C & M TV SVC

Didn't fix it

I had an old big screen TV with a 61 inch screen that was making a loud noise like a fan blade was broken and hitting something. He was able to tell me on the phone what was probably wrong (broken color wheel) and aproximately how much it would cost to fix it. After our conversation, I am sure it will be cheaper to buy a new television. He was very knowledgeable and courteous. I would use his service again.

My TV stopped working on a Tuesday night. It had picture but no sound on all the inputs, so Wednesday morning I called and brought it by C&M. I paid an upfront cost of $45 for them to diagnose the issue, with the understanding that the $45 would go towards the final cost of the repair if I chose to have them do it. I was quoted a resolution time frame of next day before I'd get a call with the results of the issue and the cost related to fixing it. The next day came and an hour before they closed I gave them a call to see if they had a resolution yet, I was told they had not been able to get to mine yet, but it was first up tomorrow morning, and they'd give me a call then. Next day comes around and once again right before they closed for the night, I had to reach out to them to find out if they had discovered the issue yet. (not impressed thus far with their ability to follow up on call back or time frame commitments) They informed me that the issue was the Main Board, and it needed to be replaced, and quoted me a price of $320 for parts and labor. Based on the cost being over 50% of the value of the TV, I couldn't give them an answer right away until I weighed my options. I was also told they did not have the part in stock and would have to order it. Since this was now Friday 5pm, they are closed on the weekends, any part ordering would it had to wait until Monday, further delaying the repair process if that's what I chose to do. So I looked on Youtube for TV repair videos, found a replacement part online for $90, and with the mechanical knowledge of lefty loosy righty tighty, and 15 minutes out of my day, I repaired the TV myself for just over a quarter of what C&M wanted to charge me. Now don't get me wrong, their diagnosis was spot on, and worth the $45 I payed, but the additional $275 they wanted to replace a $90 part requiring 10 minutes of labor to install, was way out of line.

They did what they were supposed to do and I will have them quote again in the future. Their estimate was a little high for the work I needed.