Thread by @RobBryher, I am going to describe the experience of buying a TV for [...]

I am going to describe the experience of buying a TV for the first time in my adult life (I'm 37 but this process started when I was 36). Before now, I have always inherited TVs or had shared ones that I partly paid for and therefore weren't 100% my choice. 1/?

We now have two small children and so for them we need three things from a TV:
1) Easy access to iPlayer for on-demand kids' shows
2) Wall-mounted so they can't sit too close or prod the screen
3) Built-in DVD player so no faff, especially considering 2

We also wanted Netflix on there so we could stream stuff (i.e. a Smart TV).

In addition, I wanted the TV to be in keeping with the Which size calculator so it's a decent viewing experience.

I also, if at all possible, wanted a refurbished TV as we don't want to contribute to the supply and demand of yet more electrical products being produced. It's bad for the planet but I was sort of resigned to the fact this might not be possible without compromising other things.

I'm not going to bore you with the brands etc. but it was surprisingly hard to find a TV with these (what I thought were) simple specifications.

Many manufacturers have stopped bothering with built-in DVD players which I think is bizarre considering how popular wall-mounting is.

DVDs are also very useful for kids when choosing between options and you can effectively stock up on £1 bargains by doing a charity shop run. They're not mini discs (which lasted 21 years). DVDs have been around for 25 years and aren't going away.

Anyway, after a fair amount of research I found the Toshiba 40D3553DB (40 Inch SMART Full HD LED TV DVD Combi). I couldn't find a 48-50 inch TV, so compromised on that. I bought the TV from a seller (company) on eBay.

I was happy. The TV came, we put it on the wall, it worked for a bit. Then it broke. The screen went black after 30 seconds of use with the audio continuing. I guess that refurbished TVs have this risk?

The company were actually quite good and took it in for repair but eventually (after I called them to check) they revealed they didn't have the parts to repair it so gave me a full refund. I was back to square one.

And without that TV being available elsewhere (that I could find online), I had to downscale to a 32 inch TV. Fine, I've compromised once on size and can compromise again.

This time I decided to go through a high street retailer as I (naively) thought this would give me a better chance of success. So I bought a JVC LT-32C695 (32 inch Smart LED TV with Built-in DVD Player) from Currys and expected it to arrive by this last Monday.

When it didn't, I tried to figure out how to ask why it hadn't. The live chat function on their website. A real person (I think) told me that the TV was out of stock and they couldn't tell me when it would be available. I read this as "probably never but we'll keep your money".

I found the same TV on eBay and purchased it and cancelled the Currys one. It takes less than 24 hours to arrive but hilariously it's got a Currys boxed TV. We'll put it up this afternoon and hope it's third time lucky.

This is all a roundabout way of saying that consumer capitalism is crap in many ways:

1) It is not environmentally sustainable.
2) It provides an illusion of choice. If you want something even slightly outside cultural orthodoxy (a DVD player?!) it often doesn't provide it.

3) The retailers themselves do not make it easy for you to find information on what a product does (or more accurately doesn't) have.
4) It is inefficient. At least 3 weeks of waiting for products or repairs without information being provided without me asking first.

So, overall, I hope this TV serves us as a family for at least the next 18 years.

Because why shouldn't it?

Latest Threads Unrolled: