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  #16  
Old 03-23-2017, 07:27 PM
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davet753 davet753 is offline
David Thomas
 
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Location: Knoxville, TN
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I done warranty work for several furniture stores who sold televisions. One of these stores called me one morning wanting me to go check a Quasar console they had sold to an elderly man a few weeks earlier. The problem was intermittent color.

I arrived to a small house back in the hills. The customer was a little old man in his 90's. In his living room was a new Quasar, a Zenith B&W from the 1960's, and a Zenith porthole console....every TV set he had ever owned. The new Quasar was his first color TV.

I couldn't find anything wrong with his new TV set, everything worked perfectly, but the guy kept on saying the color sometimes went out. Not being able to locate a problem, I told him I needed to bring it in to the shop for service. He said he hated to be without his TV because he watched the Andy Griffith show every afternoon.

The problem with the set: nothing. The customer was under the impression that since he paid for a color TV set everything he watched should be in color. He was not happy when I told him most of his his old Andy Griffith re-runs would still be black and white. I don't know if he ever fully understood what I was trying to tell him.
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  #17  
Old 03-23-2017, 09:00 PM
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Findm-Keepm Findm-Keepm is offline
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We used to clean up sets quite a bit - a damp rag, some spray cleaner and a little elbow grease went a long way. We figured the customers hadn't seen their set in a few days, and getting back a dirty set they brought in could reflect badly on us, so we always gave them a going over.

Problem was, we cleaned one 12" Sharp Black and White set a bit too well - all the tar and cigarette crap had turned the set a dull yellow. Once cleaned up, she was back to a white cabinet. The guy picks up the set, takes it home, and the wife complains about the "wrong set", "scheming shop", and "take it back and get ours" - so he brings it back around 6:30 the same evening, telling me that he got the wrong set. I pulled the service manual, showed him the model was only available in white, and pulled the back off to show what the discolored/dirty plastic inside looked like. I told him how we cleaned the cabinet and got it back to the lovely white it was when he bought it. His troubles had doubled then - he couldn't take the set home to tell his wife it was dirty while sitting in her kitchen.....
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  #18  
Old 03-23-2017, 09:07 PM
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Findm-Keepm Findm-Keepm is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by davet753 View Post
I done warranty work for several furniture stores who sold televisions. One of these stores called me one morning wanting me to go check a Quasar console they had sold to an elderly man a few weeks earlier. The problem was intermittent color.

I arrived to a small house back in the hills. The customer was a little old man in his 90's. In his living room was a new Quasar, a Zenith B&W from the 1960's, and a Zenith porthole console....every TV set he had ever owned. The new Quasar was his first color TV.

I couldn't find anything wrong with his new TV set, everything worked perfectly, but the guy kept on saying the color sometimes went out. Not being able to locate a problem, I told him I needed to bring it in to the shop for service. He said he hated to be without his TV because he watched the Andy Griffith show every afternoon.

The problem with the set: nothing. The customer was under the impression that since he paid for a color TV set everything he watched should be in color. He was not happy when I told him most of his his old Andy Griffith re-runs would still be black and white. I don't know if he ever fully understood what I was trying to tell him.
Probably just as bad - a lady complained her set was too "pink" - so we figured gray scale problems, but when we got there, the set had a good picture. She had some kind of problem (similar to jaundice, IIRC) that made her color vision shift. We added lots of green to the pix, giving it a yellowish tint, and she was thrilled. We even showed her the green drive and screen controls so that when her condition improved, she could back them off a bit.
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"Capacitor Cosmetologist since '79"

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  #19  
Old 03-23-2017, 09:32 PM
jstout66 jstout66 is offline
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Location: Ne
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I've shared this story in another forum, but the weirdest sale we ever had....
Farm couple.... nice.... not tight on money.
Old set was worn out, time for a another one.
Here's where it gets odd, and why I remember it.
It's 1981, and guess what they want? A NEW B&W console.
My Uncle wasn't even sure we could get one. We call the Zenith distributor in Omaha, and they're not even sure, and they are shocked as we are. They check.. and yes... Zenith did indeed offer 2 B&W Consoles. One in dark wood.. one in light. The problem tho (because we thought it was a rip off) IIRC the set was $299.00. We offer them a DEEP discount on an NOS 19" CC2... Nope. We offer a new 19" Zenith B&W with stand for $139.00. Nope. We even had some really nice used color consoles, that I believe were in the $150.00-$200.00 range. Nope. We special ordered the B&W console per request and they were happy! I had to snoop when the set came in. I think it was a 21" tube and the most chintzy particle board cabinet you ever saw. However... that was one happy customer.
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  #20  
Old 03-23-2017, 09:55 PM
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N2IXK N2IXK is offline
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Location: Sittin' on the "Group W" bench...
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Roach infested sets were the worst! We had a few come into the shop that were dragged outside immediately for the customer to pick up unrepaired. We dealt with a few by opening them up outside and blowing them out with a leaf blower. I remember one set that had a burned up flyback due to an HV cage packed with crispy burned roach carcasses.

Had a similar situation when doing some electrical work in an apartment, and cutting into the motherlode of roaches when opening up a kitchen wall to put in a receptacle. Damned things were pouring out of the wall and into my toolbag, parts boxes, etc. Had to empty everything out on the sidewalk outside to keep from bringing any of them into the truck or my home. Told customer to call me after having the place fumigated, and never did hear back. Hopefully too embarassed....
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  #21  
Old 03-25-2017, 10:13 PM
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bgadow bgadow is offline
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I've played TV-repairman wanna-be a few times. The oldest I've done in recent years was a mid-80's RCA console, about 5 years ago. A bad solder joint was all; far as I know, they're still watching it.

When I was 19 I (stupidly) traded a Philco-Ford 23v color console for a Truetone multiband radio from the 70's & $15 cash, at a little used furniture place. (Used furniture stores used to be a GREAT place to find sets.) A couple weeks later the storekeeper called me to see if I would be interested in doing a service call to the guy who bought the Philco. I show up & he takes me to an outbuilding about 50' behind the house. He picks up this console, all by himself, and carries it up the house & sits it in the middle of the living room. (Big guy!) He was a real jerk, yelling at his wife & kids who were just cowering off to the side; he knocks over a glass of iced tea & right away blames it on his 4 y.o. son who was nowhere near it. So, I turn on the set & find the horizontal hold control is about 1/4 turn off. With that tweaked all is well. Customer is amazed. How a 30-something y.o. guy in 1991 didn't know about a horizontal hold control, I don't know. I do know I've regretted not keeping that Philco myself...
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  #22  
Old 03-25-2017, 11:04 PM
walterbeers walterbeers is offline
Old TVs are better!
 
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Location: Omaha NE
Posts: 463
One time I was called to a customers house to fix a dead console color TV. I don't remember what brand it was, but it used a HV trippler. It had a circuit breaker, I pushed it and the set played just fine. But somehow I thought I'd better take another look. Looked around the high voltage section and there was the culprit. A mouse had gotten inside the set and electrocuted itself right on top of the HV trippler. I shut the set off, took a rag and picked up the dead mouse, and said "well here's the problem" as I showed the customer the dead mouse.

Another time when I was first starting to work on TVs, back in the early 70s. I carted home a small console B&W set. I didn't have a shop or workbench set up yet, so took it in the front door into our living room, as I was still living with my parents. Took the back off and roaches started running everywhere. All four of us, myself, sister, my mom and dad, ended up dancing around the living room floor stepping on roaches. Got out the bug killer, sprayed the set and living room. Ended up selling the set on a garage sale, in working condition minus the roaches.
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  #23  
Old 03-26-2017, 12:58 PM
philcophan philcophan is offline
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Location: Lehigh Valley, Pa
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Years... eons it seems, I was an apartment dweller in lower Bucks County and I became fast friends with the maintenance man, Carl. He found out I did electronic repairs in addition to my day job as mechanic. I did his sets (usually left in vacated apartments or by the dumpsters) and he fast became my "agent" stopping by on his golf cart and telling me to go apartment number and see so and so... quick, easy money that usually spawned more work like tune ups and A/C repairs.
I was sent to an Indian's (Hindu engineer) apartment and take a dead RCA B&W set home... replaced a diode, cap and a few bum tubes and set the whole thing up... played like a house on fire and the lady of the house is pleased. I was told I'd have to return to be paid... $21.00... the husband immediately begins to tell me what was wrong and accuses me of overcharging and not knowing what I was doing since he checked it himself... "No problem, pal... I have all your parts right here in this bag and I'll gladly reinstall them and you will owe me nothing and you can fix it yourself since you KNOW what the problem is!!!" I unplug the set and start to pick it up and he changes his mind, but tells me he has no cash and would I please return tomorrow... plays this game for a week, and finally I told the Mrs. either pay me NOW or I'm putting your old parts back in and her engineer husband can fix it himself, which he couldn't do in the first place. "OK, I'll write you a check" and opens up her purse with, I swear, two inches of cash inside... I couldn't get cash, no way, no how, but I RAN right out the door to their bank and cashed the dam check... some people just want to run all over you.... and I detest pointing fingers, but I have found Indian folks have a serious problem paying their debts or they seem to think it's "Let's Make Deal" time...
Gladly, that was the one and only time I had someone act like that especially since my charges were always low!

Jim
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