Tonight I had a few minutes to kill waiting for a friend to meet me for dinner. I had passed an old TV shop (complete with some 70s vintage consoles/table models in the window). It was open, and next door to the restaurant, so I decided to stroll inside.

Of course "customer" service has never been the hallmark of TV repairmen, so I wasn't surprised at the blank stares I received from the crew of 50-65 year old guys turning screws in the backs of flatscreens dumped around the shop like expensive black pizza boxes. When the lead tech, looking the oldest of the bunch finally looked up to ask "Whadda you need?" (Perhaps I would say "How about a cold beer and nachos? I'm here to watch the Superbowl on your flatscreens... What? This isn't a bar?)

I cautiously told him that I had an 1967 model Zenith TV, which worked, but I would like to have some of the old capacitors replaced for reliability... (Knowing I'LL never have the time.) I made sure to state it had a furniture-quality cabinet, and that was why I wanted it gone through... So as not to appear like some kind of nutcase who actually might enjoy an occasional Barney Miller episode on such an obsolete beast.

You would have thought I'd offered this guy terminal brain cancer! I mean the look of horror that came over his face was that shocking... He could barely speak. How dare I ask about getting a TV fixed at a shop which brags it has been in the same location since 1955, and has a sign that says "we fix them all, old and new". It wasn't like I propositioned his wife.

I even tried to get in a few "I don't expect you to get this done as a top priority" and "I understand you can't warranty anything this old". No dice. Someday I'd like to go back with a shoebox full of cash, just for laughs.

Oh well.

...An' they wonder why they don't have much business anymore..Sheesh..

That sounds familiar. Those guys were probably miserable, trying to make a living by chasing the "present market" for repairs. Quite a moving target these days, I'd rather be like Emmett on Andy Griffith and fix any damned thing that came in the door. Just a variac, meter and light bulbs for equipment testing.

If they were younger, they might have really thought you were joking, wanting to put any effort into a CRT set. I remember asking the owner of a Zenith Shop for a job in College about 1984. He was miserable too and said no. It wasn't the 70s anymore:sigh:

This seems to be the attitude of most TV shops, new and old. The newer ones don't know how to work on the old stuff and the old ones have the "I had to work on that junk when it was new and I'm not fooling with it now" attitude. They may advertise that they'll fix the old and the new; but, by "old" they probably mean something from the '90's. A while back, I fixed an '80's 19" Emerson for a guy who had taken it to a real shop, only to be told to throw that piece of junk in the creek and buy a new TV. Well, the guy didn't want a new TV and the only thing that shop did was lose a customer. Around here, most shops had stopped taking in tube TV's by the late '80's, early '90's at the very latest.

Here's a crummy cell phone shot of the "old and new" sign... Old sets below in the window...

In the Phila suburbs I did find a vintage shop via an article about them in the Phila Inq last fall. Went there and the shop and the owner were for real. He did do vintage stuff and the shop was full of sets...mostly radio...from the article. But leaning up on benches were all kinds of flat-screens that were the bread and butter of this shop.

I did not join the que but got a few VHS belts from him and was treated kindly.

There is hope.

About ten years ago, in the town next to my town in NJ, there was an old TV repair shop. But another business in the same building had some plumbing work done, the plumber using a blow torch on the pipes. Seems he got some of the building wood frame smoldering, and the place burned to the ground that night. The TV shop owner must have called it quits, as he didn't reopen.

The shop had a Zenith sign outside, and a few 80's sets in the window.

About ten years ago, in the town next to my town in NJ, there was an old TV repair shop. But another business in the same building had some plumbing work done, the plumber using a blow torch on the pipes. Seems he got some of the building wood frame smoldering, and the place burned to the ground that night. The TV shop owner must have called it quits, as he didn't reopen.

The shop had a Zenith sign outside, and a few 80's sets in the window.

Wow that's terrible.

Maybe he sued the plumber and retired?

i have met many shop owners and techs through the years.most have no people skills.married to the machine.due to the "disposible society",many have become bitter and depressed.rarely do they ever smile or have anything positive to say.most dont live long lives,smokers and coffee drinkers with type A personalities.a few are gracious and accommodating.we had a couple here in columbus.tom dixon was a very fine man as was george seberig and bill brewer.the latter two were good to talk with but i wouldnt do any business with them!good stories though.tom was an all around fine gentleman.there were some others but these three were the most memorable

A good percentage of the TV repairmen I've met were, at first handshake, a grouchy bunch. But they all, every one of them, came around after talking for a while. Stuff wears you down after a while (true with most small businesses these days.)

Wow, they're still in business..I recall them from years ago and they were always advertizing antenna specials before cable came around.

Every day, & in every way, I'm SO glad I live only 75 miles away from Terry..Terry's the whole package-FORGOT more than I'll ever know about this stuff..Is a gracious host..LOVES to talk...You tell him "Bye" & 2 hours later, you're STILL tryin' to leave..You get to drool over his IMMACULATE 1935 Ford Woody wagon...

Tonight I had a few minutes to kill waiting for a friend to meet me for dinner. I had passed an old TV shop (complete with some 70s vintage consoles/table models in the window). It was open, and next door to the restaurant, so I decided to stroll inside.

Of course "customer" service has never been the hallmark of TV repairmen, so I wasn't surprised at the blank stares I received from the crew of 50-65 year old guys turning screws in the backs of flatscreens dumped around the shop like expensive black pizza boxes. When the lead tech, looking the oldest of the bunch finally looked up to ask "Whadda you need?" (Perhaps I would say "How about a cold beer and nachos? I'm here to watch the Superbowl on your flatscreens... What? This isn't a bar?)

I cautiously told him that I had an 1967 model Zenith TV, which worked, but I would like to have some of the old capacitors replaced for reliability... (Knowing I'LL never have the time.) I made sure to state it had a furniture-quality cabinet, and that was why I wanted it gone through... So as not to appear like some kind of nutcase who actually might enjoy an occasional Barney Miller episode on such an obsolete beast.

You would have thought I'd offered this guy terminal brain cancer! I mean the look of horror that came over his face was that shocking... He could barely speak. How dare I ask about getting a TV fixed at a shop which brags it has been in the same location since 1955, and has a sign that says "we fix them all, old and new". It wasn't like I propositioned his wife.

I even tried to get in a few "I don't expect you to get this done as a top priority" and "I understand you can't warranty anything this old". No dice. Someday I'd like to go back with a shoebox full of cash, just for laughs.

Oh well.

So what was his actual reply???

In the next town to ours there was a brilliant TV repair shop. The guy that had it was called Ian Craven and he was a genius. He was always friendly and would help you out the best way he could and I found him fascinating to talk to. His shop is now a barbers.

Good TV repair people are getting thin on the ground!

So what was his actual reply???

"Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

:D

"Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!"

:D

Close... It was more of a head shake while saying "we aren't set up to fix tube sets, nope, nope, maybe you can find somebody else".

I'll say this... I do think there would be more old sets around, just for novelty sake, if more people would offer restoration services. I think a craigslist "services" ad would be enouigh. I've met more than a few like me who'd just like to sub-out some of the work.

For example, I'm a certified mechanic and work around prototypes for an OEM all day long. I have several vintage cars which I've restored from body-in-white (sheet metal shell) all the way to displayed in a museum. However, this week my girlfriend's car blew a rubber brake line. Fairly simple fix, but I just spent $200 to have both front lines replaced. About $30 worth of parts.. Just not enough hours in the day for me to set it up, free the corroded fittings, bleed the lines, etc.

I recall them from years ago and they were always advertizing antenna specials before cable came around.

I suppose some of these antenna specialists might have gotten jobs with the cable company. As they already know their way around coax cable, and familiar with TV reception problems. And maybe learn to work on the system's outside plant (cables strung along the telephone poles, and amplifiers and such).

Definitely sounds like bad customer relations attitude, and I wouldn't have acted that way at all, had I been the one working there. But honestly, I'd probably have politely declined to do the job unless I had known you for awhile, and could be confident that you're not a troublemaker, and you REALLY are OK with my doing it in spare time. My own experience in working 30 years in TV repair shops, is that the words "I'm not in a hurry" when talking about a special interest or vintage TV, are the kiss of death, and when I heard someone say that, I knew it could likely mean, "I'm not in a hurry to get it done, but I expect you to call me every 15 minutes for updates, and I will stop in and hang around all afternoon and 'help'..." Again, please excuse any prejudice on that thought, but it's my guess as to what they were thinking.

Charles

Never was really able to make that point, I don't think anything I said really sunk in. This TV has been sitting around for years waiting for me to do something with it. If they had it for 6 months, it would hardly matter to me.

Hi All;
Carmine, If you get a chance to go back there, you could inform them, they need to change their sign, since they Won't/don't work on old sets.. Also, tell them that their Public Relations stink.. And they have lost another customer..
THANK YOU Marty

Worth stopping back for a friendly chat, don't mention the TV, just your interest in older sets and their business. They'll warm up to you....and you never know what might be stashed away in a corner around that place. One place I walked into, the owners said "nah, we don't have any of that old stuff around here anymore". Next thing I knew, I was walking through their attic, looking at piles of 50s/60s sets, caddies full of tubes, 20s/30s radios, etc, etc. Made a great friend from that visit, too.

I, too, have a 1967 Zenith tv that I needed gone through. I called a local shop, who told me to bring it in. I did, and told the guy I wasn't in a rush for it. He had it for 17 months before I got it back. Also, I did all the leg work for a vertical output transformer, tubes and a schematic. The set still is not 100%. I had to check the tubes when I got it back, and there was still some other things that were left half-assed. Lesson learned.

I, too, have a 1967 Zenith tv that I needed gone through. I called a local shop, who told me to bring it in. I did, and told the guy I wasn't in a rush for it. He had it for 17 months before I got it back. Also, I did all the leg work for a vertical output transformer, tubes and a schematic. The set still is not 100%. I had to check the tubes when I got it back, and there was still some other things that were left half-assed. Lesson learned.

Yeah, this what I would expect to get. Very comparable to the "old car" repair racket... One of the executives where I work has a well-know passion for 1960 Imperials (I own a '61). He and I got to talking and he asked if I might look in on his '60 at a local shop which I would consider marginal for slapping brake pads onto daily-drivers.

Because I came directly from work fairly well dressed, and in a brand new car, I figure the guys in the shop assumed I was a paper-pushing flunky. They had told the owner he needed a "new" instrument cluster (gauges wouldn't work). These clusters don't exactly gow on trees... Expensive car when new +52 years old = rare and pricey.

They all gave me a lecture on how they'd been mechanics before I was born, blah, blah. I just smiled pleasantly and took the cluster home with me. Hooked it up on my bench through the voltage regulator (a step I knew they had ignored) then sent a camera phone video of all the gauges working to the car's owner.

This is about what I'd expect from a modern TV shop... A diagnosis of a bad CRT, take it home and find the horizontal output laying loose in the cabinet.

I know when people come in where I work and say they aren't in a hurry, that usually means "You'll call me when it's done, I'll act elated, then never pick it up (or at least wait 3-6 months)".

Storing finished TVs is the most annoying thing to me. My boss won't let me charge for it. I think we should have a weekly or monthly fee at least, and after so long it becomes ours. Right now people can leave them indefinitely. I did scrap one after a year though. That's plenty long enough to wait. I never did hear from them.

I picked up my set when I got the call that it was done. I didn't call for the first time until the 3 month mark. I understand that getting parts for a 46 year old set is difficult at best, but it's just good customer relations to update the customer at least once a month.

the shop I used to work in, part time, had a 60 day policy. We called twice, then sent a registered letter. If no response, we parted out or sold the set. Really didn't have to enforce it very much. We also charged a minimum fee up front, usually $29 or $39 as basic repair fee. If parts and/or other charges exceeded this amount, they paid the balance due at pickup. This usually stopped most of the deadbeats. The fee was refunded if the equipment was not economically repairable, either for in store credit or an actual refund. They would work with the customer to find a solution. Sometimes customers would just leave the equipment or offer to sell it for peanuts. I bought a Dynaco ST-70 for $15 because the guy was too cheap to pay the $29 to have it looked at. There really wasn't anything wrong with it other than the usual needed recap at this age. One time a guy brought in a Fisher 500TX that his brother had left years ago. Wanted it checked out as the FM wasn't working. I told him the minimum $29 fee. He said just keep it. Later in the day I put it on the bench and pushed the muting switch in, viola, FM. It turned out to be one of the best receivers I've ever owned.

The shop is still in business but took on musical instruments years ago to offset the decline in audio and video. They used to have 12 employees, now have only three. Used to have 3 full time and 1 part time car installers, now they don't have any, subcontract it out. They used to have 4 repair techs, now just one, and he is planning on retiring this year. They will fix pretty much anything and have a good supply of tubes still in stock. They are well known in the area for doing very good work, unfortunately hardly anyone fixes anything anymore. Most of the repairs now are on musically related stuff like guitar amps. They still get some TV's but not much and very little audio other than the good stuff from days gone by that people are keeping in service or collecting.

Just compare this with the photography shop mentioned in this thread :

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?p=6479238#post6479238

Hi Carmen
Was this shop in Warren or StClair Shores?
You might want to try Ann Arbor electronics I have a Zenith ChromaColor2 19inch table top and a GE porta color the guy there was surprised to see two vintage sets like that but he fixed them up no problem.

In my little corner of the old Phila. suburbs, there were still two tv repair shops until relatively recently. One guy went mobile and sold his storefront. It got turned into--wait for it--a shoe repair shop! Needless to say that didn't last too long. The other shop is still in business doing typical flatscreens, but they also do vintage stereos as well.

When I shut down my shop in around 2004, I hauled a full truck load of '90's BPC sets, mostly Zenith's, to the dump. Then, another load of VCR's and dead consoles the next weekend.

Have no fear, though. I didnt trash anything that was truly worth saving. Also kept a few CRT's, and modules that were known to be good. A few years back, I replaced a 27" tube in a Sony with one that I kept from the big toss. It is happily running right now as I type. The TV looks like it did when I bought it in 1991.

I still do one old set at a time. The last was a space command 1959 Zenith console. It needed a yoke and a bunch of capacitors. The customer had the correct remote and when I finished, everything was right. It had an incredible picture. The rest of my day is audio gear and flat screens. As for people skills, it more depends on the customer. Most are nice but once in a while the "cretin" comes in and wants the impossible (I took the light engine out of my set. Can you fix it and put it back together?). "I watched Youtube and I couldn't get it back together." Those don't get very far, sorry.
They best lately was a lady who poured a quart of motor oil on her turntable because it was slow. Also, the baby who smashed the screen on the family DLP with a toy truck and once it was completely broken went after the insides. His grandfather said he was too cute to stop him.............
I keep one of my roundies here to freak some customers out. A working TS-4 always brings on good stares too! The question always is "how old is it?!

Too cute to stop him?

Oh man.

Where is that shop? Pictures do not have any detail when
Enlarged and i want some work done on my CT100

Hi All;
Some of Us Like ME, don't know what a TS-4 is.. Who made it and what Year is it ?????
THANK YOU Marty

TS-4 is the little electrostatic deflection 7 inch Motorola. VT-71 is the other #. My first old TV restoration. I was working here when the original owner had the place and said "you'll never get it working again". A year later it was playing here. That was over 20 years ago. I still have it and with minimum work it still plays!
I'm working on the 8 inch version right now.
The 7 inch is regularly run here without the cabinet to freak customers a bit more than when it is in the case.

Oh yes, too cute to stop him! Another good one was the college student who bounced a basketball off the screen of his parents 3 day old 42 inch Samsung LCD. He called frantic to have it "fixed" before the parents got home.
As he said, "I only bounced it one time"!
Can you say starburst pattern!

HAHAHA! Just like how cell phone customers are. I dropped my phone and it broke, you need to fix it now!

Um no.

"Too cute to stop him". Oh, really? Had I even thought about doing something like that to the family TV, or any other thing in the house, my Dad would have torn my butt up! I'm at a loss for words when it comes to how many of today's parents/grandparents react to what their little angels do.

Back in the '90's, I donated an early '70's Zenith 4-tube hybrid 25" color console to the church for their rummage sale. One of the families in the church ended up with the TV; but, claimed they didn't have the money right then and would pay the church for it later. It wasn't long before their wild grandson who they had custody of cracked the face of the CRT with a baseball bat. They thought his actions were "cute" and expected me to replace the CRT for free. BTW, they never paid the church for the TV and I didn't fix the TV for free. I ended up junking it and gave the church another TV to make up for it, with the advice not to let ANYONE take it unless they paid for it upfront. There was some talk going around the church about how they never paid for that TV; but, for the sake of not causing tension, no one confronted this family. This was one of those types of families who conveniently had money for the things they wanted to do; but, always ran short when it came time to pay the monthly bills.

"Too cute to stop him". Oh, really? Had I even thought about doing something like that to the family TV, or any other thing in the house, my Dad would have torn my butt up! I'm at a loss for words when it comes to how many of today's parents/grandparents react to what their little angels do.

Back in the '90's, I donated an early '70's Zenith 4-tube hybrid 25" color console to the church for their rummage sale. One of the families in the church ended up with the TV; but, claimed they didn't have the money right then and would pay the church for it later. It wasn't long before their wild grandson who they had custody of cracked the face of the CRT with a baseball bat. They thought his actions were "cute" and expected me to replace the CRT for free. BTW, they never paid the church for the TV and I didn't fix the TV for free. I ended up junking it and gave the church another TV to make up for it, with the advice not to let ANYONE take it unless they paid for it upfront. There was some talk going around the church about how they never paid for that TV; but, for the sake of not causing tension, no one confronted this family. This was one of those types of families who conveniently had money for the things they wanted to do; but, always ran short when it came time to pay the monthly bills.

These folks sound like they could be some of my old Rent-To-Own store customers! Smacked the screen with a bat.... Tsk... tsk....

Hi All;
Thanks Zenith26kc20, Could you, please post a picture of it, looking like what your customers would see, so we could enjoy it as well..
THANK YOU Marty

i actually sold a ctc9 to my best friend back in the 80s.roundies werent in vogue then and plentiful.very good playing set.25.00 price."i ll pay you when i get my check".i guess he never got that check.watched it for years and he sold it.never heard anything about payment but did hear about it breaking down 4-5 years later.he was always deadbeat type-work a few days and mysteriously have an accident,file a lawsuit and claim he was disabled.this happened over and over.one time he claimed he was paralysed on the right side.however,he bowled a 876 series and made the newspaper with picture and all.couldnt work but bowled 5 nights a week.workers comp settled for 3000.00 and threw him off the program.this was in the early 90s.never did get that 25.00.he is also back on workers comp.slipped on an icy parking lot at family dollar.he had worked for 1 week.strange,this took place in the middle of may

Wish I had pictures of the wild critters TV's. I'll start taking some. I guess anyone dealing with the public has good stories. Many years ago at another shop we worked on a rental agencies TV's. What a zoo!
I bet at the ETF convention the stories keep people laughing!
Maybe we need a "worst TV happening thread:D

Hi All;
No, Sorry, what I mean is the TS-4.. As it sits on your shelf..
THANK YOU Marty

Here is the "Orb", a Motorola TS-4J at the shop atop a Zenith MC chassis console.
The Betamax and the Motorola get along without "flag waving" on the top of the picture during tape playback. I guess the Beta is quick enough and the Motorola has fast enough sync to get along. They are pretty much a pair as cable drives the Motorola crazy unless sent thru the Beta.

Hi All;
Zenith, Thanks, it is a nice looking set.. No wonder you get so many great comments about the Motorola.. And most likely most people that see the set have never seen anything like it.. It looks Great.. Thanks for the picture..
THANK YOU Marty