Telesurance

[Half a Mullard]

Hope it's OK to post this which I found on the Internet. Any problems please let me know. I imagine the tube would have been a major expense back then so I can see why this scheme was set up. It would be interesting to know the costs involved.

[electronicskip]

Sort of connected, but when i worked for Rumbelows we used to sell a tube insurance only for new sets which cost £10 as i recall which was valid for a few years although i cant recall how long now.
Lots of people took up the option when buying new sets .

[rontech]

In CRT days I had a Sony Trinitron 27" set followed some years later by their 37" model it weighed 85kg I think. With tubes like those I took out insurance. I think it was about £15

[high_vacuum_house]

It would be interesting to read the small print to see exactly what all of the exclusions were. Wonder how many Mazda tubes would have been replaced?
The advert seems to put fear in the reader that CRT’s go pop in an instant rendering the television instantly unusable. This scenario is probably rather rare, more likely that the tubes emission drops off over a period of time gradually delivering poorer performance until the picture is too dim and unfocused to see it properly.

Christopher Capener

[Peter.N.]

We were agents for Telesurance at the shop I worked for in Petts Wood. I didn't have much to do with the admin side so don't know what the terms were but as far as I recall we never had a problem with them.

I remember the Ekco T161 on which the tube often failed under guarantee and the replacements weren't much better but most tubes except those Mazda's were pretty reliable so it was swings and roundabouts. The number of 405 sets about now with probably the original tubes is a testament to their reliability when they got it right.

I remember another engineer and I managing to break a new tube we were fitting to a 12" Philips console, an MW31/74 I think it was, it cost something like seventeen pounds ten shillings to replace it - three and a half weeks of my wages!

Peter

[AJSmith625]

In the 1970s and possibly later there was a scheme to extend the warranty on Mullard and Mazda colour tubes to 4 years when buying a brand new British made colour TV. I cannot remember how much this cost now, but I think this was done through the British Valve Association (BVA).

Alan.

[Duke_Nukem]

I have a brochure for Telesure that gives details for premiums. I do not know the year but is still lists a rate for new 12" models - but also includes 21" models.

If you waited till the set was 1-2 years old then the premiums went up as much as 50% !

TTFN,
Jon

[MotorBikeLes]

Obviously pre-1971 with those £--s--d prices.
Les.

[Half a Mullard]

Wow! I would guess maybe mid to late-ish 50's? When were 21 inch tubes introduced? The premiums could be 10% of the set value? It seems as if when sets got over the 2 year mark they were more prone to breakdown. I wonder how this compared with the cost of a new tube.

[Nuvistor]

In the early 80's I repaired a couple of sets that the owner had taken out Telesurance, they were Thorn 3000 sets that I had little experience of, yes bread and butter for many. I just ordered an advance replacment from Thorn, no problems with Telesurance, settled the bill without a quibble.
As to why I didn't settle down and fix the board, I was leaving the TV trade within weeks and saw little point in learning about 3000 sets.
The sets we normally dealt with were RBM, Pye, ITT, Toshiba and Hitachi.

[rontech]

Originally Posted by Half a Mullard

Wow! I would guess maybe mid to late-ish 50's? When were 21 inch tubes introduced? The premiums could be 10% of the set value? It seems as if when sets got over the 2 year mark they were more prone to breakdown. I wonder how this compared with the cost of a new tube.

My parents bought our first television in autumn 1956 ( an Ekco 17" with built in VHF tuner position on the "13 channel" selector. I remember when visiting the local dealers there was a 21" console model Pye set on display.

[Duke_Nukem]

Attached are a couple of adverts from mid-57 which gives a guide to replacement CRT costs. Re-View did rebuild tubes but it does not state that in their advert; I wonder if these are second hand CRTs as the second advert (St Mary's Electronics) has similar prices but specifically state rebuilt 12" Mazda's were also available at £9 (wonder why they felt the need to single out that particular CRT )

TTFN,
Jon

[Peter.N.]

We had a secondhand 21" Sobell in the '50s, a trade in at the shop, very compact cabinet.

Peter

[Half a Mullard]

That's very interesting, so the dates do tend to point to that period. So the annual insurance was very roughly similar to the cost of a new tube but without fitting costs of course.

Also interesting about the Mazda tubes - seemed quite a bit more expensive!

[slidertogrid]

Originally Posted by high_vacuum_house

The advert seems to put fear in the reader that CRT’s go pop in an instant rendering the television instantly unusable. This scenario is probably rather rare, more likely that the tubes emission drops off over a period of time gradually delivering poorer performance until the picture is too dim and unfocused to see it properly.

Christopher Capener

There is an episode of "On the Buses " I think called "new T.V" where these symptoms are described on the Butler family's black and white set. They improve the picture by turning down the voltage adjuster and flog the set to Blakey.
Then the trouble starts..

[Duke_Nukem]

Originally Posted by Half a Mullard

Also interesting about the Mazda tubes - seemed quite a bit more expensive!

Its why I think these ads might be second hand tubes as the seond ad lists 12" mazda but als singles out that recon 12" mazdas were available. But these are the only two ads in the 1957 mag I had. I'll dig around to see if I can find some new/definately recon CRT ads.

TTFN,
Jon

[Half a Mullard]

This is a little earlier but gives prices from the 1954/5 Mazda data booklet.

[dazzlevision]

A typical Mullard colour CRT normal/extended guarantee card.