Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

HISENSE PROMO FRAUD UPDATE No. xxx I'm almost embarrassed to keep adding to this review at this point. I just want people to know what can happen with "promotions" and online TV purchases, at least with Hisense, Inc. It has now been more than two weeks since the TV I returned to Hisense was delivered and signed for by a Hisense representative. I sent a message through the promotion webpage four days ago, which promises to respond within 2 business days. It seems doubtful at this point that they will ever honor the promotion even though my claim was approved. If they ever do, I will update this review. But as of right now it looks bleak. UPDATE: If you read below you will see that my experience with my Hisense purchase has been dismal. Not only was the TV I purchased defective, but my experience with the Hisense 100-Day Promotion has been highly disappointing and stressful. It has taken so much time for me to deal with the return shipping process (there were issues with the return shipping label), the numerous calls and emails to Promotion Support and to UPS (which refused to pick up the return unless I had a UPS account and agreed to pay $31 for the pickup - supposed to be paid for by Hisense) that I will never again purchase a Hisense product, and will certainly never have anything to do with any Hisense "promotion". Had I known the difficulties that I would face with this purchase and promotion, I would have run the other way as fast as possible. As for the return shipping, I was able to avoid the $31 fee for the UPS pickup as I happened to have a UPS Ground delivery and they took the TV when they delivered the package. I don't know what would have happened if the UPS driver had been unable or unwilling to take the TV during the stop. But, as it stands right now (Saturday 11/12/22) the UPS tracking for the return shows that the TV was delivered to Hisense at 10:37am on 11/07/22 (Monday). However, when I checked the Hisense Promotion website, it shows that they are still waiting for me to return the TV. I called Promotion Support and they advised me that "the system" will not update to show that the TV was received until "the recycling department" signs off on the return. No mention of how long this could take. But the Hisense Promotion webpage states that refunds will be issued within 30 days of the recycling team signing off on the return. So, there is no way to know when I might get my refund, if ever, since it all depends on how long it takes for the recycling team to do it's job. However, if the matter is not resolved in the near future, I will take whatever actions I deem necessary, up to and including legal action. As for Amazon, I called Customer Support and tried to explain the situation to see if they would accept a return of the TV given the problems I have had with Hisense. I was told that they would accept the return for a full refund. However, they issued me a partial refund immediately and charged me a $110 restocking fee. Therefore, I did not return the TV to Amazon and am waiting for them to deduct the partial refund from my bank account. So I received a return shipping label for my TV return. However, the attached email states that the label is for a laptop return for a laptop purchased at Costco. I am returning a TV not a laptop. Also, I purchased the TV from Amazon not Costco. I am afraid to use the label since the email has the wrong purchase details. I am even more worried that Hisense is attempting to get out of its obligation, regarding the promotion and my return. I will now have to call customer service again on Monday, as they don't accept calls on the weekend. This will be the second time I have had to call, and it takes a long time to get through the automated phone response system. My advice - if you purchased a Hisense TV from Amazon under this so-called promotion, you have 30 days to return it to Amazon. After that, you are stuck with dealing with Hisense. Therefore, if you think you are not happy with the purchase, you should return it to Amazon within the 30 day return period and thereby avoid having to deal with Hisense. WARNING: HISENSE PROMOTION FRAUD - I purchased this TV under the 100-Day Hisense Promotion. "Try it for 100 days and return it if you don't love the TV" Well I decided to return it because it has numerous problems, including audio problems, turning off by itself, etc. The return was approved by Hisense. I received a confirmation email stating that a return shipping label would be emailed to me within 5 business days. However, it has been five business days and I received no label. I called Hisense customer support and was told they are "having a problem " with their return shipping labels. I was told to wait another five days for a label, and if I haven't received a label by then, to call customer service. I don't know how they can have a "problem" that prevents them from issuing return shipping labels. I fully expect that I will not receive a label - again - and I will have to call back and they will have another excuse as to why they haven't provided me with a label. The time limit for returning the TV once the return is approved is 30 days. Can't very well return it with no return shipping label. I can foresee them using delay tactics until the time limit expires, and then they will refuse the return because it's outside the time limit. I should have known that this promotion was too good to be true. I have changed my review to 1 Star because of this issue. UPDATE #2: I called HISENSE customer support about the return shipping label. They say the shipping label I received from them is the correct label and to call UPS to schedule a FREE pick up. The label is for UPS Ground service. However, UPS refuses to pick up the package. They insist that I must pay a $30 fee and I must have a UPS account so they can bill me for the pick up. Hisense insists that the pick up should be free. So here I am, caught in the middle. I have no way to get the TV to a UPS location. To say that I am upset and disappointed with this experience is an understatement. Hisense advertised the promotion as having easy returns, but it is anything but easy. Not sure what will happen next but I will have to call Hisense AGAIN (this will be the third time) to try and get this straightened out. I fear that I am going to be stuck with the TV (which has several issues). I may call Amazon, or file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, to see if they will accept a return. What a major headache and nightmare. I will never buy a Hisense product again, especially under a Hisense promotion. TV Review: I received my brand new Hisense 65-inch U6H Model 65U6H HDTV today. This was sold and shipped by Amazon. The TV ships in it's original retail box, so no extra packaging to provide added protection during shipping. My U6H arrived with some damage to the outer box. The corner top of one side was damaged, and there was a puncture in the middle front of the box - right in the middle of where the TV screen would be. There was no obvious damage to the TV. Setup of the TV was quite easy. The legs fit perfectly into the base of the TV and each leg only requires two screws to secure to the TV. The screws went in easily and without issue. I was actually able to do the whole setup process myself, and I am a short 56 year old man. The TV is surprisingly light and I was able to lift it relatively easily by grasping it with one hand on the bottom beneath the screen and one hand to balance it on top. I was very impressed with how easy it was to get the TV out of the box. Just cut the three plastic straps, open the box, remove the styrofoam insert, an the outer box just slips right up and off. I was also impressed with the inner packaging. In particular, there were protective plastic shields on the sides of the TV, as well as plastic material all around the frame of TV which strips off easily. So as far as packaging, and the ease of physically setting up the TV, I would give it an A+. I had no trouble plugging in the power cable to the back of the TV and turning it on. Immediately, the TV started the setup process, which I found to be easy and quick versus other TVs I have owned. I was easily able to connect to my WiFi, and tested out several different apps including Netflix, Amazon Prime, and YouTube. Everything happened quickly and smoothly - better than any TV I have used before. There were no glitches with lip sync while viewing content through apps - a problem I had previously with a Hisense TV. Overall, I would give the smart features another A+. Now, we get to the meat of it all - how does the TV perform. My first immediate reaction was wow. I immediately tested the picture quality by watching an 8K Dolby Digital video on YouTube, and I found the colors to be super vivid and bright. In fact, I think the backlight was a little too much, as white colors came out totally indistinctly. However, I was easily able to adjust the backlight and picture settings using the remote. By the way, the remote seems to work very well - there is virtually no lag between pressing a button on the remote and seeing the TV respond. Now is where we get into some problems. Yes, the colors are vivid, out of the box. As far as brightness is concerned, I found it exceptional. In fact, I had to dial back the brightness a bit. Mind you, I watch TV at night in a semi-darkened room. However, if there is an area where Hisense excels, it is in the brightness of it's panels. The U6H is no exception. Despite it's advertised relatively low peak brightness, something like 600 nits, I believe it is plenty bright enough for a large majority of consumers. Yes, you could go with a U8H or last years UHG, and get much greater brightness and backlighting. You also would pay considerably more. But in my opinion, the U6H will more than satisfy the majority of users when it comes to just peak brightness. If only brightness were the only issue. Sadly - and I wanted to like this TV so much - there were problems right out of the box. First, the Hisense webpage for this TV advertises that it supports HDMI 2.1 on all of its HDMI ports. That is not true. I can confirm that it only supports 2.0. Period. If you are a gamer, this is a problem for you, as it is for me. And if you are a gamer, you know why. If you are not a gamer, you can skip the rest of this review, until the conclusion. I bought this TV knowing that it is a 60 hertz panel. So I was prepared for that. I have my PC hooked up to this new U6H, using Windows 10, with an NVIDIA 3060ti graphics card. I am using a high quality, high speed HDMI cable, so my problems aren't the HDMI cable. The problem is, that this TV will not accept full 4K - in HDR - from a PC. It has a limited color gamut. It will not process 4.4.4 Chroma in 12-Bit or 10-Bit color at 60 Hz. In fact, it is limited to 4.2.0 Chroma at 60Hz in 8-bit color. It will process RGB color from the PC - but again, only in 8-bit color. In short, you will not get more than 8-bit color from this TV when hooked up to a PC. This is depressing. I just sold a 2020 Vizio V-Series TV that I bought new for $250 on clearance, and it supported HDMI 2.1, as well as 4.4.4 Chroma or RGB at 60 Hz, 12-bit color. Which leaves me asking myself, why did I buy this TV? It doesn't do what it is advertised to do - it doesn't process HDMI 2.1. It doesn't process more than 8-bit color when connected to a PC - like my old Vizio did - and to top it all off, the TV shut itself off within 1 hour of turning it on. This is exactly one of the problems that I had with the U8G - for which I was unable to get warranty support - they just wouldn't respond to my support requests. I finally had to return the TV because the return period was about to expire and nobody from Hisense had responded to my complaints. So...where does all of this leave us? Should you buy a Hisense TV or not, and if so, should you go with the U6H? Well, I bought this 65 inch U6H after having a bad experience with the U8G that I had purchased - a bad experience with the TV and a bad experience with customer support. The thing is, I really want Hisense to succeed in it's mission - to bring high quality TVs to the public at a reasonable price. But I will say that I bought the U6H during a Hisense promotion - I have 100 days to try the TV and return it if I am not happy. So, I decided to give them one more chance to get it right. Right now, I'm not feeling very good about my purchase. I just wanted a TV that I wouldn't have problems with - I don't want to have to go through the whole warranty process, or the Amazon return process. But now it looks like I will have to go through it all again. In conclusion, there is something to be said for going with a more well-known brand like Sony, Samsung, or LG. You pay a little bit more at the outset, but in my experience it is worth the extra cost when it comes to overall quality and customer support. Another issue I would like to address is updates. I want my TV to update automatically. And I expect a new update to bring improvement, not make things worse. This is an area where Hisense lags. The last Hisense I bought, the U8G, had audio problems, and Hisense has yet to come out with an update to solve the issue, even though this is a problem going back a year or more. MY CONCLUSION: Hisense makes super bright panels. If brightness is your priority above all else, then yes, you will be happy with a Hisense U6H. But there is so much more that goes into buying a TV. For most people, buying a new TV is a major expense. Like me, they don't want to have to return a TV or try to get support from customer service for a TV that should just work as advertised, out of the box. Unfortunately, quality control and customer support are areas where Hisense fails miserably. I understand that some TVs come off of the assembly line with defects. What matters is, does the company stand behind it's product? In regard to Hisense, in my experience the answer is no. They do not stand behind their products. Accessing customer service for support or warranty service is difficult, and they do not respond to requests for help. This means that many people will be forced to return their Hisense TVs because they cannot get support before the return period runs out. Exactly what happened to me with the U8G. In closing, I would say this - buying a TV is like buying a car. You should buy the best you can afford at the time. The prices for Hisense TVs seem like a bargain - on paper. But I believe, based on my experience, that you will get what you pay for, and in the end the chances are pretty high that you will have problems with a new Hisense TV, and when you try to get help from the company, they will blow you off. You will then be stuck with a TV that doesn't do what it's advertised to do, from a company that doesn't stand behind it's products, wondering as I do - why did I sell my 2020 Vizio TV. UPDATE: So I was able to get the TV to accept Chroma 4.4.4 color from my PC by adjusting the settings in the NVIDIA control panel. However, I had to lower the refresh rate to 30Hz to get it to do it, and the color depth is still stuck at 8-bit color and "Limited" dynamic range. When I change the refresh rate to it's native 60Hz, the only color format available is Chroma 4.2.0 with "Limited" dynamic range. So no matter what you do, the TV only outputs the minimal 8-Bit color depth. I can also select RGB color format, which then allows for full dynamic range, but only if I change the refresh rate to 30Hz. So in summary, if you want the TV to run at it's native 60Hz, you are limited to Chroma 4.2.0 with 8-Bit color and limited dynamic range. To run RGB you will have to lower resolution to 30 HZ, and you will get full dynamic range but still only 8-Bit color. Or, you can run Chroma 4.4.4 at 30 Hz with limited dynamic range. UPDATE: So a little while in, and I have some important updates regarding the 65-inch U6H that I purchased. First, there was a firmware update from Hisense which pushed through automatically. That was an improvement over the U8G that I had owned previously, so way to go Hisense. Also, the update seemed to do some good, as the TV is more stable, i.e. not turning off by itself so often. However, now the TV will not connect to my 5GHz WiFi - it connects for a moment and then disconnects. I'm forced to use 2.4GHz WiFi. It seems to work fine on 2.4 though. Also, this TV has trouble dealing with my Vizio M-Series soundbar. When I turn on the soundbar, the TV shuts off occasionally. At this point, I have to say that although the picture quality is pretty good, I would not pay full price for it, which right now is $598. It's just too glitchy. I paid $549, and if I keep it Hisense will give me $100. So for $449...yes I'd say it's worth it. But not $598.