John_Hayes

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
I’ve read a review of someone who purchased a Toshiba set from “Sight and Sound” of Chantilly, VA and is not happy with it. Just want to tell you that “Sight and Sound” owned by Iranian guys distributes refurbished electronics.

P.S. Costco across the street – don’t like it, bring it back.

Price Paid:  $1900.00 from OneCall.com

Summary:
This is a followup to an earlier review I posted here. My first unit from OneCall was defective due to a puncture in the carton and I refused delivery. They then shipped another one within 4 days. This unit worked well with the exception of some minor convergence , pincushion issues and every once in a while the set would just turn off, losing all of it's picture settings. I called my local service and they didn't know what to do about it and in the process of asking Toshiba what to do, the turning off problem went away. I never had the service company out to fix the minor picture problems which are not really objectionable in normal viewing. Overall now I am very happy with this unit.

Strengths:
Excelent picture quality, Progressive scan, Picture settings memory for each input, Lighted remote

Weaknesses:
Minor Convergece & pincushion prblems

Price Paid:  $2350.00 from Sight & Sound Systems, Chantilly, VA

Summary:
In Feb. 2000 I bought a Toshiba TW40X81, and was extremely happy about it for about 9 months. In late October TW1 suddenly became totally screwed, 64pt convergence screen looked much like a 3D surface graph of mountainous terrain. It was not until April that Toshiba found a service technician in my area to work on the set - after months of arguing that regardless of my location, they must honor my in-home warranty.

The technician came to my house twice but was unable to fix the set, after replacing EEPROMS. It went into his shop in late May where a new convergence board was replaced (which I initially told the tech was likely the problem based on information I gathered here and other sites), and I received the set back on August 9 due to incessant delays from Toshiba's parts department. When I finally received the set I found TW1 to be fine, but in all modes focus was quite blurred in the middle of the screen, and in HD mode I had to do 64pt convergence every time I turned on the set - both red and blue would drift off center in many areas of the screen by as much as .25 in.

Again the technician came to my house, was unable to fix, and picked up the set. This was on September 26. I have still not gotten my set back.

I have called Toshiba customer service at least once a month since May, and have talked with so many representatives I am beginning to connect to people who know me. I have been told, at several times, different stories; that the technical support department was trying to determine the parts needed, that the Toshiba home office was now determining what set to replace mine with, etc. In each of these calls my frustration grew, and each time the representative assured me that Toshiba customer support would get back with me within the week to give me an updated status.

I have yet to receive one call from Toshiba customer support despite repeated promises. No correspondence whatsoever has been initiated to me by Toshiba.

I received an email on New Year's Eve from the service center (great guy by the way, and none of my dissatisfaction lies with the way he has treated me or the situation) stating that Toshiba tech finally got in touch with him after not hearing from them for more than two months, stating that they wanted to replace the entire convergence PCB, but the part was backordered until sometime in February.

I have been extremely, agonizingly patient, but this set me through the roof. I called customer service once again, once again talked with a supervisor who agreed that I had been without a set entirely too long. When he looked into my case he told me that the current status was that Toshiba was once again determining the parts needed, but due to the fact that I have not had a set that has worked in 14 months his assurance was that he would escalate the matter and have news for me of a replacement. He was even then adding his notes and recommending that my set be replaced immediately.

I got an email yesterday from the service center, and lo and behold the new parts have arrived well ahead of schedule (this despite all he tried to do to get the part as quickly as possible).

The final chapter to this saga has yet to be written.

I would not buy another Toshiba product, not at any price. If they replace my set I will likely sell it in the carton and look for something else. Having paid $2350 for a product that had so many defects, an incredibly slow technical support response and delivery time to service centers, and a customer support center that is reminiscent of the false casino in The Sting is absolutely unacceptable.

Consider yourselves informed.

Happy New Year to all.

Strengths:
it was fantastic while it worked!

Weaknesses:
customer support

Price Paid:  $2000.00 from P.C Richards

Summary:
I just want to say i can only imagine how this TV will preform once the nation go's full HDTV broadcast....Every channel WILL preform and look better than any DVD cd or player thats now out on the market.....Progressive scan will also take a back seat....... Once HDTV has gone full blast in the western hemisphere this TV will really step up to the plate and show all of us what it really can do ....!!!!! It's in my opinion that one day DVD's will kick out the 1080 lines of resolution and this Toshiba will absorb evey bit of the HDTV signal into it's 1280 lines of resolution .... LET THE GOOD TIMES ROLL BABY..!!!!

Strengths:
I set this TV up myself and i'm still amazed at the rich colors that i get from SOME satellite broadcast channels...

Weaknesses:
No complaints....

Similar Products Used:
SONY 7700 DVD PLAYER.....Yamaha's DSP-A1 intergrated amp .....I'm a happy camper .....

Price Paid:  $1500.00 from Best Buy

Summary:
This TV is awesome. The only complaint I have is that is sits too low to the ground. Toshiba has a stand that is made for the tv but they have discontinued both the tv and stands. The stand looks like it is a part of the tv. Good luck finding the stand. I called 20 retailers and only one had them in stock and they had about 20 of them. It was only $140 but the shipping was $80, ouch. I still love the tv and when I hooked up the RCA DTC 100 HDTV dish (Dish=$150, Receiver=$280 Open Box, and a adapter that allows the 15 pin hookup to become a component video output that costs $130) the picture quality is superb. I ordered the video essentials DVD ($14 used)so I could properly calibrate my picture thanks to the previous postings/warnings. I am a happy home theater junkie. All the different widescreens are tricky but you get used to them and learn to love them.

Strengths:
Widescreen, Awesome Picture, Looks Great.

Weaknesses:
Sits too low. See Below.

Similar Products Used:
Sharp, Magnovox, JVC