Customer Reviews

Philips 27PT6441 27" Stereo TV with QuadraSurf Remote and RealFlat Screen

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(97)

 

 

Same fuse problem here. Don't waste time with customer service. DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON A REPAIRMAN. Fix it yourself. Just pretend it's 1956 and your tv needs a new vacuum tube. Ask your dad or grandfather and they'll probably get a chuckle.

The hardest part was lifting the 100 lbs. behemoth off the entertainment center by myself.

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Clarification on earlier repair instructions
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There are 9 screws that hold the front to the back, not 8. The ninth screw is mixed in with the panel of red and white cable sockets grouped together at the bottom center of the back of the tv.

The screw heads are "stars" which need a "Torx" head screwdriver with the specific size of "T10" I bought a one of those multi-head screwdrivers from home depot that had that style and size bit.

With the tv lying on its screen and all 9 bits removed, the back panel lifts straight off and exposes all the circuitry. That gives you enough room that you don't need a light, mirror, or special pliers.
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That now behind me, and my tv repaired, fixed and working as I speak, I wonder if in 10-12 months from now, I'm just going to have to replace the fuse again. If that is the case I think even less of Philips, which is pretty hard to imagine at this point.

I also wonder if the Capitalist foreman in Communist China that runs the slave-factory that put my TV together skimped on cheap, faulty fuses, and that's why there are thousands of these sets out there. Philips knows all about this, I have no doubt.

Think of the poor consumers out there who don't know about the comments here at amazon who are going through Philips's maze of telephone help menus, or sending out for $100, $150, $200 repairs. For them I wish I could give fewer stars.

Bought it, like it for the first 1.5 months. It just went dead after 1.5 months. Been dealing with Philips customer service for a while now and gotten nowhere. I continue to wait for a call back from their "escalation" deparment.

If the TV breaks in the first two months it's poor quality. If the customer service can't do anything for you but give you a complaint number and tell you "we'll call you back", then the customer service is bad. All-in-all, terrible decision to buy this TV, I just hope to save someone else the headache.

Here's How to get Phillips to pay...
First some background. My 27PT6441/37 had the same problem after 10 months. However, I went to replace the fuse and the old fuse was fine. My problem was slightly different than what most of you are experiencing (the LCD did 3 short flashes, 2 short flashes, then 1 long flash...an error code of sorts). Anyways, I got the contact info for a big wig at Phillips (...) from the Better Business Bureau, and sent him an email with a link to these reviews. A copy of the email is attached below. Needless to say, He promptly got the customer service department to authorize the repair and they SENT a guy to our house to fix it on-site. I'm tellin' ya, the squeaky wheel gets the oil!!!
Here's the email:
Mr. McManis,
I have been a loyal Philips customer for many years, and in keeping with this loyalty, I bought the Philips 27pt6441/37 television last October (2004). Yesterday my TV suddenly stopped working and within minutes of beginning a search online for an explanation, I realized there are hundreds of angry customers with the EXACT same complaint as mine. I have attached a link to the review section on Amazon.com for this product so you can read for yourself the opinions that at least 47 of your once loyal customers now have for your company. I will be adding a 48th tomorrow. We all have had the same problem with our televisions, and we have all subsequently had the same problems with the customer service department blowing off our requests. I'm not a business man, but it is overwhelmingly apparent that there is a defect in the design/manufacturing of the 27pt6441 and that the repair of this product should be covered regardless of warranty status. Usually when a well-respected company has a universal problem like this, they either announce a general recall on the product or establish some procedure by which customers can have defective units repaired.
I hope that this email helps clarify the issue. If needed, I could easily supply the email addresses of hundreds of unhappy customers for your convenience.

I bought this TV based on the favorable experiences and reputation of the Phillips brand. Unfortunately, about a week after the labor warranty expired, the TV completely died, exactly how other reviewers have stated. I paid $249.00 for the TV, The repair places want approx. $140.00 in labor to fix it. I approached Phillips, and as of this date of the review, they will not cover the labor. According to Phillips, upper management needs to review this and make a decision. I was told 24 to 48 hours, still no answer after almost 2 weeks. I 've had a JVC 31 inch TV for 10 years, no problems.. Bye, Phillips, Hello JVC!!

The picture quality is fine, and the sound quality is fine, but the television dies from a power-related problem at 4 months, just after the warranty expires.

You have two choices: Buy the extended warranty, or buy a different model.

I though that i was the only one with this issue, that it was part of my bad luck, but i see that is NOT. Exatcly the same story, but twice. It broke down on september (i bought it on december the 28th 2004), and I took it to the repair a store, and it broke down again two weeks ago (less than two months later).
I still don't have the TV, I have to pay around $150 like if this were a LEASE and it's NOT.
The poor customer service (the guys that pick the phone are nice) but once the story goes up the ladder it gets worse, so management...my asssssss.... (pardon my english). What about a recall of the product, aren't you suppossed to be a "gurus" on business, isn't much more expensive bring a new customer than to keep those you already got.
I can't believe it that i didn't check the reviews before buying it, but from now on this will bring very bad reviews and less customer as i can, and by the way and putting on the market my PHILIPS DVD and STEREO, and don't want them.

I'm sure you've read at least one of these reviews and yeah, it's true. Mine blew out early this morning and I was quite worried. Considering this was a good six months after I had purchased it. On top of that, it wasn't my original set. The first one I picked up died in three hours, and was promptly replaced by Best Buy. I was under the impression it must have just been an isolated incident. Well, until now it was. The previous problem was actually much different, the TV would be on for a moment or two, the tube displaying a series of white bands and then it would go right off. This time it just died completely and wouldn't come back at all.

Luckily, I did notice the comment listed here describing the blown fuse solution. Reading up on it a bit more it seemed like the logical course of action, why deal with the run-around and the very probable non-assistance from the Philips people?

So to add a little bit more to that previous life-saving post... the fuses you want from RadioShack are 250 volt/4-amp Slow-Blow Fuses [270-1066], they come in a 4-pack. They're not an exact replacement, the one out of the TV has a single straight coil inside, the ones I got have a noticibly thicker coil that spirals. Now, I'm no professional, but I'd assume these will last longer than the old fuses based on thickness alone... yeah, obviously I'm a real old hand at this. Hoo...

Anyway, it's been on a good three hours now and I've turned it on and off a great deal in that time period. Seems to be back to normal working order for the time being.

Now, obviously, if you're not sure exactly what you're doing here you should steer clear of attempting this, but you'll find the fuse right by the power cord inside the circuit board. And the back won't come off clean, the board is attached to this. You'll need to prop it up enough and leave a good distance between the two parts to reach in and pop the old one out and put the new one in. The process of removing the back takes much longer than the actual fuse replacement, which is nothing really.

And yes, there is a very real danger here of severe electrocution, and whatever warranty you have will most likely be voided, but you know... desperate times... Four/Five star TV for the price, one-star longetivity. Thanks a whole lot, Philips.

Don't buy Philips products anymore. It seems hurting their customer base is the only thing that burned customers like myself and the rest of the people who bought this TV can do. A product recall or resonable offer to repair this TV in-house at no cost, is not going to happen. I just fixed my TV for 50 cents and it's working now. But do I want to do this fix every 6-7 months? NO.

Like the rest of the reviewers, my TV (27PT6441/37) worked very well, with excellent picture and sound for 7 months, and the delayed 5-8 second power-on-time was tolerable. The box design is also very nice. Then it just went dead one day.

Of course there were not many reviews on this TV's manufacturing defect when I purchased it back in November, otherwise I would feel like an idiot for not doing my research. I called customer service and right away demanded they send and pay for in-house repair, regardless of their warranty, and the fact that everyone who bought this has the same problem. The guy politely said to take it to a repair center he gave me an address for, and said I should call back after it's fixed (and after I shell out my money for labor) to request any type of reimbursement. I kept asking if he shows anything on his screen about this product's problems, and he said he sees nothing! He also said that opening the TV would void the (worthless) warranty.

The problem seems most likely to be a bad power supply fuse from all the reviews on the net, and I didn't need to find that out by hauling this gorilla to a repair shop and pay some endangered-species-TV-repair guy that Philips is keeping in business through their shoddy products and outrageous warranty details.

I bought a 4 amp 250 volt slow-blow fuse from Radio Shack, where you get 4 for $2.xx The correct type is small about couple centimeters long and has a single straight wire with a bead in the center (not the longer, coiled wire fuse). The TV has nine screws holding the back in place (there is one in the AV jacks panel), and placing the TV on it's face on the ground, the back comes of easily, except that you need a special hex-type screw-driver to open the screws quickly. Making sure everyting is grounded and the power is unplugged, the fuse to replace is right where the power cord enters the curcuit board and changed easily with pliers. Needless to say, I don't assume any responsibility for those who may be electrically injured from attempting this minor fix. Get help from an electrician friend or DIY-type if you have never opened a large electrical device.

I will wait and see if this lasts longer than 6 months. In the meantime, don't buy Philips products anymore. They deny this simple problem and offer a worthless warranty and customer service experience.

I bought this TV in September. No problems with it; great picture and sound, easy to use.

Middle of November (11/13 to be exact), I turned it on and 2 seconds later it turned off. I tried turning it back on with no success. Even before I contacted Philips, I plugged it in to different outlets in the living room, moved it to other rooms to try those outlets, and even let it sit for an hour to see if maybe it was on too longer earlier. Nothing.

I called Philips and got the information for a local repair shop, as the TV is still under the 3 month parts and labor warranty. Repair guy comes out, says he knows what the problem is, but has to take the TV in to the shop as he has to order it. Should take about 2 weeks.

Fine. No problem with that.

2 weeks later, no part. It's been put on back order.

And it stays that way untilearly January, when Philips contacts the shop and tells them that the part is no longer being made. They investigate and find out that Philips listed the part needed to repair the TV under the wrong part number. So, they have to reorder the part, and are promised that it will ship out on 1/13.

It is now 1/28, and the shop still doesn't have the part. It is sitting at a Philips warehouse marked as "Released"...which apparently means it's waiting to be shipped.

After reading the other three reviews that explained the same problem, I decided I should warn others thinking about buying this TV. Maybe they fixed the problem (supposedly 1000 people were ordering this part), but I wouldn't bet on it. Stay away from it and buy something else. If you are feeling lucky, though, make sure you get a store warranty. After a month of waiting for the TV to be fixed, you'd probably end up being given another TV.

update - 1/11/2006: It has been almost a year since I wrote this review. We got the TV back late in February of 2005. The TV worked fine and has not had a repeat of the fuse issue (knock on wood). The only problem now is that the TV started emitting a buzzing noise. It doesn't do it all the time, and sometimes will go away if I turn it off and back on. Still, it's annoying, and I'm seriously considering just getting a better quality TV and throw this one in the trash, unless someone has a solution to the buzzing noise. The thing that I don't get is that our smaller, 20' version of this TV (again, knock on wood) has had no problems. Maybe it's because we bought the warranty on it when we purchased it (it was purchased before the fuse blew on the 27" TV). Who knows.

I am glad I found this review. The fuse on my TV blew out a couple of days ago. As suggested by other reviewers, I will go to Radio Shack and try to replace the fuse myself. I am happy with the quality of the picture, but very unhappy with this fuse problem. I would not have bought it if I knew about the problem. There are so many choices of TVs nowadays.

Update on 12/12/05. I purchased an electronics screwdriver set ($15.00), which includes the star bit, and 5-amp, 250-volt fuse pack ($2.50) at Radio Shack. It took me about 15 minutes to replace the fuse. The TV is now working again. Please note that you do need to have the right screwdriver bit to do the job. Since I never opened up a TV before this, I had to purchase the screwdriver set.