This could be the end of consumer electronic repair

[radiotvnut]

I had an eye opening experience today that reminded me what I've been knowing all along. The TV repair business in not going to heck in a handbasket, it's already gone there.

A guy that is marrying my Cousin's Granddaughter brought me a very late model 32" RCA LCD set for repair. He said it was dead. I told him up front that I was not making him any promises.

This set was obviously not built with repair in mind. To open it, you remove all the screws on the back and then the front pops off. To gain access to the boards, you remove several more screws holding the LCD panel. The cables going from the panel are not long enough to move the panel out of the way for easier service. After unplugging the LCD panel, the power supply and the main PCB assemblies can be removed. Both of these assemblies are inside a metal shield; so, the shield must be removed before the PCB's can be serviced.

After not finding anything wrong with my meter, I went online and checked for a parts list for the TV so I could see what new boards would cost. They will not sell pats for this TV! The only thing you can do is send the TV and $319 to RCA and they will send you another TV. The owner was not happy about this and I could tell that he didn't trust me. He said he'd come pick it up and throw it away. I asked him if he wanted me to dispose of it and he laughed and said he'd come pick it up. I told him that I had no use for it and was just offering to get rid of it so he wouldn't have to make a trip over here. He was supposed to have been here in a few minutes and that was 3 hours ago.

It's pretty sad that parts are not available for this set and all the company will do is swap out the set. I understand that the few TV shops left around here "take in" these sets; but, they charge a very high check out fee up front. That's probably the only way they can make any money, especially if more of these TV's are not being repaired.