Episode 35 gives YOU insight into how I avoided rushing off to buy another tv right after my tv started slowly melting. Yes, you read that right….my tv started melting. After 4 1/2 years, I guess it decided it didn’t want to live in our living room anymore. I touch on Costco’s warranty extensions, facts about my purchase, and the exact steps I took to get my tv replaced. I’m hoping this saves you some time and money in the future!
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SHOW NOTES: This post contains affiliate links. You don’t pay any extra, and I earn a small commission. I’d also like to call attention if prices I mentioned in this episode were prices I paid at the current time and may not reflect the prices you would pay at the time of reading or listening to this.
Here’s how I’m structuring today’s episode:1st section: Breakdown on Costco’s warranty extensions. 2nd section: The facts about my purchase. 3rd section: The steps I took to get my tv replaced. Spoiler alert…it got replaced for free. I should hope so.
Laura Lesson: Warranty stuff takes time. Patience is key. The girls had to watch tv on tablets. The horror. They were so ready for a big screen….but hey, it saved me from having to make an impulsive tv purchase. I don’t want to rush that.
Section 1: Costco’s Warranty Extensions When you buy a tv at Costco, Costco ensures you have a total minimum of 2 year warranty coverage after the date of purchase. So, that means if the tv you purchase only has a 1 year manufacturer warranty, Costco will then cover the warranty on that for an additional year. If you put that tv purchase on the Costco Anywhere Visa card, then through Citi, you would get an additional 2 years past that….making that tv warranty available for a total of 4 years from the date of purchase in that case.
Now, there is an additional 3 year warranty that you can purchase through a 3rd party company when you are buying your tv at Costco. That company right now is Square Trade. That means, in the case I just mentioned, you could get up to a 7 year warranty in total. You’d get the 1 year from the manufacturer + 1 year from Costco +3 years from SquareTrade + 2 years from Citi Card. (your Citi Credit Card purchase would enable to add the 2 years after all your other warranties run out.)
Now, with all warranty situations, you have to read the fine print. I can’t stress that enough. There are exclusions. You need to purchase with informed intentions.
Section 2: Facts about my purchase-Purchased a TCL 50UP120 50 inch tv for $449.99. Purchase was made on September 15, 2016. I purchased the extended warranty for $29.99, which gave me an additional 3 year warranty. I used my Citi Costco Anywhere Visa Card to purchase. I am a Costco Executive Member, so that means in total I received 4% cash back for my purchase (you get 2% cash back on all Costco purchases when you are an Executive Member and an additional 2% when you purchase Costco purchases with your Costco Visa card)
I did not have my receipt handy. I t is probably in a box somewhere. So, I chatted with Costco.com support and they ended up emailing me a copy of my receipt. This is why I want you to scan your relevant purchases and keep them in a computer folder or at least a handy file folder.
The tv melted this past May 2021….about 4 1/2 years after my initial purchase. Remember….I’m thinking I have 7 years of coverage between the manufacturer, Costco, extended warranty, and the Costco visa card.
Section 3: Steps I took to get my TV replaced– I contacted Costco Customer Service via chat on costco.com. They directed me to call Costco Concierge after they emailed me my initial receipt. Costco Concierge told me that I’d be working with SquareTrade since it was in the period of the extended warranty that I purchased. I went to squaretrade.com and filled out warranty claim information. When I went through the prompts, I put in the reason I was creating a claim. Reason was UMMMM…fire hazard with tv melting. Then, it gave me a claim number, but told me wasn’t able to submit the claim due to that response. So, then I called and spoke to an agent who informed me that my extended warranty coverage does not cover fire hazards. I probably should have seen that coming. I’d need to speak directly with the manufacturer. I looked at the back of my tv and found the TCL Support telephone number. I also proactively took a picture of the serial number and model number. I called TCL. They took all my information and told me someone from TCL will be calling me within the next few days. A TCL Specialist called me. I explained the whole situation to him. He apologized and told me he could send me a free replacement. I told him I honestly don’t know how I feel about that. I at least didn’t feel comfortable at all receiving the exact same model number. So, he said he’d send a comparable model. Fine.🙂 Now we have a slightly larger tv with the Amazon Alexa functionality. I swear my kids told the Alexa to turn on and off the tv one million times that same day.
If you liked this style of episode, I’d encourage you to go listen to Episode 30 which was a deep dive into getting my husband’s Apple Airpods replaced for free without being under their Applecare warranty program. It’s a good, informative episode. I want you to know that information!
Here’s the picture of my tv:
