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vizio blown fuse... was i ripped off?

 
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soconfused




Joined: 21 May 2010
Posts: 1



PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 2:36 am    Post subject: vizio blown fuse... was i ripped off? Reply with quote


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Ok, so earlier today my 32" VIZIO turned off and wouldnt turn back on. I called Vizio, and they said they couldn't help me because it was out of warranty. They referred me to a repair service. i called them and they said to have it fixed I would be $200. I decided to look around and see if I could find a local repair shop to fix it. not only did I not want to pay $200 to fix a $400 tv, i didnt want to send it off and have to wait however long it would take. So i found a local place, and they said they would send out a tech tonight. Around 6:45 a guy showed up and began working on my tv. The first thing he did was check the fuse and it was blown. So after fixing it he asked if his company had talked about prices. The company said it would be $90 up front and if there wasn't a major problem that would cover the labor and parts. My fiance said it would be $90, so the guy just said ok. After he "fixed" the fuse (all he did was bypass it, he didn't replace the fuse) He said it would be $200!!! WHAT!?!? So i'm just wondering if I was ripped off... ir eally think I was and I'm pretty upset about this, just not sure if I should call the company tomorrow or just eat the $200. Any suggestions or help would be amazing!
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Tom.W




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 6637



PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 3:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Next time check for blown fuses... Or you could call the guy and tell him the bypassed fuse just caused major smoke damage to your house and your gonna sue him and the company he works for... Wink
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JustGreg




Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3098
Location: Kenosha, WI


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 5:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Shocked Shocked Thumbs Down What a douchebag...and the guy that showed up calls himself a technician? Rolling Eyes

When it blows up check these guys out for parts...or get most of your money back and put it down on a better display.

http://www.discount-merchant.com/SearchResults.asp?Search=sustain

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Greg

"Is it ignorance or apathy? Hey, I don't know and I don't care!" --Jimmy Buffett
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Tom.W




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 6637



PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I can't believe this guy did a potentially dangerous thing bypassing a fuse on the mains and charged you $200 !

Whatever caused the fuse to blow may now come back to haunt you for good but there is no fuse for protection.

Oh and replace the fuse and while your at it send a repair invoice to the guy for $250 for your labor in fixing an unsafe repair that violates the UL certification and your fire insurance Wink
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Sparky015




Joined: 12 May 2009
Posts: 1185
Location: Cleveland / Akron, OH


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 1:19 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

yeah, that fuse blew for a reason. Fuses just don't go bad. They are designed to blow in the event of excessive current draw. Something else is wrong. I would suggest not using the TV, going out to radioshack and getting yourself a replacement fuse and redoing the fix. I would also get your money back, as bypassing a fuse is not a proper fix at all.
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~Paul
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24296
Location: Langley, BC

TV/Projector: All of them!


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 2:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hang on, do nothing to the set. As soon as you touch it, you void the warranty.

The most you should do is take the back off and take a pix of the bypassed fuse. I'd then call the owner/manager of the shop and threaten legal action, or call the media. That usually works wonders.

No question that a fuse should be in there to protect the set. Fuses do sometimes blow for no reason, more often than not they do blow for a reason though, but if the set is working OK, then chances are it was a nuisance failure of the fuse.

As for buying a better brand, from the dozens of sets I've seen now, they ALL fail. Most are designed to fail right outside the warranty period, and then usually they are not worth repairing. Just sent 4 LCD monitors to the recycler due to 2 bad power supplies that were not worth repairing, and two that had bad LCD displays. All under 4 years old.
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Sparky015




Joined: 12 May 2009
Posts: 1185
Location: Cleveland / Akron, OH


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 3:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yes, that's a pretty good plan. Either way, $200 is way too much for the service you got. If the fuse really is all that is wrong, he should have just replaced the fuse and charged you the minimum service call fee plus the cost of the fuse. For what he did, he should have just charged you a service call charge. He probably added a minimum hour of labor for the fuse bypass.
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~Paul
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jkruger




Joined: 24 Oct 2007
Posts: 2435
Location: Carlsbad, CA


PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 3:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Send a link to this thread to the shop owner.
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Tom.W




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 6637



PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 6:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Then post the name of the company and the name of the so called tech both here and on AVS Smile

Yes you were taken to the cleaners ! Rolling Eyes
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macgyver655




Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508



PostLink    Posted: Fri May 21, 2010 8:19 pm    Post subject: Re: vizio blown fuse... was i ripped off? Reply with quote

soconfused wrote:
Ok, so earlier today my 32" VIZIO turned off and wouldnt turn back on. I called Vizio, and they said they couldn't help me because it was out of warranty. They referred me to a repair service. i called them and they said to have it fixed I would be $200. I decided to look around and see if I could find a local repair shop to fix it. not only did I not want to pay $200 to fix a $400 tv, i didnt want to send it off and have to wait however long it would take. So i found a local place, and they said they would send out a tech tonight. Around 6:45 a guy showed up and began working on my tv. The first thing he did was check the fuse and it was blown. So after fixing it he asked if his company had talked about prices. The company said it would be $90 up front and if there wasn't a major problem that would cover the labor and parts. My fiance said it would be $90, so the guy just said ok. After he "fixed" the fuse (all he did was bypass it, he didn't replace the fuse) He said it would be $200!!! WHAT!?!? So i'm just wondering if I was ripped off... ir eally think I was and I'm pretty upset about this, just not sure if I should call the company tomorrow or just eat the $200. Any suggestions or help would be amazing!


Do you know what a pico fuse is?
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Tom.W




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 6637



PostLink    Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 2:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

This might help...

http://www.google.com/images?q=pico+fuse&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=XTz3S5_KGJnEMqS_2IMI&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=6&ved=0CEoQsAQwBQ
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Tom.W




Joined: 09 Mar 2006
Posts: 6637



PostLink    Posted: Sat May 22, 2010 4:10 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya gotta wonder why so many people ask a question here and never even check back for the answer ... Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes

Case in point.

http://www.curtpalme.com/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=7655
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