[rewind]

Purchased my Mum a Samsung LE37D580 LCD TV for her birthday this week but gave it to her last Wednesday. I got it from Argos as it was the best price at the time (£349.99). Both my Mum and I are very happy with the TV so far and she has Sky+ HD running through it.

The TV only came with a year's Samsung warranty. I know John Lewis is selling the TV for £469 with a 5 year warranty but:

a) They are out of stock
b) I couldn't stretch to the extra £120 at the moment

Is it worth at some point during 2011 getting an extended warranty? Domestic and General gave me a quote of £142 for an extra 4 year warranty, so 5 year's in total. When I bought my TV a few year's ago, I went with Warranty Direct who cover multiple appliances for around £10 - £15 a month. However I only want to insure the TV this time.

There was some literature with the TV manual about Samsung's own extended warranty (also provided by Domestic and General I believe), but I forgot what price it is. Argos offer a 3 year extended warranty (but includes the original 1 year warranty so only 3 year's in total) for around £101.99.

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks.

[Lurch]

I'd only insure critical items, e.g. your van, car, home etc... TV's, laptops, phones and wotnot are not worth warrantying IMO. By the time you add up all these policies premiums over the years and how much they have actually been worth having you might as well have saved your money and replaced things yourself as they break. I have never regretted not having an extended warranty on anything. Any extended warranties I have seen people have have always ended up costing more than they have saved even if they have claimed anything on them. If you buy decent kit in the first place then you shouldn;t have things going wrong in the first few years anyway.

[njp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rewind

Any advice appreciated.

I wouldn't. Consider the money saved on insurance as a down-payment on a replacement TV in the event that this one fails.

In general, product failures follow a "bell curve", where they are relatively likely early on (and within the manufacturer's warranty period), then get less likely, before again becoming more likely as the product approaches the end of its useful life. With any luck, if you get past the first year without problems, you'll get past the next four as well.

I've yet to regret not taking out an extended warranty on anything - but of course I can't guarantee that you won't be unlucky and wish you had!

[rewind]

I have now been reading that Samsung TVs don't have a good reputation for reliability! Is this true? I bought a Samsung because I thought they are the market leader. I would have got Sony if i had known as i have read they are better?

[KidMoe]

Don't bother, extended warranties on electrical items are a complete waste of money. Retailers love them because it's easy money for a worthless policy that in the vast majority of cases they will never have to pay out on.

Just put the money you would have spent on it into a savings account, and use that if you need to get it repaired.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rewind

I have now been reading that Samsung TVs don't have a good reputation for reliability! Is this true? I bought a Samsung because I thought they are the market leader. I would have got Sony if i had known as i have read they are better?

Sony and Panasonic are the two most reliable makes, with the best support - Samsung are a long way behind them.

As a very rough guess, I would estimate Samsung are between 5 and 10 times more unreliable than those two (going by information from myself and dealers all over the country).

Certainly with the sets we sold less than 1 percent of Samsung sales produced more faulty sets than the 99+ percent of Sony sets we sold. But of even more concern, which has been brought up with Samsung by RETRA, is the non-availablity of spare parts for sets only 18 months old.

Most of the Samsung problems were caused by using the well known sub-standard capacitors - but this often causes further damage as well. 'Hopefully' current sets might have better quality ones?, but I've no knowledge either way (we stopped selling them because of the unreliability problems).

[stud u like]

Extended warranties are a con and best avoided. Contents insurance covers accidental damage.

[njp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Sony and Panasonic are the two most reliable makes, with the best support - Samsung are a long way behind them.

As a very rough guess, I would estimate Samsung are between 5 and 10 times more unreliable than those two (going by information from myself and dealers all over the country).

And where can the rest of us find the numbers that support this claim? Or "very rough guess", as you disarmingly put it...?

[ProDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rewind

I have now been reading that Samsung TVs don't have a good reputation for reliability! Is this true? I bought a Samsung because I thought they are the market leader. I would have got Sony if i had known as i have read they are better?

I never ceases to amaze me that Samsung seem to have a reputation for being "a market leader"

I've said it before and I will repeat it here. I've installed and repaired many Samsung sets, and I haven't yet seen one that gave a particularly good picture, and none that give a good enough picture that I would want to rush out and buy one for myself.

That, along with the well know reliability problems, as Nigel says, mostly related to cheap capacitors, I struggle to think why anyone would think of Samsung as anything other than a budget, low end make.

To be honest, of all the set's I've installed, the only ones that I have ever seen really good pictures on are Sony.

I don't have a Sony myself, but a JVC with a Vestel chassis, but I only have that as I stumbled upon it, and by chance, against all odds it has a very good picture, which is more than I can say for most of the budget sets that have passed through my workshop.

[chrisjr]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ProDave

I never ceases to amaze me that Samsung seem to have a reputation for being "a market leader"

In sales perhaps? Not that that means anything other than they build them by the container ship load, bung them in Comet and Currys sheds and stick a silly price on them.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by njp

And where can the rest of us find the numbers that support this claim? Or "very rough guess", as you disarmingly put it...?

You could try working in the trade for 40 years!

[njp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

You could try working in the trade for 40 years!

No, I'd rather see the numbers. Are there some?

[rewind]

Yes, some numbers rather than hearsay would be useful if available?

Well, I have bought the TV now. I couldn't afford more than I paid (£349) and I was originally only looking to spend £250 max! I paid extra to get a brand I had heard of as opposed to a own label based on the advice in this forum. It was for my Mum, she is happy with it and I know a couple of other people who have had Samsungs for a few years and are happy.

Fingers crossed nothing will go wrong but it looks as if the general advice is still not to bother buying any insurance.

[GetFrodo]

Another advantage of self-insuring is simply stress. When you self-insure, there are no long contracts to read, there is no financial commitment, no call centres to hang on the line to, no worries about the insurance company trying to wriggle out of paying.

It's a gamble one way or the other, but in the long run self-insuring is highly likely to be cheaper (unless you are one very unlucky sod), so stick to insuring that which you are legally obliged to (3rd party for the car), and that which is essential and will financially ruin you if it all goes pear-shaped (house, holiday insurance).

You might like to open a separate instant-access savings account, and when you buy something valuable, deposit the 100-140 quid (or whatever the insurance would cost). Then you can see exactly what you save. Don't get tempted to spend it though!

[pocatello]

You don't insure something that cheap.

Stores wouldnt sell you insurance if it wasn't profitable for them, and it is immensely profitable for them...because it doesn't make sense.

[call100]

I can never understand the Samsung bashing.........I've never had any problem with them and one of my Samsung LCDs is coming into it's seventh year without any hiccups..

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by call100

I can never understand the Samsung bashing.........I've never had any problem with them and one of my Samsung LCDs is coming into it's seventh year without any hiccups..

Statistically they have had major reliability problems, and exceedingly poor spares support - both due to using far too cheap and inferior parts.

[njp]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Statistically they have had major reliability problems, and exceedingly poor spares support - both due to using far too cheap and inferior parts.

And where can we find these statistics of which you speak?

[Deacon1972]

Quote:

Originally Posted by call100

I can never understand the Samsung bashing.........I've never had any problem with them and one of my Samsung LCDs is coming into it's seventh year without any hiccups..

It's not just Samsung, it's seems to be everything apart from Sony/Panasonic - nothing like a premium badge to set the snob off in folk.

I've had big badge brands before but you pay a high premium for them, I've learned over the years you don't necessarily have to pay over the odds to get good quality.

Like you I have had brands that get slatted because of the badge that have given faultless use for many years - if a product or company were selling goods that were that dire do you think they would still be in business, especially in this day and age.

There's a guy in these forums who has just bought a Tevion 3D TV/BD player from Tescos and they are over the moon with it. So what if it's got a supermarket badge on it, they are happy with what they have bought - good luck to them I say.

[Nigel Goodwin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deacon1972

It's not just Samsung, it's seems to be everything apart from Sony/Panasonic - nothing like a premium badge to set the snob off in folk.

I've had big badge brands before but you pay a high premium for them, I've learned over the years you don't necessarily have to pay over the odds to get good quality.

Not 'necessarily' no, but in the vast majority of cases very much so.

Production quality is generally higher, they normally use better quality parts, and their levels of service are much better.

Nothing 'snobbish' about it all, Sony and Panasonic are just well above all other manufacturers.

[Deacon1972]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nigel Goodwin

Not 'necessarily' no, but in the vast majority of cases very much so.

Production quality is generally higher, they normally use better quality parts, and their levels of service are much better.

Nothing 'snobbish' about it all, Sony and Panasonic are just well above all other manufacturers.

Come on, to some it's no different to driving around with a BMW/Mercedes badge on the front of their car, it does nothing different to a Ford/Vauxhall, it's a mode of transport, it's gets you from A - B in reasonable comfort.

I'm not saying it's snobbish in all cases, but there are those who buy the big name brands for status.

Not everyone can afford to pay premium prices for their goods, that's why there is a market for lower priced brands, yes I agree the quality tends to be lower, but not in all cases.

What tickles me is those that slate certain TV's yet they've probably never owned or had any experience with that make.

The times I've seen posters here being recommended Sony/Panasonic TV's way above their budget just because it's another posters opinion that anything else is complete junk.

Gotta go, off to the Asda to buy a pair of George jeans.

[pocatello]

These aren't jeans. State of the art factories cost billions.

[ProDave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deacon1972

Come on, to some it's no different to driving around with a BMW/Mercedes badge on the front of their car, it does nothing different to a Ford/Vauxhall, it's a mode of transport, it's gets you from A - B in reasonable comfort.D

That's a good comparison actually.

I know my local MOT tester, and when I take my wife's VW for MOT, he virtually says "It's a VW, it's going to pass"

He obviously test a lot of different makes and so know the good and bad points.

So while a Ford or Vauxhall will get you from A to B just like a VW or BMW, it will no doubt break down more often, fail the MOT more often, and need more repairs throughout it's probably shorter lifetime.

So that's a very good comparison to Samsung and other cheap makes Vs Sony / Panasonic They all give you a picture, but not all share the same reliability.

[maw1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GetFrodo

Another advantage of self-insuring is simply stress. When you self-insure, there are no long contracts to read, there is no financial commitment, no call centres to hang on the line to, no worries about the insurance company trying to wriggle out of paying.

It's a gamble one way or the other, but in the long run self-insuring is highly likely to be cheaper (unless you are one very unlucky sod), so stick to insuring that which you are legally obliged to (3rd party for the car), and that which is essential and will financially ruin you if it all goes pear-shaped (house, holiday insurance).

You might like to open a separate instant-access savings account, and when you buy something valuable, deposit the 100-140 quid (or whatever the insurance would cost). Then you can see exactly what you save. Don't get tempted to spend it though!

Good advice. Also, if your TV goes wrong after (say) 4 years, and the insurance co. stumps up, all you've got is a 4-yo TV. At the rate technology develops, you may well be thinking of upgrading - you could have put the premium money towards that.

[call100]

Reliability.....practical experience seems to fly in the face of questionable statistics...