I have a Samsung 46"" TV that is a little over 1 year out of warranty. After the power went out, about half of the functions stopped working (e.g. it would turn off, but not on; it would not cycle through the inputs, etc.). I spent 30 minutes on the phone with Samsung and they best they would offer to do is send out a repair guy for $80 just to diagnose the problem.
Being told by Samsung that it was probably a problem with the IR receiver or the main board, I started looking online for a local repair shop. I found some great reviews for these guys and made the drive up 75.
When I got to the store and plugged in the TV, everything was working perfectly. Glen and his wife told me that the problem was probably a power surge, which would fix itself after the TV had been unplugged for 20 minutes. Nothing needed to be fixed. If I had called first, they would have been happy to tell me that this was probably the problem; however, it was worth the drive because I got to meet some great people.
When I offered to pay them for the diagnoses, they said that a dollar seemed like a fair price. I couldn't believe it. Most other places I had looked up charged between $50 or $60 just to look at the TV. When I pulled out my wallet and all I had was a $2 bill, they laughed and told me not to worry about it. I almost hope my TV does break because I would love to give them some business.
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