After almost three weeks of asking them to get this sorted, I have received email instructions to send it to a repair outfit (at my own cost) along with the receipt and a warranty claim. I'm not a happy chappy.

From the sounds of things it amounts to "please make a claim on the manufacturers warranty" though I'll have to phone after lunch to confirm this. For a 'Dead on Arrival' product that's most certainly not satisfactory.

Given the nature of the problem and the nature of LCD sets, I would actually be prepared to accept a repair IF it was carried out in a timely manner. The thing is that these sets can often feature 'dead pixel' errors on the screen and the panel on this one is perfect. Looks like the fault lies in the image processing or analogue/digital part of the set. And it looks like a dry solder joint problem as if I turn up the heating in the room the set works OK after ten minutes or so. It could actually be a simple repair.

Unfortunately, I could see this repair lot taking ages to do it (hey, the shop took three weeks to tell me to call them). Also, if they are just working as warranty repair agents there will be no way to apply pressure. I have had a bad experience years ago when I first came to Switzerland, when a brand new DVD player was sent to a third party workshop to be made multi-region ... I had to wait TWO MONTHS for them to fit the chip and the shop whom I had made the purchase off showed no interest in doing anything to expedite matters since they already had my money.

I have no intention of allowing such a situation to develop again. If necessary I'll buy a new set somewhere else and take the shop to court. But before I start spending money on lawyers, I'd appreciate having an idea about the general consumer law (to apply pressure to the shop) so if anyone knows.....?


Gav