I have a small Sharp LCD (LC-20SH21U) that is less than 3 months old that is having a couple of problems. They told me I would have to pay for the shipping to have it serviced since they said this set could not be taken to a local Sharp authorized service shop, even though the warranty says you can bring it in.

Is it normal that the customer has to pay to ship a set in to be serviced when it is still under warranty?

I went a little nuts on the guy after I heard this, so I thought I better check here to see if this is a normal industry-wide practice before I call back.

Thanks

What country/state/city are you in?

Maybe it's one of the outsourced models and cannot be repaired by the Sharp technicians, so they want you to ship it to them so they can ship you a replacement to fulfill the warranty. Some small LCD's are so cheap to make now that fixing one is probably not worth the cost of parts and labor so they don't bother fixing it, they just give you a new one during the warranty period.

I don't think it's right for them to charge you shipping regardless, unless they want to verify that it's defective then re-imburse you for your shipping costs.

I am in Jacksonville, Fl. Sharp has an authorized service shop here, but they said I can not take it there and must ship it to them for service. And they won't reimburse me for the shipping regardless of what is wrong with the set.

I am in Jacksonville, Fl. Sharp has an authorized service shop here, but they said I can not take it there and must ship it to them for service. And they won't reimburse me for the shipping regardless of what is wrong with the set.That sucks. Sharp sucks. You should start a thread about this bullcrap in the LCD forum to warn other people who may be considering buying a Sharp LCD. I bet if people know this in advance, they might not want to risk getting a Sharp, especially since their outsourced models have poor build quality.

Maybe you should take this to a higher level within Sharp's organization, like maybe the CEO of the company. This is terrible customer service - making the customer pay shipping because their local repair shop can't handle the job. It's certainly not YOUR fault!

That sucks. Sharp sucks. You should start a thread about this bullcrap in the LCD forum to warn other people who may be considering buying a Sharp LCD. I bet if people know this in advance, they might not want to risk getting a Sharp, especially since their outsourced models have poor build quality.

Maybe you should take this to a higher level within Sharp's organization, like maybe the CEO of the company. This is terrible customer service - making the customer pay shipping because their local repair shop can't handle the job. It's certainly not YOUR fault!

And I haven't even told the entire story of what a pain their customer service has been.

The first time I called Sharp, they said to take it to their authorized service shop, which was on the other side of town. I drove 20 minutes there and dropped it off, with the person there saying it would be no problem to fix. When I got home, the person from the shop called and said that when they called Sharp to order parts, Sharp told them that this set needed to be sent in and that they should not repair it.

So I then have to drive another 20 minutes each way to pick it back up, then I am told by Sharp that I would have to cover the shipping to send it to them. They said they would be faxing me a form on Monday (this was Friday morning at this point) that would need to be included with the shipment. Of course Monday comes and I don't receive the fax, so I call them again. They said I need to fax over my receipt (which not one person had ever mentioned before) before they could send the service form for me to include with the set. I finally received the form on Tuesday.

This has been such a hassle that I refuse to ever buy another Sharp product again.

That sucks. Sharp sucks.
Maybe you should take this to a higher level within Sharp's organization, like maybe the CEO of the company. This is terrible customer service - making the customer pay shipping because their local repair shop can't handle the job. It's certainly not YOUR fault!

Ditto.

I would deffinately be talking to people higher up the chain instead of the customer service reps. At least the manager and put pressure on them to pay for shipping. And then send a letter and call the highest person in the chain of command you can get a hold of and rip sharp apart for their horrible customer and warranty service.