Couple of things come to mind.
Either they didnt want to piss with it and just get the customer
for a checkout charge. Or thier a dealer and wanted to sell them
a new set.

You're probably right, but the irony of the situation is that it's the exact opposite when it comes to new car dealers, they make FAR more money on warranty work and general repairs than the sale of the car...you'd never know it by their shoddy backshops though!

Anthony

Exactly Andy,
I had a young tech that I hired on and he was full of attitude! Pretty soon he started hating almost every brand and giving them the "B.E.R."(beyond economical repair)tag.
One day I went through two of the sets that he said were "BER" and found bad solder on one and a bad cap in the scan supply on the other! Needless to say I had a talk with him the next day..
That kind of stupidity can make a shop that strictly services electronics go out of business fast, not to mention it is unfair to the customer who is most likely trying to save money by repairing their old set.
Granted, If the tv was on it's last legs with a weak crt and assorted problems I would never try to nurse it along just for a buck.
In my shop we not only repaired them we also replaced any common problem parts, cleaned them inside and out and replaced any missing doors, etc. So they were more remanufactured than repaired and this worked very well along with the 90 day warranty I gave.

That may be true when it comes to cars. However I speak from
experience when I say that warranty work in consumer electronics
and appliances much of the time is a joke. In most cases the company
will only pay you a fixed amount regardless of the time spent. So
you might make out ok if your looking at a simple repair. If thats not
the case then you can start loosing money real quick depending on
what you run into. In general the process of running a warranty through
the system from start to finish is kind of a PITA within itself. Its necessary
though if you plan to work on units for a new dealer. Just have to take
the good with the bad.

As far as warranty work, When we were a Zenith authorized dealer/service center in the 80's it wasn't a whole lot of fun and you wouldn't get rich either!
Glen is right about the time alotted for a specific repair and the small amount you would get. A tech had to be really good and quick to make just a little money.

Let's face it guys, if nothing ever failed, we would have been out of a job.

Very true, but there are definitely some sets that are more of a pain to deal with than others......same thing applies to cars. One of the reasons the more expensive cars cost more labor-wise is not because that's what the market will bear, but because they are horribly designed from a repair viewpoint....often needing several "layers" of things removed to get to the problem.

In my book there's no excuse for this. Often times things are designed solely for ease of assembly without a thought given to servicing. The hardest design is the simplest one.

Anthony

I can relate with HVAC. Bryant's residential furnaces use glowplugs for igniting the gas. In the 80% units, they aren't too bad to replace. In the 90% (single and two stage) they are a bitch to get at. It takes longer to get it out and put it back in than it does to actually replace the part.

Unless the part(s) are under warranty, I always leave them with the client. I have replaced a few glow plugs. After the furnace is back up and running, I always show the client where the plug failed. In all cases, i show the client the problem. I did this when i did TV repair in the 80's (I was in my teens). To me, showing the client the problem and why I did what I did is the most important thing.

motorola rates right up there
 

i never saw a good picture on any motorola color set the red's were always orange and detail was non-existant. I guess that's why so many old people liked them because of the soft picture.

Early Zenith color portables are a bit soft, but I think that's the 15LP22 tube in them. Or mine just needs a rebuild :(

I know roundies can be fun to get rebuilt - what about early generation rectangulars?

I delt with an Zenith CRT in a Philips with a Tiwanese chassis & as useual the CRT is always crook, The CRT in that one was made in '93.

Were these CRT's made by Rauland?

Magnavox went to shit just before the sale to Phillips. I've seen many that had 1/4 watt resistors where a 1/2 watt was specified. This is the last of the hybrids, and the first solid-states. Oh yeah, the module connectors used to fry too.

I had a Magnovox (or a Sylvania maybe) that was a rock, 27 incher bought in 1988 and lasted 15 years and still had a like new picture and never broke. Was even built in Tennessee. When I gave it away for an HDTV last year it still worked perfectly.

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For a short time, I worked for a place in Milwaukee called Ken Mueller TV on 92nd St, off Capitol. It's gone now. This would have been around 1988 or so.

I kept the floor clean, did deliveries, mowed the grass, did a little sales, very entry level. That crooked old jackass used to make me put on a lab coat with a Zenith logo and pretend I was a tech and go to little old ladies' houses and tell them a line of bullshit to make them buy a new TV. Needless to say, I didn't work there long, and remember vaguely calling him a crooked old fock in front of customers when I stormed out.

Ahhh.....the privileges of youth....