Spoiler alert: It usually is.
As Thanksgiving nears, it’s that time of year when many folks scour their local ads to find out who has the best Black Friday deals on TVs. Often, they have to, because they’re stuck replacing the cheap – and now hopelessly broken down – Black Friday TV they bought last year.
TVs have become such a commodity these days, a big low-priced TV definitely can look like a good deal. But just because that 55-inch TV you see on display at the local home improvement center says “4K,” it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s worth buying. In fact, a lot of these cheap TVs are just that – cheap. Cheaply designed, cheaply produced and cheaply supported – in other words, not supported at all.
Make no mistake about it – TV manufacturers aren’t in the business of giving away their best products at insanely-discounted prices. To sell a huge TV at a price that makes you spit out your morning coffee in disbelief, corners will be cut. Many of these TVs use inferior parts, chassis, and cables, which sacrifice performance compared to their pricier counterparts. Some 4K TVs may say they are HDR-compatible, but their panels can’t actually render it. Many cheap 4K TVs we’ve seen in the past don’t have the proper HDMI ports to support 4K Blu-ray players or other 4K streaming devices. Many cheap TVs skimp on features like smart TV functionality, which may require a whole separate purchase of a streaming device. Some TVs leave parts out entirely, like extra HDMI ports or even TV tuners. That’s right, cord cutters, you may have to do your homework to make sure you can even plug your antenna into that cheap TV at all!
Even worse, these TVs are meant to be disposable. If you have an issue with the TV out of warranty – a warranty that is likely to be very short – it can be difficult to find repair service and parts, if you can find them at all. And good luck getting in-store or telephone support to walk you through your issue. At the end of the day, it becomes cheaper to simply dispose of the TV and buy new than repair it. Thus begins the neverending cycle. What appears to be an amazing bargain on the day after Thanksgiving may actually be more of a headache and expense that you had thought.
If you’re in the market for a new TV this holiday season, it pays to cut through the hype and invest in a quality television from a store that stands behind their products. Here at Suess Electronics, we carry only the industry-leading brands like Sony, Samsung, and LG. Going further than that, we cherry pick the models we carry from these brands, to ensure that the TV you take home is not only high-performance but serviceable in case something happens down the road.
Even more than the products we carry, it’s our people that make the difference. Many of us here at Suess Electronics have decades of experience in home technology. When you buy a TV from us, you get lifetime in-store and telephone support from our electronics experts, and we provide master-level warranty service — all right here in the store. No calling a foreign call center or shipping your TV to who-knows-where when an issue arises. We also have a highly experienced crew of installation technicians ready to install your TV and dial it in to make sure you’re not leaving any performance in the box. We’re a locally-owned small business, serving the Fox Valley’s electronics needs for more than 65 years.
So this holiday season, which would you rather have – a TV that is destined to be replaced every year and never really gives you the best picture and sound, or one that’s designed and built for performance and reliability?
