well that doesnt happen every day

[h0ughy (David)]

was watching the phantom movie on tv through the topfield box and then it caught fire about twenty minutes ago. quickest pull down in history and threw out over balcony while smouldering . now the surge guard never went off and after testing the TV and Panasonic Blue ray are fine. There goes a $700 dollar twin tuner and i know its just out of warrantyby two months

[inertia8 (Australia)]

two months? I'd be contacting them mate, especially given the fire issue...

My breville espresso machine was 3 months past it's warranty and they replaced about $500 of parts in the thing because of one latent defect. Top service and happy customer.

[Eden (Brett)]

h0ughy, sorry to hear that mate! I know the feeling all too well, as an owner of a $2500 laptop which developed numerous problems (video fan, hard disk and keyboard) within days of warranty expiration...and there I was thinking that I did the right thing buying the extended warranty...

[raymo]

David, the warranty is not the end of their responsibility. Vendors are compelled by law to repair or replace any item that becomes faulty before
what would be considered a reasonable length of service for the quality of
the item. So for example, if a 50" el cheapo TV failed after 2 yrs, tough.
If a $3500 50" TV failed, they would be compelled to fix it, because 2 yrs is not a reasonable lifespan for a top end product. Get it back out of the bin. Extended warranties are frequently a waste of money when buying quality items, because you are covered by the so called implied warranty.
Eden, this also applies to your pricey laptop.
raymo

[ZeroID (Brent)]

That comes up as a safety issue as well. Catching fire is not a 'normal mode of operation'. I'd be really getting onto their backs about that one. If not the regulating board for consumer goods needs to hear about it.

[multiweb (Marc)]

Wow! The power of the third skull at its best. You must have thought, is this part of the movie?

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by multiweb

Wow! The power of the third skull at its best. You must have thought, is this part of the movie?

and that's the part that went off the air when they were fighting in the scene with all three skulls

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

that's different (and annoying). must have felt good to throw a tv off a balcony though. would have looked fairly 'out there' for any passerbyers!

[CJ (Chris)]

Good that you were there to deal with it!

[wasyoungonce (Brendan)]

Well I didn't see it on the "recalls Australia list" but that said I once had a product that did similar and the mfgr said bad luck and I said that the consumer protection would be interested in it for subject to recall due to the nature of it's hazard.

They gave me a new one on the spot!

[h0ughy (David)]

looking at it last night with a magnifying glass and not opening the case I could see a capacitor had burnt up exploding from the base, blowing a connection from the mainboard right near the HDMI port, but then I have poor eyesight and wouldn't know a thingsy from a whatsit

[Regulus (Trevor)]

Crikey mate, you were lucky you were in the room at the time! I get paranoid of cheap Chinese electrical items, but you don't expect this from a brand name.
Re the Warranty: My first CD player back in about '88, a Yamaha that cost $899 and had a 5yr warranty died 5 years and 1 week after purchase and Yamaha would not honour the warranty and replace the laser head. In all seriousness I have thought that this was obsolescence built in to the electronics because the thing wouldn't have played more that 2 cd's a week in it's life. It seemed grossly wrong to not honour the warranty, and I have had bad feelings toward Yamaha ever since.
Glad there was not damage to you house David.

Trev

[Regulus (Trevor)]

That Phantom movie was such a disappointment. Could have been so much better if the script, the director and the actors were better :-)

[PeterEde (Peter)]

Upgrade opportunity

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

was watching the phantom movie on tv through the topfield box and then it caught fire

Serves you right for watching rubbish on TV.

[GrahamL]

The inbuilt saftey features of all appliances are that they are failsafe,by that when they fail they just stop working , you take em along to the repair guy and he says "cost to much to fix" throw it away.

Bursting into flames when in use isn't one of the other options .
Fair trading will be able to advise , but I'm sure you've got some recourse
with that warranty as suggested.


Thats a good site Brendon , I never knew it existed , had to check my gut feeling on what " Kosdown Printing Co Pty Ltd" inflatable spas problem could possibly be
cheap electrics lots o water ,, what could possibly go wrong

[acropolite (Phil)]

They guys are right about statutory warranty, you're entitled to a reasonable lifespan from any goods, if the MFG won't come to the party go to To consumer affairs.

When you get the replacement flog it on ebay and buy yourself a Panasonic DMR-BWT945GL, they're rock solid, TRIPLE tuner, Blu Ray recorder and 2Tb hdd from memory. Also with their app you can set to record from anywhere you have net access plus you can stream both live and recorded Tv from the device to android or ipad (not sure but probably PC too)

[GeoffW1 (Geoff)]

Originally Posted by raymo

David, the warranty is not the end of their responsibility. Vendors are compelled by law to repair or replace any item that becomes faulty before
what would be considered a reasonable length of service for the quality of
the item.
raymo

David,

This is true. Your experience could not be considered reasonable I think. Go ask the retailer, and then write to them if they are reluctant. If they don't respond reasonably, take it to the tribunal, I strongly believe you have a case.

All the best

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by acropolite

They guys are right about statutory warranty, you're entitled to a reasonable lifespan from any goods, if the MFG won't come to the party go to To consumer affairs.

When you get the replacement flog it on ebay and buy yourself a Panasonic DMR-BWT945GL, they're rock solid, TRIPLE tuner, Blu Ray recorder and 2Tb hdd from memory. Also with their app you can set to record from anywhere you have net access plus you can stream both live and recorded Tv from the device to android or ipad (not sure but probably PC too)

they are sending it to Melbourne to be looked at. so i wont know until late next week as to what they will do or provide

look nice but i would be shot if i got that

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by kinetic

Dave,

as others have said, that is a very serious issue, not to be laughed off.
What is the model of the Topfield unit. We have a Topfield stb unit.

Steve

its a trf-7170