I had experienced some lines running down the side of my Plasma TV and called a repairman in to repair my Zenith 42 inch Plasma that was mounted on the wall.
The repair fellow came in, looked at the tv and said "exactly what I thought, I have spoken to Zenith and they have confirmed what i need. We need to order two parts and you need to pay up front for the repair." This repair bill came to $492.00. A week later he arrived back and after opening the tv stated that the wrong part was sent to him. Left again, and returned the week after with the correct parts. After installing these parts, we turned on the Television and what he repaired did not correct the problem in any way! (Same lines in the same area on tv). He now said that he would have to order a new plasma screen at the cost of $1080 for the part. then he left....Says he will not refund any of the labor and cannot return the parts after he has installed. (also may I note that I had to call a friend to come over each time to help lift the TV off of the wall - since he could not do himself and I could not lift it with him)
Any ideas of what I should do about this problem? I certainly feel like I got the ream job and do not want to sit with my thumb up my arse. I am very dissapointed but want to make sure this does not happen to others the same way by this company (as the repair fellow owns the company).
Sure would appreciate any suggestions!
Oh the old switch parts till you get it right trick! Sometimes techs do make mistakes when diagnoising a TV set or anything for that matter. But when they see that it does not fix the problem you as a customer are not suppose to pay for his/her error. In this case, if the tech and the shop is Zenith authorized, call or send them an E-mail explaining exactly what you told us here and I am sure you will get some sort of response. If it is not in your favor or the repair shop is not an authorized Zenith servicer, contact the local consumers affairs or even the state attorneys office, as this is a ripoff for sure. Worse case is you file a small claims against the shop and see if they bother to show up. You do know that repair shops get alot of there work through word of mouth. Your one voice will get to at least a dozen or so peeps and thier voices will get to another dozen or so, and so on, and so on, ect ect ect. Good luck, and let us know how you made out.
Contact Zenith @ http://www.zenithservice.com/
Follow what Larry says on dealing with the repair center. As for what's wrong with your plasma?
He probably ordered the verticle drive boards. The first boards that came in weren't the correct ones (not unusual at all for LG/Zenith, believe me). When the correct ones came in, he installed them and realized the problem is the PDP panel.
This is not an unusual troubleshooting techique for Plasma TV's. You always try the periphery drive boards, logic boards, ssb board before condeming the panel. Most of the major manufacturers will insist on a servicer replacing just about everything in a set before condeming a plasma panel if it's in warranty.
In the case of your symptom, it does sound like a bad plasma panel.
Lets forget the specifics for a moment. The problem I have with the sequence of events is this: paying for the repair up front. I can understand a deposit as none of us can survive by paying for everything expecting a bill to be paid byu the customer then getting stiffed. But, in this case, this was not a warranty repair. No money is paid by the customer for a waranty repair, the manufacturer covers the cost. Second, no reputable servicer will charge for parts that do not fix the problem. I have often eaten the cost of parts because of a bad diagnosis. The customer should not be responsible for your error. I agree with MOtvGuy about the process for plasmas. The panel is always the last thing to be replaced as it is the most difficult and expensive. I would at least contact the BBB about this repair experience and see if there are any options for recovery.