Buying a new TV

[FrostyWinnipeg]

http://www.visions.ca/catalogue/category/details.aspx?categoryid=5&productid=31414&sku=65b6p

Yankees getting a deal http://www.ebay.com/itm/LG-OLED65B6P-65-4K-OLED-Internet-TV-65B6P-65B6-2016-2017-Model-/172226787894

Edited September 19, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[bigg jay]

Yep, even with the poor exchange rate, that TV is about $1700 cheaper than the "sale" price up here.

[Mark F]

try looking at cars.

 

free trade.

 

[Brandon]

I was going to buy a Sony on sale at Best Buy...  but naturally they used the old bait and switch tactic.   How convenient that for 2 weeks straight they didn't have the tv in stock while it was being pushed in the flyer and on it's main display in store....  so in my fit of anger I decided to go to Costco and get the 75" sharp...  can't go wrong with a 5 year extended warranty for only 99 dollars and the 90 day return policy. 

I'm weary since HiSense bought them out earlier in the year... but the in store model looked amazing and the price was great.   I'll post my thoughts once it's delivered and after trying out the xbox one s and some 4k videos...

 

[The Unknown Poster]

11 hours ago, Brandon said:

I was going to buy a Sony on sale at Best Buy...  but naturally they used the old bait and switch tactic.   How convenient that for 2 weeks straight they didn't have the tv in stock while it was being pushed in the flyer and on it's main display in store....  so in my fit of anger I decided to go to Costco and get the 75" sharp...  can't go wrong with a 5 year extended warranty for only 99 dollars and the 90 day return policy. 

I'm weary since HiSense bought them out earlier in the year... but the in store model looked amazing and the price was great.   I'll post my thoughts once it's delivered and after trying out the xbox one s and some 4k videos...

 

Im jealous!  I've had my eye on a stupid expensive 86" but I have two friends with 75" and they look amazing so that might be my choice.  Plan was to renovate the basement into a home theatre this fall but looking more like spring so prices might come down more.

When do you expect delivery?  Please post a review!

Regarding the bait & switch, I hate that.  I would have asked for a rain check and when they said no i would have called, emailed, tweeted the world.

[Logan007]

12 hours ago, Brandon said:

I was going to buy a Sony on sale at Best Buy...  but naturally they used the old bait and switch tactic.   How convenient that for 2 weeks straight they didn't have the tv in stock while it was being pushed in the flyer and on it's main display in store....  so in my fit of anger I decided to go to Costco and get the 75" sharp...  can't go wrong with a 5 year extended warranty for only 99 dollars and the 90 day return policy. 

I'm weary since HiSense bought them out earlier in the year... but the in store model looked amazing and the price was great.   I'll post my thoughts once it's delivered and after trying out the xbox one s and some 4k videos...

 

Make sure to sit about 4 feet from the TV or you might not be able to see it clearly. 

[Chaosmonkey]

Way back in the day I dropped about $3k on a 50" Samsung DLP TV. Got it from visions, and got some extra warranty on it as well. 

 

Glad I did, because after 2-3 years, it ended up getting some "Stuck" pixels, which all DLPs seem to get. Guy came to fix it, says they don't make the parts he needs any more, and the whole TV would be replaced. Great, or so I thought. Holy **** was it like pulling teeth trying to get Visions to live up to their end of the warranty. 

 

They tried giving me a lesser TV. Mine was 1080, They were going to offload a 720 on me. They tried telling me that going from DLP to plasma I woudn't notice the difference, and that they are doing me a favor by letting me get a plasma in the first place. I held my ground and dug my heels in, I wasn't going to take a TV that was worse than the one I bought.

 

Well, that had to be approved by someone in Calgary. Only the one person could do it. And they were on vacation for 3 weeks. Took another couple weeks after that for them to finally sign off on replacing my defective TV with one of equal quality. "Great!" I said. "When can you drop it off?" I asked. No no, I had to go to the store and get it. Despite that the extra warranty I bought clearly stated it was "In Home" warranty, they were unwilling to budge on actually providing that service in my home. Very frustrating. I was able to borrow a van from a friend after a few days and went and got my TV. When I got there, they asked for my old TV back as well. Fair enough, as they were replacing it with a new one. But like hell I was dropping it off. "Come pick it up" I told them, they never did. 

 

After 6 months, the stuck pixels hadn't got any worse and Visions made no effort to come get it.. My buddy offered me $500 for it, and that was that.  Visions customer service can eat a bag of dicks as far as I care.

[The Unknown Poster]

@Chaosmonkey great story!  Im glad you held your ground.  Ive had a couple instances where I've had issues returning something i just bought that had issues.  No extended warranty.  When they say that, I tell them I assumed they werent selling crap.  Had a brief argument with Future Shop over a Blu Ray Player.  I think I had it for less than a month and tried to exchange it as it was having issues and they said they would have to send it away first.  I said not a chance...why should I be without for six weeks when the thing is less than 30 days old?  Finally just gave me a new one.

Had a video camera from Best Buy.  Water proof.  It was less than a year old and water proofing failed.  It was under manufacturers warranty which meant taking it to a local repair guy who confirmed that it was water but ofcource cant confirm a source.  They give me the run around about how its not their problem.  I go to Best Buy thinking it was their sale so they'd want to make sure it was right.  Nope.  Completely stone-walled.

I ended up tweeting Best Buy.  Now, my advice for people with customer service issues is, if you are unsatisfied, go to their social media people.  Those people have the most power and highest willingness to help.  In the meantime, I also googled the president of JVC and since I had emailed back and forth with customer service, I knew the naming convention of their emails.  I emailed the President.

Low and behold, he phones me right away.  Says my email was ridiculous and not only is sending me a new camera, but also a bag and SD card.  Interestingly, Best Buys online people actually replied at the same time saying they too would now replace my camera.

It sucks to have to do that much work.  I had an even bigger hassle with Equifax.  If anyone pays to monitor their credit, dont bother.  its a scam.  The credit score they advertise as "your credit score" isnt the same as the one your bank sees.  Its actually worthless.  This was the worst stone-walling of my life.  Even social media people blew me off until I said I would dispute charges with my credit card and then alert the world.  They finally refunded me.

[Brandon]

Word of advice...

I used to work at Best Buy... they live and die by selling the Best Buy service plans.   The commercials used to push how they were not on commission which is true... however if you didn't upsell on warranties you would get fired ASAP.   It's worse then places that are on commission.  

Once you purchase your product and leave the store... that store wants nothing to do with you.  This is because returns kill their numbers and the managers are terrified about losing their job.  

How it works is they will do anything and everything possible to avoid you using your extended warranty.   Best Buy in every city contracts out your repairs to the lowest bidder.   The people working on your tvs usually are terrible.

Always extend your warranty directly with the manufacturer.  They have real technicians and wont give you the run around. 

 

 

[Brandon]

9 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

Im jealous!  I've had my eye on a stupid expensive 86" but I have two friends with 75" and they look amazing so that might be my choice.  Plan was to renovate the basement into a home theatre this fall but looking more like spring so prices might come down more.

When do you expect delivery?  Please post a review!

Regarding the bait & switch, I hate that.  I would have asked for a rain check and when they said no i would have called, emailed, tweeted the world.

http://www.costco.ca/Sharp-Aquos-LC-75N8000U-75-in.-Smart-4K-Ultra-HD-LED-TV.product.100295975.html

1 - 2 weeks for delivery ,  it'll mostly be used for football , cartoons and movies with some xbox one s gaming.

The specs have everything that I was looking for  (FALD,  4k, HDR , 120hz) and at the Costco on Regent they had one setup and it looked really good. 

I was and still am unsure since HiSense bought out Sharp... but for $3200 the price was just really really good and it looks like everything was build using the same parts that Sharp used before they sold.   

As per the bait and switch.... it's on the Best Buy site where you can't "reserve" a tv over 50" unless it's in stock at the store... however if it's under 50" you can reserve the tv....    I'll just avoid Best Buy and enjoy the day when they finally are out of business

[FrostyWinnipeg]

21 hours ago, Brandon said:

I was going to buy a Sony on sale at Best Buy...  but naturally they used the old bait and switch tactic.   How convenient that for 2 weeks straight they didn't have the tv in stock while it was being pushed in the flyer and on it's main display in store....  so in my fit of anger I decided to go to Costco and get the 75" sharp...  can't go wrong with a 5 year extended warranty for only 99 dollars and the 90 day return policy. 

I'm weary since HiSense bought them out earlier in the year... but the in store model looked amazing and the price was great.   I'll post my thoughts once it's delivered and after trying out the xbox one s and some 4k videos...

 

Whats the amount of time u can get money back if price goes down? 1 month?

[pigseye]

Memory Express, you can't beat their price guarantee

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Policies/PriceProtection.cm.aspx

 

 

[FrostyWinnipeg]

1 hour ago, pigseye said:

Memory Express, you can't beat their price guarantee

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Policies/PriceProtection.cm.aspx

It was good when it was 25%.

Edited September 21, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[The Unknown Poster]

14 hours ago, Brandon said:

http://www.costco.ca/Sharp-Aquos-LC-75N8000U-75-in.-Smart-4K-Ultra-HD-LED-TV.product.100295975.html

1 - 2 weeks for delivery ,  it'll mostly be used for football , cartoons and movies with some xbox one s gaming.

The specs have everything that I was looking for  (FALD,  4k, HDR , 120hz) and at the Costco on Regent they had one setup and it looked really good. 

I was and still am unsure since HiSense bought out Sharp... but for $3200 the price was just really really good and it looks like everything was build using the same parts that Sharp used before they sold.   

As per the bait and switch.... it's on the Best Buy site where you can't "reserve" a tv over 50" unless it's in stock at the store... however if it's under 50" you can reserve the tv....    I'll just avoid Best Buy and enjoy the day when they finally are out of business

I would think they could get their hands rapped over that.  Sounds like false advertising.  They should have to prove they had stock at the time the flyer was printed and that they had reasonably enough stock.  For boxing day ads, stores often mark items as only a few remaining or "X amount per store".  I assume no one generally complains when its not a historic sale period.  But that's ridiculous.

My one issue with Visions (I bought my TV and Surround Sound there) was going in for a Blu Ray player.  I haggled a bit, I think got $20 knocked off.  They said we can do it if you buy your $100+ HDMI cables here.  Yeah right.  If someone comes in and knows everything about the item they want to buy, why would they think i'd buy $100 cables?

I generally find Im not consistently happy at any one store and have to shop around, play them off each other etc.  Best Buy in St James has been better, a lot better than the Best Buy/Future Shop on Pembina where Im pretty sure you only get hired if you fail a product knowledge test.

[FrostyWinnipeg]

Visions also has

-airmiles

-price match + 15%

-60day price protection

Edited September 21, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[The Unknown Poster]

So @Brandon tell us some more dirt on Best Buy.  If they don't work on commission, are they paid more than, say Visions or Future Shop?  Do they pay a bonus  based on sales or based on upsets etc?

[Brandon]

7 hours ago, The Unknown Poster said:

So @Brandon tell us some more dirt on Best Buy.  If they don't work on commission, are they paid more than, say Visions or Future Shop?  Do they pay a bonus  based on sales or based on upsets etc?

Absolute worse place that I ever worked at in my life,  I helped open the store on Regent.   So 12 years plus ago.    I could write a massive rant I'll try to keep it simple. 

They pay slightly above minimum wage and managers make low salaries with a tonne of bonuses if they meet near impossible goals. 

When I would sell a big screen + cables + surround sound for around $8000.....  at Future Shop I would of pocketed near a grand in cash from the commission.    At Best Buy i would get a pat on the back and maybe a 50 dollar gift card.  If I sold that package without the Best Buy extended warranty then i would of been scolded and lectured! Apparently now days from talking to the guy who tried selling me the tv they don't even give presents or gift cards... just the hourly crappy rate. 

This is why at Best Buy you mostly see 18 - 21 year olds with zero clue on what the hell they are talking about.  Usually they are suckers who believe the **** that Best Buy feeds them and will stupidly work for peanuts selling big money items.  Reminds me of the pawns that do the dirty work for Scientology. 

Tonnes of dirty business practices... nothing really illegal but morally I couldn't stand being there. 

If you were to come in to buy a cheap $40 dollar DVD player... I was suppose to push a $35 dollar extended warranty,  $200 dollar monster cables and a ridiculously over priced power bar.   I was suppose to read out the "10 points" in the extended warranty script given and if you left with only the $40 dollar dvd player rather then paying $300 for everything... I would then get reprimanded.   

We were forced to push certain items with larger margins and way over priced accessories.  The commercials are a farce because they push the employees way more to sell crap that customers did not need.  

I could go on with a massive long winded rant and examples... but I will spare you the boredom and just say that Best Buy is a terrible terrible company that rips off their employees and customers big time.  

 

 

 

[Logan007]

That's really scummy.  Towards both employees and customers.  I'm glad if I want electronics I can either go to Costco or shop at Amazon for stuff.  I rarely ever opt for an extended warranty...ever.  I hate places like this that do shitty things to their employees.

[The Unknown Poster]

Very interesting.  It definitely does seem like the staff don't know anything. Back in the day you would find the stereo sales guy knew stereos. TV guy knew TV's. 

I bought a printer from Best Buy and when I asked the guy a question he read the back of the box. And then I had to correct him. 

I knew a future shop employee who was giving "discounts" to a lot of people. I almost bought a tv before I found out there was a group of them that we're basically stealing items and reselling them. 

[17to85]

 

[Atomic]

Wasn't the Regent Best Buy the one that closed down overnight and the employees didn't find out until they came to work the next day and found the place shuttered?

[FrostyWinnipeg]

12 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Wasn't the Regent Best Buy the one that closed down overnight and the employees didn't find out until they came to work the next day and found the place shuttered?

Future Shop but FS closing was always on the horizon once BB bought them out.

Edited September 22, 2016 by FrostyWinnipeg

[bigg jay]

21 minutes ago, Atomic said:

Wasn't the Regent Best Buy the one that closed down overnight and the employees didn't find out until they came to work the next day and found the place shuttered?

http://www.metronews.ca/news/winnipeg/2013/01/31/best-buy-to-close-regent-avenue-store-14-other-stores-across-canada.html

[Brandon]

I remember when one of the girls in the computer department didn't know what USB ports were used for lol...

Some of the staff will know what they are talking about. It's just that they are pushed to lie and sell certain products. 

One week Samsung TVs are the best the next week then they will push Sony. Depends on the margins and for which company are paying for end cap space.

[The Unknown Poster]

12 hours ago, Brandon said:

I remember when one of the girls in the computer department didn't know what USB ports were used for lol...

Some of the staff will know what they are talking about. It's just that they are pushed to lie and sell certain products. 

One week Samsung TVs are the best the next week then they will push Sony. Depends on the margins and for which company are paying for end cap space.

If I make a purchase like a TV, Blu Ray etc I obsessively read reviews and learn about them.  So usually I will ask a fairly general question to which I know the answer to see if they 1) know 2) dont know 3) will make something up 4) think Im stupid.  Then I know what Im dealing with.

A few years ago when the "soap opera effect" was new, my buddy's parents bought a new TV and he didnt like the PQ.  So I looked it up online and kid if explained it but he wanted to go tor FS and ask.  The guy had no idea.  None.  But he made up an answer. 

I would think there would at least be a weekly newsletter of sorts with general questions and information that sales people would get to educate themselves.