Freeview owners making their one-off purchase, twice
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One night this summer (2008) Charlie and Maureen Hodgkinson settled down for a quiet night in front of the TV. But it turned out quieter than they'd hoped, when their Freeview box suddenly wouldn't work. Charlie thought it was just a problem with his box, but unknown to him, the same thing was happening in plenty of other living rooms right across the UK.
It may have happened to your Freeview box - and if it did, like Charlie, you probably just thought you'd been unlucky and bought a duff one. And in a way that's true. But 250,000 other people had the same bad luck. Because over four weeks this summer, that's how many boxes suddenly stopped working - all in the same way and all because of the same fault.
Stone dead
The first sign of trouble for Charlie was after a routine re-scan. A message came up on the screen 'No channels found'. All of a sudden, Charlie's Freeview box wasn't receiving any channels at all. That hadn't happened before and, even though he was pretty good with technology, Charlie couldn't understand what had gone wrong.
He says: "At the end of it there wasn't anything and I thought I'd broken it. We'd got two [boxes] at the time, so I went and got that one and killed that one stone dead as well. Straight after the update nothing at all."
Charlie used to work at his local supermarket in the section selling Freeview boxes. Excited about the digital future he bought some for himself and also persuaded friends and family to buy them too. "I'd recommended the same ones I bought to my father, father in law and friends. They bought them in their droves." So Charlie felt terrible when all their boxes stopped working as well. "I must say I am very, very sorry to all those people that I was involved with in selling them to. They were sold a pup."
Only solution
What's really annoying about this fault is that it can't be fixed. So if you were one of the quarter of a million people whose box broke, there was only one solution; Buy a new one. Something Freeview originally said you wouldn't have to do.
Back when Freeview was launched in 2002, the ads for digital TV had a simple and very attractive message - more channels, no subscription and, best of all, it was "a one-off purchase".
That was the big attraction for student Susannah Flemming. She too was left completely baffled this August when, after scanning for new channels, her Freeview box conked out. Once again, her box said it couldn't find any channels. At first, Susannah couldn't believe it. "I thought that can't be true I know there are channels. I thought it was the aerial so I checked the lead. Everything seemed fine."
Older boxesFrustrated, Susannah searched Freeview's website for an explanation, and did find a tiny one. It was hidden away, but made clear her problem was widespread. "I eventually found a statement that said Freeview was changing part of the transmission and this might break some of the older boxes. I was just really annoyed and I was really upset and worried that people who weren't as technically literate as me would never have found that information."
Susannah complained to Freeview and it did make its explanation easier to find. But knowing why their box broke down isn't much consolation to the thousands of people who had to buy a new one, including Susannah. "I was pretty annoyed. I'd bought this box thinking it was going to last, and suddenly it was never going to work again because there'd been a small transmission change."
Fatal flaw
Freeview's big problem was caused by a tiny computer chip. The chip was a key part of boxes made by five different manufacturers, produced before 2005. The boxes that were affected were the Daewoo DS608P, Daewoo SV900, Labgear DTT100, Triax DVB 2000T, Portland DP100 and the Bush IDVCR01. All contained chips made by Setpal - a company which has now gone out of business. But their chip had a fatal flaw which meant it couldn't cope when Freeview upped the number of channels from 30 to 48 and that's why the boxes broke.
If you thought that was bad, there could be half a million more boxes that are about to become useless. As digital journalist Julian Clover explains, some of the older boxes won't be able to cope with the digital switchover: "We know there are a set of the original ONdigital boxes that are not going to work after Switchover. A couple of years ago there was a survey which found out there were 500,000 [ONdigital boxes]. With switchover ending in 2012 chances are they might not work anyway because of old age."
However, Julian goes on to explain that there are things that customers worried about buying new equipment can look out for: "Now we have some good news. Since May 2006 there's been this pink digital tick logo which is supposed to indicate everything is going to work fine. And on top of that, shops are obliged to tell people if their set won't work after switchover."
Very sorry
In a statement, Freeview apologised for the disruption, saying that the upgrade was necessary for improvements to the service: "We're very sorry about the disruption caused to a minority of our viewers by the upgrade. DMOL (Digital Multiplex Operators Limited), the company that runs the engineering behind Freeview, needed to make these enhancements to improve the service."
The company went on to say that only a small percentage of viewers had been affected and they had taken measures to warn people: "We estimated the affected older boxes made up 1 per cent (230,000), at most, of all Freeview boxes sold to date (23 million). And we're watched in almost 17 million homes so the unaffected majority was a very large number. In fact, we received about 2,500 calls throughout the upgrade, suggesting many of the early models were no longer in use. We explored sending a warning message to the screens of TVs connected to the devices but this wasn't technically possible. Nor could we write to the owners because we don't require a subscription or contract. We therefore had to forewarn people in a way that was proportionate and helpful. It would have been irresponsible to create unnecessary confusion and anxiety among millions of people.
"Before the upgrades (April 2008) we let manufacturers and retailers have all the information to be prepared for customer inquiries and we had the details on our website and at our call centre. From June we had the information on our website homepage.
"We also contacted local media as the upgrade roll-out dates were confirmed by DMOL so the public could be informed, making ourselves available for interviews. Not all local media however decided to cover the story."
Philix, the company now responsible for the Labgear brand, stated that "this product was not part of the ongoing range of products acquired by the company" when the company bought Labgear in 2004. However, it did offer the following to customers: "As a goodwill gesture Philex will, on request, supply a new Freeview box direct to any affected owners for £15 inc. vat and P&P. Customers should contact Philex customer service hotline on 01234 263737 with the following information: Name, address and contact number, credit/debit card details. Philex will ship a new unit direct to the customer, subject to authorisation."
The manufacturer Daewoo stated that: "The products affected by the Network changes were first sold in 2002. These products were designed to meet the requirements of the Freeview service (at that time) and have worked well for the past six to seven years until these Network changes have been implemented. Daewoo advised customers of the changes made to the Network and the impact it has had on some products. They are then advised of suitable alternative products and the typical costs. Daewoo customers are supported within the stated the Daewoo Warranty. Outside of the Warranty Period, Daewoo doesn't have a policy for compensating or replacing products for customers. Technology and standards are constantly evolving. Daewoo has sold tens of millions of products that have satisfied our customers. Daewoo strives to bring advanced good quality product to the market to meet consumer demand."
Read Watchdog's guide to surviving the switchover.
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~29~RS~)
Comments
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It's very simple - just like when we converted to Natural Gas, consumers should be given FREE as many working Freeview boxes as they need for all their analogue TVs. This should be paid for out of the savings and profits from switching off analogue and selling the frequencies.
I have a different Freeview box with a different problem - I have a Thomson DTI550 on which all the channels on the first two muxes are now randomly numbered 800 to 817! But Thomson apparently no longer exists! [Personal details removed by Moderator]
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One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that the change that was made was withing the original freview technical specification; therefore manufacturers who have sold these boxes for use with freeview obviously did so without fully conforming to the specification and should be held liable no matter how long they've worked for.
The fact that they chose to use a supplier that no longer exists might mean that they can't update the firmware, but it doesn't stop the offering to replace the devices.
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The Same Happened to myself and my mother.
One night we had a power cut and this lasted for 4-5 hours, when the power was back we got the "new channels" screen and it kept saying "0" channels found. We then had to call up a professional to get it replaced...we had to pay £100 for a new box because the box we had (setpal) was linked to all the televisions in the house and was only the only box on the market compatible for that purpose. we feel so angry about having to shell out extra money for this when it was their fault.
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Perhaps you might like to point out that when HD TV comes to Freeview you will need to buy another box again! Anyone who thinks that when they buy a HD ready TV with built in Freeview that they have all they need are wrong. You still will need another box. (so much for energy conservation/carbon footprints)
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I thought i was going mad when my box broke in august, i now have to by a new one which is cost i hadn't bugeted for. so much for being the future.
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owned a Daewoo VCR/Digital Receiver SV900 which was wiped out by the last change.
I started complaining to Daewoo who at first were not keen to get involved - I kept on at them and I negotiated with Daewoo for a replacement - I ended up with a DSD9503TFPB which is a twin Freeview tuner with PIP and a 160 GB Hard disk - I paid a cash balance of £ 15 as at first they wanted to give me a cheaper unit.
So it shows that if you complain loud enough ‘you do get results’
I have been helping others get a replacement and a ' Watchdog Researcher ' contacted me by phone and e-mail and they were sent all the proof shown that Daewoo have changed their conditions for a replacement.
I was only asked for the serial number but recent Customers have been asked for a photograph if they could not find the receipt .
Current claimants are being told if they cant produce a receipt { which is four years old } they will not get a free replacement.
I know someone who does not have receipt but he filled in a guarantee form and it was posted to Daewoo but Daewoo now claim ' they don't keep them after a few years ' which is a bit strange when they expect Customers to keep receipts longer than that.
Daewoo cant shift the goalpost when it suits them -
The winners were Customers who contacted them in August and early September.
The losers were Customers who contacted them in late September and October.
Please appreciate I don't have axe to grind because I have already received a replacement a excellent Daewoo DSD9503TFPB but it really gets to me that other Daewoo Customers are having to jump over so many extra hurdles which me and others { the Daewoo Dozen } did not have to jump.
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What is wrong the the great british public, Freeview boxes cost about £10-£15. If I buy an electronic item for this cheap I do not expect it to last for life. Thats the way things go. If your after quality buy a freeview box with a better build quality but it will cost a little bit more £30-£40 or would that break the bank. You get what you pay for in this life. I bet most of you are glad yours has broke so you have something to moan about, get a grip
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My Freeview box was identical to the one that the man had on the programme it stop working at the end of july the message on the screen said that there was a fault with my aerial, as a result I had a new aerial fitted (waste of money as I now know that it was the box not the aerial). Freeview should have done more to inform the public about the boxes failing after the signal upgrade(adverts in TV listings magazines). Also my Daewoo box was very easy to use, the 2 boxes that I have had since (one borrowed one bought) have not been as user freindly. Also I have noticed that since freeview altered the digital signal, (the cause of the original box failing)signal strength and reception is not as good despite the fact that I am on line of site with the main tv transmitter for our area and get excellent analogue reception. As a result I have had to resort getting my digital tv via cable. I personally feel that people are being forced into switching to pay per view tv by deliberately making freeview a second rate service.
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I too had this happen with my Daewoo box. However,researching the menus after carrying out a retune I discovered that I could still get the digital channels but on completely different numbers. I think my transmitters are on the Isle of Wight. I rediscovered BBC1 was now on channel 811, BBC2 on 815, ITVi on 801,Ch5 on 005,ITV2 on 804, BBC4 on 009, BBC3 on 808 & ITV4 on 810. The other channels do not seem to have changed! Hope this saves some viewers having to buy a new box!
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with regards ' dazsewell ' comment
8:11pm on 03 Nov 2008
Please note my Daewoo unit cost me £ 130 so its not £ 10 or £ 15
The unit claimed to be DVB-T Compliant but clearly its not.
It was all the luck of the draw so please don't tell us that we don't have anything to moan about.
I take it you did not own one of the affected units otherwise you would be very upset.
My ONdigital box bought ' eleven years ' ago is still working so really it was only penny pinching why Daewoo fitted a non Compliant part.
Standards are standards so they cant pick and chose what they don't like.
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Thanks to the Watchdog team for covering this story - 250,000 is a lot of set-top boxes destined for landfill.
First heard about the story on the FrequencyCast digital TV podcast, and their site offers some top information on how to go about trying to get your money back if you now have a dead box. Good luck to everyone trying to get a refund for their non-fit-for-purpose boxes.
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To dassewell: my Triax Setpal box cost £120 and the original one had to be replaced. I don't think that is a negligible cost. Like all the others it failed in the summer. There was no information that I should not press "yes" to re-scan for new channels and promptly find none. I assumed that it came from a bad batch and meekly paid another £63 for a Humax digibox at the recommendation of the shop. My last analogue TV (Grundig) worked for over 18 years and my current one is relatively new. I shall be annoyed if I have to buy an integrated Freeview set while it is still working, but it is looking as if that will be the most economical solution.
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I couldn't understand what was wrong with my Triax box, it was just like the ones on the programme. Mine actually cost about £50 plus a new aerial so wasn't cheap.
thanks Watchdog for the info,at least we now what the trouble is now.
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For those griping about how cheap Freeview boxes are and how we should shut up, etc.
The Setpal set top boxes retailed for between 90 and 160 pounds. These were NOT cheap units.
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Our freeview did not work one evening about two years ago. It came back the next day. I contacted the BBC who said sorry the system in Scotland was down that night. We live in the Isle of Wight. I now have 4 freeview systems, the original one now will not receive BBC radio. Strange
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hi I also had my technica AESTBS7 develop the same fault can i also get that machine replaced?
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Re literatenewboy 8:24pm on 03 Nov 2008
The problem you report is limited to a few Daewoo units ' the vast majority of Daewoo units are ' stone dead '
Officially the list is Daewoo DS608P and Daewoo SV900 but other Daewoo ' Setpal units ' have been affected.
You will know if you are affecetd or not.
If it says ' No Channels Found ' then you can mess about with the menus all day but you will not find any Channels.
brian
to save a lot of confusion can you please be specific as to the make and model as other readers will think there is a solution but you may own a completely different unit from them.
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Ours cost us £40 each dazewell (Comment 8 above)
If you are unaffected by thew credit crunch and have £10/£15 to spare we would be glad to receive it. (Send your contribution to Watchdog and I'll ask the programme to forwrad on to us)
Neither we and I'm sure the others who have posted to Watchdog I don't think are occupational 'moaners'. If we let companies and manufacturers get away with their false claims we only encourage them to do it more.
All those £40's they have robbed us of mount up to a tidy sum they have have made out of us, parobably mounting to many tens of thousands of pounds.
This the rich get richer and the poor get poorer - as ever.
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I think the problem might be more widespread. I have a Panasonic TX32LXD60 with built in DCB decoder, all expensive and posh. I have just updated the service list and the Profile Editor no longer works. I wonder if a channel count limit has broken? If expensive integrated Freeview TVs are failing there is a real problem. I have not dared touch the Panasaonic recorder with built in decoder!
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I didn't expect a free replacement from Daewoo, but I do think that they could have made more effort to inform their customers about the issues.
For example, their website showcases their latest products, provides software update information for customers whose products work; but they didn't publish any support information to assist customers whose equipment was about to/had stopped working.
On balance, I don't think I'll be inclined to buy a Daewoo Electronics product in the future.
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Freeview
Just caught up with watchdog on BBC iplayer.
I have a Goodmans GD83 freeview box with out the digital tick.
About once a month it refuses to come on and will not respond to any commands.
If you unplug it and leave for about 1 minute then plug it in it will reboot itself and go into the install mode then work correctly.
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My 1st set-top box was a Phillips,which is still going strong.Like Brian Carson I've got a SV900 that 'died'. Thought it was just bad luck until last night.Going to try and find my receipt and try my luck with Daewoo.
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My Daewoo freeview box cost me £80 and was an excellent piece of kit working perfectly until freeviews upgrade of the signal. The problem with Freeview boxes is that there are no standard specifications and the consumer really doesn't know what it will do (what features it has etc) until he gets it home and plugs it in. Freeview and the manufacturers use excuses like it depends on the area you live in or it must be your aerial get it checked (a favourite answer on the freeview website and helpline)as copouts all the time.
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I commented yesterday about a similar problem with my Panasonic TV with built in decoder. Panasonic have replied to my query saying they know about the fault which came up recently, have modified the software and are sending me a new version on a CAM. Could I please send the old one back so they can reuse it for other customers! They are taking their responsibilites seriously which us very nice.
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It' a legal requirement for all retailers of TV receiving equipment to provide address details to TV Licensing (The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1967).
Surely TV licensing have a responsibility to pass on information to viewers with license renewals?
"It's all in the database"
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Its a weird situation - One Guy in the Daewoo office has kept to their old policy but the other guy in the office is changing policy by the Hour.
Consumer A sent everything requested yesterday by e-mail and he was advised that he did not have a valid claim but he would receive a discount price so paying £ 70 for a Freeview/Hard-Disc model number DSD9520
Consumer B sent everything requested yesterday by e-mail and he was advised ' As a gesture of goodwill, we are willing to offer you a Freeview/Hard-Disc
recorder free of charge, model number DSD9520 '
By the way Consumer A and B are real people and that did happen yesterday.
two e-mails two identical failed units but one person has to pay £ 70 more than the other.
Its totally unfair .
By the way once they make a free offer you can in fact get the Daewoo DSD9503T for a extra £ 15 { they in fact send the more expensive Daewoo DSD9503TFPB }
I was lucky as I Claimed very quickly but I would go ballistic if I was asked £ 70 and later discovered that the next e-mail though their in-box was sent a free unit.
don't give up send to customerservice@desuk.co.uk
the
SERIAL NUMBER:
DATE OF PURCHASE:
PLACE OF PURCHASE:
COPY OF RECEIPT OF PURCHASE:
Your also best to send a photograph of the unit
and include your name address and telephone number.
Claim its not your fault the unit failed.
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These comments are not strictly about the freeview boxes, but rather the information available on the transmittion of freeview.
I was very interested to read the article on freeview as well as the comments.
My parents live in one of the areas that are not covered by main transmitters, but rather a relay ones that were waiting to be upgraded to channel 5.
Over the last years they have debated as to whether to wait for the upgrade to freeview of the transmitter, or to get an alternative.
During this time I have tried to get a straight answer as to when the work would be done, but it appears that no one know what the date is, it is further complicated by the fact that some of the people/websites don't even know that the transmitter exists?
Is there a central organisation or group that is coordinating the work who I can contact for a definitive answer?
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The problem with Sony TVs has now been fixed. Sony has acknowledged the problem with their sets and have provided a workaround: http://www.sony.co.uk/article/id/1209376179091
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We live in Surrey - a densly populated area in the UK - yet because of our actual location, have no cable, no line-of-sight to a satellite, and are too far from a usable transmitter for digital (we are down in a valley) Thus on occasons don't have a single watchable channel in an evening.
What annoys me is that the BBC hides behind it's small print, saying that the licence is for equipment CAPABLE of receiving a signal and not that a signal is actually available.
We are sick of hearing about all these new channels and 'HD' etc. etc. yet we pay the same licence fee as everyone else... It's a pity there is no moral responsibility for them to ensure that all licence payers are treated with a bit of fairness and equality!
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No one buy any new Freeview boxs youll be sorry, when HD Freeview comes out because then you will have to buy another box to recieve that service and on the Horizon "Super Hi-Vision" resolution of 7680x4320, or 16 times the resolution of HDTV thats if Freeview could cope with that at all another New Box. Does anyone listen to the Radio through the Freeview box loose the radio and add more TV channels solong as there not Shopping ones.
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In reply to dazsewells comment,my Daewoo freeview box cost much more,It cost 60 pounds,and when you are a pensioner that is a tidy sum perhaps when dazsewell is a senior, may change their view.
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If these boxes are only going wrong when their owners try to update the channel list, wouldn't it be possible to arrange special times when the least used channels disappear for ten minutes so that owners of these older machines can keep them in sync with the changing frequencies of the few important channels without risking the destruction of what may be a perfectly good box? Who watches all these ridiculous new channels anyway? There's hardly ever anything worth seeing on them.
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I am one of those with a now defunct Daewoo DS608P set top box. When i contacted Daewoo, they insisted on a receipt, after having the box for over 4 years, i didnt keep it, I then went back to the shop i bought it from, and mentioned the sale of goods act, there reply was without a receipt how could i prove i bought it from them, back to square one. I even told Daewoo i would sent the item through the post for there inspection, but no, they need a receipt ! Surely this can't be write, someone's to blame and its not me !
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I bought my two Daewoo DS608P boxes second hand for about £40 each, and they were being sold new at about £60 to 80, in the last 3 years. So it's not a trivial amount of money, and these were quite high-end boxes from a brand name manufacturer.
It's reasonable to expect electronics of this nature to keep working for many years, so I can only hope that everyone with such boxes writes to the manufacturer about this - the BBC has some good pages on how to complain, including http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/guides_to/law_goods.shtml about the Sale of Goods Act, under which I think Daewoo and others are clearly responsible.
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Well, having sent Daewoo a photo of the underside of my defunct set top box,their reply was, We have read all of your e-mails and I am afraid we are unable to make further consideration. It's ok saying keep on at them, but if they don't reply to e-mails, what are customers suppose to do. Iv'e also e-mailed other Daewoo employees, but they have'nt responded either, any suggestions !
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i too had a daewoo box like the man on watchdog and only found out the problem by accident when checking the bbc website for something else.on contacting the bbc the response was 'only 1% affected'(slightly arrogant i thought) but 250,000 is a considerable number and 100% of those who had one.why could they have not broadcast an announcement on tv as they give plenty of time advertising digital.as for informing the press, i now don,t buy a paper but i receive at least 3 free one,s a week. why did they not use them.
as for daewoo all they offered was a new one for £20.(originally bought for £80)rejected that and got another make for £16.don't think i'll buy anything from them again
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With regards djvydcwpr { 03:24am on 07 Nov 2008 }
I am afraid that most units hunted for new channels automatically
and there was no switch that could be flicked to stop it doing so.
I knew in advance it was going to happen so I kept the box unplugged for two days but as soon as I turned it back on it claimed ' New Channels in the stream ' once it pulled down the download it closed down completely.
The units that failed were not built to the correct standard otherwise they would be still working today.
Sadly Daewoo will not do a replacement without a receipt that may be four or five year old - they claim its to stop people cashing in but they have yet to supply any evidence of that as I cant find them on any auction sites.
I do know that some people did get a replacement without a receipt as I was one of them but I feel very sorry for all the people who have been blocked.
I keep telling people they need to challenge Daewoo as none of these were cheap units and none of us had a clue they were not built to the correct standard.
They must keep records so they must have a good idea which serial number was sold in which area - as it stands just now the ones that are left with useless units are being badly mistreated.
its time Daewoo does the right thing and replace them without a receipt. { as after all they picked up my dead unit so they could do the same with everyone else who are genuine owners }
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OK Brian, you say challenge Daewoo,if they don't respond to e-mails, what is there left,by letter,they will only do the same,bin it. Daewoo are not playing fair,it says on there website, "Daewoo prides itself in it's customer care values"? I'm still waiting for replies off 3 days ago ! Some customer care values !
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Take it from me that when I first made my claim at the end of July { when the split took place in London } Daewoo did not accept any Blame at all nor did they offer a Discount nor any hint of a replacement so I just made a Pest of myself.
I know its not easy but if you don't Challenge what they claim you will never get anywhere.
I accept that Daewoo should have covered all their units as after all it was their fault but if you don't keep up the pressure you will never get anywhere.
A formal letter is always better than a e-mail sending as much proof as you can.
Good Luck.
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Yes Brian you say, send in as much proof as you can, if you didn't keep the receipt/credit card statement/stub from the guarantee card, and you can't get a copy of a receipt from the seller, what options are their left. Iv'e also made a pest of myself, but now Daewoo aren't responding at all to any of my e-mails, i can't see them responding to my formal letter, all they keep saying is, send us the original receipt, which i haven't got. Catch 22 mate !
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I am still helping others to get a replacement from Daewoo and I know two people who have been caught with Daewoo’s new policy change
You have to send the physical receipt and you also have to post the Unit to them for their inspection in advance ‘ before ‘ they decide if you have a valid claim.
This is a very fly move as it further reduces the number who will claim as there is no mention they will refund the postage ‘ so its a gamble ‘
If a person sends it via Parcelforce 48 hour its £ 15 and of course they could turn around and not accept the claim.
So lets round up the different policy changes.
Policy 1 - No replacements under any circumstances.
Policy 2 - No replacements but a £ 10 discount on buying certain units.
Policy 3 - A free replacement provided you sent in the serial number.
Policy 4 - A free replacement provided you sent in the serial number and a photograph of the units serial number.
Policy 5 - A free replacement provided you sent them the receipt and supplied other details.
Policy 6 - No guarantee of a replacement until the Customer sends in the receipt and the unit in advance at the cost to the Customer.
I feel so sorry for everyone who was not as quick off the mark as me and others who was not asked for a receipt at all.
Daewoo should hang their heads in shame.
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Well folks, today i received my reply from Daewoo, Surprise, surprise, they repeated their demand for a original receipt of purchase. And when you write to the Managing Director, your letter is passed on to the Assistant Manager of Customer Services, it’s no wonder my request was turned down ! Daewoo are doing themselves no favours by operating in this manner. Are other people still complaining, and if so, have they had any success ?
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I thought my old box had given up the ghost as I could only find a few channels after a rescan.I bought a new box from Argos and it did the same thing, placing all the channels randomly in the 800's. Transmissions from Crystal Palace must have been changed for some reason.
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whio really cares because u can buy a new one for £15 in any supermarket...
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Re:jeninebrown, it's people like yourself Daewoo love, because with that attitude, people would get nowhere with these big companies who bully the " dont give a damm, and i'm not bothererd " great british public. My set top cost approx £70-£80, i was told by Daewoo, that my unit was future-proof (DVB-Complaiant), and it would be a one off payment, this was not the case, i contacted Dawoo for a replacement, but as i didn't retain the receipt, i was knocked back, having bought the set top box in good faith, i found Daewoo's customer care to be poor at the very least. It's not the value of a new set top box that is the issue, it's the principle of buying a product that does'nt do what is says on the tin. We must complain. Daewoo are at fault, with their products that don't do as they promised !
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Whilst it is 100% correct to stand up for consumer rights and hence the need for programmes such as Watchdog you need to focus your complaints where they will work.
From the Watchdog piece it was not the manufacturers that made claims about being "future proof" but the Freeview advertising "implying" it, and even then anyone purchasing a piece of consumer electronics cannot realistically expect it to last forever or the technology to last forever (8-track, betamax, HD-DVD, OnDigital etc, etc,). There is also no such thing as DVB compliant, only DVB-T, DVB-T2, DVB-S, DVB-H etc. and even then standards change over time and the application of standards by individual bodies, such as Freeview/DTG/DMOL in the UK, changes over time.
If, as it appears you do, feel strongly about a £70 4-year old product ceasing to operate then use your legal rights. Take action under the Sales of Goods Act against the seller - which would be your retailer not the manufacturer. If they do not co-operate then put in a smalls claim through the court for damages (which would be the cost of repair or replacement mitigated by the time of use you have got out of it). As the product is well outside a normal manufacturer's warranty (unless they offered a 5 year warranty at the time, their current web site says only 12 months) you don't really have any clout other than to their "good nature" - similarly they are not saying that they will not help, but they want proof you were the original (£70) purchaser by asking for a receipt. Similarly they can change the rules on any discetionary payment or compensation as often as they like - it's not good PR, but they have no contractual duty to you as an end user beyond the warranty.
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Re ArthurMuffin 10:32am on 12 Dec 2008
You don't happen to work for Daewoo by any chance ?
Or a PR Company employed by Daewoo ?
Is it not funny any comments that divert attention away from Daewoo is made by people who only ever make a few comments - funny that.
The Daewoo's were sold as DVB-T2 Compliant but they did not build the unit
to the correct specifications otherwise they would be still working today .
Is it not crazy that my old OnDigital that I bought over eleven years ago was able to cope but it killed my 130 UK Pounds Daewoo stone dead.
Lets get the facts straight
Originally Daewoo accepted no blame at all even although they knew fine well the unit was not built to the correct standard.
Sure in legal terms its the retailer but when Daewoo started making replacements for free a Customer would have to be crazy to go back to the shop when Daewoo
was doing the replacing.
Just look at the original list - they were all built in the same factory - they thought they would be clever and fit a ' non standard buffer ' to save a few pence but they were caught out but they don't like to admit it.
All this hassle just so they could save ten pence -
Customers should expect that a Company will build their units to the correct standards - all the rest is only a smokescreen to try and divert attention away from Daewoo.
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