A Couple were told their £1000 telly had gasped its last - after falling victim to passive smoking. David and Karen Benzies were stunned when an engineer blamed nicotine as the source of the problems which have plagued their two-year-old set.
A fan to keep components cool sucked in their cigarette smoke and it coated the circuit boards of the TV. The couple were then left fuming after they were told their three-year guarantee does not cover damage from cigarettes.
David said: "I couldn't believe it. The engineer checked it out and said nicotine was covering its circuit boards and sensors. I've never heard of nicotine damaging a television. If cigarette smoke knackered televisions how long would the ones stuck up in the smoky corners of pubs have lasted?"
The couple spent £180 on an extended warranty for their 42in Sony Vega projection televison.
They bought it from Comet at May bury in Edinburgh in August 2005.
David said: "It was the most I'd ever spent on any household appliance and at first it was great, the picture was amazing. But after a few months, it started to develop a series of recurring faults. He said: "It has broken down about 50 times in 18 months."
Finally Comet sent out their top engineer. He told the Benzies: "It's bad news. The problem is nicotine."
But David, a 20-a-day man, said: "I just don't see how about 10 cigarettes an evening in a well-ventilated room can gum up a television with so much nicotine that it packs up."
Last night, Comet aplogised and offered to repair the set free of charge.
A friend of mine does professional lighting installations for clubs, and I can assure you that the brown stain of nicotine gets in everything. He regularly takes units apart and cleans the lenses in a laboratory ultrasonic cleaning bath; not something you'd recommend for quality optics, but about the only way to remove the nicotine grime!
ReplyDelete