Local TV repair service
Looking for references on TV repair services. LG tech support remotely diagnosed my tv and confirmed it needs a repair. My Costco Visa extended warranty will cover repair services but it's up to me to find a service.
Per Google, I found:
- Mike's TV Shop - Saxton Lane, Hackettstown
- Tinos TV Repair LLC - Whitehouse Station
- Warren Sontos TV Repair - Denville
- Electronics Service Unlimited - Newton
All seem to have good reviews albeit the number of reviews is really low.
emaxxman http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/871651
Here is some info from a thread just a few years ago.
Greg 
LibertyThinker Why get a Samsung?
Many TV's are using LG panels regardless of the badge on the front...and if you want 'better' then Sony is the way to go- at a price premium.
Josh Mike from Mike's TV shop helped me out a couple years ago, savings me from having to buy a new one for a while. He even loaned me a TV while he worked on mine. When my TV started giving me more problems about a year or so later, he didn't waste any of my time or money, honestly telling me it would be best to just get a new one at that point. He was very kind and helpful.
Lonesome Dove I like Mike....
Also heard the "might as well get new." Of course I was on really light LED and now on even lighter thin screen so all good. Finally got a TV I can lift :>)
Babbit Thanks all.
I'll check out Mikes. Still trying to get Costco to just replace it given how much trouble it is even to find a repair service.
I'm hoping the quote for repair is almost as much to replace the tv with a comparable model. I went on a Costco forum and that's what happened for some people. Visa just credited them the cost of their purchase.
As far as tv brands go, I have both LG and Samsungs. LG was my first flatscreen (55" - 1080p). It still looks great. I have smaller Samsungs (40"-ish) in the bedrooms. 2 are 4k and 1 is a 1080p. All look great.
LG and Sony's top of the line are both OLEDs. From what I've read, OLEDs are the best images you can get. They cost quite a bit though. I have a 32" LG 4k computer monitor and it's amazing.
Obviously no one could predict the future but if I had waited just a few months, I would've taken all the gas money I saved with Covid lockdowns and put it towards an OLED. Samsung QLED is great too. I'll make that choice depending on how this repair turns out.
I'm still using Panasonic plasma because up until last years QD-OLED there wasn't anything improved enough to spend the money.
Even then- the plasma probably still has better motion handling.
But once this years Sony drops in price towards late summer I will probably pick one up.
The Bravia Core streaming service seems to have blu-ray quality.
Just to save some time for others:
Mikes TV repair (phone number from http://www.hackettstownlife.com/forum/521407) is shared with Dunnellen TV shop. # is out of service.
Tinos Repair LLC - Whitehouse Station - no answer
Warren Santos TV Repair - Denville - # is out of service
Electronics Service Unlimited - # is out of service
NJ TV Computer Repair Center - Elmwood Park - won't come out to Hackettstown.
Left messages at
- Frank's Gateway Elect LLC - Flemington
- Wagner Electronics - East Stroudsburg
Call LG customer service , explain your situation and let them send someone from their closest repair center . I had a Samsung repaired under warranty and the guy came out from Riverdale NJ . It took him about 30 minutes to change out the faulty board . I asked him how Archie and Jughead were doing back in Riverdale , but he didn't get the joke .
97XBAM I already called LG. It's not covered under the LG warranty anymore. It's covered through my Costco Visa extended warranty. Visa will cover all the expenses but it's up to me to get the repair done.
LG did give me the contact for the two closest authorized repair services. One was in Queens and the other outside NYC but in NY too. One didn't answer their phone and the other wouldn't come out due to distance.
LOL on the Riverdale. When that show was popular, I had no idea it was based on Archie (not that I watched it either.) Found out years later.
Sorry that advice didn't help emaxx . Well at least defensive guru Dan Quinn is staying with our Cowboys . After that pathetic loss Sunday I'll take what little victories I can get .
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/35532993/dc-dan-quinn-returning-cowboys-hc-interviews
If 'covered' but need to find a servicer- and none are available in a reasonable area- PUSH- escalate - PUSH.
Coverage should NOT mean you need to go out of your way- especially a great distance with something large like a TV.
No joke- what if you were a person with a economy car like a Prius?
Many modern TV are getting really big!
And if you had a truck- they suck gas.
It may be 'up to you to bring to service' but service should be reasonable- or on their cost to make right.
(I work in an unrelated but similar type industry)
PUSH.
Not a chance in hell I would drive to NY.
Modern times- if you can't get me a service in a 30 min drive from my house each way- I'm gonna fight for reimbursement. My time is MY time. Even @ 30 min- that is an hour+ to drop off- and hour+ to pick up. Plus fuel / wear etc
LOL at 97XBAM - I had totally forgotten my gravatar was the star. I haven't really posted on this site in years. That game was so disappointing. Hopefully they get a new OC. I think the offense is being held back by Moore.
@Josh - Yeah, I'm not bringing that bad boy anywhere. It's a 75". I have a small SUV and it's not fitting. I'm going to keep pushing with both Costco customer service and the Costco Visa customer service. The Visa warranty service has been great with other stuff so I'm hopeful.
Ex man, I have to agree with Josh here. If you lived somewhere in Wyoming or even Alaska, would visa/Costco expect you to drive 6 hours to get it repaired? I’m wondering if your warranty would cover the cost to ship the tv.
Go to the ups store with the tvs dimensions and approximate weight. Find out what shipping would cost both ways to the city including buying the box and packing materials. Couple that with a quote to fix the tv from the repair facility. Those prices together may be close to the price of a new unit (I didn't read the whole thread so not sure if you mentioned the tvs value). At some point it’s gotta be close. Like Josh said, keep pushing. If you can present them with written quotes of repairs and shipping costs to and from the repair center, and it’s close enough to the cost of a new one, I suspect they’ll just cover the cost of a replacement.
ConsigliereWay back in the 90s..I had one of those 200 pound sony Bravia tvs just stop working..The tech came and just grabbed a small curcuit board ( that was whole tv)..and repaired that in his shop and returned..shipping a big tv to a repair shop is just going to damage it more...
Not if it’s packed properly. Tvs are shipped to homes all the time via Walmart, Best Buy -and Amazon purchases. Anything can be shipped without being damaged. You just can’t pack it half-assed
My point was, he *shouldn’t* actually ship it but present visa/Costco with the quote to do so. They may find that a replacement is similar in cost.
They ship well. I conduct a lot of work in the commercial A/V world and we install hundreds and hundreds of displays. Most are 55" and up. Mainly all are delivered from abroad. Some go back when there is an issue, same box and packing they come in. Not too different from a consumer version.
I'm sure it could be prohibitive. Although Fed Ex at times can be reasonable. I know UPS wanted $85 to ship a 26"mountain bike wheel to Colorado. Crazy. USPS did it for about $20...
“Have you looked how much it costs to ship a 55" tv your self?...it’s not cheap”
Holy cow, thats my point! I didn’t say he should ship the tv. I said he should present visa with the COST to ship the TV back and forth. Once they see the cost of shipping plus the cost to repair, they may just buy him a new TV.
Consigliere - you are spot on and that's where I'm headed. TV was just under $1K.
$682.21 for 3 day FedEx FREIGHT to ship one way. FedEx and UPS standard won't ship it due to the size. Too big.
73" x 44" x 9" in the box (of which I don't have btw). 100.8 lbs with box.
I have the box for my older TVs but not this one. Go figure. Not sure why I threw it away.
So, after several weeks and calling over a dozen different tv repair services, I finally found one that would provide an estimate without me dragging the tv into his shop. MS TV Service out of Verona ( http://mstvservice.com/)
Citibank would not budge from requiring an actual repair estimate (no matter how expensive shipping/etc would be to send the tv out.)
Spoke with the owner over the phone and sent him some pictures. He hypothesized that it was most likely the led backlight unit ($400 to $500 to repair) but it could also be the panel itself but we wouldn't know until we repaired the backlight. A new panel is over $1000 (more than the cost of the tv.)
I got an estimate for the full backlight and panel repair cost. Citibank ended up refunding the cost of the TV within 2 weeks of submitting the estimate.
Now I just have to wait for some good sales...and also try to figure out what the heck to do with a defective 75" tv.
Electronic collection in Hackettstown at the Miller Fire House is next month, Saturday, May 13 from 9AM to 1 PM. Televisions are accepted.
I have a Vizio 65" TV with an intermittent backlight problem. Sometimes it works for hours, sometimes a few minutes. Turning off and on will bring the picture back. It is the backlight as I can see the image when I use a flashlight.
Hate to toss it as it doesn't seem like a big repair but I'm not interested in doing so. It's sitting in my garage until next month unless I find someone that wants it.
BTW, sending me a note via email won't work as I have a different email now.
Mr. Resident I've replaced the led backlights on an LG display in the past. It's fairly simple and not expensive. The risk is not knowing if that is the issue. One way to attempt to discern the problem is to turn on the unit and be sure there is content playing from a source. Cable, DVR laptop whatever. Once it is "on" and you should see an image, shine a flashlight onto the screen and look closely. If you see the image it is the backlight. If not most likely it is one of the boards. They are not too expensive either by the way. Fun to troubleshoot if you are inclined. I enjoy that kind of stuff.
Luckily for you the refund was issued.
I'm pretty sure at the very least it's the backlight. The image has a noticeable blue tint to it and all of my 'internet' research confirms that it's the backlight. Every youtube video that shows the same problem says it's the backlight.
My only question is if it's only the backlight. HDR content is really dark. House of Dragons was almost unwatchable on it.
Backlight is about $150 direct from LG. I won't have a new tv before any Spring clean up dates so I'll store it in the new tv's box. I might take a shot at replacing the backlight. My issue is finding a place to work on it. Dining room table and the floor are the only surfaces big enough.
I would see if anyone else has that problem on the AVS forum . It's a good place to diagnose tv problems because usually if it is a common problem with a particular model others will have the solution . My two plasmas tvs 58" Samsung , 42" Panasonic 3D are going on 13 and 12 years trouble free .
That tech died off because people didn't know how to break them in properly and took them right out of the box with the contrast turned up high and played video games on them permanently burning in the static images . A shame because only the newer OLED sets have black levels approaching that of an old tech plasma .
https://www.avsforum.com/forums/
That would require quite a large work table for sure! I placed three 8' 2x4s across my patio table and covered them with a moving blanket. That worked well.
If you do go for it, I have used the following company for various parts in the past.
https://www.shopjimmy.com/
Good luck!
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