40" A650 - BB or online?

[Maverick2002]

I'm almost settled on purchasing a Samsung A650 40". It's going for $1325 at BuyDig.com (seems like a good dealer, has a 4.5 rating out of over 7000 reviews at shopping.com). BB has it in stock for $1900. That's a huge difference - my only concern is how good are extended warranties at online stores? I heard the BB extended warranty is pretty decent, but that's still a huge price difference.

I'm assuming BB doesn't pricematch online stores. Suggestions?

 

[vi edit]

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-...&qid=1218745943&sr=8-3

Buy through Amazon and get Samsung's very own extended warranty plan.

 

[Maverick2002]

Nice! The price is about the same as well. 2 questions:

1) They seem to be dropping in price. Is it worthwhile to wait another week or so or should I just go ahead and get it?

2) Do I need to buy any accessories (other than my wall mount)? I don't have any consoles to hook up yet and my cable box uses a coax, so I don't think I need any HDMI cables yet.

 

[vi edit]

Amazon's pricing is about as predictable as the stock market. I know the 52" version has bounced around over $250 in price over the last couple weeks. Latest trend has actually been up. There were a number of people that hesitated and actually ended up paying more by waiting.

But who knows what'll happen in a week.

As for the cable box - does it(or the cable company themselves) support HD? If so, you'll likely want to grab an HDMI or component cable(s) from monoprice.com. I don't think cable boxes will pass on an HD signal over coax. But you might be able to plug the cable right into the TV and grab the QAM signal.

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: vi edit
Amazon's pricing is about as predictable as the stock market. I know the 52" version has bounced around over $250 in price over the last couple weeks. Latest trend has actually been up. There were a number of people that hesitated and actually ended up paying more by waiting.

But who knows what'll happen in a week.

As for the cable box - does it(or the cable company themselves) support HD? If so, you'll likely want to grab an HDMI or component cable(s) from monoprice.com. I don't think cable boxes will pass on an HD signal over coax. But you might be able to plug the cable right into the TV and grab the QAM signal.

I don't know why they are up now. I bought my LN46A650 for $1699 and now they show at $1803.

 

[Maverick2002]

lol it just jumped back up over $100. guess I'll play the checking game for the next week or so to see if I can get a low price

 

[techwanabe]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
lol it just jumped back up over $100. guess I'll play the checking game for the next week or so to see if I can get a low price

Thats what I did. I just checked the price every week until it was to a point that I was ready to jump.

 

[Maverick2002]

Well I pulled the trigger. It seems it keeps going up and down $100. Last night it was down again to ~$1340 so I got that, a long coax cable, wall mount, a 3 year Samsung extended warranty and a PSU I need all for $1720 shipped. Not bad considering BB was selling just the TV for $1900.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: Maverick2002
Well I pulled the trigger. It seems it keeps going up and down $100. Last night it was down again to ~$1340 so I got that, a long coax cable, wall mount, a 3 year Samsung extended warranty and a PSU I need all for $1720 shipped. Not bad considering BB was selling just the TV for $1900.

amazon will price match themselves up to 30 days out from the purchase date.

 

[SlickSnake]

Yikes!

I paid $1800 doing a price match from CC at Sears for the 46" version! CC has it for $1899 atm, too!

The 40" is $1499 there.

A bulky HDTV is something I would not want shipped, but that's just me. They are actually pretty fragile. And the styrofoam is frequently broken on the bottoms of the boxes around the TV frames just buying them at a store from warehouse abuse. On the 2 TVs I bought both of the styrofoam protections were pretty cracked, and yet both boxes looked mostly undented on the bottoms. The Sharps and Sammys are placed in a short cardboard enclosure at the bottom about a foot tall, and the complete box is then dropped over the top, and it's losely secured with a few plastic straps and a few lockouts on the sides, THAT'S IT. The TVs move around in the box quite a bit with this design. Add shipping to that and getting banged around in a truck or plane or train, and you got even more problems if the styrofoam is broken or the box is loose when the shipping process starts.

Just hope you are one of the lucky ones. And check the bottom of the TV case for any kind of cracks or damage BEFORE the shipper leaves, or you get to eat it or face arguing about how you didn't drop it on your own to the supplier to get a new one. Shipping damage also voids a warranty.

 

[techwanabe]

No problem with the "white glove" delivery from Amazon. Box and styrofoam looked fine.

 

[Maverick2002]

Only thing is .. is Amazon responsible for the shipping/handling? Because when I ordered it it said "sold/shipped from Electronics Expo". I looked up the company profile and they seem good, but I never got a tracking number or anything like that. They didn't even give me a number to call ... how do I get tracking info since it wasn't shipped through Amazon? Do I have to call the EE place? It's kind of weird ...

 

[DrunkenSano]

You have to buy from Amazon.com to get the White Glove Service, Electronics Expo is just a place they refer to if you want to see if it's cheaper there.

 

[Maverick2002]

Well, I purchased it at Amazon but they said it "ships from Electronics Expo". I didn't get any tracking info or anything. So who do I have to contact to find out where it is?

 

[techwanabe]

Amazon contracts with other delivery services. You should be able to find out who that is and get tracking information. My Sammy was projected to take 12 days to deliver, but when I contacted the contract delivery company, they provided me with updates and even a local contact office/phone #. I was able to schedule delivery with a 4 hour time window to be there when the TV came. The actual ship time turned out to be about 7 days. I ordered on a Friday and it arrived the following Thursday. It was one guy so I had to help carry the box, which I was all too happy, then he unpacked it and had a basic check list: Turns on, has picture, has sound, box and TV arrive in good condition blah blah, and then leave.

The box is easy to open. The TV is on a pallet of sorts, so after you cut the vinyl straps, you can simply lift off the top of the box and there the TV sits on a base with styrofoam. All you have to to is remove the protective wrap, and lift it up to the stand or whatever.

 

[DrunkenSano]

I assume you purchased it from these guys: http://www.electronics-expo.com/
Your best bet is to ask them for your order.

 

[Maverick2002]

So the TV arrived, but via standard UPS. Nothing was damaged, it turns on and works fine (far as I can tell), but on the upper right hand corner the bezel is slightly loose. It doesn't look broken, just looks like a part of it "snapped out of place". I can't snap it back in though. Shining a flashlight through the semi-opaque TOC bezel doesn't show much either. Does anyone know how it's attached?