What TV Repairs Should Cost

 By Bruce Shawkey

Found this interesting booklet on the 'Net, "What TV Repairs Should Cost." I guess so consumers wouldn't get ripped off if their TV sets went blank. The booklet starts out: " For better or worse, the television set is the focal point of much family entertainment today, and if your family is typical, you probably spend a good deal of time in front of it. When the screen goes blank, you place a hurry-up call to the serviceman. When he gets there, you nervously watch him work, hoping the bill won’t be too high, that you won’t be overcharged for whatever it is that he is doing. But without technical know-how, you can’t be sure whether or not you’re being “taken.”

Here's what the booklet says you should pay:

For the service call: $3 to $10, with the average being $5;

Installing a resistor or capacitor may cost $1, while installing a new tuner may run $12.50 to $15:

Tubes: anywhere from $1.50 to $5.75, excluding the picture tube, of course. 

The booklet goes on to explain the various "tricks" the repairman might try to play on you, including tricking you into taking the TV back to his shop, where all sorts of trickery are likely to take place. 

Today, TV repair is almost inconceivable in our throw-away society. If even the slightest thing goes wrong with a TV (a rare occurrence) we would simply throw it away and buy another one. A 50-inich flat-screen color TV can be bought for as little as $216, while a color TV back in the '60s might run you $470, equivalent to about $3,884 today, depending on the specific model.

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