Last year, the Chinese electronics company LeEco announced plans to acquire the popular television brand Vizio for around $2 billion. Today, the two companies said they’re calling the merger off, blaming “regulatory headwinds.” [More]
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Court Denies Vizio’s Request To Dismiss Users’ Privacy Lawsuits
By 3.7.17 — Updated: 5.10.17
We learned back in 2015 that while all smart TVs collect data on your viewing habits, Vizio was going above and beyond, collecting more information than most, and telling you even less about it. As you might expect, loads of folks who owned Vizio TVs were deeply unhappy about this, and sued the company. And now, a judge has denied Vizio’s motion to dismiss that suit, meaning it will indeed have to defend itself in court. [More]
Don’t Want Your TV To Report Back Everything You Watch? Here’s How To Turn That Off
By 2.10.17
Vizio got busted early this week for spying on users and sharing their data without permission. But the key there is the “without permission” part, because pretty much all smart TVs are collecting and sharing some kind of data on you. And so many consumers are now asking: Can I make them stop? [More]
Vizio To Pay $2.2 Million For Watching TV Watchers Without Telling Them
By 2.6.17
There is a new truism for our era: If something can connect to the internet, it collects data. That’s true for everything from wearable fitness trackers to “smart” washing machines. But one TV company went farther than most, in collecting, aggregating, and selling your data, and now it’s in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission. [More]
New Vizio Owner LeEco Is In The Ecosystem Business, Not The Gadget Business
By 7.28.16
Earlier this week, TV-maker Vizio announced that it had been acquired by the Chinese company LeEco. “Who?” you might have said. Even people in China would have said the same thing until a few years ago, but now the company is a conglomerate that sells streaming video and smartphones, and electric cars. [More]
Vizio Sells To Chinese Streaming Company, Spins Off Data-Mining Operation
By 7.26.16
Have you ever heard of LeEco? Most people in this country hadn’t until today, when we learned that familiar television brand Vizio announced that it’s been acquired by the brand. The deal may mean more streaming content bundled in smart TV sets, and the spin-off of a separate company dedicated to mining data about what customers watch. [More]
Vizio Smart TVs Are Watching You Back Even Harder Than Most
By 11.9.15
Most smart TVs watch you back, to some extent. There’s money — a lot of money — to be had in user data, and advertising makes the world go ’round. Even accepting that, though, there are limits on what one generally should and should not have to expect when it comes to privacy-invading televisions, and new reports indicate that one manufacturer has gone well past that line. [More]
Who’s Making The Money When Your Smart TV Watches You Back?
By 2.27.15
We’ve heard plenty of times in the past few years that if you have a smart TV — one that’s internet-enabled, for all that app goodness — that it might be watching you just as much as you watch it. Samsung in particular generates a lot of questions about how secure your data is with your TV, as do LG and Vizio. But there’s a missing piece to the equation. If your TV is watching you, why? Who stands to gain (in the sense of cold hard cash) from your data? [More]
Vizio Recalls 245,000 TVs Because “Tipping Over” Is Not A Desirable Feature
By 8.6.14
Because it’s hard to watch TV when you screen has fallen onto the floor, the folks at Vizio are recalling approximately 245,000 39″ and 42″ TVs with stands that might fail. [More]
Repair Company Can’t Fix TV Without Parts, Warranty Won’t Replace Repairable TV
By 12.28.12
How long could your household go without a television? It depends on how many people are there, what you watch, what time of year it is, how the weather is, and whether or not it’s Christmas break and your kids are home from school. That’s the case for Roman’s family, cord cutters who are cut off from television content. Last Black Friday, Roman got a Vizio 3D smart TV from Walmart. Just under a year later, the set doesn’t work. That’s okay, though: he bought the extended warranty. The repair service set up an appointment, then just didn’t show after Roman took a day off work and waited around for them. Why? They didn’t have the part he needed in stock. [More]
I Bought My TV In 2006, Costco's 2006 Electronics Return Policy Should Apply
By 8.17.12
A few years ago, Costco changed its famously generous return policy when it comes to electronics. Customers have only ninety days to bring back gadgets that break or don’t make them happy, unlike the previous seemingly infinite return policy. Nick, however, bought his Vizio TV from Costco before the return policy changed. Back when he had as long as he wanted to bring it back. Now the six-year-old set won’t turn on, and he thinks that Costco should take the set back for a refund, which was the policy at the time he purchased it. [More]
I Paid $2000 For A Stupid TV That Lasted Two Years
By 5.7.12
I feel a certain kinship with Alan. Two years ago, both of us purchased HDTVs made by Vizio. Both of us bristled at the idea of buying an extended warranty for an electronic device that really shouldn’t be disposable. Both sets are out of warranty, but mine still works (for now) and Alan’s has black horizontal streaks running across the screen. A warranty’s a warranty, but he wonders: did he really just pay $1,000 per year for the privilege of owning a TV? [More]
Vizio Takes Advertising Broken Amazon Streaming Very Seriously
By 8.23.11
Perhaps it was naive of Josh to assume that his Vizio Blu-Ray player came with free Amazon.com video streaming. It’s listed as a feature of the player, Amazon is one of Vizio’s “Internet apps,” and the Amazon logo is featured on the product box and on Vizio’s site for the product. All that doesn’t mean that Amazon streaming actually works, though. [More]
Dell MIght As Well Have Not Sold Me An Extended Warranty For This TV
By 6.10.11
Tom normally doesn’t bother to buy extended warranties. Now he knows why. He did happen to purchase one for the Vizio TV that he bought from Dell last year, but the third-party warranty provider seems determined to ignore him at all costs. [More]
There Are No TVs Here, Only Dell Hell And Despair
By 8.26.10
Brandon tells Consumerist that he found the best deal around on a huge Vizio TV from Dell. Unfortunately, instead of finding himself in 47″ HDTV bliss, Brandon found himself condemned to weeks in Dell Hell, while the company threw out empty promises and conflicting excuses, and in the end simply can’t deliver the television that Brandon purchased. [More]
Man Who Pledged To Never Buy Another Vizio Gets Help
By 2.11.10
The man who said he’ll never buy another Vizio after his crapped out just a few months after his warranty ran out and would cost nearly half the purchase price to repair, says that after our post went up a gal in their customer service department called him and is “doing their best to rectify the situation.” He Jeremy writes on his blog, “This entire situation has taken an unexpected turn, which I will keep you abreast of in the days to come.” [More]
Why I Won't Be Buying Another Vizio
By 2.9.10
Jeremy won’t be buying any more Vizio TVs. He bought an HD one for $650 , then after 18 months of use, it began flickering on and off and then wouldn’t turn it on. The CSR told him it would cost him ~$300 to send it in to repair the power supply, nearly half the purchase price, as the warranty expired. Jeremy thinks a TV should last longer than a year and a half, and so he wrote an open letter on his blog to William Wang, CEO of Vizio TV. [More]
