Thursday 20 June 2013

The new TV

I may have mentioned this before but the Cello 12v TV had been playing up. For a few months it was switching itself off with a loud electrical buzzing sound and hailstorm on the screen. Each time, I would unplug it, wait a few minutes, turn it back on and it would work fine. I wasn’t too bothered about this and decided I could live with it until a couple of weeks ago it didn’t come back on. So, I rang Cello and the kind lady told me that as it was now 12 and half months old, it was no longer covered by the warranty and she wouldn’t listen to my protests. She said I could send it back at my expense and one the engineers could look at it. The initial cost would be £79 plus any repair costs. What?!? As I explained my concerns, the phone when dead. It might have been my mobile signal going haywire but I suspect she pulled the plug on me.

Anyway, not wanting to be without a TV for our trip to Peterborough, I found another one on Ebay for not much more than £100. It was a new one with a brand name of Venturer. They had been sold by Argos for a couple of years and the hundred or so reviews were very good. So I bought one and set it up easily before we left.

So far, it has worked very well. The picture is good, the sound is fine, the remote control easy to use and scrolling through programmes is fast. I have fixed it to the swivelling wall bracket which means we can get the viewing angle right so, all in all, I’m very pleased especially as it was much cheaper than all the alternatives. It remains to be seen if it will last long. I have obviously kept the receipt and will have no hesitation in sending it back if it goes wrong within a year.

By the way, I saw at Crick that Midland Chandlers are selling the Cello TVs now. I guess they have researched them well and are happy with them. Perhaps I was just unlucky with mine. I certainly wasn’t very happy with the way their customer services lady dealt with me. Lesson learnt!

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