Short version: After being without a TV for four months due to being screwed around by both Samsung and Pioneer, I'm getting a Pioneer 50" 1080p plasma that retails for AUD$6,000 (best price people have got it for is around AUD$4,500) for AUD$2,100.
Long version:
- four months ago my 1.5 year old Samsung plasma broke down. Came back a month later with one fault fixed, one remaining, and four new faults. Went back the next day. I'm still fighting with them four months later to get it repaired properly.
- about four months ago mum said she needs a bigger TV because she can't read the text in Lost Odyssey and some other games on her CRT. I said I'd buy a new TV and she can have my Samsung when it's repaired.
- bought the outgoing 42" Pioneer in mid-June. Got a great price since a friend and I were buying two - AUD$2,100 each. The salesman said it would be here in early August. He rang a few days later and said Pioneer confirmed all 42" orders for Myers will be fulfilled.
- we rang the salesman in early August, and he checked with Pionner where the screens were. Suddenly Pioneer changed their minds and said they have none left. He got pissed off at them, then oddly Pioneer said they had one new one which my friend would get. I was offered a 'first' (screen that's been barely used) - I said it depends on the price and how many hours it's been on, so they were going through the 'firsts' checking hours supposedly. My friend had his new 42" delivered a couple of days ago - the stand was dusty and he suspected it wasn't new. On top of that, it was dead out of the box anyway. He sent it back and rang the salesman.
- The salesman was now getting rather pissed off and rang Pioneer. Half an hour later he rang us back and said Pioneer will supply two new 50" LX508s for the price we paid for the outgoing 42" TVs, and they will arrive within about a week -
.
Fingers crossed this screen actually materialises. Maybe someone finds themselves in a similar situation one day, so it might be useful info. We just kept at it, expressed our disappointment, and were civil. Our salesman was kick-ass too - lesser, more useless ones would have just offered a refund or tried to sell us some other crap.
