If you need HDMI cables, go to tigerdirect.com.

DON'T be a sucker who buys $150 HDMI cables.

Buy them for $30, mail me $70, and pocket the $50 yourself.

I agree! With the money I've not spent on warranties I can afford to replace the most expensive electronic device in my home. Same goes for tires.

Tiger Direct blows 'em all away. I'll put my 61' Toshiba 1080p dlp up against anything. For an additional $6500 i could have gotten a Pioneer Elite or Hitachi Directors Edition that has an ever so slightly better picture. I paid $1799 delivered to my living room almost 6 mo's ago.

Best Buy/Future Shop (In Canada)
 

I love this thread.

Bought a 50" LG Plasma before Christmas 06. Thought twice about it since it might go on sale after Christmas. "No Problem" says the Salesman. "You are protected by a 30 day price Guarantee".

Get the TV delivered and hooked up. Great TV. No complaints. My buddy calls me up on Boxng Day and says he thinks the TV I bought is on sale for $500.00 less than I paid. Get the flyer and sure enough, there it is.

A couple of days later, I go into the Service Desk (within 30 days)with receipt in hand and tell my story. They tell me they cannot do anything because the TV was offered in limited quantities (1700 TV's !). I am pissed. Call Head Office and get the same BS. Thought about taking the set back for a refund but the box was gone, weights 150 + lbs and is massive. Anyway thats enough complaining.

Moral of the story, Best Buy/Future Shop has the worst company policies of any store in North America. I wouldn't go in the store to pick up free Porsche parts. I hate that store.

Cheers

Another thumbs up for Crutchfield. Great products and great support.

Hard to go wrong with local shops, where the employees/management know that their jobs depend on keeping you happy. Plus, many of them actually (gasp!) care about their products and customers.

Extended warranties is a racket! I recently bought a small dorm size fridge fro my office. The fridge was less than $60 and in the paperwork the company wanted to sell me an extended warranty for $75! What's wrong with this picture?
When a cashier tries to sell the extended warranty they usually say something like "this appliance only has an X months warranty..." My reply is always the same "If you think it is going to break after only X months then cancel the sale and I will go find a better made product elsewhere" They don't know what to say!

You didn't complain loud enough. If you stand your ground and continue to repeat the same complaint LOUDLY they will give in to keep you from running off the other customers. If they say they don't have the authority to do it, ask to speak to their supervisor. Persistence will wear them down and eventually they will realize that you aren't going to go away. The store manager doesn't want to spend two hours arguing with a loud angry customer at the front desk of his Electronics store.

The usual customer service response to good service is that the customer tells 2-3 people of their positive experience.

However, if it's bad service, the customer winds up telling 9 people. I think we've exceeded that number.

This neglect for customer service always amazes me. They must think there's an unending supply of customers to repeat their shoddy sales and service policies and/or reputations and word of mouth don't travel far. I'm also ashamed that so many people take advantage of a store's good will. The people who return 2 year old TVs from Costco have a lot of balls.

OTOH, where will brick and mortar businesses be in a few years if online shopping continues to increase in popularity? There's something to be said for being able to window shop and buy a needed product immediately from a local merchant w/o waiting for the delivery guy.

Sherwood

As an aside...

No joke, I have a 19" CRT Sharp TV I bought in 1987 - that's right, 1987. It's still working great. Also still going strong on a 27" CRT Sharp TV I bought about 6 years ago. Maybe these guys shouldn't have gotten into the flat screen market...

I have a 27" Sony from 1996 or so. During my party days, it literally had beer spilled into it. Multiple times. Both it and a 27" Sony Wega were struck by lightning about a year ago, that fried numerous other things in our house. The Wega pops when you turn it on, and the other has a discolored spot in the corner, but both still work well.

I don't think brick and mortar stores are in danger. You are thinking like a man. Women love to shop. They can spend day after day just looking at stuff. Buying half of it and taking half of that back the next week.

I have a smaller Sharp Aquos TV, and have gotten good tech service calling Sharp, just asking questions. Sharp is a pioneer in LCD TVs, and are one of the better brands. My impression is they have good customer service, which seems to be borne out here. Circuit City is another alternative to Best Buy--don't know how their customer service compares.