The TV repairman: A vanishing breed

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

My clothes dryer is beginning to show signs of "flaky". I pulled it away from the wall the other day and decided to peek inside. I found the case spot-welded shut all the way around. I took the panel off the bottom front and find access to the heating element up front and it was glowing read.

Then I picked up the ads and looked at the prices being advertised for new dryers. You think I am going to wake up the Maytag man to look at this thing... or am I going to bite the bullet and buy a new one. Three guesses... and the first two don't count.

 

[LKellerIII]

My clothes dryer is beginning to show signs of "flaky". I pulled it away from the wall the other day and decided to peek inside. I found the case spot-welded shut all the way around. I took the panel off the bottom front and find access to the heating element up front and it was glowing read.

Then I picked up the ads and looked at the prices being advertised for new dryers. You think I am going to wake up the Maytag man to look at this thing... or am I going to bite the bullet and buy a new one. Three guesses... and the first two don't count.

I've had the same problem. Machines that are primarily mechanical with lots of moving parts (washers, dryers, dishwashers) still need regular service. I bought a new washer and a new dryer about 2 years ago, but we use them daily...so I fully expect to be calling my appliance repairman within the next year or so. A typical $200 repair bill still beats the cost of a new washer or dryer by a mile. Kind of like automobiles - regular repairs are to be expected, though I suspect most people don't bother with replacing blown engines any more. It's not worth $3,000 or more for a rebuilt engine for an old car when the car itself is virutally worthless.

Not so with TVs and other electronic appliances that have virtually no moving mechanical parts.

 

[nocomradio]

I've had the same problem. Machines that are primarily mechanical with lots of moving parts (washers, dryers, dishwashers) still need regular service. I bought a new washer and a new dryer about 2 years ago, but we use them daily...so I fully expect to be calling my appliance repairman within the next year or so. A typical $200 repair bill still beats the cost of a new washer or dryer by a mile. Kind of like automobiles - regular repairs are to be expected, though I suspect most people don't bother with replacing blown engines any more. It's not worth $3,000 or more for a rebuilt engine for an old car when the car itself is virutally worthless.

Not so with TVs and other electronic appliances that have virtually no moving mechanical parts.

All machines need regular service. Without it they fail. That happens with frequent regularity.

As far as an automobile: Why spend $30,000 to fix a $3,000 problem? Replacing it sounds fun until you sit down and do the math. For the cost of around 6 months car payments, you can get your old car going again (assuming you have a good and trusted tech) and still have a low insurance bill, lower maintenance costs, know what you have, and oft times, don't need to worry about it getting stolen or damaged like a new car. The car may be worthless in terms of resale, but even a new one isn't worth much after you drive it off the lot. Automobiles are the WORST investment.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Electronics today are designed to last until just after the warranty expires, and then you go to Wal-Mart and replace it with another cheap unit.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

I've had computer monitors go out on me while on extended warranties.

 

[Goat Rodeo Cowboy]

As far as an automobile: Why spend $30,000 to fix a $3,000 problem? Replacing it sounds fun until you sit down and do the math. For the cost of around 6 months car payments, you can get your old car going again (assuming you have a good and trusted tech) and still have a low insurance bill, lower maintenance costs, know what you have, and oft times, don't need to worry about it getting stolen or damaged like a new car.

I have a standard line I use when shopping either for a car or a computer: "I buy a new one every ten years whether I need to or not. Tell me what I need to know since I haven't done this lately."

We all make this decision differently, but there is such a thing as waiting too long to buy the next one. In the last 15 months I bought one of each: a new car and a new computer. In both cases, I am happy I did. (I was reminded of the happiness when I chose to drive the 11 year old car to a meeting tonight.

 

[nomadcowatbk]

Electronics become obsolete before they break these days. There was little different in a B&W TV made in 1955 or 1965. Color TVs didnt' change much from the 50s until the late 70s. A new TV did not have any thing different than an old TV

 

[1st of 5]

In 1966, my father bought a massive color TV/stereo/phongraph/8-track console piece of furniture, from Sears, for my mother's birthday. I don't know how much my dad initially paid for it, but in the end, he must have sunk about $1000 in total repair bills. We always had the same Sears TV repair man come to check it out and the lug that 1000 pound monster back to the repair shop, where it stayed for a few weeks. That behemoth broke down every year, caught fire once, had several picture tubes and other vital and expensive innards replaced over its miserable 10 year cursed lifespan. After a while, my father finally put it out of its misery in 1975 with a solid state color TV which never broke down and was handed down in the family for over 20 years, until it finally fried. I bought my first TV in 1983 and it never needed repair. I lost it in my divorce, so I replaced it with a stereo TV monitor in 1988. The speakers blew out in 1998, routed to audio thru my stereo and it finally shorted out completely in 2003. TVs, like most electronics nowadays are much more reliable. Its usually cheaper to replace something because either the repair parts are too expensive or are unavailable or no one knows how to fix something that became obsolete 6 months after purchase.

 

[JayR]

When is the last time you went to a car dealership and you actually got to walk out into the shop and talk to the mechanic working on your car?

They use the "Due To Insurance Regulations" nonsense to keep you out of their repair shops.
:

 

[nocomradio]

When is the last time you went to a car dealership and you actually got to walk out into the shop and talk to the mechanic working on your car?

They use the "Due To Insurance Regulations" nonsense to keep you out of their repair shops.
:

The real reason for this, is that the management doesn't want someone bugging their tech all day for free advice on how to fix their car, and ultimately costing them both in lost time and potentially lost business. No sense in paying a tech to be a free advice dispenser and most likely losing the repair job once you tell the customer how to do it or where to get the parts.

 

[LKellerIII]

It's not worth $3,000 or more for a rebuilt engine for an old car when the car itself is virutally worthless.

All machines need regular service. Without it they fail. That happens with frequent regularity.

As far as an automobile: Why spend $30,000 to fix a $3,000 problem? Replacing it sounds fun until you sit down and do the math. For the cost of around 6 months car payments, you can get your old car going again (assuming you have a good and trusted tech) and still have a low insurance bill, lower maintenance costs, know what you have, and oft times, don't need to worry about it getting stolen or damaged like a new car. The car may be worthless in terms of resale, but even a new one isn't worth much after you drive it off the lot. Automobiles are the WORST investment.

We're wandering away from the topic now (TV repairmen), but I don't disagree about cars. I'm a cheapskate and have rarely bought new cars, which lose value as soon as you drive them off the lot. So instead of paying $3,000 or more to replace a blown engine in a 14 year old car (with more problems to be expected down the road), I usually buy a $10,000 used car with low miles...after I have my mechanic check it out, of course. To me, that's more economical in the long run, and I have the pleasure of owning a "new" (to me) car.

 

[quadraphonic]

It's a vanishing breed, but not gone yet!

https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_jobdetail.asp?partnerid=455&siteid=185&areq=99972BR

 

[vchimpanzee]

When is the last time you went to a car dealership and you actually got to walk out into the shop and talk to the mechanic working on your car?

They use the "Due To Insurance Regulations" nonsense to keep you out of their repair shops.
:

That doesn't happen at my garage. There's no one outside, so you have to go in the shop.

 

[BMR]

I do think we have to be careful about being too nostalgic and ignoring practicalities.

Firstly, not all modern TVs are shortlived. I brought my folks a 21" CRT telly in 2004- it's still going strong after seven years- now on a convertor box of course. Even with regular repairs, many pre solid state TVs didn't see their 10th birthday- Bush in particular were a terrible brand in the UK.


Secondly, there is the practicality of waiting in for the TV repair man. You could be TV less for a few days and then (in these days where many households are either dual working or single adult) have to take a day off work to wait in for the guy to come.


By contrast you can nip down to Best Buy, Currys or Asda (UK version of WalMart) and buy a TV at pretty much any time of night or day.


There *is* certainly an issue about the way tellies are made so cheap in terms of sweatshop labour- I'd rather they were 10% dearer or so and the chinese workers got the difference but I'm not sure I'd want to go back to the situation in the 1970s where TVs were so dear.




As ever a British viewpoint- but I can't imagine the issues are very different over there.

 

[FreddyE1977]

I know one who is still open for business in Pittsburgh.
Keeping very limited hours though. Can't say for how long
as the last of the CRT sets he was trained on head for the scrap heap.
The job has become much more like IT Support nowadays.

 

[KERCAlum]

A couple of observations...

My dad was also a TV repairman for a brief time after he left the Signal Corps. Worked on both tube and solid-state sets in a small town and actually made a fairly decent living. But he decided it wasn't for him ultimately.

Second, I still have a CRT TV. I've owned it for nearly ten years now, had it repaired once under warranty and it's never given me any trouble since. But the comparison of the picture between it and my 42" LCD in the front room...well, it's no comparison. I'd replace it, but I hate to get rid of something that works.

Which brings me to point 3 - my washing machine pump let go the other day, and I spent a little over $800 to buy a new one (and a new dryer to boot) because I don't have the patience to do the repairs myself (apparently you can replace a pump in a washing machine for between $35 and $50) and I didn't want to call a repairman out on a machine that was out of warranty. This way I get a new machine, a mfr's warranty and the extended 2-yr plan (for extra) and a new dryer to boot. These cheaper machines are basically disposable, but I'll be darned if I'm paying $1,000 for a washing machine that doesn't also fold my clothes, iron them, cook my dinner and rub my feet. That way my wife can get some rest, too. ;D