I unknowingly purchased a defective Sony Grand Wega television in January of 2005 for approximately $3, 000 dollars. This is one of the now-infamous LCD rear projection televisions manufactured by Sony in 2004 and 2005 with defective optical blocks that fail after approximately 3-4 years. This particular model of television has a long history of failures and proven latent defects. It has been the subject of numerous complaints and more recently, both small claims and civil law suits. Numerous web sites and bulletin boards with thousands of complaints have arisen over the past year and can be easily found by simply searching the words - Sony Grand Wega - and - optical block-. My television began to fail in June 2009 and is now nearly unwatchable. Supporting photos can be provided upon request. Three certified letters were sent to Sony, along with photos of my television. I also informed Sony of my request for either: 1) the repair of my television, 2) compensation equal to the cost of repair (approximately $1, 200), or 3) replacement of the defective television. Sony rejected each option, offering only to sell me another television at a reduced price. I attempted to resolve this matter by agreeing to purchase a replacement television from Sony on the condition that it could be provided with an extended warranty. Sony refused. Most recently, they manufactured a phony offer of a television with an included extended warranty, while increasing the price of their original offer to offset the cost of the warranty (essentially selling me a television that included an extended warranty, but making me pay additional money for it). It is also worth noting that Sony has made no attempt to either repair or compensate for the repair of my existing television, indicating that they have no reliable fix for it and that it does in fact have a latent defect that cannot be effectively repaired. Sony has not made any reasonable attempt at compensation or settlement in this matter. Their only response has been to attempt to sell their customers another television. They apparently will not, however, stand behind the quality of their replacement product for more than one-year, making their affected customers again vulnerable to another catastrophic failure when their limited warranty expires. Sonys apparent strategy is to weather the storm and hope that only a small number of customers will pursue a legal settlement, which may be less expense than offering a fair settlement to all of the customers who purchased these defective televisions. I therefore declined to risk spending any additional money on a Sony product and have been advised to file a formal complaint against Sony for the sale of a $3, 000 television with a latent defect that could not have been identified during the normal warranty period.