Hi
Are replacement tubes still available for a Philips 32" TV?
Ive just had the fault on my Philips 32PW6515/05 diagnosed as a short circuit on the blue gun. This manifests as the screen turning luminious blue and then switching off. It may be ok gfor 2 hours before the blue screen cuts in. I can switch the TV back on until it breaks down again.

I bought the set from John Lewis and its still within the 5 year guarantee but because they no longer sell CRT TVs they cannot replace it and they cant get a new tube as apparently there are not made anymore and there are no stocks of them for spares. i have only been offered £200 towards a new set which is very little compensation given the prices of the LCD displays.
Any comments/help

The fitting of replacement tubes all but stopped a good number of years ago, as the general reliability and lifespan of CRT's increased, the chances of an early failure became rare, and the cost of replacing a tube in a 5,6,7 year old set would be uneconomical - this in turn made it uneconomical for manufacturers to keep tubes as spares (although some of the bigger players still did so in the name of customer service).

I'm afraid I've never been a fan of Philips kit, I've never felt their quality to be great, and their customer service stinks. There was a fairly large thread on here by disgruntled Philips customers.......

Anyway, this doesn't help you much. I'd be inclined now to look at the warranty that you got from John Lewis - is it underwritten by an insurance company? And does it contain a 'write-down' clause?

Almost all electronic equipment comes with a standard one year manufacturers warranty, which you can extend yourself, or sometimes stores extend it on your behalf and throw it in as part of the purchase price. The trouble with a lot of these extended warranties, no matter if its you or the store that 'bought' it, is that they contain a write-down clause - "in the event that your appliance cannot be repaired, we shall contribute to the cost of a replacement. This contribution shall be a percentage of the original purchase price, which shall reduce annually to allow for depreciation" - or something along those lines.

If this clause isn't present on any paperwork you've been given, or was not pointed out to you at the time of purchase, I'd suggest banging some heads further up the food chain in the Lewis empire.

And, I'd also advise staying away from Philips.

Hi,

I would bet Philips, or whoever makes the tube for Philips stopped making them a while back. If you really want' to keep the set there are possibly 2 options. One is risky but very cheap, get an engineer to connect a tube rejuvenator to the tube and blast off the short circuit. The danger with this is it could kill the tube completely.
The other option would be to get the tube regunned. I used to see ads for companies that did this in Television magazine a while back, but this option may no longer be available, I bet not too many people getting CRT's regunned these days.

Thank you all for your replies and support. I am going to appeal to JL's head office to get them to explain why their guarantee is open to interpretation. The terms of the extended warranty are not written down. The only written version appears on the JL web site but the store will not accept these terms claiming they are two separate parts of the JL organisation.

Do any engineers know abour regunning or the tube rejuvenator to the tube and blast off the short circuit. What chance of success and cost? Perhaps I could get JL to agree to a repair.

To be honest, I'd only consider going to the hassle of finding someone who would either use a tube rejuvenator or re-gun the tube if you were absolutely desperate to keep this particular set.

I've not seen either of these practices done for a good number of years, and the last couple of times I saw a rejuvenator used it ended in total death for the tubes concerned.

I've just had a look at John Lewis's website, and I can see no mention of any write-down clause, in fact they state:

(If you have purchased a television, your service guarantee is automatically 5 years, or 3 years for a John Lewis large electrical appliance. Both are also subject to the following.)

This additional service guarantee provides :


A repair service in the event of breakdown of any functioning part of your product, for a period of one year after the expiry of the manufacturer’s one year guarantee.
We will provide the repair service without charge up to a cost equal to the original purchase price paid for the product.
All repair services are provided by authorised service technicians.
If we decide your product cannot be repaired, or is uneconomical to repair, we will replace it with the same model. If it is no longer available, we will provide an alternative of similar specification and quality.
Occasionally, you may have to pay for the repair and claim the cost of the repair from us.

Taken from JOHN LEWIS WEBSITE

In answer to the people at the shop, it may well be a different department of the Lewis's empire that handle the warranty (this is very common for tax purposes), but the fact remains that you bought a TV from them with a 5-year warranty, the terms of which are clearly stated on their company website. AT NO POINT does it say that this warranty is being provided by another company/department - so your point of contact is logically your local branch of John Lewis OR their Head Office. If they get sticky, I'm quite sure that trading standards would be very interested, as I feel that it must come under false advertising to try and wriggle out of the warranty terms stated on their own website.

Good luck, and don't give in. Remember to keep notes of who you speak to and when etc, just in case you need to push things further.
Last edited by fat controller : 04-06-2006 at 14:34

Thanks FC. You have confirmed what I think. Next step will be a letter to JL's head office outlining my case for a replacement TV.

Maybe a well worded email so that its there ready and waiting for them to arrive at work in the morning?

I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

Good idea. Ive found the customer services email address and will put my case to them. I will let you know the outcome. Thanks again for your advice