What are your opinions on refurbished products? I'm looking for an LCD tv and I found a RCA 32" for $499.97. That's like $400 cheaper than brand new, and I know RCA to be a great quality product but I'm a little worried because it's refurbished.

Here's a link to the TV: http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicatio...IN#detailspecs

 

It is a hit and miss with refurbished products. I would tend to stay away from expensive items such as TV's and such compared to small and inexpensive items like phones etc........just my thoughts on the matter.

Does it at least have a decent warranty??

 

Unless you're in a hurry, wait until the day after Thanksgiving and hit Best Buy or Wally World. There will probably be some screaming deals on LCD's and plasmas. I got myself a 42" plasma last year for about $300 less than the normal price.

 

If the refurb comes with the same warranty you're golden. if it's going to die, most things break in the frist few months.

 

It comes with a 3month parts/labour warranty. I know that's a little short but if it does break it'll probably break within the first 3 months. I'm not really in a hurry to get one, I'm just looking for good deals. BTW I'm canadian so we don't really have major sales after thanksgiving(at least I don't think), we have massive boxing day sales though.

 

I have read favorable things about Tiger Direct, as long as the sale does not involve a rebate, in such cases I read about a lot of hassles in getting the rebate through.

 

Tigerdirect is a great site, I have bought my wireless keyboard and mouse combo off of them, as well as my wireless router and laptop and I never had any problems. The items all arrived really fast, their customer service and shipping is top notch.

 

Most of the refurbished items are pretty good because the part that failed is already replaced. Most likely like has already been said Failures happen in the first three months if you make it past that, Barring any power surge it is good for life!! Probably the power supply or a simple resistor or the like went bad. They solder in a new one and it is as good as new!! Make sure you buy a new surge protector they are only good for so many surges ( a surge is anything above 120volt) Even if it is not a noticeable surge it is wearing it down!! I wouldn't trust one with the protection light
Just replace them every 3 years or so! It is worth it!!

 

I have had very bad luck with the refurb phones you get from cell phone insurance, but my surround sound in my house is a refurb from JBL direct and it has performed flawlessly.

 

I bought my computer refurbished 3 or 4 years ago for $485 (including the monitor) and it's worked great.

I also just recently got a refurbished MP3 player for $5 from buy.com

 

I retired from a major consumer electronics mfgr of tv's, vcr's, etc., and would not buy a refurb product under any circumstances.

RCA quality was never that good, and after selling to Thomson, really went south. I think they are now owned by someone else. jd

 

My experience with refurbished depends on where I got it. My experience with Frys Electronics is that the "open box" or refurbished products are prone to failure much sooner than I would expect.

I have had a refurbished product from other places that are OK.

In my mind refurbished means some one bought the product and there was a problem. The store repair guy either fixed the problem in which case you are probably good to go, or the service guy didn't find the problem and the equipment checked out OK. My expereince with a couple products from Frys is that, the product worked OK when I got it but was flakey later, sometimes working sometimes not. My DVD player is this way it is real picky about which DVD it will play and some days it will work some it won't.

I wait for sales in most cases and try to avoid a refurbished product unless it is pretty simple obvious technology.

RCA was a good American brand, not sure now who owns them, was Thompson in France several years back, maybe still is. If the warranty is not like the facotry new I would probably pass since the hassle of having a failure even if remote is still a PITA and most modern electronics are disposable so service either is expensive or not available.

Good Luck,

Jim Henderson

 

Really? What's so bad about RCA? I've had nothing but great products from them in the past.

 

Not sure how other retailers do it...I used to work at Sears, when defective products were returned, one of two courses of action were taken. Depending on the product and price, most of the time the item was repaired (at our regional repair center, our in-store guy only did very minor repairs) and resold at the store as a used/repaired item (and discounted significantly). However some items, such as the el cheapo DVD players everyone sells now...are simply returned to the manufacturer. Beyond that I don't know what happened to these items.

I'm assuming that all the refurbished stuff they sell at places like big lots is stuff that was returned to the manufacturer.

 

If it comes with say a three month warranty only. Leave that puppy on for 24 hours a day for the first few days to see how it performs while getting hot and staying that way for an extended period of time. Basically use all the functions and put it through the paces before the warranty is up. It should fail in those first few 24 hour on days if it is going to!!