davey1970
06-03-2002, 17:42
Hi folks,
In mid October I bought a Sharp 32" w/s tv from Powerhouse with an extended 5 yr guarantee.
When I got it home it kept turning itself off and had to be replaced.
The new one was ok in this respect but one fault it did have was that the picture would change brightness levels all of its own accord - not in the brightness settings, but while you were watching something. It was especially bad on dark scenes but effected every scene. I checked all the settings and there was nothing to stop it.
I put up with this for a couple of months and then checked with Sharp - they said it sounded faulty. I was just about to contact powerhouse when the same problem the first set had started happening - the set would not stay on.
I contacted powerhouse and they sent someone from a tv shop round to look at it, who then took it away for 13 days. They brought it back supposedly as good as new (!).
However, while the power problem had been sorted the brightness issue had not (I don't believe they even investigated that but I dont want to go into too much detail explaining). In addition, the picture quality is bad - you can see the scan lines on all programmes, and you can even see them when there is no external source plugged in and you are watching a blank screen. The effect is similar I would say to sitting 2 inches away from the screen, but sometimes you can also see it moving across the screen, in sort of waves. This problem was not there until they brought the set back.
As you can imagine, I have lost all confidence in the tv, though should point out that on the occasions it was working correctly the picture was superb and I haven't seen better, and I don't have any confidence in the repair shop they took it to.
Having been given the runaround by Powerhouse for weeks they today insisted that they need to verify that the set is faulty. Fine I said - send an engineer round, he can look at it and will say "yes this is faulty" and then you can give me a replacement tv. Powerhouse then said that is not possible - they will need to take the set away and run all sorts of tests on it.
I'm not happy that I might have to be without the tv for however long again, and they wont say how long it could be gone for, and whilst they have offered a loan set it will be nothing like mine and I doubt it will even be widescreen. In fact, having seen the contents of the repair mans van when he returned it, it would probably be about 20 years old.
I've spent most of the day arguing (constructively) with various people on the powerhouse support line to say that they should just swap my tv for a new one. All to no avail.
I won't go too far into their awful customer service in that no-one ever phoned me about the problem when they were supposed to and I had to make all the phone calls.
I have faxed their head office a letter of complaint and have also today spoken to the manager of my local branch, who has said he is going to try and sort it out for me.
I just wanted some advice off you readers along the lines of:
Are there any laws/consumer rights etc... that I could use to back me up on pushing for them to replace the tv now.
(long shot) Does anyone have any usually non public contact details, email addy or direct line, for any MDs of powerhouse.
Apart from that can anyone offer any advice whatsoever in trying to get it sorted, including whether anyone knows what these faults seem to be and any way to get rid of them. From what I have read the only way into the engineers menu is through a key press combination (which didnt work) or actually shorting 2 circuits so I'm not going there!
I have a feeling that (perhaps) at least in law they could insist on taking it away until they have sorted it, but I obviously hope this is not the case.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
cheers
dave
ps - a friend of a friend has the same set and the brightness problem is also on his - I have a feeling it is either an intrinsic fault of the model of may be a setting in an engineers menu. This problem is not half as bad as the picture quality issue though.
In mid October I bought a Sharp 32" w/s tv from Powerhouse with an extended 5 yr guarantee.
When I got it home it kept turning itself off and had to be replaced.
The new one was ok in this respect but one fault it did have was that the picture would change brightness levels all of its own accord - not in the brightness settings, but while you were watching something. It was especially bad on dark scenes but effected every scene. I checked all the settings and there was nothing to stop it.
I put up with this for a couple of months and then checked with Sharp - they said it sounded faulty. I was just about to contact powerhouse when the same problem the first set had started happening - the set would not stay on.
I contacted powerhouse and they sent someone from a tv shop round to look at it, who then took it away for 13 days. They brought it back supposedly as good as new (!).
However, while the power problem had been sorted the brightness issue had not (I don't believe they even investigated that but I dont want to go into too much detail explaining). In addition, the picture quality is bad - you can see the scan lines on all programmes, and you can even see them when there is no external source plugged in and you are watching a blank screen. The effect is similar I would say to sitting 2 inches away from the screen, but sometimes you can also see it moving across the screen, in sort of waves. This problem was not there until they brought the set back.
As you can imagine, I have lost all confidence in the tv, though should point out that on the occasions it was working correctly the picture was superb and I haven't seen better, and I don't have any confidence in the repair shop they took it to.
Having been given the runaround by Powerhouse for weeks they today insisted that they need to verify that the set is faulty. Fine I said - send an engineer round, he can look at it and will say "yes this is faulty" and then you can give me a replacement tv. Powerhouse then said that is not possible - they will need to take the set away and run all sorts of tests on it.
I'm not happy that I might have to be without the tv for however long again, and they wont say how long it could be gone for, and whilst they have offered a loan set it will be nothing like mine and I doubt it will even be widescreen. In fact, having seen the contents of the repair mans van when he returned it, it would probably be about 20 years old.
I've spent most of the day arguing (constructively) with various people on the powerhouse support line to say that they should just swap my tv for a new one. All to no avail.
I won't go too far into their awful customer service in that no-one ever phoned me about the problem when they were supposed to and I had to make all the phone calls.
I have faxed their head office a letter of complaint and have also today spoken to the manager of my local branch, who has said he is going to try and sort it out for me.
I just wanted some advice off you readers along the lines of:
Are there any laws/consumer rights etc... that I could use to back me up on pushing for them to replace the tv now.
(long shot) Does anyone have any usually non public contact details, email addy or direct line, for any MDs of powerhouse.
Apart from that can anyone offer any advice whatsoever in trying to get it sorted, including whether anyone knows what these faults seem to be and any way to get rid of them. From what I have read the only way into the engineers menu is through a key press combination (which didnt work) or actually shorting 2 circuits so I'm not going there!
I have a feeling that (perhaps) at least in law they could insist on taking it away until they have sorted it, but I obviously hope this is not the case.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.
cheers
dave
ps - a friend of a friend has the same set and the brightness problem is also on his - I have a feeling it is either an intrinsic fault of the model of may be a setting in an engineers menu. This problem is not half as bad as the picture quality issue though.