I am in the market for a HDTV. I am still researching which TV I am going to purchase, but I am more curious about people’s experiences ordering HDTVs online.
I can find much better deals through Amazon, TigerDirect, NewEgg, etc… than I can through your typical big box store. However, it scares me to think about how fragile these TVs can be and how the typical shipping company will handle them.
Can I expect that a TV I order online will make it to my home in one piece? I don’t want to deal with shipping the TV back and forth until I receive one in good condition.
I had the same concerns before I bought my TV. I finally figured that “Newegg* does this all the time and they know what they’re doing and every problem eats their profit, so they have to have figured out how to do this.” So, I finally pressed the button and bought a 46" LCD. It arrived perfectly intact: shipped from California to St. Louis and then to my home about 80 miles from the nearest airport and a couple miles from the nearest 2-lane blacktop. It went airfreight to Missouri and a local trucking company brought it the rest of the way. The local shipping company’s office called me at the telephone number I’d provided to Newegg with my purchase and made an appointment to deliver the TV. The TV arrived cocooned in custom foam packaging inside a corrugated cardboard box, strapped to a wooden pallet which kept it all upright the whole way. I’ve had it for about 2 weeks now, and it’s working fine.
I bought an HDTV from Amazon.com a few weeks ago because the price was several hundred dollars better than Best Buy and I wanted to avoid the annoying sales pitches for Monster cables and calibration services. At the time, they offered “white glove” delivery service for all HDTV sets above a certain size (I think 40"). They used a company called Ceva Logistics for this (and I think some other online vendors like Crutchfield use the same company). I got a tracking number from Amazon and was able to follow the package as it made it cross-country (I always obsessively track any packages I’m expecting). They called on Thursday evening to schedule a delivery and offered either Friday or Saturday, so we agreed to Saturday at 11am-2pm, although the truck arrived at 9am. Two men carried the box from the truck upstairs to my apartment, unpacked it, set it up on the stand and connected it to power and cable. I believe they would also have removed the packaging if I wanted, but I wanted to keep it for when I move. I was satisfied with the delivery and would do it again (especially for that much of a difference in price).
I bought one from Amazon.com over a year ago; it still works fine.
Overall, it was very easy; they sent me a tracking number so I could watch its progress across these united states. They called to schedule a delivery time (which I knew they would because the tracking note one day said something like “call to schedule delivery”), they arrived on time, the nice men carried it inside, set it up, and left.
My experience w/ a 46" Samsung from Amazon generally matches Dewey Finn’s. They even took it down into the basement, which was more than the terms of the delivery contract called for. They suggested keeping the packaging for about a month, probably in case there was any need to return it.
Remember that HDTVs get shipped all over the place, including to your local Best Buy, and are carefully packed with that in mind.
Yet another happy HDTV from Amazon customer here. I had the same “white glove” delivery (I forget how long I’ve had it, somewhere between six months to a year) to my condo in Atlanta. Everything went very smoothly, and I believe I could have just refused delivery at that point if the TV did not work properly.
I’ve since had it moved with us to Sacramento, where a company came over and built a wooden crate for it on site. That was pretty cool!
I bought a 37" Sharp Aquos LCD TV from J&R Music World and it arrived in perfect condition.
My understanding from two friends who worked for UPS is that the big, heavy boxes don’t get tossed around. They only throw the small ones. Big, heavy boxes are moved much more carefully. You’d hurt yourself trying to toss one.
And what about the small boxes getting tossed against the big fragile box?
Another thing I’d hope that UPS is aware of is that plasma and LCD panels need to be transported upright - lay one flat and you stand a good chance of that huge piece of glass snapping under its own weight.
OTOH, it sounds like the great majority of these things are shipped by trucking firms that know exactly how fragile and how valuable they are.
Thanks all for your replies. It sounds like shipping of HDTVs shouldn’t be too much of a problem. I just want to be sure my tv doesn’t end up like this.
Yikes! Wow. If the TV is getting shipped in the original manufacturer’s box, that packaging nightmare won’t be a problem. Also, since the MFR’s box is clearly and obviously marked as to the contents, the shippers know darn well to be careful with it.
My UPS guy at home usually leaves everything in the lobby, of if you’re home, you have to go down to get it. When my 37" LCD arrived, he carried it up to my 3rd floor apartment for me (on the elevator), a pretty long walk all the way to the back of the building.
