JIM'S VIDEO & AUDIO INC

Very Good Professional and straight forward

I went to Jim's as it had a favorable review on Angie's List. Another TV repair place in Spfld received marginal reviews and the other place reviewed very favorably was out of business (American Appliance). Mike at Jim's Audio was professional, up-front, and to the point. A friend's Panasonic Plasma 50" Viera went out for no apparent reason. $58.50 was Jim's cost to diagnose TV problems (check or cash only). Problem diagnosed within 2-4 days (as I was told it would be). Estimate given for parts and labor. Initial 58.50 paid would go towards additional labor. Prices provided for both Panasonic replacement parts and after-market parts. Mike recommended after-market parts being just as good. $100.00 deposit required to order parts, begin work. Would take approx 7-10 days to get parts. Parts came in within a few days, though, and repair made. Paid balance, picked up TV, works fine. I am very pleased with the service provided by JIM'S AUDIO. Can strongly recommend this business. Friendly, professional, to the point, no nonsense, and Mike stayed in touch via phone whenever he had new information to share. Labor was probably right at half of the overall $450.00 cost. Whether that is fair or not, I do not know. This is very specialized work, though, so it will be pricey.The friend who owns TV initially called Sears to see what they would charge to come out ($89.50). Up theirs.

My only complaint is that the price seemed awefully high, but we had to choose between buying a brand new television or getting this one fixed, so we saved $50-100 by doing fixing our current one and didn't have to dispose of it. My husband dropped the TV off and paid the fee to check it out - they discovered that it wasn't just the capacitors (as we thought) but the power supply and main board as well. It didn't even take a week and it was totally fixed! (I just had to drop off another check for the parts before they would start working on it.) Overall, they were great, I just wish the price of their labor was lower.

It took about six weeks, rather than the two they said was likely. But it is back at the price estimated. The uncomfortable part is they make you sign all sorts of disclaimers, which means they could fail miserably and you'd still have to pay the full estimate. That led to six weeks of being a little stressed.

On Tuesday, I called Jim's to set up a time when they could come and get my TV. They did not give me an option of what was a convenient time for me, and instead insisted that they come the next day, on Wednesday morning. They would not be more specific than just "in the morning," and they refused to come on a different day or at a different time. I took off work for Wednesday morning, expecting to be able to go in at noon at the latest, and I sat at home and waited. I tried to call when they hadn't called or shown up by noon, but no answer. I called work and said that I couldn't come in after all. At a few minutes before 2:00, a Jim's employee called and said they'd be at my house in an hour. They did not apologize for my wasted time, and when I said that I'd expected them to be there several hours prior, they didn't say anything. I'd already wasted a day waiting around, and now I had to reschedule a haircut that I was supposed to get at 4:00 because I was afraid I would not make it. All in all, Jim's Video and Audio showed a total lack of professionalism and a complete lack of respect for me, my time and my schedule, and I find this especially unacceptable.