Broken Appliance With No Available Parts? Add That Manufacturer To Your No-Buy List

What will it take to get manufacturers to support their products instead of leaving consumers with disposable televisions and refrigerators or mobile phones (and digital music players) with irreplaceable batteries?

A Magnavox TV/DVD combo that cost Frank Lusk of Westbrook $300 at Target in August 2010 stopped working last September, just beyond the one-year warranty.

"A local TV repair shop returned it to me after about three weeks, saying they could not get repair parts," says Lusk.

He checked with Magnavox, then brought the set to a licensed repair shop. Three days later, the shop said it, too, could not get repair parts. For that, Lusk paid a $40 estimate fee.

Lusk then called Magnavox again, which told him, 'tis true, no repair parts. Too bad it wasn't under warranty, Magnavox told him, because it could have been exchanged for a new television.

Lusk thought he was out $300 until he read a magazine story on buying an HDTV that suggested paying for the set with a credit card rather than buying an extended warranty. (Some credit cards double a manufacturer's warranty, up to a year.)

So Lusk checked with his credit-card company, which did offer extended-warranty coverage, and filed a claim in late December. Two weeks later, he received a check for $317, which included tax.

But he won't buy another Magnavox.

"The only recourse we have as consumers in a situation like this," he says, "is to take our business elsewhere. I bought a new TV, but it was not a Magnavox and I did not buy it at Target."

Let's call it the No-Buy List. Lusk's drawing one up: He's not buying whatever Magnavox is selling.

We've all got a candidate for the No-Buy List. Here's one from TBL, who bought a rechargeable Dirt Devil broom (model MBV2030) in October 2008 for quick-cleaning around a litter box. The broom worked fine until several months ago when the batteries drained almost immediately.

Finally, it was time for a replacement battery pack. A search online revealed none, either from Royal, which owns the Dirt Devil brand, or an aftermarket manufacturer.

What?

Last week, TBL contacted Royal's corporate office, which acknowledged the company does not make a replacement.

"They are manufactured as part of the machine," says a Royal corporate representative. "We don't even have a part number for the batteries."

A rechargeable broom with irreplaceable batteries?

I was dumbfounded. (My neat-freak cat, Chesty Morgan, was devastated.)

Royal's idea of customer service is to offer duped owners of the MBV2030 rechargeable broom a 30 percent discount on another vacuum at the company's website.

Then what? Call back in three years about another machine that doesn't work and can't be fixed?

No thanks.

You know what you deserve, Royal? A permanent spot on my No-Buy List.

Who belongs on your No-Buy List? Visit the TBL blog (www.courant.com/TBL) and tell your story under "Leave A Comment" on this column entry.

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Broken Appliance With No Available Parts? Add That Manufacturer To Your No-Buy List