last week. After trouble-shooting with Sony support, took it to a repair shop, and the guy said it would be $300 to fix it.

Comparable replacements like this or this will run around $500-$550.

Would you fix it or buy a new one?

 

[LJSquishy]

I would probably buy a new one if you can swing the additional cost. I'd go for the LG. If you browse around on Slickdeals.net forums, you can usually find amazing deals on TVs that are highly rated.

 

[tvguy]

I'd buy a new one.

But, did this repair guy say how long it would take to fix and did he have the parts? My brother fixes electronics, and is a Sony dealer, and he says it is almost impossible to get parts.

 

[Praying Colonel]

^He said they did not have the parts and it would take a couple of weeks to get them in. Not a huge concern of ours, although it would be nice to get it fixed immediately, of course, should we go that route.

 

[geckodani]

I'd get a new one. Technology is always improving, and the costs are fairly close.

 

[Egdisney]

Buy new, and do not get a sony! My parents had theirs break at 14 months, no warranty, so they were out of luck. Sonys are about the only tv I have heard breaking so soon. Our last two tvs were vizios, they are great. The tv before that was a magnavox and it also worked great. My husband feels the need for a bigger, better tv a little too often for my liking

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

When the costs are so close, definitely purchase a new TV.

That said, I'd steer clear of the LG. Our LG 50" TV died after less than two years, and we were forced to replace it. Our Toshiba flatscreen is about 5 years old and still going strong. No problems either with the Haier and the Sony. LG has lost my business.

 

[BeachLove]

I have a few Westinghouse tv's bought at Target. Black Friday specials! They are great from my experience and I'd buy them over and over again. One is at least 4 years old(Used daily) and way more reliable than the Sony I had. My parents have a two year old Sony and it has issues.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Currently a unanimous vote--I didn't think such a thing existed on the DIS.

Thanks for your input, everyone. It confirms what we were thinking, too.

 

[disneysteve]

I voted to buy a new one but I would only do that after getting at least 1 or 2 more estimates to be sure that the $300 quote is accurate. If someone else can fix it for $150, I'd change my vote.

 

[Jonathan Swift]

Without knowing more details, there's a good chance the problem is defective capacitors. If you're going to toss it anyway, you could always try to fix it yourself if you're handy with a soldering iron. The repairman was probably quoting you to replace the whole board rather than desolder capacitors and replace them...or he'd pocket the difference. Capacitors are like 25 cents each, tops.

 

[angwill]

When the costs are so close, definitely purchase a new TV.

That said, I'd steer clear of the LG. Our LG 50" TV died after less than two years, and we were forced to replace it. Our Toshiba flatscreen is about 5 years old and still going strong. No problems either with the Haier and the Sony. LG has lost my business.

I agree with steering clear of LG. We have had problems not only with their TV's but also a DVD player that is LG. The DVD player was bad from day one and their customer service department refused to stand behind it. My Sharp HDTV is on almost constantly and I have owned it for about 7 years or so.

 

[JB2K]

When you get down to it, most TVs built since 2006 are of the LCD/LED variety and not much different than opening-up a PC or laptop, which means it could be a faulty board.

The $300 quote you were given is mostly labor, which is, IMO, unnecessary.

Colonel - if you know what's wrong with your TV, why not trying googling those keywords? You'll get links to a number of websites where real professionals can tell you what you need to do (and most of those replacement parts are readily-available on eBay).

 

[spima3]

I think electronics today are junk. Seems they are not built to last, so never spend a lot and just toss them when they break.

DS's fan went on his laptop. $60 to replace, then the monitor went within 2 months.
That would have been $150 to fix. The laptop was only around $350 brand new. I wish we had just tossed it to begin with.

DS now has a new one. What we did though, we bought a small flat screen for the bedroom, which we needed and now plug the old laptop into the TV. DH uses it for his stuff now, instead of the PC in the family room. Now when the laptop goes completely we will still have a TV.

Thought that was a nice budget idea, worked for everyone.

 

[Disneylover99]

I would buy a new one.
We have had bad luck with all Sony products!

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I'd replace it. We've had great luck with Samsung TVs. Dh loves slickdeals.com or fatwallet.com but usually we just end up buying on Amazon.com. We are Prime members so 2 day shipping & no tax is irresistable.

 

[homedad]

buy new, better tech and less chance that it will malfunction again

 

[Planogirl]

Sony used to be the standard but not any more. However we do have LG's and have had great luck with them.

 

[lauradis]

New one

 

[Sparkly]

I beg to differ on the Sony TVs being rubbish- we have one and it's (mostly) served us well over the 3-4 years we've had it.

That said, I would buy a new one. By the time you get it fixed it'll be just as much to just buy a brand new TV! They're not as expensive as they used to be like 6-7 years ago.