LG: Be very wary with extended warranties

[NGE]

I bought an LG washing machine from Harvey Norman at Oxley in May 2007 - but christmas it was cactus. Rang LG after the crazy xmas/new year week and obtained number for a service repairer. Fixit came out in early January, fiddled with the machine, grunted at me that he has to order parts. A LONG story short. Many(over 50) calls were made by me to Fixit and LG over several months. I was given the run around by LG and the run around by Fixit the saga resulted in a replacement machine being ordered in May 2008! (it was sent to Townsville in error and had to come back down to brisbane)
This machine had issues within a year. LG called again same rude man from Fixit came out and grunted at me that nothing was wrong. I rang LG again and demanded someone else be sent out. Speedy washing machine repairs came out, were polite and had the issue repaired within days. LG offered the poorest of customer service, Fixit were rude and unhelpful. The extended warrenty I purchased on the original machine worth didly squat as that machine is cactus and the warrenty does not cover the replacement machine. All in all i would NEVER purchase an LG product under any circumstances. no way should a customer have to do all the 'leg work' and be the one to pursue repairs. NO way should 'repairs' take FIVE MONTHS! Granted LG did reimburse the cost of the laundry mat (although the time and effort to get there over several months was a difficult task). be very wary with extended warranties and be EXTREMELY wary of LG customer support.

NGE Member: tis_sa

[Ten4]

Hi tis_sa

Sorry to hear about your washing machine debacle.

A couple of things that might help you:

1. Whenever you make a warranty claim, ALWAYS go back to the place you bought the product, as they are the people you have the contract with. Get them to do the legwork. Never deal with manufacturers, etc., as any warranty they provide you is only voluntary. In your case, it would be up to Harvey Norman to take up the matter with LG.

2. Extended warranties are a waste of money, as you are protected at law by a statutory warranty. Statutory warranties still apply after manufacturer's warranty has expired. Say, for example, you buy a laptop computer worth $1,000 and 16 months later the machine goes kaput. It would be reasonable to expect that such a machine would last, say, 2 years, so you would still be covered under the statutory warranty.

If, for example, you paid $2,200 for a laptop, it would be reasonable to expect that it would last longer than the one you paid $1,000 for. You might expect 3 years from such a computer, so the statutory warranty will apply for that period.

3. If you get no satisfaction from the retailer, lodge a complaint with The Office of Fair Trading (or the equivalent in your state). These guys are very good at what they do and can bring about a resolution.

Always remember: the worse thing you can do when you receive this type of service is sit on your hands.

If you need any further help, please let me know.

John

[satworm]

Ten4 makes a number of good points I disagree with some, you should always go direct to the manufacturers in the first instance, if you feel it is not being resolved then contact the retailer do not rely on the retailer it just complicates matters.
The reason being you have a strange situation in Australia that the retailer despite low margins has to legally deal with the complaints of the products sold. This lets the manufacturers of the hook to some extent, The shopkeeper has no way if small to put pressure on the big company's and if big does not really care what quality they sell. This lack of responsibility has led to a cost saving outsourcing of the service work.Even the warranty handling itself has been outsourced.Why trading standards does not do anything about this situation is beyond me. If your shop closes or changes owner, have you lost all your warranty? The shop which sold the product in good faith has its reputation tarnished and cost off business increased for no reason.Trading standards are to blame for this fix it. They will also do nothing but advise you your rights maybe 10 cases a year the really bad ones they do anything, or you do it and they take the credit for your work.
I would recommend extended warranties for white goods true statutory warranty does cover you but your going to spend a lot off time trying and disputing fair wear and tear.I'm not sure why the machine is cactus, I've done work for extended warranty customers and replaced machines at 4 years 11 months (with only one months warranty as it only covers the original period)Found them quite good in fact the reason I stopped doing it was the constant complaining of the customers to the poor guy(me) fixing the machines, The service people in most cases will help you, they get paid more the more they help give them a break.
However the main culprits in this dispute is Mr fixit although it may be LG can find no-one else to put up with the complaints. LG has never had a service department I believe to repair goods they have never trained from school anyone they rely on other company's ex service agents or independents this is not just an LG problem and as all the last of the Simpson and Hoover service people retire soon expect more problems.

[Ten4]

NGE Note: Forum Rules ^ up there.

[formerlybro22]

statutory warranties are a touchy subject, should still always buy the extended warranty. otherwise feel free to fight it in court whist awaiting you everyday appliance eg fridge/washer to be repaired.

[jakke]

Extended warranties are absolutely fine PROVIDED they are identical to the manufacturer's original warranty. Many are not (eg Harvey Norman). A lot of extended warranties exclude for example "fair wear and tear" which covers just about everything that can go wrong and renders the warranty useless and a complete waste of money.

Whilst you may have rights under a statutory warranty, convincing the retailer/manufacturer of this is another matter....

[LGSUXBIG]

Yesterday I was flattened by LG, the rude attitude, the poor nature of not only Sam the, NOT to helpful technician, but from his supervisor Sunny, these 2 where probably the most arrogant, argumentative team I have ever had the displeasure to speak to in my life and the so called warranty is not worth the paper it's written on. They use loopholes to get out of repairing what I call manufactures product failure. On Wednesday 10th March I turned on my LG 32inch LCD, LG32LH20D it ran fine, but after about 2-3hrs the picture pixelated and then a squeal noise from the speaker emitted, so I turned it off then back on, however the screen stayed black and I had no sound except the annoying squeal from the speaker. I rang LG on Thursday around 2pm and spoke to the amazing side step team, I told them of my trouble and that the TV was manufactured in May 2009, I knew this because the Serial number indicates it and the sticker on the back says it was manufactured in May 2009. They agreed and said I will need to take it back to the purchase store along with the receipt. This was where the problem starts, I have moved twice since purchasing these TVs (having a LG 50inch and 2 LG 32inch) using professional removalists and watching them not to damage anything, I know this was not the issue as we have other more sensitive items that are ok.
However the company we purchased these LG TVs from is no longer operating. I told dumb and dumber that the receipt should not matter as the Serial number and Sticker clearly states it is less than 1 year old and that it should be looked at and I am happy to take it to where it needs to go. These 2 where not going to give and I need to produce the receipt or it's tuff titties for me and my $1000 TV. So where do I go from here? LG I believe are not living up to their name, as for me Life is not so good, What do I do with a LCD that doesnt work and the manufacturer that doesnt want a bar of it? Who do you see? What do I do? Where do I turn? This is very upsetting. I asked Sam (major argument to get my point across) does he have a receipt for his toaster? his kettle? his microwave? His reply, "it's not about me sir" I then tried "if your car breaks down in Australia and you dont have a receipt are you left stranded"? Apparently it's not the same thing. Well I think it is, these LG TVs are as much as a car. There has to be a way? The serial number could surely be used to locate the information they need? The fact that all the labels say its under 1 year must stand for something? I bought this TV in Australia and cant believe this sort of thing can happen in our country. what's going wrong with society.
I have purchased lgwarranty.com.au and will now build a website to inform all that if your human and you make a mistake look out, because LG will make you pay. LG = Lifes Good, NOT LIKELY, LG = Lifes Gone, just like the money you spent on a product that will fail and LG will find a way not deal with it. DONT BUY LG!

[Ten4]

The problem you are facing here is that any warranty that LG provide is only a voluntary warranty, as it is not them that you have the contract with. As such, it sounds as though their support has been very underwhelming.
Even though you have no receipt and the retailer from whom you bought the TV is no longer in business, I don't think all is lost. You should still be covered by either the manufacturer's warranty (however long that is) or the statutory warranty.
From whom and when did you buy the TV? I'll do some research on some possible next steps for you.

[Shellee]

For major items like TVs, washing machines etc, you must always keep the receipt. A toaster etc is not as expensive so not such a big deal if it breaks down and you have to buy a new one. I always keep receipts especially for big ticket items. I bought a Leica digital camera recently and the warranty paper requires a date and signature from the store of purchase,Michaels in Elizabeth Street Melb.

I was there the other day and asked one of the salesmen if the warranty card needed his signature. He said it was not required and if anything went wrong I would only need to produce my receipt. The receipt is evidence of purchase, it proves when and where one bought it, that it wasn't purchased second hand from who knows who and it is evidence that it wasn't stolen property etc. etc... u need receipt!

I have an LG TV, VCR and DVD player and I have purchased an LG fridge years ago. There has never been anything wrong with them. Each purchase was made at MYER in Melbourne. I only ever buy such items from MYER as they will always be there. If the store closes it would be difficult.

I bought a Sony VCR player a long time ago with Myer which did not work properly a few weeks later. I simply took it back in its box to the department concerned. I was told they would send it to the manufacturer for repair. I protested and said I wanted a full refund and did not want a repaired VCR player. The manager was called and he insisted that repairing was their policy not refunding.

I simply put the VCR player down on his desk and said that he could keep it, that I would not take it home, he could not force me to and that was that. He was shocked and gave me my money back. I purchased a higher level VCR player which worked beautifully. I did pay a bit more for it but that was ok.

I also had trouble with an IBM computer purchased from Myer, the hard drive died after the 2 yr warranty expired. The hard drive should have lasted much longer than 2 years. Myer said it was IBM problem, IBM said I should take it up with Myer haha. Anyway, after getting nowhere I did a gripe here after having to purchase a new and better Hard Drive (the one in the IBM PC was a Fujitsu! which apparenly is poor quality and there should have been a good IBM hard drive in the IBM PC but was not the case).. hmm

Anyway I got IBM's attention on writing the gripe here, and they refunded me the cost of the new hard drive and gave me a free extended five year warranty on the PC which was good, but I never used it. The PC and new hard drive was fine for many many years until I upgraded and gave it away. I did have my receipt by the way. Otherwise nothing would happen.

[Legless]

@Shellee

IBM doesn't make consumer hard drives anymore nor does it make PCs or Thinkpad laptops (Lenovo bought the rights). They now focus on business and make servers and such. Ultrastar, Deskstar, Travelstar, or Microdrive drives are made by Hitachi.

By the way, there is nothing wrong with Fujistsu hard drives. Over 25 years, I have had drives of almost every brand die or be faulty out of the box. As of 2009, Fujistu transferred its hard drive business to Toshiba Corporation and they make very good drives. My Toshiba laptop doesn't have a Toshiba drive in it.

With a hard drive within the warranty period, the seller will usually just replace it within a month of purchase. Beyond that at the seller's discretion, it goes back to the manufacturer or wholesaler for testing/replacement, again at its discretion as far as repair or replacement. Warranty periods vary. So can replacements. Sometimes one might get a reconditioned unit to replace one that has had quite a bit of use or is older.

Still as with everything that is sold in Australia one should expect to get reasonable use out of a product.

[Legless]

The rules:

When you sell goods you must make certain that they fulfil certain conditions and warranties that are implied under the TPA.

You must be sure that goods:

* are of merchantable quality—that is, goods need to reach a basic level of quality given the price of the goods and any description that is provided with the goods
* are fit for the purpose or job that the consumer described to you or that are self-evident
* match any description or sample given to the consumer whether in promotional material, over the phone, in person, on a website or on labelling or packaging
* are free from defects and faults.

You must also be sure that any goods you sell have no debt or financing owed on them so the consumer can have free title to the goods.

If the goods you have sold do not fulfil any of these conditions then the consumer may be entitled to a refund from you on return of the goods. If the goods have been partially consumed the consumer may be entitled to a refund depending on the circumstances and the extent to which the goods have been consumed.

Consumers can choose an alternative remedy to a refund. In these circumstances you may want to offer an exchange, a credit note or to repair the goods.

If the goods being returned have had a fair amount of use then you may be entitled to provide a partial refund only or to repair the product instead. This will depend on the circumstances of the sale and return and if the use of the goods has affected the fault.

You have the right to ask for proof of purchase from the consumer, for example, a receipt or credit record.

You are not obliged to provide a refund, credit or exchange if a consumer has:

* changed their mind, decided they no longer want the goods or just don’t like them, or found that goods are the wrong size or colour
* found they can buy the same or similar goods elsewhere for a cheaper price
* examined goods before buying them and should have seen any fault at that time
* had a defect drawn to their attention before they purchased goods, for example, when goods are clearly labelled as seconds or faulty.

[Shellee]

Legless, at the time I am talking about IBM made hard drives and PCs. Your comments are legless :-)

[Shellee]

P.S. Legless: at the time of the issue i am talking about regarding the Fujitsu hard drive the opinion about it being low quality was from professional IT people I contacted and a few IT people on this site.

So whatever your opinion about Fujitsu, it makes no difference to what I learned about it at the time. If they have been good for you that is okay. I was revisiting something that happened a long time ago and nothing you can say will change the past.

[rudolfl]

Hi,
I am a repair agent doing electronics repair (TVs, etc) for a few companies and here are my 2.2c
1. Extended warranties sold by Harvey Norman and like have nothing to do with manufacturers warranty or manufacturer themselves! Third-party sells those warranty and has own arrangements to repair the equipment.

2. As a repairer, I will come over and try to fix your TV with minimal hassle, but, please understand, that we have to obtain parts from the company per repair (we have to order part per job and, hense, can not have stock) .It is not our fault if company takes forever to get the parts (I had instances where I had to wait few month!). As a repairer, I really can not do much to speed up the process. And there is absolutely no point in abusing me or demanding refund or loan TV, etc... This is between you and the company. They are my customers, not you, because they are paying me, not you. I will do my best to get your unit repaired in timely manner, but I am not going to solve issues on your behalf.

3. Shop you bought equipment from is responsible for the warranty by law. If manufacturer closes down, they have to cover your repair costs. I had that happened in the past. I also found that for normal repairs, it will take longer if you take it back to the shop, as they will get equipment to me and you could do it yourself much faster. But for any troubles -- get the shop to deal with it

4. I did have instances where warranty repair was authorised by the manufacturer for out of warranty units. If your equipment failed just outside of warranty, complain loudly to the manufacturer, they usually come to the party.

Rudolf

[Damian007]

Yeah, Right! That's all well and good. I have a Plasma TV made by LG. After owning it for 53 weeks, the Tuner went faulty and wouldn't tune channels. I couldn't watch any TV.

Anyway, I called LG and told them my ($3,300) Plasma TV was faulty and when they looked it up, they told me it was 13 days out of warranty.. I said "So, it's only 13 days, surely you can fix it". They said it was no longer under warranty and I should take it to a repairer. When I said it's only 2 weeks out of warranty they just more or less said it was bad luck and it wouldn't be repaired under warranty..

So, I now own a Samsung TV and the LG sit's on it's cabinet, taking up space in the spare room.

I used to think LG was a good brand. I have a lot of things made by LG and as each one Dies I will be replacing with another Brand.