Would you buy a TV online?

[pearsall001]

With out tax return my wife wants to put a TV & furniture grade stand up in the living room. I'm thinking around a 32" would be fine. I'll check out all the local places...but can you recommend any good internet stores.

What are your thoughts on buying a TV online as far as shipping damage, warranty repairs etc. I would feel a lot safer from a local store but I just want to compare pricing & see if an internet purchase is worth it.

[daboyz]

I don't believe I could buy a TV online myself. Too big of a purchase and too many possibilities of a problem.

[greg2350]

I bought mine online no problems.

http://www.plasmahouse.com

bought this one
http://www.plasmahouse.com/productdetail.asp?productid=1532

[F1nut]

I bought one from Fry's.com. The first two arrived damaged via DHL. They got the 3rd here in one piece. I had no problem dealing with Fry's. DHL on the other hand, suck monkey nuts.

[shadowofnight]

Bought 2 58" Panasonic Plasmas from here.... http://www.visualapex.com/ ....from website to delivery top notch place.

[mantis]

No I would not.

[engtaz]

Yes I would. Bought a projector and LCD online.

engtaz

[Ricardo]

No; I prefer to use one of those BB/CC no interests for 18-36 months offers.

[tcrossma]

I always start looking online for them but never seem to pull the trigger on it. I always end up going to a local store and end up talking them down to where I don't need to take the online risk.

[MKZ]

I bought 40" LCD from Amazon last year. They used the shipping company called Eagle with White glove delivery. Which means they delivered and set the TV IN your house to make sure everything OK and they took the trash back out of your house also. One thing you have to consider if you want to buy it from the Store is most big TV will not fit in back seat of the Sedan. Check Fry's or Costco also, their price are nice when it is on sale.

[billbillw]

I wouldn't hesitate to buy online, as long as its from a well known company.

Amazon, Crutchfield, Vanns, and One Call are a few that I would trust.

[wingnut4772]

I bought a set from Crutchfield once. It went very well. They have great customer service.

[reeltrouble1]

I bought a set from Crutchfield once. It went very well. They have great customer service.

+1, they are top tier for internet electronics.

RT1

[honda cber]

one caveat:
make sure and check their dead-pixel policy if buying LCD. for example, newegg.com has a policy that either 4 or 8 (cant remember) dead or stuck pixels is a-ok and not returnable as defective. with the bigger screens and increased viewing distance, you might or might not notice, but personally, i am NOT ok with even one dead or stuck pixel.
i found this out by buying a 22" widescreen lcd monitor from them. only one dead pixel, almost right smack dead in the center of the screen. very annoying, and yes, i always notice it. will they take it back? nopers. all i got was the often heard (by me) "we are sorry mr. royal, but....."
a

[Jstas]

We get a discount from Phillips/Magnavox where I work and you can only buy stuff from their website. I bought a TV for my parents and I have several friends at work that bought TV's and no one had any problems at all. We also got a TV for my brother from Crutchfield and it arrived cracked. Called up Crutchfield immediatly and they said "Is the shipper still there?" I was like "Yeah." They said "Don't let them leave, we will have this fixed in 2 minutes." They put me on hold and just as they got back on the phone with me, the shipper dude got a notice on his little hand-held jobby and a return shipping label printed out. The dude on the phone apologized and said that another was already on the way and being expedited. That arrived no problems and they even took it to the room it was getting installed in for me. Awesome.

I'd buy a TV online again. Figure they get shipped around the world in huge piles in the original packing, it should be able to survive the shipping to my house too.

[WilliamM2]

I'd buy a TV online again. Figure they get shipped around the world in huge piles in the original packing, it should be able to survive the shipping to my house too.


They are not shipped individually around the world, they are shipped on pallets. The store I bought my Toshiba from also recieved them on pallets. This is much safer than individual shipping.

I would order from Crutchfield, as they are very easy to deal with. But then Crutchfield usually charges full retail price, which kind of defeats the purpose.

I bought mine locally, got a better price than online anyways. The first set had 31 dead pixels. The exchange for another was very easy, and only took 45 minutes to drive to the store, exchange, and drive back. If you have any sort of a problem, it is much better to have bought locally.

[fossy]

i bought a 42" from Dell --- had no problems -- but i was concerned about it as far as the shipping as I've heard some nightmare-ish stories about damaged tower speakers during shipping but all went well

[hockeyboy]

Go here and buy from a highly rated online retailer:

pricegrabber.com

[Gadabout]

I bought my DLP from amazon. At the time, it saved me about $500 from what Best Buy had the same TV for.

No sales tax, no shipping charges and I got it within 2 days of when I ordered it. It was shipped out of Dallas. The delivery guy called the next day after I ordered it and then brought it to the house and set it up the next day. (Setup was included too)

No issues with the TV. I would certainly buy another one online as long as the company was reputable.

[mightymouse]

I bought my 332" from Costco online. The TV was too big to fit in the back of my car. When I made my purchase, for that particular model, Costco had the lowest price anywhere. And in case something goes wrong with your TV, you can't beat Costco's generous return policy.

[agfrost]

Bought a 32" Samsung LCD from Fry's. It arrived essentially OK from DHL (Box had some superficial damage) but the TV had an electronics problem, if random, full-volume static is a problem in your book.

Dealt with Samsung rather than ship back at my dollar--The "local" repair people had to repair the main board twice and the speakers as well.

It's perfect now, but I would have preferred to have been able to return the bum set to a B&M store. The time spent in multiple diagnoses, part-orders, and service calls pretty much negated whatever money I saved by buying online.

I guess it's a bit of a risk/reward thing, you've got to decide how big the price savings is vs. the potential for headache.

Jay

[unc2701]

46" from amazon, saved $1000, no issues at all AND they're authorized for everything they sell.

[SDA SRS 1.2]

Bought two Samsung LCD's (23" and 36") from Amazon - no sales tax and free shipping. Arrived two days after the order - no problems. Saved a total of $450 on both compared to the nearest Best Buy and Circuit City.

[PolkWannabie]

Would and did ... Last purchase being a Samsung 56" DLP ... was $600 less this way + free shipping and no tax ... They brought the unit to right where I wanted ( upstairs ) set it up and verified it was working before leaving ...

[appadv]

No, never.

[bondslex]

Every weekend onecall has a super sale on 21 items. My last 3 LCD tvs have been purchased from them. Shipping is also included and it is shipped on its on palate by a trucking company. When I bought my last 46" Samsung LCD, I saved over 800+ dollars compared to the local BB & CC stores. My advice is go the stores and look at what you want. Then find it if you can online and save hundreds. The tvs at onecall have the same onsite warranty as any local store....

[MacLeod]

I would not.

Im leary of buying anything online anyway and Im just not sure they could get it to my house in one piece. Plus there is that whole waiting thing which I hate to do. It took me long enough to get the scratch together to get a great tv, I WANT IT NOW!

As for price, if you do some digging and shop around you can usually get one on sale at damn near the price of a discount online retailer.

Best thing about buying from a store, if you do have a problem youve got a place you can go back to and a guy you can pull across the counter if you need to. Buy from an online joint and you may have to wait on hold for 2 hours or wait a couple days for your email to be returned (except for Crutchfield of course).

When that happy day comes and Im finally able to get me a big plasma, Ill be heading directly for my local Circuit City!

[SKsolutions]

Bedroom plasma from www.plasmahouse.com . First one came with a crack, and a new one was shipped within an hour of my phone call, highly recommend. Living room plasma was online as well, I forget the store. No dead pixels on either panel. Much less expensive, even after shipping.

[apphd]

Bought my 42" Panny plasma from One Call saved a lot of $$ (mostly tax and shipping) but was nervous as this was my first big on line purchase. It came banded upright on a pallet as should be. Was only supposed to be curb side but the driver helped me get it to the porch. One Call had a specific receiving procedure (basic common sense) they email you and also go over on the order confirmation phone call, to make sure any shipping issues are covered before the truck leaves.

I think if you stay with authorized dealers and research the sellers' track record, then carefully read their return policy, just in case, you are safe.

One other thing I found when I was shopping, at least for TV's, prices seem to fluctuate almost weekly. If you miss what you think is a killer deal at one site, chances are good (but not a quarantee) you will find an equal deal somewhere else within a month or so.