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1.0 stars
"42 days and counting..."
Pros: Great picture, even looks good turned off
Cons: Service? Reliability? Responsiveness? Keep reading...
Summary: We took delivery of our unit Dec 30th and after 4 months of watching great HDTV and DVDs from our upscaling Oppo DVD player, our Sharp Aquos went on the fritz. Almost black image and dark and light 'banding' in both directions. My first email to them was April 30th. Then multiple emails. Then the phone calls--multiple useless calls because the instructions in the return emails were incorrect. Finally, a 'responsible' person. Then calls to dispatch. Then waiting for the service visit. Then they take the system to the repair shop. Service declares the unit "unrepairable" before Memorial Day. Then waiting for service to bring the broken and "unrepairable" unit back to us. Then more phone calls to get status. As of 1:30 today, CDT, "management" has determined our now six month old machine should either be exchanged or returned for a refund. I have to call tomorrow (again--they never call us) to find out what needs to be done next. 42 days since it went out and still counting.
This is our 4th Sharp TV (and third LCD unit) and we love the units. But until now I never had to use their unimpressive customer service.
I hear the new Sony Bravia's are pretty good.Updated
So this morning, Sharp calls me!! They inform me that they are authorized to exchange the unrepairable unit. And, it will take 7-10 days to complete the exchange. I did ask about the warranty and they added 60 days to the original warranty. They would not give a 12 month warranty on this exchanged unit. Now, that makes me nervous! I'll post when the exchange is complete.Updated
Today we got a letter demanding we return the non-functional unit because they had given us a new unit. Well, excuuuse me, but we do not have a replacement yet. The last we heard was the phone call six days ago that said we would be getting a replacement. What a messed up service organization!Updated
I got an email asking to participate in a customer satisfaction survey about my Sharp service interaction! It was one of those on line things and it assumed my problem was solved. Dumb. In the free form area where you put in comments, I told them to read my reviews on cnet.com. Hopefully, that will cause them to finally get things resolved.Updated
Look at my comments above. On June 14th Sharp called and told me it would take 7-10 days to complete the swap for a replacement unit. Today is June 24th. Using the math I learned in school, the ten days is up. And given it is 6:00PM Saturday, I don't expect a surprise delivery today or tomorrow.
Any ideas on what to do next?Updated
This morning someone called and set up delivery of the replacement TV. Let see, June 28 from April 30. Two months to replace a 4 month old TV that simply quit working. Not good.
So, the driver brings the box into the house, opens the box to make sure the glass front is not cracked or broken, and then leaves.
After I get home from work, I discover the unit was shipped from Sharp USA on June 18. Ten days to deliver the unit in spite of a label on the box that said deliver by June 22.
Then I read the shipping doc and it says the driver is to unbox & set up the new unit and pack and take the old unit. That's a long way from 'checking for a broken screen.'
So, as I wrote earlier, Sharp had sent a letter demanding the old unit be returned. We called FedEx per the instructions and discovered Sharp had not provided the proper paperwork so that FedEx would pick up the unit.
We called Sharp's 7/24 toll free number and after a series of menu choices found, again for the umpteenth time, that the department we need does not work 7/24. Grrrr...
Why do I care if they get the old unit? Because in order to get the process started I had to give them a credit card number that would only be used if the old TV was not returned.Updated
Sharp's trucking company called this week--Tuesday July 10.
"Did we deliver a Sharp TV to you?" Yes. Several weeks ago.
"Did we take a broken TV away?" No. Your driver left without taking the old unit. We boxed it up for you and its sitting in our front hall waiting for someone to pick it up.
The net result of this Q&A was they came to the house within a few minutes of the phone call and hauled the old unit away.
April 30th to July 10th to do a simple swap of the unit. Absolutely disappointing.Updated
After all the delay and frustration, the image on this unit is 'blow your socks off' beautiful. I read in a forum somewhere that the 700 serial numbers were better than the 600 serial numbers. We'll, our dead unit was a 600 and before it expired, it was great. I really didn't think there would be any difference with the replacement, but I was wrong. Beautiful HD. Simply amazing.
Sharp LC-42D62U:
