Why Are Broken Monitors Legal?

Many monitors unfortunately ship with some dead pixels...but did you know this often isn't covered by your warranty? Are the display manufacturers just ripping you off, or is there a reason they consider dead pixels to be "normal"?

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[smackaroy]

My policy is that if I'm buying a high end monitor I expect it to be perfect.

[TuxraGamer]

If I pay +1k and I get a dead pixel, you can bet I'm gonna get my money back.

[ohmygosh]

My 4K monitor had one dead pixels towards to upper center. It was so annoying and always noticeable. After 2 years I moved state and one of the movers accidentally dropped to my monitor. After moving to my new home I plugged in the Monitor and that dead pixel was working again. If I knew that before I would have fixed it by punching it. This explains why my father always used to bang things with hammer

[AndrewWilsonOz]

In Australia, it is deemed "not fit for purpose", so they seller has to replace it under warranty. The manufacturer has to credit the seller, or replace their stock. No getting out of skipping out on warranty here.

[adamsteinbacher]

I love that Corsair monitors include a 3 year dead or stuck pixel warranty. And they honored it when I had a single stuck pixel.

[silvadelshaladin]

Monitors should have an inspection process and monitors with stuck pixels should be sold as B-stock at a discount. There are a lot of people out there who would love to spend less on a monitor with a few dead pixels and other people who it would drive up the wall.

[Mirsab]

I wonder if in a couple decades the idea of being able to see individual pixels would seem ancient (technology scale)

[andybrice]

As I understand it: In the UK, retailers *are* legally obliged to take back a monitor which has even one malfunctioning pixel. Under the _Sale of Goods Act._ I think there's a similar law in the EU.

[ygstuff]

When I worked in Computers & Periph retail for a little while, my manager was a wizard at fixing blank or stuck pixels.
It didn't work every time, but I saw him fix a pixel with his expensive ball-point pen.
With the screen on, and the pen in "none-writing" mode, he would surround the offending pixel with the circle of the pen-point and press into the screen. Usually a couple of firm, but cautious, presses--the pixel would go back to normal.
Totally blew our minds, especially the customers, since he didn't charge for the fix.

[tomb]

That's why I buy TVs and monitors only at places where I can easily return them, preferably in person to avoid (insane) return shipping costs. I have had to do this 2 times. But considering how many (inexpensive) screens I have bought over the past 20+ years I still think the odds are still relatively low. So in this context, the industry really should consider 1 defective pixel as an abnormal defective product.

[filip]

This is why you should keep a display for as long as possible, as more displays you buy, the more likely something like this is to happen to you. Sorry for people who've had multiple RMAs.

[fffrrraannkk]

So I guess the question is how can you break pixels on purpose if you have a dead one, and the manufacturer requires more for an exchange?

[finkelmana]

I would be curious to see what a consumer protection lawyer and/or lawsuit says about this. Not fixing or replacing the monitor might be violating the UCC and federal law.

[JasonOFlaherty]

I remember when my first PSP came out. It had five dead pixels and Bestbuy told me the limit was seven to return it, so I was stuck with it, and those were big pixels by comparison.

[LMNsTCUk]

Misleading people about warranties again. A store in Australia put a notice that "Monitors with a single dead pixels won't be replaced under warranty". The ACCC fined them $100k for that sign.

[PhillyMotoXTS]

I love that Riley took this issue to heart and included a faux dead pixel on the bottom of his shirt. Bravo sir.

[jackdoug]

I've only ever purchased one monitor that doesn't have a bad pixel and it was my most recent monitor by LG. Most of the time they're bright pixels and I found that if you just press on the bright pixel they'll start working again until you don't press on the screen for a bit. Not entirely sure why pressing on the monitor solves the problem but I've done it for years on multiple monitors and it seems to work for a few hours.

[doodskie]

I remember working on a monitor supplier company. The amount of angry emails about dead pixels we receive is just too hard to count lol

[fireaza]

I've stopped worrying about this since switching to 4K monitors. With 1080p, if there's a dead pixel, you'll eventually notice it and it'll really bother you. On a 4K display though, a single dead pixel can be a small as a piece of dust on your screen. You could use the monitor for years and never notice it, especially if you're the type who isn't fastidious about frequently cleaning your monitor.

[CarthagoMike]

Reminds me of the g'old days of CRT, when you could have issues with beam placement. Slightly more worrisome than a dead pixel, but manufacturers be damned if they gave you a replacement.