I agree! I would have only recommended starting a file if the part was on back order and of course that is my responsibility to the customer to make them aware of that and what Toshiba's policy is. It's not like I have a choice because the customer is angry and wants the TV fixed and sending them to Toshiba gets me off the hook. I LOVE the 30 day policy Toshiba has! For other readers this policy is only in play during the manufacturers warranty period.As a consumer I have no idea how their system works, nor should I be expected to know.
Speaking of hooks, another myth to dispel in this business, I did not make your product, I did not break your product, I do not make parts for your product, I don't run the manufacturer and I do not work for the manufacturer. We servicers are only an authorized service center and ultimately all that means is we can repair your TV under warranty and have the best access to parts ordering and technical support. For some manufacturers you don't have a choice but to use an authorized service center even out of warranty - they won't sell parts to anybody else.
These are man made products, not acts of god... The only issue is what would be considered a reasonable amount of time to wait for service which is also a human endeavor with more human limitations. Some servicers are 2-3 weeks out on a service call. It takes typically about 3-7 business days to get a part depending on your location and the source. Once the part is in you go back into the system waiting your turn.you have a consumer that paid for a product and they do not have what they paid for. This is probably an oversimplification, but its like stealing.
Sharp and Panasonic both have programs to turn a TV repair around in 48 hours most of the time and they pay well to get ahead of the line!
My rep is for the southeast so he is not covering your territory. In my case I had two Toshiba LCDs with your problem. I took pictures, put them on my site, sent my rep an email with all the customer info and links to the pictures. The second one was shortly after that and he did not request to see pictures of that one.
Toshiba claims this is a defective panel but it sure looks like burn in to me. Burn in may be the popular term but the correct term is image retention and for LCD that term has deeper meaning. An LCD cannot burn, it is not phosphor based. The way an LCD works is the LCD crystals for a pixel change their response to block light or allow it to pass, they actually move and that is the liquid part of LCD. What happens is they lose their range of motion with static images and often times can be repaired by simply running a pattern that constantly changes them from peak white to peak black to get the full range of motion back. LCD can have image retention but they are far more resilient than plasma or CRT projection. My speculation is indeed the panel is defective and they should not have become stuck in a certain state so quickly but they are obviously getting that way due to the images being shown such as 4:3 with side bars. Toshiba has been using the term MURA to describe the defect which I never heard of until all this happened. I studied it but failed to find any info presenting the case I have just stated. Everything I found related to manufacturing and a term imaging professionals would call uniformity - equal light output in all areas of the screen. MURA is a term the Japanese came up with for a uniformity problem with LCD display panel manufacturing along with equipment and QC processes to check for it.
