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Less than a year ago, we bought a television set. We had our last one for a very long time. It was a 13 incher with a built in VCR and it was almost indestructable. Well, I managed to destroy it, but that’s another story. So we started looking for a reasonably priced television and we settled on a 26″ Toshiba LCD HD television. At the beginning of this month it crapped out. The picture was replaced by horizontal broad gray pulsating lines. I called up Toshiba customer service. They told me I would have to bring the television into my local Toshiba authorized repair shop. I was talking to a help desk person from Iowa (I asked – her accent was one I couldn’t quite figure out). The nice person on the phone had the address of the closest one to me and it was reasonably close indeed, so I took it in on August 7.

It turned out they needed to order a part from Toshiba. It was on back order. It wasn’t an obscure little part though. It seems televisions these days have two basic parts, the panel and the guts. The problem in this case was the guts. After a week or so I phoned the repair shop – still waiting for the part. After two weeks I called Toshiba. I suggested to them that two weeks was a long time to wait for a warranty repair for a product under a year old and that I thought they ought to simply give me a new television and be done with it. No, they weren’t going to give me a new television. The nice, understanding fellow on the phone told me that he understood how I would think two weeks was a long time but really they wouldn’t give me a new television after a two week wait. Perhaps if it was over a month they would consider it. He then instructed me. You see, it was under warranty and the warranty stated that they would repair the television for no charge if it were a factory defect. Well, I’m glad he straightened me out on that point.

Has anyone suggested to me, even for a minute, that Toshiba was not going to live up to it’s commitment to fix the unit? No. Well then, perhaps I can try to expedite delivery of the part. Would you like me to follow up with you tomorrow? I said I didn’t need a follow up; I needed a working television. The fellow explained to me that it was impossible to predict when a television might break so the fact that the unit was under a year old was not a factor. He couldn’t seen to understand why I might not be satisfied.

So what was I expecting? I was expecting the company to be surprised that one of their units would break after such a short period of use. I really thought they would simply replace the television, make me happy off the top and be done with it.

A couple days later, the repair shop reported that they received the part and tested it but there was still a problem with the television. The other main component of the unit, the panel, had to be replaced and they were waiting for Toshiba to send them a new part. I ended up picking up the television today, 20 days later. The lady at the repair shop said that in the end, they had to replace everything in the television except for the plastic case.

What do you think? Was I being overly demanding? Should I have been satisfied that the company was living up to its warranty no matter how much time it took? Was 20 days a reasonable wait? Or was I right to feel dis-satisfied? Is it normal these days for televisions to break that quickly?