Toshiba 13" TV/DVD Combination unit

Toshiba 13" TV/DVD Combination unit

March 30, 2006

June 8, 2006 - Consumer Follow-up Message

Thank you for posting my message. A short update:

My TV/DVD combination unit sat at the repair shop for approximately one month, and the parts that Toshiba suggested for replacement never appeared. I asked London Drugs, where I had originally purchased the unit, what I should do. London Drugs eventually replaced the unit for me free of charge, since it appeared I would be unable to have it repaired. So at least the retailer stood behind the product. But between trying to get Toshiba Customer Service to suggest a solution and unsuccessfully waiting for the service centre to repair the unit, about 6 or 7 weeks before London Drugs was willing to do this. Not real good from my perspective.

G. B

It might work if you leave it unplugged awhile. That is a good way to sum up the story of my experiences with the Toshiba 13" TV/DVD combination unit I purchased back in July of 2005. The label on the back of the unit says it was manufactured in October of 2004, and in Canada the unit is marketed as model MD13P1C. Amazon.com has a photograph and description of what appears to be a very similar unit to mine, marketed in the United States as model MD13Q41.

My first indication of a problem with the unit occurred early in March of 2006. The unit would unexpectedly shut itself off, and then not respond to commands from the remote control or the control buttons on the front of the unit. I called the Toshiba Customer Support line and explained the problem. I was directed to unplug the unit and leave it unplugged for awhile, and perhaps the unit would reset itself when it was plugged in again. The unit did indeed reset itself after being unplugged for a few minutes, however, the problem of unexpected shut off reoccurred every couple of days. After about 2 weeks of this the unit would not reset itself at all, so I called the Toshiba Customer Support line again. At this point I was given the address of a Toshiba-approved warranty service centre.

I took the TV/DVD unit to the service centre, explained the problem, and left the unit for repairs; but when the repair technician plugged the unit in, lo and behold, it worked again! I explain the problem again, this time to the repair technician personally. He decided to keep the unit for a few days to see if the problem would reoccur. In the meanwhile I called Toshiba Customer Support again, requesting more information about service problems related to my TV/DVD unit. During this call the person at Customer Support said to me that there possibly is a software problem with my unit. I relayed this information to the repair technician.

So, anyway, here is the situation as it stands today. My TV/DVD unit remains at the service centre. The repair technician called a Toshiba representative himself and on the basis of that call has decided to replace a couple of parts. It will take a week or so for those parts to arrive here. No one is talking about a software problem. No one has given me a clear idea of which parts are being replaced or why they are being replaced. Perhaps at a later date this information will become available. Needless to say, it worries me that the 1 year warranty will soon run out.

At this time I am not at all certain what is wrong with my TV/DVD unit. All that is certain is that I am the unhappy owner of a now nearly 9 month old TV/DVD unit that only seems to work when it is left unplugged for awhile. I wish now that I had thoroughly investigated the subjects of "unexplained power problems" and "unsatisfactory customer service" as they pertained to Toshiba before I purchased my unit.

Glenn

Kamloops, BC, Canada