Help! We bought a tele last year from lx direct on the net, long story short it devloped a intermitent fault, has been to the engineers warehouse stayed on a "soaptest" for a full week and the engineers could not find the fault (every so often the screen will go black but the sound is o.k) When it happens it only lasts a few seconds but is a fault nonetheless. So the enginners bring our tele home inform us that they could not find the fault therefore there is no fault, lx direct now say that because the enginners say there is no fault as they never saw the fault occur that they will not replace or refund us on this product.
Its still under the 12 month age mark so is still under warranty, we just keep getting fobed off over the phone with the same old
" the enginners will come to look at the set and take it away for a week again" but they cant watch it all the time therefore will miss the fault occuring. And then we get back to the "engineers cant find the fault therefore the set isnt faulty therefore we wont replace or refund"
Does anybody have any suggestions or advise for us on consumer rights cheers :)

Originally posted by honeyplanet
Help! We bought a tele last year from lx direct on the net, long story short it devloped a intermitent fault, has been to the engineers warehouse stayed on a "soaptest" for a full week and the engineers could not find the fault (every so often the screen will go black but the sound is o.k) When it happens it only lasts a few seconds but is a fault nonetheless. So the enginners bring our tele home inform us that they could not find the fault therefore there is no fault, lx direct now say that because the enginners say there is no fault as they never saw the fault occur that they will not replace or refund us on this product.
Its still under the 12 month age mark so is still under warranty, we just keep getting fobed off over the phone with the same old
" the enginners will come to look at the set and take it away for a week again" but they cant watch it all the time therefore will miss the fault occuring. And then we get back to the "engineers cant find the fault therefore the set isnt faulty therefore we wont replace or refund"
Does anybody have any suggestions or advise for us on consumer rights cheers :)

Well, if i was getting a call like this at work, i don't think we would be able to help,
unless engineers can find a fault there is nothing you can.........

now you don't always have to go to there engineers, if you got an independant engineer, and they did find a fault, you could present your case that way, but the chances are the independent engineer won't find a problem and you will be stuck with a bill to pay

Intermittent faults are complex.

When the picture goes does it twitch horizontally or show signs of collapsing to a vertical line?
Does it come back full width or spread from the middle?
Either would indicate a line fault.

If you look through the back of the set when the pic is there you should be able to see the CRT heaters glowing.
Are they still glowing when the pic has gone?

Does it happen whatever the signal source or only on satellite, digital, DVD or VCR?

What happens if you switch from one to another while the fault is there?

Does it happen on both aerial and SCART input or only ever on one of them?

I think it shows more of a vertical line, but the picture more or less just clicks off almost as if its gone on to standby and as its doing it it makes a clicky staticy sound, some times it has a patch of white along the top just before the picture comes on, and the picture reappears full screen as norm.
It only lasts for a few seconds when it does go but sometimes it will do it 10 times in a space of minutes and other times it will go for hours without doing it. It seems to be worst when its been switched on in the morning.
The fault occurs whatever the signal source and continues if you switch channels, so I am pretty sure its the t.v

Your best bet in a case like this is to make the fault more serious.

I know it's wrong, but if there is a fault and it won't be fixed, you're left with no other choice.

Perhaps you could borrow a video camera and leave it pointed at the TV so you can catch it and have something to show the engineers?

So it sounds like a line fault. There is probably a dry joint somewhere around the line output stages - the crackling indicates that the whole line/EHT circuit is shutting down.
If it was me I'd do a blanket re-solder on the relevant bit of board and see what happens.

The problem with soak testing (not soap) is that the set sits there and runs for 12 hrs at a time but if nobody is actually looking when the fault occurs then it's not seen.

Unless there is a demonstrable fault I think you may have trouble getting a replacement or refund.

If it is a dry joint it shouldn't be that expensive to get fixed once the set is out of guarantee and the fault has worsened to the degree that it's easier to find.

I don't often recommend them but have you thought of taking out an extended guarantee?

Other than that contact them again and give them a full description of the fault, write it down and tape it to the back of the set so that the engineer who gets the job actually gets the full description.

Originally posted by Lickszz
So it sounds like a line fault. There is probably a dry joint somewhere around the line output stages - the crackling indicates that the whole line/EHT circuit is shutting down.
If it was me I'd do a blanket re-solder on the relevant bit of board and see what happens.

The problem with soak testing (not soap) is that the set sits there and runs for 12 hrs at a time but if nobody is actually looking when the fault occurs then it's not seen.

Unless there is a demonstrable fault I think you may have trouble getting a replacement or refund.

If it is a dry joint it shouldn't be that expensive to get fixed once the set is out of guarantee and the fault has worsened to the degree that it's easier to find.

I don't often recommend them but have you thought of taking out an extended guarantee?

Other than that contact them again and give them a full description of the fault, write it down and tape it to the back of the set so that the engineer who gets the job actually gets the full description.

extended guarantee................

0870 600 1660

your choice lol

Take the back off, pull out a couple of wires. The aerial lead is usually a good one to mess up then demand money back. Worked for me.
What was even better I took it in the day before with a fault and it happened to work ok in the shop and they wouldn't do anything so I told the manager that I would be back with it tomorrow and I was sure that it was going 'develop' a more serious fault.
I purposely asked for him the next day when I took it back and lo and behold it didn't work anymore and as it was within 14 days I got my cash back and went elsewhere..thank you Comet.

Originally posted by wibbles
Take the back off, pull out a couple of wires. The aerial lead is usually a good one to mess up then demand money back. Worked for me.
What was even better I took it in the day before with a fault and it happened to work ok in the shop and they wouldn't do anything so I told the manager that I would be back with it tomorrow and I was sure that it was going 'develop' a more serious fault.
I purposely asked for him the next day when I took it back and lo and behold it didn't work anymore and as it was within 14 days I got my cash back and went elsewhere..thank you Comet.


if a product is deemed to have been tampered with, they will refuse repair altogether

Well just to let you all know after 3 days of phonecalls we sorted it..Apparently the enginneers had said all along that it was a product recall, the customer service department just refused to accept the report. We stuck to our guns and got there in the end now all we have to do is wait for the relevent department to call us to make arrangements.
We will be sending our b.t phonebill to the head office so they can reimburse us for the hours and hours of phonecalls. cheers for eveybodys suggestions

Grr cant belive it this firm is turning me into victor meldrew!! now they have changed thier minds again now apparently its the ariel at fault not the tele,even though we only use the sky dish for reception.
So I have called out an independant body to lookat the signal stenghth and write a report, and it wont be cheap..
Its gone from no fault to product recall (will phone to arrange replacement) to sorry no we changed our minds now its your ariel not the set. I can feel the old brain starting to go into meltdown and I am finding it really hard to keep my cool with the customer service dept.
Give me strength

This happened to a friend of mine a few years ago. To cut a very long story short (she was messed around in pretty much the same way as you have been) she ended up contacting trading standards & then taking the company (Currys) to the small claims court. Managing Directors don't like summonses so she did eventually get her moneyback ;-)

It might be worth your while calling trading standards, telling them the story & seeing what they advise. Goodluck!

Well the independant company I called found the fault within ten minutes and are doing me a report to send to the company.
Basically they said the main tube is arcing (scuse spelling) and will cost a fortune to repair so hopefully they will replace it
A.T.V on langsett road, cant fault them excellent sevice would recomend them to anybody