Appreciate comments from those knowledgeable about TV repair
 

I own a 50 inch Pioneer plasma TV (PDP5010FD) whose extended warranty expired last November. About a month ago the power to the house was interrupted for a second (no storms ect.) everything came back on except the TV. When I turned the TV on there was no picture instead the on light blinked in 12 blink intervals - later 8 blink intervals. A small window at the bottom of the screen said "Starting up. Please wait". This would stay on for a minute and disappear. Called authorized Pioneer repair store who came to the home, diagnosed it as needing a new power circuit which would take a week to fix and cost $400 with a $200 deposit. They took the TV to the shop. After no word for 3 weeks I called them and they said with the power unit they installed the TV stayed on for an hour or two and then turned off. They said the TV needed a new "main" circuit board installed and the total bill would now be $875 and would take two more weeks to fix. Two days later they said it was fixed and would deliver it the next day. After they plugged the TV in it would still not come on (not even the two hour window it was supposedly working for) and the on light blinked in 8 pulse increments. Does anyone have any idea what is going on? This place has been in business for many years and I do not think that it has a reputation for ripping people off.

decline the repair

eat the $200 deposit loss

go get your old tv

go buy a new tv

try to sell your old tv and get SOMETHING for it

The TV was $2500 four years ago when I purchased it. I love the picture and I do not think that I can get anything as good with the $875 repair cost + some extra change. Besides Pioneer does not make Plasma TVs anymore and they were the best.

Sounds eerily similar to what happened with my Mitsubishi.

I had purchased the extended warranty, so i was covered, but....after repeated attempts to fix it (trouble also with the main board)...they just replaced it with a new one for me.

I ended up giving the new one away and buying a Sony.

You can, actually. You can usually find great deals on Samsung plasmas. Also, the Panasonic Viera plasmas are good.

Exhibit A: http://www.frys.com/product/6546273?...H:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Shop around - I've got a feeling you are getting jerked around a little bit. Take that with a grain of salt though because I'm no expert.

This $675 will get you a pretty nice TV these days

You are unwise paying that much on a repair of a television. Pioneer made great TVs, but that model is still several years old, will be out of warranty even after the repair, and suffered electrical damage. Even if they fixed the main board there is still other damage that the surge/outage could have caused, and it doesn't appear like they seem to know what the hell they are doing.

Nope...it sounds like they're just replacing parts until they find the right one.

Two words for you: sunk cost.

The weird thing about the world today is that electronics are never repaired any more. It's always cheaper to replace them and typically upgrade at the same time. I'm kind of shocked that a TV repair place still exists.

Taking a shotgun approach while throwing out false diagnoses is the epitome of "not knowing what the hell you're doing."

People who strip and recycle old electronics in China make significantly more than farmers. Right now some planeteer's old 17" CRT is probably being harvested by an 11 year old amongst a cloud of mercury vapor in Shanxi province.

By "nope", I meant you were correct in saying the didn't know what they were doing.

Maybe they could fix my sarcasm meter too.

8 pulses is probably an indication of what area the problem is it, I would talk to your insurance agent to see if it is covered, kind of like lightening damage during a storm.... talk to Pioneer about your situation if you are unhappy with the service and see if they can help.