To repair or not to repair, that is the TV question
Last Wednesday, my wife woke me with four words nobody wants to hear.
“The television doesn’t work.”
I’ve heard this before. My 65” Samsung, with its various boxes attached, can be a little finicky, particularly for a senior technophobe like my wife. But this was something else.
Two-thirds of the screen was black. The other third consisted of a collection of compressed vertical lines. This did not bode well.
All the usual remedies (turning it off, unplugging it, disconnecting all the boxes, punching it while cursing) did not fix the problem. This was serious. I consulted with my panel of experts (my sons) who disappointed me (not for the first time) by coming up with nothing.
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I went to the Samsung website, which connected me to their chat line, where I had a lovely conversation with a virtual assistant, who (or should I say which) told me to contact a local repair person. I know what you’re saying … TV repairmen still exist?
I sent an email, complete with a photo of the problem and the make and serial number of the TV. Judging from what he saw, the repairman attributed the issue to a faulty LCD panel. Samsung would graciously provide a new panel, at a cost of $508.15, plus $135 for the world’s last existing TV repairman, for a total of $643.15. Plus GST.
But wait! Was it still under warranty? No such luck; warranties are only a year. But wait again! My credit card added another year to a warranty! I rifled through my file of receipts and warranties (where I found receipts of things I don’t have anymore). I found it! I bought the TV in 2023 … in May.
As Maxwell Smart used to say, “missed it by that much”.
The TV originally cost me $750. So, do I invest another $650 or so into a two-year old TV, effectively making its cost $1,400, when I can buy a new TV for not much more than the repair bill?
Of course, that’s what Samsung and the other tech giants want us to do. They don’t want us to repair your broken TV, phone or computer. They want us to buy a new one.
I can’t bring myself to spend $650 on repairing a TV that cost $750, so it’s back to shopping for a new TV. In the meantime, I’ve brought my old TV (a puny 45 inches) up from its semi-retirement in the basement to retake its spot as the centrepiece of my living room. At some point, I will have to take my once-beautiful 65” TV to the reuse centre, and throw it in a bin like yesterday’s garbage.
I suppose in the big picture (get it?) I got my money’s worth out of the now useless Samsung. God knows how many thousands of hours it was beaming, keeping me entertained, or enraged, or just not bored. Maybe I should just let the ol’ 45” do the job now, but I suspect the siren song of the bigger screen will be too alluring to ignore.
One thing’s for sure … it won’t be a Samsung. Or as I now call it, a Samsuck.
[Editor’s note: Samsung is the largest makers of TV screens in the world and mine works just fine thank you in case Samsuck, er, Samsung ever want to advertise here at brioux.tv.]
