77 xl !00
 

While having several sets on the repair table, I decided to get the Xl 100 console revived, it was the one my mom bought new at Highland Appliance in early 1978 and I helped her pick it out I was only 12 and it was a big deal to me. I found the original receipt last week and it had a warranty repair done 1 week after purchase for the thumb wheel tuner. It has ran good for endless hours until it took the high voltage surge in 2006 and it has been in storage since. Today it is on the repair and hopefully if my GE has the donor board it needs it will work again.

Does it look like this Ebay set?

http://cgi.ebay.com/VTG-RCA-XL-100-T...efaultDomain_0

I was told this XL-100 was from around 1977 or 1978.

Yes it is very similar and has to be the same chassis. It amazes me she paid $699.00 for it in 1978 but of course Highland sold her the life time extended warranty for another $100.00 and they went out of business since then. General Electric took all the Highland warranty contracts over, so I wonder if they can repair it for the $25.00 lifetime service deposit? I might have to have mom call GE and have her stand there when they show up LOL

That'd be awesome if they still accept the warranty. You don't find too many businesses (even privately-owned ones) that fix old sets with warranties.

I called an independent GE service center and faxed the receipt/warranty, it turns out if GE owned RCA in 1978 (no one there knew) it would possibly be covered and only if parts are now available.GE covered the only GE made products on warranty when Highland collapsed, this TV may have qualified but in fine print GE would offer limited time 5 year warranty once a repair was made under the Highland Lifetime warranty. So in other words if it was repaired for defective thumb wheel under Highland warranty it expired 5 years after GE took it over. The Service center said they themselves would fix it for nothing if I delivered it and had the parts available to them and they would not try to process it under GE warranty but the TV would have NO guarantee to work or function because of its age.So I guess we will never know if GE would actually pay for it.

That would be awesome if they did - but watch out for the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act provisions - the company offering the warranty is granted a buy-back provision at the current market price. In short, if they don't want to honor the warranty, they are obligated to purchase the warranted item back at fair market value. Sorta like lemon laws - if you won't honor the warranty, you have to buy it back. What's the fair market value of a 1977 XL-100?

There was a case where someone with a Mercury outboard had a "full" warranty for the lifetime of the motor, granted by the dealer. The dealer finally quit warranting motors and was only obligated to pay the owner the fair market value of the motor. Intended to protect, it became a lose-lose deal for consumers.

Cheers,

That's too bad. That's about as much luck as I get with TV repair service centers too. But hey, if they won't fix it, I'm sure you'll find someone on here who will.