GerbeRamblings

Anyone who has ever purchased an LCD monitor knows that every now and then you will get a panel which has one or two dead pixels and that there is little you can do about these. However, what happens when you purchase a monitor that just doesn’t work? You send it back…right? How many times? Well, that all depends on the manufacturer I am guessing. Confused? Let me explain.

In October 2007 I purchased an LG 22″ Widescreen LCD (LG L226WTQ )monitor only to find it had a terrible ghosting issue with the panel. For those who are not in the so called “know”, ghosting is where any moving object on screen is followed by what seems to be…well…a ghost. This can be unbearable especially when playing games or watching movies.

I then sent this monitor back to the retailer who replaced it with a new one, which , guess what? Had the same issue. I tried to send this one back as well, however, because it had fallen out of the 28 day purchase date I had to contact LG Electronics directly. Apparently they had no stock to send me a replacement, so the took the monitor in for repair. At this point I should mention that LG Electronics source all their repairs to a 3rd party company called “CJ Electronia”. After two weeks of not hearing a thing about my monitor I decided to contact CJ Electronia directly and was told that their technicians could not find fault with the monitor. Lucky thing I took some video footage of the ghosting issue. ( Check it out here ). Apparently the technician now suddenly knew what the issue was, so he replaced the panel in the monitor. Now…You’d think I would receive the monitor fairly shortly after this. It took two months to receive the monitor back, this was after being told numerous times that it would arrive only for me to be left waiting for the courier not to arrive.

Anyway…Finally, over two months after I had purchased my monitor I would be able to use it. Sorry, not this time…After plugging the monitor in, it not only still has the same ghosting issue, but know it buzzes. And its not a soft sort of buzzing that you can put up with, this is so loud that I have to turn the monitor off if I am studying at my desk. Now, you’d think that a company that would care for their end users would take care of them in such rare cases and either send them an upgrade or refund them. Well, I am told that they will NOT refund me NOR will they send me a replacement monitor. “THE ONLY OPTION IS TO REPAIR” I am told by LG. So now I go without a monitor again for who knows how long?

For a company whose motto is “Life’s good with LG, Get all the smiles you want“, they do not seem very good at making their customers smile. Now apparently one of the ways to repair a dead pixel is to continually press on it until it disappears. Let’s see what happens if I keep pressing on this particular “Dead Pixel”

Updates to follow…

Update

04/02/2008 10:45 TNT Collect monitor

05/02/2008 Received good will gesture in the form of a cheque for £50 from LG Electronics

12/02/2008 Received a call from CJ Electronia stating that their technicians have closed the case as “No Fault Found”. Was told that a technician would contact me - Still waiting.

14/02/2008 Received a call from one of the technicians from CJ Electronia and was told that my monitor was to spec. He clearly admitted there was an issue with this particular model and suggested I go look on Youtube as many others have had issues. He then said, that the monitor is to LG’s “Spec” and that they were not going to do anything with it. So hold on - they know there is an issue, but it is to LG’s spec? So we’ll just ignore it then. So now I will get hold of head office again and see what I can do.

26/02/2008 Finally…A solution to the issue. After speaking with the LG representative at head office and reminding him that the overhead involved in trying to fix this issue had far exceeded the cost of the monitor itself. He promptly delivered a letter to me the next day authorising a like-for-like swap with the retailer. All good and well providing the retailer doesn’t argue, which of course they did. They actually wanted to send me the same monitor…again. Anyway, after a bit of arguing, they are now sending me a Dell Ultrasharp 22″ which has a zero dead pixel guarantee. Hooray - No more dead pixels

So 2007 is now in its second half, almost unbelievable I know but so far it’s been pretty good, especially June. I finally got my promotion and am now doing exactly the same job I was doing before, but now I am a DBA rather than a “junior”. Claire and Charlie got engaged on Friday night, congrats and I look forward to getting a new brother. And finally, all my documents are now submitted and I am officially starting my degree in October.

The government is currently running a petition on removing VAT from bicycles (including spare parts) which, if it actually happens, means cheaper bikes for everyone which means potentially less cars on the road…what a great idea…to sign the petition and save the earth click here

Last night myself and Ray went to Wembley Arena to watch My Chemical Romance play. They were nothing short of amazing with some awesome pyrotechnics, playing their full “Black Parade” album and most songs from their “Three cheers for sweet revenge” album too….I even tried to fit in with the crowd a little more by altering my hair…slightly…Lots of thanks to my beautiful girlfriend for buying me the tickets…

Found a very cool video about a campaign called “Free Hugs“, it’s all a true story and leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. You can watch the video here, You can also read all about the campaign here…

Go on….give someone a hug 

Just thought I’d share this with you guys…If you are looking for a way to find some new music which appeals to you, try this fantastic free internet radio site. It has minimal advertising so is not an eyesore and is really easy to use. Check it out here www.pandora.com

Saturday just gone was my first mountain biking event which took place in a very very muddy Woodcote, Oxfordshire. The weather was perfect and the race was over 40KM of mixed terrain (everything from tarmac, clay, mud and even woodchips). I managed a time of 2 hours 31 Minutes which was great going for my first event. I was also 11th overall for that race - Next time….Top 10.

Straight after the race Sarah and I headed down to Bristol to pick up her shiny new ride. She got a beautiful Tomac 98 Special which we plan to give a good test this weekend….I will post some pics as soon as I can.

Hooray…I finally heard from my insurance and they are paying to get my bike repaired. Fantastic. This comes at a great time as this weekend Sarah and I are going to Bristol for her friends hen night/dress fitting. While they are doing girly stuff I will be on a sweet single track in the Forrest of Dean in Wales. I will try and take pictures where I can.

Okay, so here is an update on the previous post…Unfortunately I can only start studying in September due to the start times of the university…this is not great although does mean I have loads of time in which to choose the right subjects.

Here is a picture of our new little car. We love her…..

Another thing…Pictures from our Madeira holiday are now online as well here