Ancient history: back in 1988 my friend was selling high end TVs at a appliance store and calls to tell me the floor model of the TV I kept fonding when I would go see him is getting a big discount the next day. I'm there! Mits 60 rear projection in this beautiful oak cabinet with bi-fold doors. Sweet! Thirteen years and three moves later I had to call the service tech for the first time. Over the next few years I got nickel and dimed a bit and finally the picture was getting very strange. When I moved in June, 2007, it went to the e-recycler. Nineteen years, most of them without any problems whatsoever, good deal.
So, last September I bought myself a birthday present (I had to apologize to the BB/Magnolia sales dweeb for drooling all over the floor in front of the display models). No, I did not look at the Sony or any other manufacturer, Mits had a satisfied customer. It came down to the 65 or the 73. I decided that brand new Mits WD-73833 would be da bomb. I whipped out my Amex, pointed, and grunted.
I brought it home in my pickup (nice that they made the box just small enough to fit between the wheel wells) and got a buddy to help me get the thing out of the box and positioned in my living room. Hook up the Tivo 3 and the DVD player. WOW! What a picture. It looks even better at home than in the store (Honestly, I expected a little improvement because BB spends so much on florescent lights, but zowwie).
Now, about mid-November, we get an HD-DVD of the Eagles Farewell tour and the better half tells me when we play it via her Xbox 360 through the Mits' HDMI connection that there is a noticeable image/sound sync problem. The sound happens just before the action happens (Don Henley banging his snare drum shows it off rather well). Hook the Xbox to the Phillips 42 Plasma in the bedroom and no such problems. Personally, I can live with it, but she wants me to send it back... Whatever. Has anyone else seen/heard this?
Other than that ongoing argument, everything was going along swimmingly, I am regularly overdosing on football, my (male) friends were envious, that is until Superbowl Sunday. I had friends over for the weekend and a dead TV. CRAP! I hit the button and get a whining sound like a hard drive spooling up, then it staggers a bit, the audio comes on, another whine or two, no video, and then it turns itself off.
On the phone with BBService while my buddy reads the troubleshooting section of the manual... Still on hold, trying the reset button, unplugging it for a few minutes, etc. Damn! Damn! Oh, ok, sorry, the kids might be listening. Dog-gone-it!
Schedule a tech to come out ... best they can do is Feb 11th. He spends two minutes opening the back and replacing the lamp just to make sure then another fifteen minutes writing up some document or another, whips out this weird cash register tape printer and spools off two feet of (almost real) paper with tiny print telling me the light engine needs to be replaced and he leaves.
Another week goes by (I miss the Daytona 500), so I call BBService to find out what the blankity-blank is going on. The cs-type says that the part has not been ordered. Huh? She claims that Mits has to approve the order before the order can be placed for the replacement part. You're kidding? A few days later, I get a call back telling me that the part was ordered but that there is no ETA. They've been very nice on the phone and the tech was businesslike and professional, but, I have a very expensive TV that's been dead for three weeks and no idea when it will be fixed.
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot, over.
Don't these guys know that March Madness is coming? Thanks for the place to rant.
