Sony review: Sony TV Optical Block 24

I experienced the same problem on a KDF-60XBR950 and received the same treatment from Sony except they did not offer me any deals...their answer was just too bad. I will NEVER I mean NEVER buyanother Sony product as long as I live.

I purchased a KDF55WF655 on May 05.2005 and paid $2800 + tx I just recently noticed the blue haze or spotting on the lower left corner of screen. After reviewing the internet I contacted Sony and and got the same story, that the extended service for this problem had expired on December of 2008. After contacting the service reps that Sony indicated I was told that the replacement board or block would cost from $950.00 to $1200. This is absolutly rediculous since I already replaced the lamp prematurly.

I am sure there are a lot of consumers with the same problem, is there a class action suit against Sony or is the Federal Trade Commision getting involved with this? Please repond.

Another fustrated Sony customer

I, too, have the same problem. My sony rear projection lcd is a KDF60WF655. After spending hours on the phone with sony climbing the supervisor chain (I think they just put me on hold and pass the phone to eachother), I was offered a discounted price of 1300.00 for a 52 inch lcd, or 400.00 towards the repair of my optical block. Not good enough! Why would I put another dollar towards a sony product when they will not stand behind a 3500.00 product that is only 5 years old? I would love to see another class action suit. Is there others out there with this problem still?

Not going to give up

I bought my KDF 60XBR950 at the end of 2005. Man...has this ever been an expensive piece of crap. I have had my optical block changed out three times. I also had a fan changed and I'm guessing about 4 or 5 bulbs. This is the worst tv I have ever owned. If anyone knows of a recall please let me know. My tv is back in the shop right now waiting on another optical block. I have an extended warranty that I bought from Circuit City for $5000.00...but...they are offering me a $1200 Samsung or something similar. What should I do about this hunk of junk? I think I am done with sony for good!

buster

I, as well, will no longer buy another Sony product, period if someone from the executive review committee doesn't respond after I send them a letter. I purchased an LCD projection tv model KF-60WE10 in 1/04 from Circuit city, who is no longer in business, and right away noticed blue dots in the center of the screen. They had a sony tech come out to note the problem but i haven't heard anything as of yet. Goin on its fifth year of looking at a tv with blue haze and horrible picture quality compared to all other brands I see at friends homes that look great fires me up to no end especially after paying $3, 000 for this piece of @#!* Any suggestions out there?

I have the KDF 60XBR950 and have the same problem, I was never notified of the recall, I think we all should get together and sue sony again.

The Circuit City warranty company has now offered me a Mitsubishi 65" DLP tv as a trade in for my Sony. Any ideas?

I to am having the same problem but my TV is the KDF-60XS955 purchased in 2005 called in dec. 08 with dark screen and blue spot, they told me I had to replace the lamp so I paid $200.00 for the lamp and had my husband put it in, brightend the screen but blue dot still there, now the blue dot is a larger blue haze called back was told the experation date for the repair was 12-30-08 which was two weeks after I was told by sony to replace bulb, but they never told me of the rebate or the problem, called them again argued with them had to pay $117.70 for authorized service person to come out and give me a estimate, called sony with the estimate now they are saying they will only pay half (50%) of the $1428.00 repair or they will sell me a 52 inch tv for $1300.00, do I look crazy they will not take care of the TV I now have $4000.00 in do you think Im gonna give them another $1300.00 for a smaller TV! NO WAY! So now I have taken the advice of the repair man and filed a complaint with consumer affairs in my state, I suggest you all do the same thing and maybe we might get some help or at least some justice!

I purchased the KDF60XBR950 in July 04 with a 3 year extended warranty. Of course nothing ever happens until the SOB expires. Had to replace the Lamp about 8 months ago, and soon after the "blue blob" began metastasizing across the screen. Wasted my time by calling Sony(We sorry, you pay). As many posters have alluded to, you'll not see another Sony in this house. F' em.

I have experienced the same problem with my KDF-60XBR950 (Blue dots and haze)as well as the poor customer service from Sony. My TV has very low hours of use for it's age and even if I owned the correct model year that was included in the extended warranty alert I did not experience the problem before it expired. Someone tell me how it is that a company can admit that they have manufactured a faulty product but will only pick and choose which model years to repair or replace it? I was offered $700 toward the purchase of a new LCD, which I replied that I would rather replace the optical block. Sony refused to allow me to use the $700 credit toward the repair of my TV. Why would I spend $1300-$1700 + shipping to replace a TV that I paid $5000 for 5 yrs ago. In this economy who has that kind of disposable income? Sony was my go to choice for all things electronic, but never again. As my other Sony products need replacing I will take my chances with someone else.

Guess we should start a club, huh? I have a KF50we610 with the same issues...welcome the green blob. Had a tech out, paid the fee. Now I have to start begging from Sony for some kind of help. You'd think a unit that cost 3K would at least have parts in it designed to last the life of a normal set. The repair lists for 12oo bucks. For 2K I can buy a new LG or Samsung LED TV, so why should I remain a SONY customer. We'll see what kind of runaround I get.

This is a very common problem with Sony rear-projection LCD TVs. Pretty much all of Sony's rear-projection LCD TVs have been the subject of voluntary warranty extensions, class action lawsuits, or both due to inherent latent defects in the optical blocks, which contain the LCD panels. Unfortunately, most of the extended coverage has now ended, leaving thousands of customers out of luck, and the repair costs >$1, 000. See my Sony Rear Projection LCD TV support web site for additional details:
http://sites.google.com/site/sonylcdrptvproblems/

I purchased the KDF-60XBR950 in June 2005, and am now using my 4th bulb. I'm not happy with that, but was living with it. Now, however, the lower quarter of my screen is covered with at least 100 little blue dots, and I think the number is increasing daily. When I explained the problem to Sony, they gave me all sorts of suggestions on troubleshooting, i.e. reset to factory standards, change the input, unplug the power for 10 minutes, etc., but not once did they mention that this was a problem they were aware of. I called a local repair shop, and as soon as I identified the Sony model number, was made aware of the extent of the problem, and that Sony had at one time covered the repair. He also suggested that I google the model number to see how many others had the same problem. Guess I will write Sony, but have little hope that I will receive anything other than the same answer many others have reported. It makes no sense to spend $1, 200 to repair the TV, so think I will try a Samsung.

Problems with the 60xbr950 here too. I bought it over 5 years ago. Have had to change bulb more than several times. Started to notice quarter sized blue splotches in the picture. Have gotten a blue and black splotch in top right and lower right hand corners about a half year ago. Had a 3 year extended warranty and was never offered to extend it beyond that. Was told by a serviceman that it would cost over $900 to replace a part in it that leads to the blue splotches. Picture isn't very bright to begin with. Now, over the weekend as I turned it on, it went into a series of 15 3 red blinking lights and nothing more. Am now looking into a Samsung LED while watching my Toshiba 42' plasma in bedroom. Unquestionably the worst tv set I've ever had and disgusted that I spent over $5000 between that and the warranty and tax, and then had to buy a custom stand for it, which I can't remember but may have been another $1000.

I have had mixed success with other Sony problems over the years and this has sealed it for me. I will look at other brands in the future.

What a gyp!

sony sucks! I have been fight this battle with Sony for 3 weeks now. I have a KDF-60XBR950 that i paid $4000 for in 2005, i have replaced the bulb once, and have really used the TV very little since purchased in 2005. About a month ago it stopped working altogether, took it to a sony authorized repair location, $75 later found that the lamp door had come loose, and the optical block was shot. The sony repair place told me that the optical block was a known defective part and sony had extended the warranty untill sometime last year. i asked if it was worth a call to sony since the fix was $950, they ageed it was worth a call but didn't think they would do anything for me, and they knew what they where talking about.
First call to sony, it was like they were reading it from a script! they took all kinds of info just to tell me i was out of luck and they would give me (what equates to) $25 off another tv, that was a lower quality and much smaller.
I then asked to speak to a supervissor. Once Marlin got on the phone with me, and told me i was out of luck again, and that it was my fault that I didn't check sony"s website for for defective products durring the extended warranty perriod that they couldn"t help me, at which time he hung up on me.

I had the same problem with my 60" rear projection from Sony. I bought it around April 2006, and within months the TV would keep going off without warning. I also had an extended warranty from "Techpro". They would never be available to answer the phone. So I called Sony's Tech rep. He kept asking me to unplug and replug the tv. In May this year the bulb went out. The rep said I was lucky. It was designed to go off every year after Sony's warrantee period ended. I got it replaced by the local Sony rep. Last week the TV started showing green. On calling support, they said it was the optical block problem, and they would not cover it as it was beyond their warrantee. They instead offered another junky Sony TV at $500 less than the list price. On contacting the litigation lawyers, Robert I. Lax at NY, who already were compensated millions of $$ by Sony, they said the case was closed by June this year and nothing more could be done. Thanks to our wonderful legal system and thanks to Sony for generating junk in this country.

I also bought a SONY rear projection tv in Oct. 2006. The optics block started to fail about 13 months after owning. It also told us to change the replacement lamp prematurely. 13 months premature to be more specific. I spent agonizing hours on the phone with stupid people that represent Sony and they passed me around over and over again. They would transfer me and wouldn't know what I was talking about. Finally Sony agreed to pay $800.00 of the $1100.00 total bill. Today it has been 14 months since the repair and today my lamp went so I tried to replace it with the one I purchased over a year ago and it was defective. My boyfriend took it apart and it had a loose wire. He put it together and the picture came back. The problem is, now I have a reddish-pinkish color acrossed the top and a bluish greenish along the bottom. Another optics block has failed us. Thank Sony for your garbage. I will never ever ever ever buy a Sony again. Just like the rest of these fine folks.

Now its my turn, my 60 in kdf60xs955 is displaying the blue haze and spreading daily. I too was never notified about the defective optical block or the lawsuit. I called these ### and got the runaround and got told all they would give me was $350.00 toward the repair. Im not going to let these ###s screw me out of almost $5000 bucks. I filed a complant with the attorney general here in massachusetts, but doubt that she will do anything. If i don't get an answers in two weeks, im going down to small clams court and sue these ###. ### sony!

Wow...who knew? I purchased my kdf60xbr950 back in June 0f 2005, just like most I spent $5500. on the TV along with Circuit City's 2yr warranty plus an extension of two more years, during this time I've had one service call and as you can imagine it had nothing to do with the issues we all face today. Last year my wife called me in Afghanistan to inform me that the picture would no longer display on the Television, I immediately looked into ordering a replacement bulb on Sony's website for $200. My wife impressed and installed the buld when it arrived only for the picture to now display with blue dots and eventually haze. I called an authorized service center for Sony and the rep diagnosed over the phone that based on my description of the problem, it was my Optical Block and the cost would be around $900.+ to fix. I almost started to get it fixed, in fact I left the repair guy a message earlier tonight to contact me so that we can schedule a time...until I googled this thing and read you all's complaints, needless to say I will not waste my money on the repair. Now my biggest delima is that Sony has an LX 3d model due to hit the streets this summer, I am strongly reconsidering that purchase and may look into Samsung.

Same problems here. My KDF60XBR950 has the green hue across the screen again. Already replaced the Optical Block at my own expense not more than 18 months ago! What a worthless POS. I will NEVER purchase another Sony product, whether TV or computer or anything. They want your money but NO support. I'm going as American as possible now (Visio).

My son bought the a brand new 60" KDSR60XBR1 TV about May of 2006. It went into climate control storage December 2006. My son went overseas for several years on a job assignment. It was taken out March 2010 for use. My son had given the TB to me due to my eyesight problem It was then the problem with a yellow tinted screen was found. I contacted my local TV repair person, he came over and verifieed the problem as the Optical block being defective and for me to contact Sony for a possuble resolution. I paid him for the service call and he gave me the information for Sony.

I contacted Sony. Long story short they offered me a discount on a replacement TV. The best they could offer was a discount on a new 55" TV. I insisted a discount on a 60" TV which they failed to consider. I have verifiable failing vision and the larger size is a great aid to my macular degeneration condition. When I asked for a manager, abouve that of the person I was speaker to, it was refused! I was told the complaint escallation would be "forwarded" and that I may or may not be contacted regarding my request. The person I spoke to was firm but polite about the issue.

I think that a mere 6 months of actual viewing time my son had with the set and the short time I actually got to view it was hardly woth the sizable investment made with this TV. The lack of empathy with Sony's customer service was another matter as well. Finally the lack of immediate access to a management was my final dissapointment. I thought Sony to be a much better andf accesable company than what I recently encountered. I am beyond dissapointment and it will be my mission to inform all I come in contact with about my experience with Sony- unless they choose to become more responsive and reasonable to my request. Your move Sony.
DC

Same problem as above and the switch on the bulb door is warped. This warping has caused the little switch to act as if the door is open and shuts the tv off.

There is a Guy name Duke, Check his website WWW dot Dukeelectronic dot com, his # [protected] he fixed The same TV for me, Very Cheap price and warranty on the work,