Consuming Interest
Behind the Screens
By LESLIE ADRIAN There are three ways of avoiding such risks, as there are in buying a set. You can rent a set i'4ther than buy one, you can take out a tele- vision insurance policy or you can enter into a u4iin tena nee agreement.
the average rented seventeen-inch set will cost 41) initial fee of two or three guineas and then a 'veckly fee of ten to twelve shillings, which will be slightly reduced each year. Hiring or renting oinetimes saves you the cost of installing an 4,u1:11, though some firms do charge for it—often "1 reduced rate. (A fitted outside aerial can eost you up to £30.) The rental includes the ust of all repairs, replacements and labour. You ean have a new set whenever you choose to by reverting to the terms of a first year's rental. You heed never be without .a set: if repairs cannot be done at once in your home another set is installed while youi.s.is taken away.
In other words, when you hire a set the respon- sIbility for maintaining it is not yours. .Against this is the fact that, if you buy a set, you can Choose between a large number of makes (and `'me sets, for sale and for hire, make pretty revolting pieces of furniture); and the set you buy is worth whatever you can get for it when- ever you decide to get rid ail.
Most of the insurance companies have tele- iion insurance policies and, although terms and Onditions vary, they usually cover loss or damage Y fire, lightning or theft, bodily injury or damage nused by the set or the aerial and breakdown of emponents, including the cathode-ray tube. his kind of policy will cost in the region of £546 year, but be careful to read the small print.
Ate policy which costs less • has a note to the 'Weet that you may not claim for the first £2 10s. in the case of breakdown of the cathode-ray tube.
The companies are careful to define just what They mean by a breakdown, and they do not
generally mean that they contract to maintain The set. •
A maintenance agreement will usually cover II materials and labour and will cost about Ll a Month for a seventeen-inch set to start with and ..410re as the set ages. Some dealers offer free 'PlItintenance for some months after the date on hieh you buy and you shouldn't need to enter Into any in agreement until this offer runs out.
Telesurance (14 Windmill Street, WI) offer a combined insurance and maintenance scheme and their agents are established television dealers all over Britain. They will not offer insurance on sets over two years old. The annual premium for a new seventeen-inch set is £7 12s. 6d.; for a set more than a year old but less than two years old it is £12 12s. 6d.
I recently asked the Radio and Television Re- tailers' Association what is being done to improve standards and safeguard the public. (The Asso- ciation's members cover less than half the shops which sell television sets, but these, account for more than 70 per cent. of all sets sold,) The Asso- ciation runs a course for television engineers and tries to get as many engineers as possible to take it. Members must have been in business for more than three years, .must reach certain standards on the servicing side and must have a .good reputa- tion among other local traders who are members. This is something, although not enough : traders are members of the Association and so do not have to keep up to these standards, and a RTRA sign in the window is at least something to watch for when you are looking for a dealer.
If you have difficulties with a dealer who is not a member of the RTRA write and complain to the .Association anyway (15 Goodge Street, WI). They will take it up with the dealer and try to get satisfaction for you. They often site- ceed and always want to : any complaint is bad for trade—and, I might add, good for traders' souls.
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