We just lost another old TV and appliance dealer here in town

[radiotvnut]

We lost our old Zenith/RCA/GE/Whirlpool dealer, McAllister & Sons TV and Appliance, as of April 1st. I think they went in business in '46 or '47 and were a mainstay here until recently. Several years ago, they closed the sales portion of their business. Then, they closed the TV repair part of the business, leaving only the appliance repair portion of the business. It was recently announced that even that portion would be closing as of April 1st.

And, it burns me up when I think of why they probably had to close - cheap discount stores like wal-mart, BB, Sears, etc.

It seems that people today don't care to pay a little extra from a hometown business who knows their products and will stand behind them should service be needed after the sale. Instead, they want cheap, cheap, cheap and that's all they care about. It don't matter that these discount places often don't know their butt from a hole in the ground or the fact that they couldn't care less about product service. All they see is a CHEAP price and that's what they go for.

A great many of the appliances in this house came from McAllister's and they were the only place that my Mother would do business with because they were polite, knew their products, and stood behind them.

Maybe I can find a picture of their old sign somewhere.

RIP McAllister's.

[ctc17]

Maybe sense the major appliance manufactures have mostly all gone to china and Mexico they want no part of that. I cant blame them in that regard.

Its sad that there seems to be no national pride anymore. No one even looks where somethings made and if they see made in china they say 'o well everything is made in china now'

[Kalamazoo-DJ]

Originally Posted by ctc17

Maybe sense the major appliance manufactures have mostly all gone to china and Mexico they want no part of that. I cant blame them in that regard.

Its sad that there seems to be no national pride anymore. No one even looks where somethings made and if they see made in china they say 'o well everything is made in china now'

It's a sad day for sure, I went and bought an American flag it said made in the USA on the box when I opened it, the American flag was made in Korea, the box was made in the USA. lol If I threw everything out of my house not American made I would have 5 roundies a few rectangulars, a refrigerator, a stove and a house standing with no windows or doors and everything else would be at the curb too, anyone wonder why we are at record high unemployment?

[DaveWM]

well also most don't consider service after the sale an asset. After all the idea is buy it use it till in breaks (90day to if your lucky a couple years) then toss it for the newest wizz bang whatever. China makes a lot of cheap junk, so if it fails they will just give you a new piece of junk (provide you do it in 90 days or whatever). I even see now that when you open the box they say if you have a problem not to go back to the retailer, but rather deal direct with some factory rep. What a joke, if I buy something, open the box and it aint right you can bet I am going back to the store. What has happned to this country? Bunch of sheep.

[radiotvnut]

Keep it until it breaks; or, until something "better" comes along - even if the old one is still working. That seems to be the current thinking.

About two weeks ago, when I was at china-mart, there were two broken flat screen TV's being returned. One was a 19" Sanyo and the other was at least a 46" Sanyo. I wonder how those TV owners made out. Saw another woman with a 19" Sanyo in her shopping cart and we warned her not to buy that brand; but, she acted like we were nuts. Maybe she'll remember our conversation when it breaks after the 3rd power up.

As for me, I've never bought a new TV and don't plan to do so as long as I can pick up something old and fix it. There is one flat screen in the house; but, that wasn't my doing. At least the place where my Mother bought it has their own service department. Of course, that could change at any given time.

A friend's 37" Dynex (BB store brand) LCD set went south while under extended warranty. They had him take it to a local shop for warranty service only to find out that the part needed to fix the set was NLA. BB ended up giving my friend his money back for the TV, which he took and bought a 42" Insignia and still had money left over. Before he got the first flatscreen, his daily watcher was a '92 25" Sanyo that had been on for 12-14 hrs. a day since it was new.

[Dan Starnes]

It is sad to see these type places going away.