Vizio imitates Seinfeld

[SoftballVol]

I had an interesting conversation with Vizio tech support tonight and I need some technical advice. A few weeks ago my HDMI port 1 quit working. I only have my Dish satellite box plugged into it and initially I assumed the problem was with the Dish receiver. But through trial and error I quickly realized that the receiver worked fine on ports 2, 3, and 4. So today I emailed Vizio tech support and asked for a warranty repair. They wrote back and asked me to go through a series of system reset routines involving unplugging the TV, holding down the power button for 30 seconds, and finally resetting the unit to factory defaults. I did all of those things and it had no effect on port 1. So I called them. After explaining the whole story to them they asked me to try the port with another HDMI device. I told them that I didn’t have another HDMI device and since the satellite box works on the other three ports that seems to prove that the problem isn’t with the satellite box. She insisted that I buy or borrow another HDMI device. I told her no and asked to speak to a manager. A manager came on the line and repeated the same stuff. He agreed with me that the problem was obviously with the port on the TV but claimed that he had no power to override the rule requiring me to test with another device. My question to the group here is whether there can possibly be any validity to this. My TV warranty includes home service since it’s a 47-incher and it looks to me like they’re simply trying to avoid if at all possible coming out to my house as that would likely totally wipe out any profit they made on the original sale. Can anyone think of any reason why a different HDMI device might work and if it does why the satellite box doesn’t when it works fine on the other three ports?

[PitiFulmer]

Sounds like they are trying to avoid making good on the warranty. Use your working ports for the time being, and send a threatening letter to their corporate office.

[AtlantaVol]

1) Download their warranty and see if this is written in mouseprint. If not then point it out to them.

2) Can you get a Blu Ray player to check it out- or hell- just say you did. If one HDMI unit doesn't work on a specific HDMI input there is no logical reason to think another unit would work. So either borrow one or just say you did.

3) If #1 and #2 fail send them a letter saying you will take them to Small Claims court for the Full Price of the TV. I don't think any lawyer is needed for small claims court cases under a few thousand dollars.

[Voluble2]

You can do everything everyone suggests with the lawyers and letters etc... but it is cheaper and easier for you just to tell them you tested it with another device whether you did or did not. It is just a game. They try to make you jump through enough hoops that you give up and use the other ports or buy another TV if the problem is bad. But they really don't care whether you actually jumped through the hoops or not. The purpose of the hoop is not to fix the TV but to whittle down the number of service calls they have to make. For all we know their protocol was implemented when they only put one port on each TV and was never updated.

But if you look at it from the perspective of wanting to get the whole thing over as quickly as possible then lying is the best avenue, followed by testing with a borrowed laptop or a Blu-Ray player etc... You will expend more energy with the other solutions but also you will be running out the clock on the warranty and dragging out the process. If they had told me what they did you I would have told them right then I had checked it with another device and we would have been on to the next hoop or we would have had a repairman scheduled.

BTW, I made the mistake of buying a mattress from Sears. Within about a month part of it had buckled along the edge. They tried to get out of it by saying I had been sitting on the edge of the bed. That is pretty clever since you can't disprove something like that easily and no one would expect that a mattress would have warranty limitations about how you sit on it.

Luckily the pictures showed that the way the bed is placed in the room there is no way that would have been possible due to lack of room and the fact I would have had to spend hours facing the wall! We got them to replace the mattress but of course the replacement is just as shitty. I have managed to get a little more life out of it by rotating it every week but it is going to go down within a year. The last mattress we bought lasted twenty years. I only weigh about 170 so it isn't like it is being put under a huge amount of strain. But it is going to be easier for me to write this sucker off when it goes rather than getting it replaced with the same type over and over again. You reach a point of diminishing returns and I am sure that they will try to pro-rate each exchange as time goes on.

[SoftballVol]

2) Can you get a Blu Ray player to check it out- or hell- just say you did. If one HDMI unit doesn't work on a specific HDMI input there is no logical reason to think another unit would work. So either borrow one or just say you did.
Here's where the conversation resembled a Seinfeld episode. Do you remember the one where Jerry bought a blazer from a haughty salesman who spent more time leering at Elaine than he did helping Jerry? Jerry bought it anyway but after thinking about it he decided to return it. When the woman at the customer service desk asked him why he was returning it he answered, "Spite." She said, "Well I don't think spite is an acceptable reason for a return." Jerry said, "OK, in that case I just don't want it." She said, "No, you already said spite and we don't allow returns based on spite." He asked to speak to a manager and the manager went through the same routine.

That's basically what happened with my conversation last night with Vizio. When told that I had to test the port with another device I said, "OK, I just did that and it still doesn't work." The support tech said, "No, you already said that you didn't have another device." I said, "Well, I magically discovered another device just now. It was hiding under the couch. And it failed on port 1 also." She said, "No, you can't find another device after you said that you didn't have another device." I said, "OK, then how am I ever supposed to test it with another device if you're going to claim that the fact that I didn't have one the instant you demanded one means that I can never obtain one?" She didn't have an answer. That's when I asked to speak to the manager and of course he was of no help, either.

[Tnphil]

Here's where the conversation resembled a Seinfeld episode. Do you remember the one where Jerry bought a blazer from a haughty salesman who spent more time leering at Elaine than he did helping Jerry? Jerry bought it anyway but after thinking about it he decided to return it. When the woman at the customer service desk asked him why he was returning it he answered, "Spite." She said, "Well I don't think spite is an acceptable reason for a return." Jerry said, "OK, in that case I just don't want it." She said, "No, you already said spite and we don't allow returns based on spite." He asked to speak to a manager and the manager went through the same routine.

That's basically what happened with my conversation last night with Vizio. When told that I had to test the port with another device I said, "OK, I just did that and it still doesn't work." The support tech said, "No, you already said that you didn't have another device." I said, "Well, I magically discovered another device just now. It was hiding under the couch. And it failed on port 1 also." She said, "No, you can't find another device after you said that you didn't have another device." I said, "OK, then how am I ever supposed to test it with another device if you're going to claim that the fact that I didn't have one the instant you demanded one means that I can never obtain one?" She didn't have an answer. That's when I asked to speak to the manager and of course he was of no help, either.

I was a pallbearer at a funeral back in March...I have several suits but not a dark or black one...and since I retired I dont wear suits anymore...So I went to Pennys and purchased one on my Pennys card....a week later I returned it, no questions asked...

and NO...I dont feel bad because I have helped Penny's stay in business for many a years....

[SoftballVol]

I was a pallbearer at a funeral back in March...I have several suits but not a dark or black one...and since I retired I dont wear suits anymore...So I went to Pennys and purchased one on my Pennys card....a week later I returned it, no questions asked...

and NO...I dont feel bad because I have helped Penny's stay in business for many a years....
I'm guessing that you didn't tell them that you were returning it for spite. :biglaugh:

[SoftballVol]

Good news from Vizio. I just got a call from corporate and they wisely chose not to continue to try to make me test my bad port with another device. The guy was apologetic for their support people being such anal retentives about it and admitted that it was a stupid rule and that he was at that very moment dealing with more than one angry customer on this same issue. I asked him if the rule was left over from the days when their TVs had only one port as Voluble suggested in which case it would make sense. He said he wasn't sure but that I was probably right. He seemed very concerned that my customer loyalty was going to suffer long-term harm as a result of this. I told him that I'd reserve judgment until the final fix was made but that I did appreciate his attitude and that I was sure that things would work out fine. We'll see. Now I begin the wait for the 3rd-party repair company to call me. Damn, I hope it's not one of those, "We'll be there between 2010 and 2012, preferably when no one is at home."