Good afternoon,
Not sure if this has ever been addressed but thought I would pass on. I had purchased a 50 inch plasma TV about 3 years ago and purchased the extended warranty offered by Warrantech. The policy was a door to door replacement coverage. Paid around $300 for the coverage. Let me layout the situation: 2 weeks ago my TV went black during watching it so I turned it off, I turned the TV on again to make sure there was an issue when I did this the TV started to buzz I immediately shut it off said a few flavorfull words and then began to look for my service papers. I located the papers and called Warrantech to start a claim. He made me aware that if there was any physical damage to the TV I would be liable for the repair. While I was getting info off the TV and speaking to the rep the screen started to crack. I made him aware of this while we were talking and he said he would get a tech out. I asked him about the physical damage aspect and he said if there was noticeable damage like it had been dropped or something dropped on it. I was put on hold for about 5 minutes and he came back on telling me they could not locate anyone in our area that did warranty work for them and I should call back in a week and they should have someone. I took it upon myself to do some research and found that A&E Services did in fact do work for them and all they needed to do was get a authorization number. I called Warrantech back and gave them the info and they setup an appointment 2 weeks later for today the 7th. I received a call this morning from a tech from A&E who advised me that I would be charged with the service call because of physical damage to the TV I questioned him on this and he said the crack is physical damage. Again this is a crack in the plasma itself not the glass protection. I told him what had happened and he informed me that it did not matter there was a crack and that was physical damage. I asked him about what happened and he said he could no longer diagnose the TV due to the crack so there is no way for him to say if it was done internally or not. I called Warrantech and spent about an hour on the phone with one of their supervisors. To make it as short as possible he told me as soon as the screen cracked my warranty was void. I asked him about if a tech was out and repairing the TV and the screen cracked would it be covered and he said no there is physical damage. I thought to myself about physical damage and think there are others with me, physical damage is that something dropped or damaged externally I would of never thought an internal piece would be considered physically damaged if it failed. He then told me I should have also purchased the screen protection plan. This plan was never offered to me when I purchased their regular plan. So buyer beware if you buy a plasma TV really look over the warranty papers and make sure the full TV is covered and the physical damage is spelled out to a T otherwise they have you. I think these companies know that if the TV has a failure the plasma will crack and they can then void the warranty and do not need to replace or repair anything. Nice little loophole there. I have since emailed the corporation in hopes that maybe somebody would have the power to fix this situation but I believe I am talking to a wall. Thanks for your time and reading of my problem.