August 6, 2007 our TV is fixed

Now most people would not be so excited over news like our TV is fixed because most people would have called the TV repairman one day and maybe waited one or two days for the person to appear and maybe another one to two days for the parts to be ordered and the box fixed. We apparently are not most people. In fact, we may be the most patient people on the planet when it comes to our TV getting repaired.
The TV in question is the big one that we've had about 4 years now -- 61 inches, high definition, an amazingly focused and clear picture, and the one that made us the former envy of everyone we knew (TV envy!!). It has not worked at all since the end of December.
Our first thought was to call a repairman here. We did and that person, the local Samsung repair company, had no idea what was going on with the TV. He and we believed that the light was broken, but he wanted to take it to the repair shop to be sure. We hated the idea of surrendering our beloved TV and thought we'd be able to call Abt and have them send us the part overnight and we could install it ourselves. We called Abt (on Skype where it's free to call anywhere in the world from our computer) and they had the light but could not ship it out of the country. Hmmmmm. So we knew our friends, Paul and Michael, were coming to visit us here at the end of January so we ordered the lamp from Abt and had it shipped to them and they brought it down for us. If only it had been that easy!!
The lamp was not the correct part number and did not fit correctly, so back it went to Abt via Paul and Michael and we tried again to order it online from another Samsung part store. This time we got the correct lamp, shipped to us in about 15 days' time, but that still didn't fix the problem. The TV would go on once but would not turn on a second time. By this time, Marilla was coming to visit in March and so we had Abt send another model of the lamp to her to bring down. This was the correct model, but it still didn't solve the issue. These lamps, by the way, are about $130 US plus shipping.
So, finally, in early April, we again called the Samsung folks here to diagnose and solve the problem. They took our TV on April 4 and called us two days later saying it was not the light, it was another part and they'd order it for about another $400US. We bit the bullet and said OK and waited. And waited. And waited. Meanwhile, Sandy was making plans to turn the thing into an aquarium since she was not going to sink another penny into fixing this once-beloved television.
We called in June to be told they were still testing. The part that they had gotten from Samsung had failed and so they had to order it again. In July, they said that Samsung sent the wrong part and they had to re-order. Finally, anxious and angry and aggressive, we called the local Samsung reapair shop one last time this morning threatening that we wanted the piece of shit back along with our money. We were done.
Wonder of wonders, they said the TV was ready to be delivered and would be delivered today between 12 and 1. We waited. Around 2, they called again to say they were on their way and to save them a parking place nearby. We moved our car out of the garage to the street so they could drive into the garage and unload the TV. The TV finally arrived. They hauled it in and set it up. It works. We turned it on and off 4-5 times, since we were not going to be lulled into thinking it was OK again, only to have it cut out.
We asked about a guarantee. They said this work would be guaranteed for one month. We howled saying that they had taken 4 months to repair it, why only a one month guarantee. They said Samsung allows them to fix their products and advertise this capability, but they are not allowed to apply a Samsung guarantee and so they will only promise one month.
Ah, Mexico. Now we wonder if the TV isn't just too large....