KDS (aka Proview) wins.....

[jonnyGURU]

Back in August 2007 I bought a KDS 24" LCD.

In October 2008, it died. I called Proview and they told me to send it in (my dime).

After about four weeks, I got my same monitor back. At least it was working.

After eight months, it stopped working again. I called Proview and they told me to send it back again (my dime).

After about four weeks, I got my same monitor back. This time, they did a crappy job of packaging it, using an undersized box and putting the LCD in at an angle to make it fit. There was foam in the box, but not at the corners that were up against. You could tell that the corner made an impact against something and the bezel cracked. I fired up the monitor and it worked so I didn't report the broken bezel. I was just happy to have a monitor back.

It's now only two months later and the monitor is dead AGAIN.

I called KDS and told them what was up and also mentioned the bezel (so they wouldn't blame me). They said that I would have to pay for replacing the bezel since I didn't report the damage right away. I told them that I didn't care about the bezel being broken as long as I had a working monitor. She said that they wouldn't replace the monitor (which I agree is something they should do since this is the third time the same monitor died) unless the monitor being returned was in good physical shape, and with the broken bezel is was not in good physical shape, therefore they will not replace the monitor.

Screw you KDS, Proview, MAG and whatever other brands you pretend to be. I'd rather check this monitor is a dumpster than pay ONE DIME to replace a bezel your monkeys broke!!!

 

[zerocool84]

I guess you'd call it another you get what you pay for.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Yep. I admit, I bought the KDS because it was the least expensive 24" LCD and because I've heard good things about their KARES program. But KARES is only good for the first year. After that, they just play games with you.

 

[IEC]

I like to buy monitors with 3+ year warranties. They are usually a bit better built. My avg use time for a monitor is 3-5 years before an upgrade...

 

[jonnyGURU]

The KDS has a 3 year warranty. I never said it was out of warranty.

 

[IEC]

Originally posted by: jonnyGURU
The KDS has a 3 year warranty. I never said it was out of warranty.

Heh, my bad. I just assumed it was 1 year because of it constantly failing around that mark

 

[RESmonkey]

Don't know about KDS or these brands, but never buy Vizio, Olevia, Polaroid, etc. off brand panels/HDTVs.

 

[funkymatt]

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
Don't know about KDS or these brands, but never buy Vizio, Olevia, Polaroid, etc. off brand panels/HDTVs.

my vizio was a great deal, 37" for $400 off of craigslist. no problems

 

[Koing]

Brutal

The Dell and Sony 24 and 23 I've had for 7yrs and 4yrs respectively. Great condition.

Koing

 

[lxskllr]

I buy Dell exclusively. If you have patience you can get good deals on them, and the quality's great.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Yeah... we have Dells at work, and although they're far from perfect and do fail often, at least Dell takes care of the customer. Stuff happens. Things fail. Happens to everyone all the time. But if the company can't step up and actually satisfy the customer, they're all around useless. KDS/Proview is all around useless.

 

[l0cke]

What is wrong with it?

 

[JEDIYoda]

Where is a KDS rep when you need one.....opps I fogot we don`t have one!

 

[Jeff7]

LG monitor here, a "22" something or other.
The backlight driver died after a little over a year.

They sent me back a slightly newer model, L227W, apparently new. Unfortunately it has this new "ultra-high-reflectivity" front to it, so if it displays something that's generally dark, I get a perfectly clear view of the room behind me. I guess anti-glare coatings went out with CRTs.


Still, they did at least honor the warranty and send me a replacement.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Originally posted by: l0cke
What is wrong with it?

After a couple hours, the backlight goes dim so you can only barely see what's on the desktop. A few seconds later, the monitor goes to sleep. You can get it to come back by cycling the power, but the backlight will still be out so you still can't really see the desktop and in a few more seconds the monitor will just go to sleep again.

It's been the same problem each time I returned it.

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: funkymatt

Originally posted by: RESmonkey
Don't know about KDS or these brands, but never buy Vizio, Olevia, Polaroid, etc. off brand panels/HDTVs.

my vizio was a great deal, 37" for $400 off of craigslist. no problems

I have a 3+ year old 37" olevia and a 1+ year old 47" olevia working just fine.

 

[SuperSix]

I foresaw this post.

He's right though - KDS support sucks, they say they are "working on it", but I have seen no improvement.
hat being said, I have the same monitor, and it's been flawless. I can only hope I never have to RMA it.

So, as Jonny said - beware of KDS, Proview, and MAG. Mag is coming back, they just bought the name, but they are the same monitor (Proview), with what I have to assume will be the same horrible support.

I would recommend LG (Best warranty length/service and policies), Asus, and Viewsonic - Viewsonic has been hard at work improving their service as of late.


**EDIT***
*This post is my opinion, not to reflect the opinions of my employer - this was done on a personal machine with personal internet access

 

[olds]

I went through the same thing with those jackasses.

 

[marvdmartian]

Well, I'd have to say that's more of a customer service or repair shop problem.

Few years ago, I bought a V7 lcd monitor. Worked fine for a little more than a year, then would just randomly start doing this thing where the backlight would turn off. Tried cycling it off and on again with the power switch, no go. Finally had to pull the power plug on it, then plug it back in, and turn it back on. Would work again for a while, then off again, etc, etc.

Since it had a 3 year warranty, I got ahold of the company, they had me get ahold of their repair shop in California. I RMA'd it to them, they returned it a month later. Worked okay for a few months, started doing it again. RMA'd it again, got it back......and within a week, it was doing it again! Got tired of messing with it, even though they were paying shipping both ways (DHL......ugh!), sat it off to the side to deal with later. About a year later, thought of it again, checked the warranty period, and I had a couple months left on it. Decided to give them one more try, and RMA'd it again.

About a month later, I get an e-mail from them, saying they'd received the monitor, but the damages it had weren't covered under the warranty, and sent me this picture to show me what they were talking about! :shocked:

I wrote them back, and asked them if they seriously thought I was so stupid as to think that the warranty covered that damage? And maybe, just maybe, that damage was from the crappy DHL handling of the package??

They sent me a replacement LCD the next week, after I signed a damage waiver for them, so they could collect the cost from DHL. I still haven't dug it out of the box to test it. :roll:

 

[RKS]

I bought a off-brand LCD from Microcenter for a great price (at the time) and a MIR. Since I purchased it with an AMEX I got a one-year extended warranty. It started having darker vertical lines after about 20 months. A local repair shop stated it was cheaper/smarter to buy a new tv. AMEX sent me a check for the full price within a month of sending in the repair estimate.

 

[magomago]

I guess next time send it in. Had I seen a cracked bezel I wouldn't have tolerated it

 

[jonnyGURU]

I got an email from someone at Proview:

We apologize for the inconvenience regarding the damage to your unit. Our packages are insured and any damages caused in shipping must be reported to us so we can file a claim accordingly. The unit is still within the 90 day repair warranty so a new RMA# was issued. Please package the unit and reference that number on the outside of the box. We will send out a pre-paid shipping label via US Mail that must be placed on the packaged unit. We will attempt to repair the problem only but if we are unable to do this we will contact you and the cost to replace the bezel will be your responsibility. If we are able to repair the problem you will receive the unit back in working condition but with the damaged casing.

To which I replied:

I do understand the policy about immediately reporting damage when the item is delivered and I accept that normally it would be my responsibility to pay for any such damage if service is required after said damage occurs. But I feel, or at least hope for KDS's sake, that my situation is far from normal.

This is now the third time this monitor will have to be returned for the exact same problem. Twice I have received the same monitor back after it was apparently misdiagnosed and/or improperly repaired. I fail to see the point of replacing the bezel when obviously this monitor should be scrapped for parts at this juncture. Is Proview planning on replacing the bezel so it can be used as an RMA replacement for another customer? If so, I certainly pity that customer and question Proview's judgment as, in my opinion, the next home for this monitor should be a dumpster.

I feel I should receive a replacement monitor, as opposed to having this one repaired yet again, and I should not have to pay for a replacement bezel, regardless of when and how the damage occurred.

Thank you for your consideration.

I'll let you know what the response is.

 

[jonnyGURU]

Well.... there's been a few emails back and forth.

Not much has changed.

They're still telling me that they're going to repair the unit. AGAIN?!?! They couldn't fix it the first two times, what makes them think they can finally fix it this time?

They said that IF (big if) they can't repair the unit, they're going to charge me $45 to replace the bezel and THEN send me a different "remanufactured" monitor.

They did offer a call tag to pick up my dead monitor, but in my last email I told them where to send the call tag and have yet to get a response (it's been two days now). I guess a call tag is going to mysteriously appear on my doorstep one day.

*sigh* It just seems that Proview/KDS fails on every level and there's absolutely no hope for them ever changing.

 

[jonnyGURU]

They clearly just don't give a crap...

I posted this whole thing on the BBB website and the response from Proview/KDS was this:

No change to previous response to the customer. He can send the unit to us when he receives the pre-paid label. We will repair the unit and return it to him with the same damage to the bezel. If the customer does not want the unit back we recommend he does not send it to us.

Wow. Just wow.

 

[Exterous]

I'm sorry to hear about your issues. Dealing with crappy repair departments aways sucks <- spent many an hour dealing with Visiontek and their crappy support/shipping)

Best of luck on your new LCD purchase!