This could be the end of consumer electronic repair

[radiotvnut]

Originally Posted by vintagecollect

Most of the existing TV shops promote a throw away situation . I brought an older toshiba solid state to a shop for repairs, the repairs weren't done, and the the guy complained it was an older set, rude attitude for older repair guy with experience, talking himself out a job. The era for most people to find a Great TV shop that will at least try to fix just about anything seems mostly long gone. I'm amazed at the big money people spend on newer TVs when there's hardly any repair shops left and few companies probaly offer long term support for parts. Most great sets from the seventies are just existant in brochures and catalog pictures only.

I miss the days from the late '80's to the mid '90's when I would walk in any given TV shop and the place would be packed with TV's of all brands and ages for repair.

What shops we have left were not around in the '70's and wouldn't know what to do with an older set if they had one. Even when there were older guys left around here, they did not want to work on anything over a few years old and would usually turn people away at the door. Most shops around here stopped taking in tube sets by the late '80's or early '90's. I have a friend who recently got out of TV repair after 35+ years and I'm always joking with him about getting help to fix my tube TV's. He lets me know real quick that he's not interested and that he forgot (on purpose) what he knew about the old stuff. He probably has too many memories of fixing older sets just to have them come back in a week with a totally different problem. Many times, the customers think the whole TV should be guaranteed, not just the work performed.

From what I can tell, most shops left in my area only take in large screen sets (LCD, plasma, RPTV, DLP, etc). A large chunk of their money is made on up-front check-out fees. There is one shop left, that I know of, that will still take regular old CRT sets. I get all his "junk" and it's almost never anything over a few years old. Back when I was getting junk there from the mid '90's to around 2000, 20+ year old sets were more common than newer models. I guess that was the time period when customers were refusing the repair estimates and letting the shop junk the set. The owner told me that older TV's are rarely brought in anymore.