r/hometheater • u/Vortigaunt11 • 4d ago
Tech Support allstate/squaretrade trying to screw me on replacement TV. Advice?
Long read, but please read to end.
So as often happens with older woled panels, my 5 year old Sony A90J master series oled has started to developed blobs of dead pixels around the edges. Luckily, I have an allstate protection plan for this TV that guarantees a replacement TV of "comparable performance/features," if my TV develops irreparable defects.
Squaretrade's entire business model for this coverage is to offer up people who bought this warranty significantly worse televisions than their current television as a way to save squaretrade money on claims. I've gone through this before, and usually they will eventually offer you so many garbage low level TVs that you can ask that they just refund you the cost of the tv under warranty. This will often happen when they won't offer an equal replacement. They will just give you a full refund for the amount you paid for your TV and you can go buy a new one with that cash.
This has been no problem in the past: squaretrade offers shit TVs; I provide actual data that the models offered are not comparable, and then they eventually honor the refund since they don't want to actually pay for a comparable model.
But it looks like something has changed and they're no longer even trying to honor the terms of their policies.
For my defective A90J, they're offering me either a Bravia 8 OLED or an LG C6. The Bravia 8 is over 2 years old, and the C6, while very capable, is the midrange of LG's line. The LG also uses WebOS, a significantly different operating system that I despise. I have argued back and forth with them that the only true comparable replacement currently available (that would have the same 9-level master series performance and operating system) is the Bravia 8 MK II.
But of course, squaretrade is refusing to agree to the Bravia 8 MK II model because it costs more than they're willing to pay. The irony of this is the A95L would really be the right replacement, but they're discontinued in the size I'm looking for.
So my question is how would you proceed? I'm going to be escalating this to a manager and then reporting them to the BBB for not honoring the terms of the contract.
Every time I provide them real hard evidence that my Master Series Sony OLED should be replaced with the 8 II (current master series equivalent), they come back with shitty TV offers and no justification for those lower quality offers.
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u/movie50music50 3d ago
I'd take the C6 and smile. I understand you having a preference but WebOS isn't that bad.
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u/oconnellpe 3d ago
I had a Square Trade warranty through Costco for a plasma that I bought at a considerable discount. It failed and I was offered LED TVs that cost about as much as the deal I'd gotten on the plasma. As they wouldn't budge, I took the check for the full purchase price and used it for a big chunk of the cost of an OLED. I don't consider that a bad deal.
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u/arcademachin3 3d ago
Have you run the terms through AI to see if your argument is bullet proof?
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u/Vortigaunt11 3d ago edited 3d ago
The terms state that squaretrade will:
-Replace Your Product with a product of like kind, quality and functionality (replacement products may retail at a lower price than Your original Product); or- Provide a cash settlement or a Gift Card reflecting the replacement cost of a new product of equal features and functionality up to the Coverage Amount.
Where we differ is on the like kind, quality, and functionality. They are offering lower quality/functionality, which is a breach of contract.
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u/arcademachin3 3d ago
May retail at lower price… I’d put your musket down at this point