NEVER BUY "PRIMA" ELECTRONICS!!!

Buyer beware, cheaper DEFINITELY does not always mean better. Do not buy 3rd tier brands!!!

The heading to this says it all basically. Going to make the story short and direct. October 2007 I bought a Prima PH-4237P 42" Plasma TV from Best Buy in Ajax Ontario. Worked well for a bit, so decided at Boxing Day to buy a HT-TS37P 5.1 surround sound system. Shockingly it was defective and the jacks the speaker wires plug into were not functioning at all. The large box was lugged back to Best Buy to be returned, waiting in like for literally 1 hour. At the time the box among the bunch was the only one not looking as if it was abused in shipping. After the difficult task of locating another system it was then paid for with the refunded money and taken home. Travelling back and forward with such a large box was certainly nothing I planned for or expected. After all the time wasted and frustration the new system was hooked up to the TV and surprise surprise the speakers again did not work. Hesitant to call customer care again (which was totally useless the first time) the call was eventually made after some internet research. Speaking to a kind gentleman who at the time spent some time on the line trying to trouble shoot the issue. There was no luck yet again, his "Supervisor" afterwards could be herd in the background doubling the call with him to "TRY" fix this issue. Turns out that obviously all speakers should work and even with a digital source like X Box 360 (which the home theatre doesn't work at all just the TV speakers) there is no luck. All connections and settings were checked, double checked and even checked again with service reps and the instruction manual.

Extremely frustrated at the "Good deal" which turns out to be the biggest mistake of my life, living with a system that does not function correctly was annoying but out of fear like the first time there was no way I would make the risk of exchanging again at Best Buy because from my experiences and also from friends you conveniently always seem to get something worst when you do that. Ironically no one at the service centre was able to help or did not offer to send a new one. At this point things just got out of hand in my eyes.

At the 6 month mark, the TV just suddenly stopped working. At this point my frustration had grown because along with a defective home theatre that no one could seem to fix my TV just gave up even thought it was cared for as the manual said. The service centre was obviously contacted immediately. A work order was created and my receipt was faxed in to validate the warranty.

A day after "Abb-Tech Electronics" contacts me asking what was wrong with the TV etc and broke the news to me that it was not exactly "in home" service. Friday of that week they sent the workers to my place to pick up the TV. These men were very rude mainly for two reasons. 1) They did remove their shoes ONLY after stepping on the carpet on the way up to the stairs. 2) When they were told it was up stairs they gave each other this strange look, to later drop a remark in my room saying "Why would you have such a big TV upstairs?". Frankly that really annoyed me and was clearly nothing to do with them, the fact that I can is the obvious answer to their completely out of line remark / question.

They put the TV down on the driveway behind the truck before getting it into a box and loading it on which regardless to if it is cleaned or not is something I NEVER wanted done. No one had told me the approximate time period it could take until calling a few days later to see the progress. The entire day monday passed and no one had even looked at my Television yet. A response of 5 - 10 business days was rather upsetting to me based on my experiences in the weeks before with the home theatre system. Being unable to get a response from those higher up in the company is one of the main reason for posting this experience on various websites and complaint boards on the internet.

After my near "Hell on earth" experiences with this company it will be my duty to ensure that none of my Friends, Family members or as many as possible who see this ever buy Prima. A no-name company who should be trying to gain life long customers over looking the obvious fact they are a 3rd tier brand who is up against giants that will simply obliterate them in sales. For it is better to pay a little more and get better quality and quite possible treatment. Hopefully you consumers who read this learn from my big mistake and do not make the same one, buy brands that are more likely to last based on history such as Sony. Even if they do break down which is unlikely your guarnteed better service at Sony without a doubt. A company who understands the value of each individual customer will always come out on top in the end in one of the main goals which is customer satisfaction.