I wouldn't call it unnecessary by any means. It is basically saying they'll deliver your tv through someone besides ups or fed ex which I would say is great knowing what some ups packages go through...

Not only that but most returns take the "original packaging". Sounds like a clever way to reduce returns.

If I were to order a TV from amazon of the magnitude that could justify in-home service, I think I would opt for this - simply because there's no argument for amazon if the TV is damaged in transit/setup. It makes them accountable for shipping on what I consider to be a volatile item.

I guess for someone who may live alone (or is old) having some strapping young lads carry your $1000 + purchase up three flights of stairs would be better than trying to do it yourself. That way when it slips and falls down said stairs you have someone else to blame. Crutchfield has been doing this for as long as I can remember, and it may even be free on TV's over a certain dollar amount.

For the people out there who know the diffecence between a Composite, S-Video, DVI, and HDMI plug, not really. It seems like they do all the stuff I don't want to do (risk dropping that shiny new screen onto the corner of the coffee table and take the garbage out), and then will give me a handy checklist to make sure I really do know that DVI is the yellow round plug...right?

On the other hand, I don't know that I'd take advantage of it either.

honestly, i'm very scared at the thought of some random people unboxing my expensive new toy. Opening the box is half the fun.....

unless they did it to make sure i was satisfied and if i wasn't theyd take it back... I'd much rather them leaving the box and being on their way

Oh my gosh, I had no idea they did this. Now that CC is going out of business, I just might order electronics from them. That way, I won't have to a) have it delivered to my work and drag it home myself, thus risking dropping it, b) trying to catch UPS or FedEx or inconvenience a neighbor to do so, and c) trying to argue with UPS if they misdeliver, lose or damage my package.

Yay!

I've had this done and it was actually very convenient. They delivered the TV, placed it on my TV stand and that was basically all I needed from them (and it was "free"). I can plug an HDMI cable in.

I've done this and there are several issues with it:
1) They still ship the TV through UPS or FedEx, just delivering it to the White Glove company instead of your house, so you still run the risk of UPS mishandling the item.
2) The service THEN calls you to set up a time, meaning they are adding a few days to the delivery.
3) Once they've brought it into your house, you can not refuse delivery for damage. While you can't do this with UPS either, if some guys bring a TV into my house, open the box and reveal a damaged item, I want those same guys to take said item out of my house.

That all bring said, the deliveries I've had have gone fine but I could foresee many issues with the service.

I know my ass isn't carrying that 60 inch flatscreen up two flights of stairs and then lifting/balancing it again to get it out of the box. Free or not I'm all about not having to bribe friends with free beer and pizza. I mean my guy friends have started avoiding my calls when they find out I'm moving. Seriously.

It was my understanding that the purpose of WGD was so that, after the item was unpackaged, if there was visible damage or if the item arrived DOA, you could reject the delivery and they'd have to pack it back up and send it back to the seller.

@temporaryscars: You would think that was the case, and maybe that's what the contract says. I'm just remembering making an off-hand joke to the delivery guys about what happens when I plug the HDTV in and it doesn't work. He said, "Not my problem. Call Amazon if there's something wrong."

I bought my 52" Samsung from Amazon a year ago with White Glove service - they did an awesome job, were very friendly and made sure the TV was undamaged and working properly before carting off the shipping materials. I was thrilled with the service.

@facted: Concurred. Buy a TV from a Brick and Mortar, and you either have to worry about fitting it in your car, and damaging it on the way home, or paying $50 for delivery.

The way I saw it, I could pay sales tax and delivery from Best Buy, or pay no tax, and free delivery from Amazon. Delivery guys even waited as I plugged the TV in and turned it on to make sure the TV worked before they left.

@durkzilla: My guys left the box at my request, just in case it broke within the warranty period. I'm sure they'd be willing to do that for anybody, provided they ask.

I know I'm not everyone but installing a HDTV once it's unboxed is pretty simple. A entertainment system is more work and tedious but it's not much harder.

I bought a 50" TOC samsung650 and the white glove dudes helped mount the stand and waited for me to turn it on to check for bad pixels. If there is a problem they will box it back up and its on its way for return/swap.

The expertise required to safely move and unbox a television is not remotely the same as the expertise required to properly set it up. The WGD companies hire movers, not electronics experts.

@cmac: they figured that out last year by just cancelling peoples accounts who return items under their return policy

This is just an attempt at convincing people it's safe to buy a large purchase online. Nothing more and nothing less. If amazon sees that this service does not bring in more business they will drop it and go back to straight UPS or Fedex.

Installing a TV:

Plug in the power cord.
Run the coax or HDMI cable into said TV.
Enter the menu and run 'autoprogram'.
Sit back and enjoy.

Granted, if you want a FULL setup, you may have to hire someone, but the gist of the matter is quite simple.

I got my TV from Amazon and had this done. Scheduling is great, because I live alone. When my TV was delivered, they unpacked it and set it on my TV stand. They had me hook something up to it to verify that it was working properly, and only then did they have me sign for it. They were willing to take the packaging, but they suggested I hold onto it for a couple of weeks just in case something went wrong. It's an excellent service for any sort of large electronics or appliance, and it was still cheaper than getting my TV at Best Buy or Circuit City.

It's a great service... They can't leave until you sign for the delivery, so you get the chance to verify your big purchase is actually working. I made sure everything was in order before I signed for my TV. I know they tout it as "free" and if it's built into the price of the TV, I still got one hell of a deal, which no local big box or specialized dealer could even touch.

I had this service performed about two months ago with the delivery of a 42in LCD TV. One thing to watch out for is that the bottom of the box containing the TV can be filthy. In my case, they sat the box on a rug to unpack the TV; upon removal of the box, there was staining on the rug.

I can't believe this service by Amazon is being put into a negative light. The $100+ services to install a television are what should be put to shame.

Correctly installing a television is as simple as reading an instruction manual.

I agree with the majority of comments. This is a great service. I ordered a 42 inch plasma HD TV around Christmas. Was able to track it all the way. The delivery guy even called from the Interstate to tell me he was going to be 10 minutes late. When he got here, he handled it with kid's gloves, hoisted on the stand for me, and waited while I connected the HDMI cord (10 seconds max), ensured it was working, etc. He even gave me the choice of keeping the box or having him take it.. What more would you want?

As for being built into the price, I don't know. I know I paid less than $750 for a Samsung 42-inch plasma and that was just fine with me!

This is perfect for people like me who know full well how to set up a tv, but can't pick one up. All I EVER need is someone to put it on the stand for me.

I had a good experience with the White Glove service.

Probably the best part is that they document every single step on Amazon to the finest detail. From "Left Shipping facility" to "Awaiting reply to voicemail for shipping date confirmation" and "shipping date confirmed" was documented in the Amazon control panel. For some guy waiting for his big toy to arrive in the mail it couldn't have been any better.

They delivered via Pilot. Pilot was very courteous and set up a delivery time for me by phone and arrived on time (granted it was a 3-4 hour window).

I live on the fourth floor and the delivery man brought it up and dropped it off. They didn't setup but that's fine given that it was getting mounted anyway.

@wgrune: Does it specify that the delivery service persons will be strapping and male? Because I would definitely consider using the service in that case.

It worked great for me. Unlike what I've read above, UPS and FedEx never touched it. A private company handled the whole thing, they let me hook it up to make sure it worked, and they suggested I keep the box in case I wanted to return it later. If you know how to hook up an HDTV this is the perfect way to do it. Best Buy can't even bring it 1 mile to my house for free.

This service can be invaluable in certain circumstances.

1. The box is unwieldy or heavy.
2. There are flights of stairs involved.
3. There is a lot of packaging that would be troublesome to remove and recycle.

It's not a good service for getting an iPod delivered, but a great service when I ordered a 46" TV to be installed in an upstairs bedroom. It was an even better deal when I had an "in room" air conditioner delivered and it had to be hauled up 6 flights of stairs.

@facted: Me, too. And a boxed 46" LCD TV is almost as big as me, making it very awkward to unbox, much less schlep up in the elevator from the lobby or curb. I found the service really handy. I would also have paid for it--I am no longer an age where I have lots of friends willing to lift heavy stuff for beer.

Admittedly, this would come in quite handy. If you order some big-ticket item, and it gets shipped a different day than you expected, you don't want that item to arrive when you're out of the house for just an hour or so. This would also work very well for arranging for something to get there EXACTLY when you want/need it to.

Sounds good to me. I know how to hook stuff up, but I don't have a car, and live on the third floor in a building with a tiny elevator and narrow spiral stairs, plus another set of stairs from my apartment door to my floor. Getting our new LCD TV in here ourselves was a pain and a half (especially with me 8 months pregnant at the time!), even with someone delivering it to the front door of our building when we got it. Having someone come in and unpack it would've been great.

@magic8ball: Yes, but there's a surcharge for smoldering.

@cmac: When we had this done, they left all the original packaging.

We ordered a 42" Samsung TV from Amazon. They used this "white glove" service and it was GREAT.

We know how to do the setup ourselves, of the cables and such. What the service did was get us a courteous, smart, prompt deliveryman, who brought the 42" TV up the three flights of stairs into our apartment, brought it in, shook my hand (instead of leaving the box in the hall), took the old (heavy) CRT TV off of the TV stand, got the new TV out of the box, got it up onto the TV stand, and got the new one up on top of the TV stand, making sure it worked and signing off on a checklist of "things that worked."

If my fiance and I brought a TV in, we'd have to be both home from work, both doing it together, and I did sprain my back helping to move the old one, later on. So Amazon's service gets a BIG thumbs up from me. One of the nicest, most efficient service folks I've ever dealt with, too.

@ryohazuki222: I'm geek enough to not be ashamed that I'd rather one or two other guys bust their asses hoisting the TV up on the stand, so I can do the fun part - plugging in all the fancy wires. Open the box may be fun, but I get no joy from heavy lifting. And our big ass LCD, even though it's reasonable light, is very unwieldy for one person to lift and adjust.

I ordered a 42" Plasma last year from Amazon, and (unbeknownst to me at the time that I placed the order) it came with White Glove service free. I assumed it was because a freight company was delivering it, because it's huge and heavy.

In any case, the really nice part was that they carried the T.V. down to my basement. Even though the mounting brackets to put it on were not ready yet, that was a big time (and back) saver.

I didn't have any expectation that the service was anything more than that.

Call me skeptical and paranoid, but isn't this just a nice way for underpaid employees to come into your home, see where your nice new expensive toy is, case the other things you might have, what sort of alarm system if any, look for unlocked windows and guard dogs, and then come back later?

In an age where the kid at the gas station is swiping your card info when you buy gas, why would you advertise that you have an expensive new purchase and invite them into your home? At least with installers you can get references and contractor license numbers. With this, you get a security breach. I'm sure marketing had the best of intentions but it seems like a setup for a bad summer movie.

I've had this done recently.

My box was in a local warehouse in my city for about 4 days before I got a call to arrange the time for delivery.

I was mostly stoked about them taking away the packaging until one of the delivery guys recommended I keep it in case a return was needed and explained replacement boxes to ship a TV for return or service could cost over $100.

But they didn't even take the TV out of the packaging for me either. As I didn't pay a separate fee, I can't really complain but the service, in it's entirety, consisted of two delivery guys bring the boxed TV into my house and having me sign a slip of paper then making a quick exit, almost out the door before I could even ask them about the packaging.

As it is, my TV works great and I still have a huge box in my house that's going to be a pain to haul away.

@Xero_Azmea: You, my friend, have totally missed the point, as you left out about 4 steps before "Plug in the power cord." And those are the only 4 steps the WGS handles.

@Quatre707: You must not have a parent over 70.

@menty666: A valid concern, but you could make the same argument for the UPS delivery guy and, to a lesser extent, a brick and mortar store cashier. These places usually check criminal history for this exact reason.

I bought a 60" plasma from Amazon and the WGD was definitely useful. The company called an arranged delivery that fit MY Schedule (after work!!). The delivery man arrived promptly at the agreed upon time so I didn't have to wait about.

He then put it on my TV stand (thing weighed over 120lbs I'm not easily lifting that myself), and waited around while I hooked up some equipment to test the signal.

After that they removed the gigantic box I had no room for in my apartment.

This service definitely beats regular UPS/Fedex. Plus given the size of the TV even if I had bought this from Best Buy or another big box I'd still have had to get it delivered.

I'm sure that would have just included dumping the thing on my doorstep while I was at work. Leaving me to get a friend to come over and help me set everything up.

@ToddBradley: No, I think you missed the point - Consumerist is saying you need an installer, and they just outlined how to "install" it without one.

Actually, if you needed a box to return the TV Amazon.com covers that. The delivery guy I had said if it's defective they send out another TV, swap it with yours and take it away in the other box.

I had this done - they unpacked the TV, plugged it in, plugged in the cable, DVD player, and Wii, and most importantly, turned it on and made sure it worked.

And this was free and cheaper than Best Buy, before we consider that there wasn't any sales tax (although I will, naturally, put it on my state tax return).

@ToddBradley: If parents over 70 are savvy enough to use Amazon and set up home delivery, they're savvy enough to plug in the TV