LG’s updating one of its popular LED Smart TV ranges after our testing revealed a sound fault was so bad we had to make it a Don’t Buy. And, if you’ve already got one, LG’s offering to send an engineer out to fix it.
Sound quality comes second to only picture quality for most of us when buying a new TV. So, ending up with a model that buzzes and reverberates when listening to voices speaking is a pretty big no-no.
At Which? we make every effort to go the extra mile in our testing. That means when we find a problem, not only are we able to tell you not to buy it, but when it’s an issue we feel is so bad it must be a design fault, we take it back to the manufacturer. Firstly to let them know about it, and more importantly to see what they’re going to do about it.
Which? TV testing
That’s why I’m very encouraged to see manufacturers going the extra mile in response to our verdicts. When we met with LG to alert the company to the sound issue with its 32-inch LED Cinema 3D TV (the 32LM620T to be precise) it came back to us in just over a week.
Its engineers had been hard at work investigating the problem and found the sound issue was not caused by the speaker units, but by the way they had been mounted in the TV casing.
LG assured us that it had looked at all screen sizes in the LM620 series – not just the 32-inch version we’d tested – and all models leaving the factory will be updated from now on (hitting shops in mid-October). LG’s customer services teams have also been made aware of the issue and will send an engineer out to mend any TVs that are reported to have this fault. And most importantly, they’ll do it for free.
LG respond to concerns
It shows that quick responses from big companies are more than possible. It’s great to see manufacturers taking action to make sure customers are not getting a raw deal. Obviously it’s good for them too – what manufacturer wants to be known for selling a rubbish product?
But while I’d like to applaud LG for its swift action, this is with the caveat that we haven’t yet tested the newly improved version. We’ll do this as soon as it hits the shops in mid-October.
We often hear about bad customer experiences, but have you got any of your own examples of companies going the extra mile?
If you think you’ve got one of the affected TVs you can call LG customer services on 0844 847 5454.