Ruminations

Approximately 10 months ago a family member went to Best Buy and purchased a rather pricey Mitsubishi 65" 1080P DLP WD657 large screen projection TV. Within the first thirty days the television stopped functioning, and Best Buy replaced it with a similar model from the same manufacturer. In the past 9 months, the television has broken down nearly every 2.5 months, with the authorized service repair person taking an average of about one week to visit and repair the television. This last malfunction has left my family member without use and enjoyment of their investment going on nearly 2 months!!!! (As I write the unit is still at the authorized service facility awaiting a part, for it to be fixed.) Repeated calls to both the retailer and the manufacturer, stating that the unit is obviously defective and requesting that they refund my family member's money and take back the unit have been turned down, with the retailer pointing the finger at the manufacturer, and the manufacturer only willing to extend the existing one year manufacturer's warranty by one year (plus a free lamp.) The question that was posed of the manufacturer was: what good does it do to extend a one year warranty by another year if a defective product is still going to be constantly breaking down and causing an inconvenience to the owner (albeit the repairs are at the manufacturer's expense); also what guarantees are there that the defective product will not stop functioning after the extended warranty runs out after the second year? The manufacturer did not have a compelling answer to these questions. My advice to all of you, based on my family's experience, (and please spread the word far and wide to friends, colleagues, relatives, strangers, etc.) is not to purchase any Mitsubishi wide screen television products (or at least the aforementioned model) as the product seems to be defective and as the manufacturer does not seem to want to stand behind its product in a meaningful manner that would satisy a consumer such as my family member.