sirwiggum wrote:it doesn't cover "wear and tear" or other damage
It does, but only if you go for their premium warranty package.
If you don't buy one of their warranties and your telly dies, you call the helpdesk (as you would expect to do), and they tell you to go to the store (which you wouldn't expect to have to do).
You go to the store, and they tell you they can't replace the telly and take your dead one for repair, because you didn't buy their premium warranty package. They won't even give you a loan of a telly (again, you didn't buy the premium warranty). They then arrange for your telly to be collected, and take it for repair, leaving you with nothing.
The repair takes up to four weeks. If they don't have it back within four weeks, or the repair centre says it can't be fixed, then and only then will they consider replacing the telly.
If you want your money back, you have to call their helpdesk to ask for formal release for a refund, and then go into the store for that to be authorized by their store manager (who, by the way, will not actually speak to you under any circumstances; you have to relay your story to one of their hugely embarrassed store staff, who then has to go and speak to the manager (who is standing out on the shop floor, but still won't go over and speak to you, and will actually leave if you look like you're coming over to speak to him), and then come back to tell you what the manager said (again, looking massively embarrassed about having to be an interface between you and the store manager).
Once you finally do get your refund, you swear blind that you will never return to their pathetic useless excuse for a business, and will leave, and not come back, not even to buy a power supply or graphics card for your PC if you need one in a hurry and there's no other computer shops anywhere near where you live.
You then need to go to a proper company like John Lewis, buy a better (i.e. more reliable and higher spec) telly for only £80 more, and receive a free 5 year no-quibbles "if it fails through normal use within 5 years, we will give you a replacement" warranty from them, no questions asked.
This will not stop you from receiving letters from PC World reminding you that the manufacturer's warranty on the telly they sold you is about to expire (shame the telly didn't last as long as the warranty, having failed 3 times with exactly the same fault, and been repaired with exactly the same repair each time - hmm, maybe they don't want to think about what is causing the part to fail).
Wow, that turned into a rant.
