This is what happens when you do not care about the quality of the parts that go into the TVs. It's a great way to save money: Let the customer take the gamble on the overall reliability of your product.
You DO get what you pay for (unless you buy Sony, and then you pay a lot but can still find yourself in the same gamble.)
I am a salesman of televisions for over four years at Sears. I am not your average underachiever that you will typically find at Best Buy or Circuit City that are nothing but glorified cashiers. Reading all of your posts I would like to point out that almost none of you made a wise purchase for several reasons. Reason the first, you bought Vizio. Vizio is pure garbage and the fact that they shipped the most TVs is hardly a reason to buy one. Honestly, from my years here it is rarely the best product or even the best valued product that moves the most merchandise. It is usually the turd product with the most attractive sugar coating. Case in point the iPod for media players while they are clearly inferior to several others of their kind on the market. I won't get in to that one on this forum but most real tech oriented people realize that iPod is clearly not the best.
Second and probably the single most annoying thing to a qualified sales associate is that several of you voiced your delight in a 1080p capable TV in that price bracket. Let me say this once and for all, 1080p does not make up for god awful color and horrible black levels. It doesn't counter the fact that the image is washed out either. At the moment we are selling the Vizio 42" lcd for $1200, and yes it is a 1080p display. At the other end of the store we have 2 42" Panasonic plasmas that are cheaper and infinately better. The 720p display is $800 and the 1080p is $1000 and both are 2008 models. The is absolutely no comparison in the color quality and the smoothness of high motion between the two sets. And to all of you plasma haters, you really need to stop listening to your know it all friend that you think knows about TVs. Plasmas are better than LCDs on the whole. To get an LCD that will hang with a decent plasma, you will literally spend about double the money and you will hate your black levels in a night time setting. I own 2 LCDs myself because I bought into the hype. I will not make that mistake again as my next set that I am buying in a couple weeks is a plasma. Until the Samsung 9 series LED backlit style LCDs are more affordable I will not own another LCD. And before the usual and obvious comments bashing plasma come, let me lay some of them to rest. Number one, burn in is no longer a problem among the better sets as long as you aren't leaving static images for extreme durations. There is no such thing as a recharge and estimated gas lives among the leading brands in plasma exceed that of the backlight in an LCD. They also have superior off angle viewing, better color, and handle motion better. That is my two cents, take it for what you will.
You sell them and I work on them. Everything you said was true IRONMCJESUS about the picture quality and especially the Black Level problem. The new LED versions will address some of the Black Level problem by turning off areas of light to achieve True Black. Even the Plasma TV cannot do this because all of the Pixels on a Plasma are in a dim state during black scenes and are never 100% off. The problem with both technologies is reliability. I know some( but few) people that have had good luck with their Plasma TV's. Others have had failures in the first year or even the first couple of months. TV's used to last for years. Now they last for months. Reliability issues are a problem with "all brands" of TV's now. LCD or Plasma. And the biggest problem is getting one repaired, not if but when it fails. Some of the failures are simple and easy to find. Some are complicated failures involving the Flash Memory or Processor IC's. Which in most cases cannot be replaced due to the level of difficulty or part availability. The Manufacturers are not providing Product Support after the warranty has expired. Service information and parts are very difficult for the TV servicer to obtain. In the past you would go to your local RCA or Zenith dealer to buy your favorite brand knowing that if you had a problem they would be able to take care of it. That was back in the days when the Manufacturer cared about the customer and wanted Brand Loyalty and Repeat business. Not now. Who knows where your RCA TV is manufactured today and where it will be manufactured tomorrow. Now only the Brand Names exist. Not the company's that proudly stood behind and bore the name of the product. Today it's about making a fast buck and as many of them as possible. They don't care if you buy another one of their brand name TV's because tomorrow they will introduce a new brand name. They all are made in China now by Electronics Manufacturing Firms. They have no association with the brand name and they don't want you to fix it. They want you to buy another one off of them. Even if it's under warranty that doesn't mean you will get it fixed. You most likely will have to complain to the store you bought it from until they replace it. This could take some time due to store policy and how long you had it before it failed. If it fails out of warranty even by 1 day don't expect any sympathy from the seller. The good old days are gone in Consumer Electronics. They have quietly turned us into a THROW AWAY SOCIETY. The same will happen if we start buying Chinese Cars. That's next. Good luck everybody. You'll need it if you are trying to get a modern TV fixed these days.
I must say. Based on my experience so far with my 32" Vizio LCD TV, I love it. They will do well if they continue making quality TVs at great prices. To the poster above that said it will die within 2 years I ask this.........Who keeps TVs that long these days anyway? When it starts acting flaky, it will go on craigslist and be replaced with another one.
SONY SUCKS! SONY REALLY SUX! ONLY A PERSON IN DENIAL OR A SONYSUCKER WOULD DISAGREE.
I AM AN AUDIO & VIDEOPHILE. I STARTED A DJ SERVICE WITH CUSTOM BUILT SPEAKERS AT AGE 18. I HAVE HD-DVD. I HAD BLU-RAY. I RECENTLY BOUGHT A BLU/HDDVD/DVD/CD WRITER FOR MY PC.
SONY MAKES BLUE LASER/LENS ASSEMBLIES THAT HAVE A SENSITIVE AND OR SHORT LIFESPAN. A LOT OF PS3 OWNERS LOSE BLU PLAYBACK AND OF COURSE THAT MEANS NO DVD OR GAME FUNCTIONALITY.
I JUST GAVE AWAY MY SELDOM USED SONY ALL-IN-ONE DVD, FM TUNER, HOME THEATER SYSTEM. DVD STARTED TO NOT PLAY THE FIRST FEW TRIES, AND LATER, NO LOADING EVER!!!
STAY AWAY! RESIST THE NAME. IT IS A DIRTY FOUR LETTER WORD.........
I enjoyed the cheaper price and the fair quality of the television until something went wrong then I found out the true side of VIZIO. The warranty covers everything... everything but the TV. They completely bend the consumer over and really ram home the fact you bought the cheaper TV. Oops should have sprang another couple hundred for a decent TV and an honest company. Don't waste your money on this, spend the extra $300 and deal with a company who cares about their customers.
I paid $600 for a Vizio 32" plama HDTV 15 months ago and it is starting to go out already! It takes longer and longer to come on. Now it clicks on, then off, then on... it does this sometimes 5 or 6 times before it finally comes on... an email to Vizio tech support has so far gone unanswered. $600 is about twice what I have ever paid for an analog TV which usually lasted 6 or 8 years before being replaced; and then they were usually given to someone else since they STILL worked! I'm a little disappointed that CNET gave VIZIO such a good review. I'm one of those 600,000 people who bought a Vizio but I would never buy another one!
I just bought a Vizio 42" 1080p at Wal-Mart for ONLY $479.00! I don't understand. But my Brother has a 40" Samsung 1080p and I have to say there isn't a big difference. he bought his refurbished for $1000 at Canada Computers. I have to say this is the best purchase I have ever made.
wait about 24months...it WILL go out on you.. be ready to buy a new TV or buy new capaciotors or a power supply for it when it DOES go out! read my posting on here.It is easy to sell cheap when you build cheap and dont spend time or money on your support as a company...they come out of the gate strong but end the end they will finish last if they dont start making some major changes in the VIZIO company.I've been in product sales all my life and i know tis tidbit for a FACT!
I'm hoping that the negative Vizio posts are just from the few and not the masses. I just ordered the 55" LED Vizio from Dell because the reviews on it have been great. It's a little pricey, but less than the other LED TV's the same size. I'm going to hope for the best. I was excited about my purchase until I read the negative posts. Not the way to start my day....ughhh.
Would like to point out the two horrible reviews on her are in regards to customer service. Yet if you read the article you see the company started and based everything they had on customer service. ALL of the other reviews rave about these TV's, the brand, and definitely the service, so it makes you wonder what these dudes are smoking? Or perhaps, just perhaps they work for the competition..
i will NEVER buy from this Vizio ever again! We got horrible customer service, and they accused us of "making up" our own bill that we had received from the company!! When we told them that we would never buy their product again they stated to us "Well, one customer not buying our product will not hurt us" If you want a good TV and good customer service buy from some different company!!
I bought my 42 inch Vizio just over a year now. My Backlights went out, so i called Vizio and was told they couldn't help me because they was the in warranty department. So they gave me the number to ITI which is their out of warranty department. So, i called them and explained what was going on with my TV and that it was the backlights. The lady i was talking to put me on hold so she could get me a quote. About 2 minutes later she returns to the phone and tell me that they are unable to give me a quote and could not help me at all. I called vizio back and told them what i was told. The Vizio rep. i spoke with told me......" I don't know what to tell, but it looks like you'll have to buy a new TV, because we can help you because your not in warranty". I pretty much told him that Vizio can F**k off and that i will never buy another vizio product again or will i recommend them to anyone and hung up on them. So now i'm stuck with a broken Tv. I can't seem to find any place that carries the right CCFL lights that i need for my TV. If any on can tell me if they had the same problem with their backlights and was able to fix. Please let me know where you got your TV fixed or if you fixed it yourself, where did you buy the CCFL's.
I bought a Vizio 47 inch SV472VX or so, had all the latest technology (LED, auto dimming, 240mhz, 1080i, etc) last february at costco for about $1300. Have been a great tv, great performance with my Xbox, Blu Ray DVD Player (Vizio also by the way). Until now, I notice some areas darker than others. I tweak the controls but nothing changed. I called Vizio, explained what happened and they asked me to sent them pictures of the tv and proof of purchase by email. Two days later they called me and asked to try somethings, but nothing improved. They told me that no later than 10 business days they will be bringing a certified tv to replace this one, no shipping involve. So far this is what I expected in terms of guarantee and service. Not difficult, just 2 phone calls and the delivery of the tv. Lets see how that goes.
i bought a VIZIO 32"Plasma during the walmart thanksgiving sale 2 years ago and it went out just couple days ago. like hundreds of other unhappy VIZIO owners i had to order new capacitors to replace the cheap burned out ones they use in there TV's. ( it's not hard to e the cheapest brand available when you uses the cheapest parts to build them) If you want the facts it easy to find. the internet is burdened with VIZIO customer complaints and the Bad by far outwieghs the good. I saw some people complaining about support (YES IT SUCKS TERRIBLY) and NO they don't want you to get ther schematics...but luckily there are some people that have put video's on YouTube on how to replace everything from the bad capacitors to the power supply all together which is where 70% of VIZIO's problems lye. IF you have a soldering iorn and a screw driver don't payoutragious money to have somefix your set....do it yourself!!! the videos on how to are out there and they are good! The most common issue are the cheap capacitors used in the power supply area ( most common that go bad are 3300uf 10v 105c and 1000uf 10v 105c) they are an average cost of 0.83 a peice to replace for decent quality components. Or you can pay a service repairman 100.00 in labor it's up to you. But i spent 3x the time taking the back off my set as i did taking out and replacing the capacitors themselves (total job took less than an hour for me to do). You could always go with say 16v rated capacitors to handle more power, but the problem is the set over heating so i installed a simple CPU fan in the vents right above the power supply on the inside before i put it back together to disperse more heat (VIZIO could have spent the extra 5.00 per unit (or less) in manufacturing cost to do this and would have most likely avoided this whole isue with there sets in the first place...but their CHEAP!!, what can they say?)
The most common problems are the capacitors and burned out power supplys, both are easy and inexpspensive to fix fr any individual, however this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. so, IF YOUR vizioTV starts shuting on/off/on/off and is getting worse or the power button just stop working alltogether then there is a 90% probability that it is one of the 2 formentioned problems. To find out just remove the back off you TV and look for capacitors on the center circut board (thats is the power supply board) that are swollen or leaking, (they look like little batteries soldered to your board) if he butts of them areswollen and not flat then they are bad and need replaced. a 10.00 soldering iorn and a coupel dollars in capacitors can save you allot of money..and all the instructions you need can be found in forums and on you tube.....GOOD LUCK and VIZIO SUCKS!!!
My mother and I both bought 32" Vizio tvs at Costco last Nov. 2010. I live i Tucson where we bought the tvs, my mother lives in Kingman were there is no Costco. I returned my tv to Costco because the volume was so bad, you couldn't watch with out the remote in your hand . One minute you couldn't hear it on 100 the next minute it blew you away on 2 ..... I was at my moms in mid July and her tv is just the same. I'm on a fixed income and couldn't really afford to buy this tv but it really did sound like a good deal. Wrong.....I will never buy this brand again, and will try to discourage anyone else from buying this brand. Next time I will do more investigating before I buy a " newer" brand . You got us this time Vizio, but it won't happen again. VIZIO SUCKS....DON'T BUY THIS BRAND PRODUCT.
Don't buy a Vizio there warranty stinks. I owned this piece of junk just one month and a few days past its warranty and it stopped working. Vizio would not fix it, Costco would not help me. I have owned a lot of televisions that lasted way over five years not eleven months. Take it easy on yourself, buy Sony, LG, Samsung, Panasonic, Toshiba or any other television than Vizio.
Worst Customer Service Ever. Purchased a blue ray player and it started only playing DVDs after a few months. Called to have it replaced and was told to reset it. So now I have to go through a 30 minute reset just to play a blue ray. No thanks.
Customer service was rude and wanted me to pay to send the faulty machine back. No Thanks Vizio, you can send me a shipping label for your crappy machine, like every other good company does out there. I've now filed with the BBB because I refuse to put any money towards the piece of crap I already purchased through them.
Apple Accessories, now at Staples
parts that go into the TVs. It's a great way to save money: Let the
customer take the gamble on the overall reliability of your product.
You DO get what you pay for (unless you buy Sony, and then you
pay a lot but can still find yourself in the same gamble.)
Second and probably the single most annoying thing to a qualified sales associate is that several of you voiced your delight in a 1080p capable TV in that price bracket. Let me say this once and for all, 1080p does not make up for god awful color and horrible black levels. It doesn't counter the fact that the image is washed out either. At the moment we are selling the Vizio 42" lcd for $1200, and yes it is a 1080p display. At the other end of the store we have 2 42" Panasonic plasmas that are cheaper and infinately better. The 720p display is $800 and the 1080p is $1000 and both are 2008 models. The is absolutely no comparison in the color quality and the smoothness of high motion between the two sets. And to all of you plasma haters, you really need to stop listening to your know it all friend that you think knows about TVs. Plasmas are better than LCDs on the whole. To get an LCD that will hang with a decent plasma, you will literally spend about double the money and you will hate your black levels in a night time setting. I own 2 LCDs myself because I bought into the hype. I will not make that mistake again as my next set that I am buying in a couple weeks is a plasma. Until the Samsung 9 series LED backlit style LCDs are more affordable I will not own another LCD. And before the usual and obvious comments bashing plasma come, let me lay some of them to rest. Number one, burn in is no longer a problem among the better sets as long as you aren't leaving static images for extreme durations. There is no such thing as a recharge and estimated gas lives among the leading brands in plasma exceed that of the backlight in an LCD. They also have superior off angle viewing, better color, and handle motion better. That is my two cents, take it for what you will.
Two years? Our Sony that just died we had for more like fifteen - and I was expecting that from the next TV we get.
I AM AN AUDIO & VIDEOPHILE. I STARTED A DJ SERVICE WITH CUSTOM BUILT SPEAKERS AT AGE 18. I HAVE HD-DVD. I HAD BLU-RAY. I RECENTLY BOUGHT A BLU/HDDVD/DVD/CD WRITER FOR MY PC.
SONY MAKES BLUE LASER/LENS ASSEMBLIES THAT HAVE A SENSITIVE AND OR SHORT LIFESPAN. A LOT OF PS3 OWNERS LOSE BLU PLAYBACK AND OF COURSE THAT MEANS NO DVD OR GAME FUNCTIONALITY.
I JUST GAVE AWAY MY SELDOM USED SONY ALL-IN-ONE DVD, FM TUNER, HOME THEATER SYSTEM. DVD STARTED TO NOT PLAY THE FIRST FEW TRIES, AND LATER, NO LOADING EVER!!!
STAY AWAY! RESIST THE NAME. IT IS A DIRTY FOUR LETTER WORD.........
The most common problems are the capacitors and burned out power supplys, both are easy and inexpspensive to fix fr any individual, however this shouldn't have been an issue in the first place. so, IF YOUR vizioTV starts shuting on/off/on/off and is getting worse or the power button just stop working alltogether then there is a 90% probability that it is one of the 2 formentioned problems. To find out just remove the back off you TV and look for capacitors on the center circut board (thats is the power supply board) that are swollen or leaking, (they look like little batteries soldered to your board) if he butts of them areswollen and not flat then they are bad and need replaced. a 10.00 soldering iorn and a coupel dollars in capacitors can save you allot of money..and all the instructions you need can be found in forums and on you tube.....GOOD LUCK and VIZIO SUCKS!!!
Customer service was rude and wanted me to pay to send the faulty machine back. No Thanks Vizio, you can send me a shipping label for your crappy machine, like every other good company does out there. I've now filed with the BBB because I refuse to put any money towards the piece of crap I already purchased through them.
DON'T BUY FROM VIZIO!