Blaupunkt, Viano & JVC Cheap TVs Cop A Bashing On Product Reviews
During late 2018 and early 2019 we saw a wave of cheap TV’s hit the Australian market at retailers such as JB Hi Fi, Bing Lee, Harvey Norman and Big W but if some of the reviews on Product Review are anything to go by there are certain brands that appear to have a problem.
While brands such as Samsung, TCL, Sony, Philips and Panasonic are well known several brands such as Blaupunkt, Viano, JVC are not as well-known and these brands attracting negative reviews with consumers on the independent reviews web site.
Some consumers who have taken to the Product Review web site are reporting what can only be described as a “Shocking experience”. ChannelNews is only reporting what has been published on what is a third party site where consumers can leave a review.
Blaupunkt: BP6500AU9000 TV; Purchased At Bing Lee
Ash 2000 wrote ‘We bought this TV from Bing Lee at Campbelltown NSW on 14/6/18, On 18/6/18, the volume button on the tv wouldn’t disappear from the screen no matter what we did. The store helped us to troubleshoot and it was finally fixed by 19/6/18.
Had 1 good day of viewing until 20/6/18, when the tv started pixelating in the top right hand corner of the screen. The store changed it over to a 2nd TV.
On the 21/6/18, that 2nd tv started pixelating in the same top right hand corner. We were not impressed with 2 TV’s of the same brand having the same problem.
We rang the store again and they agreed to bring out a 3rd TV.
We connected the 3rd tv and this was the worst one of the lot (Pixilation) they claimed.
“Do not even consider buying a Blaupunkt tv brand with a model of BP6500AU9000 as this is not a good tv. It is a cheap tv for a reason. Stay well enough away from it. It’s not worth your time as we are very, very frustrated. It has taken the joy of buying a new tv to an all-time low.
My last tv was a Phillips brand that lasted more than 10 years” they wrote.
Another customer wrote after buying a 50″ Blaupunkt TV and under the heading “Warning: Don’t Buy, A piece of junk, Item returned and refunded.
If you are after a quality “branded TV”, this model, or in fact any of the Blaupunkt range is probably not for you. This TV is simply a generic Chinese panel with a Blaupunkt badge on the front. There is absolutely no reference to Blaupunkt within the menu system of the TV.
You can buy this generic TV (with or without smart tv functionality) in Australia under a number of different brand names, most notably Kogan.
The menu system is very poor. The GUI is amateurish, the remote cheap feeling and the button layout cluttered. But worst of all, the manual is absolutely useless. It’s merely half a dozen A4 sheets stapled together into a booklet. This is possibly the last TV that a non-tech minded person should buy.
I returned this TV for a refund. Even the online retail store I purchased the TV from says it’s a “piece of junk”. They are now refunding all customers who have purchased a Blaupunkt panel. There are many issues with this TV, but the primary issue is that it cannot cope with a 4k HDMI signal. Attempting to input a 4k signal sees the TV periodically go blank or display gibberish.
Under the headline Not bad for the price, another consumer wrote about a Kogan TV.
Kogan 32″ Combo
I purchased the Kogan 32 TV-DVD combo after my Pye PY210 21 inch CRT TV I brought in 1995 died in January after 22 years of faithful service. I am happy with the quality of the picture and the setup of the EPG display.
There are a couple flaws however, there are ports on the side and the rear that are difficult to access being aligned downwards and not outwards.
My other major issue is the scheduling of programs to record. There is a schedule button in the EPG display, but it only displays WHAT has been scheduled and does not offer a scheduling option itself.
Customers also lodged several complaints re Viano TV’s purchased at Big W.
ChannelNews understands that Viano is no longer a supplier to Big W after the Company refused to supply TV’s on consignment.
Viano STV65UHD4K (65″) TV Purchased at Big W in April 2018 for $800.
A North Queensland Big W customer wrote: TV just didn’t turn on one day and hasn’t turned on since, it’s been 6 months now. Only had it working 8-9 months and even then, it needed a set top box because TV signal was crap. And always having to reset it as well, bad purchase.
Purchased in April 2018 at Big W for $800.00.
Another customer from Melbourne who only paid $600 for the same TV wrote: Customer support is terrible, brand new tv and the remote doesn’t work, told i have to send remote back (at my cost). Customer support terrible, I was told the wireless mouse will work for most functions, can’t even bring up home screen.
A remote that works would be good.
Another VIANO customer also claimed that they had experienced “bad customer service”.
The first time I spoke to the Manager on the phone I was actually yelled at.
I have been trying to organise either a partial refund as my brand new unit is faulty or a BRAND NEW unit as I first purchased the item on 14/07/18. After setting up the TV I noticed on Xbox 1 & Netflix there is a white flashing line on the bottom right hand side of the screen. Looks like broken pixels or something wrong with the unit.
The customer said that when he unpacked what was supposed to be a new TV there was scratches and marks on the unit.
I will never purchase another Viano product as they are not a well-known company and cannot provide any customer resolution or customer support.
JVC TV
A customer who purchased a JVC LT-55N685A in 2018 said that their TV stopped working 3 weeks after the one year warranty ran out.
The TV worked exactly one year and 3 weeks before it “literally blew up” they claimed. The JVC distributor claimed that as 2 months had passed, they “didn’t want to speak with me”
“I paid for a private technician to check what was the problem was and he confirmed that power board had gone. Stay away from this TV” the customer claimed.
With some of the negative reviews Product Review has verified with the retailers that the TV’s have actually been purchased.
We have attempted to contact Ayonz the distributor of the Blaupunkt TV’s, but they have not returned our call. We will report what they say along with the comments of management at Viano.
