Well, to say the least I'm a little pissed off right now. :| For the past 3 years I've been using a Sony CPD-G400 19" CRT monitor...and up until now I've loved it. The display quality was amazing on the monitor, plus it even had some features I never ended up using(such as 2 inputs), but I never had a problem with it.
That is of course, until July 3rd...I went to turn on my computer in the morning(I normally shut it down at night, only because I don't care to hear the fan noise, even though it isn't terribly loud) and the monitor just sat there with an orange light blinking on it, while I could tell the system was booting into Windows. So after checking the obvious things such as the video connection, etc, I dug up the manual and went through the troubleshooting steps. I unplugged the video connection, just kept power in, turned off the monitor, and turned it back on and held the menu button to bring up the monitor self-test. But I got nothing, nothing came up on the display, the power light continued to flash orange. I then saw what I feared in the manual...it stated if the power light flashes orange as it was doing, the monitor was in need of service.
So I started digging around, I knew I purchased the monitor about 3 years ago, but I thought I bought it later in the summer and would be within the 3-year warranty period of my monitor. But alas, I found the receipt and I saw the order date of 06/22/2000 and started thinking to myself that maybe these things have self-destruct timers in them to go off after the warranty expires.
So in any case I called Sony tech support, and they setup an advance exchange for me, they would send me a refurbished monitor for $55, and I would send back my old one with a prepaid shipping label once I got the refurbished monitor. I then was on vacation for about 5 days, expecting to see my monitor when I came back tonight. Unfortunately I didn't, so I gave Sony a call to check on the status of my service request. I found out that they had to cancel the advance exchange, as they explained that the monitor was out of warranty, and advance exchanges are done only for monitors under warranty...instead if I wanted service I would now have to ship out my monitor to them, and pay a flat repair fee plus shipping equal to $273.26 to get the monitor repaired. Seeing as I did NOT want to do this, I declined the repair option and ended the conversation.
Somewhat mad at what transpired, I called back about an hour later in an attempt to contest the repair service...even though I ordered the monitor on June 22, 2000, I did not use it until August, as I was building a system for myself at the time and did not get all the parts until the very end of July. I explained how I was told I would be getting an advance exchange and pleaded my case to contest the cancellation of the exchange. Yet this yielded noting, Sony said that they only go by the date of purchase and they couldn't do anything for me...
To say the least, this blows big time. I am a college student and don't have money to throw around everywhere, and I was expecting this monitor to last a long time...and then it went bad TWO WEEKS after the 3-year warranty and I can't get any reasonable service on it...sheesh for $273 I can buy a brand new 19" monitor easily.
So in any case, I guess I'm now in the market for a new 19" CRT flat-display monitor. Priced probably around $200 if possible. I want something that looks really good, as I got accustomed to the Sony CPD-G400, and it had great display quality all around, and could go to high resolutions at very good refresh rates. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? It's been awhile since I've shopped for monitors...in fact about 3 years.
Oh, and on a final thought, I don't want to buy another Sony monitor...not at this point anyways.
That is of course, until July 3rd...I went to turn on my computer in the morning(I normally shut it down at night, only because I don't care to hear the fan noise, even though it isn't terribly loud) and the monitor just sat there with an orange light blinking on it, while I could tell the system was booting into Windows. So after checking the obvious things such as the video connection, etc, I dug up the manual and went through the troubleshooting steps. I unplugged the video connection, just kept power in, turned off the monitor, and turned it back on and held the menu button to bring up the monitor self-test. But I got nothing, nothing came up on the display, the power light continued to flash orange. I then saw what I feared in the manual...it stated if the power light flashes orange as it was doing, the monitor was in need of service.
So I started digging around, I knew I purchased the monitor about 3 years ago, but I thought I bought it later in the summer and would be within the 3-year warranty period of my monitor. But alas, I found the receipt and I saw the order date of 06/22/2000 and started thinking to myself that maybe these things have self-destruct timers in them to go off after the warranty expires.
So in any case I called Sony tech support, and they setup an advance exchange for me, they would send me a refurbished monitor for $55, and I would send back my old one with a prepaid shipping label once I got the refurbished monitor. I then was on vacation for about 5 days, expecting to see my monitor when I came back tonight. Unfortunately I didn't, so I gave Sony a call to check on the status of my service request. I found out that they had to cancel the advance exchange, as they explained that the monitor was out of warranty, and advance exchanges are done only for monitors under warranty...instead if I wanted service I would now have to ship out my monitor to them, and pay a flat repair fee plus shipping equal to $273.26 to get the monitor repaired. Seeing as I did NOT want to do this, I declined the repair option and ended the conversation.
Somewhat mad at what transpired, I called back about an hour later in an attempt to contest the repair service...even though I ordered the monitor on June 22, 2000, I did not use it until August, as I was building a system for myself at the time and did not get all the parts until the very end of July. I explained how I was told I would be getting an advance exchange and pleaded my case to contest the cancellation of the exchange. Yet this yielded noting, Sony said that they only go by the date of purchase and they couldn't do anything for me...
To say the least, this blows big time. I am a college student and don't have money to throw around everywhere, and I was expecting this monitor to last a long time...and then it went bad TWO WEEKS after the 3-year warranty and I can't get any reasonable service on it...sheesh for $273 I can buy a brand new 19" monitor easily.
So in any case, I guess I'm now in the market for a new 19" CRT flat-display monitor. Priced probably around $200 if possible. I want something that looks really good, as I got accustomed to the Sony CPD-G400, and it had great display quality all around, and could go to high resolutions at very good refresh rates. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? It's been awhile since I've shopped for monitors...in fact about 3 years.
Oh, and on a final thought, I don't want to buy another Sony monitor...not at this point anyways.
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