I only buy my TVs through Costco. Their extended warranty plan adding 3-4 years on top of their standard 2 years is worth it. It's like $100.
All I know is the CRT brick TVs I had in the past never broke (Panny 27" TV worked flawlessly). My last two TVs needed Costco warranty service. One was fixed, the other the repair shop said no parts available due to covid shipping issues. Who knows if thats even true. But they offered me a replacement TV for free. Looking at the reviews it was an ok TV, but considering it was 5 years after I bought it I'll take it. Only thing they said was the 5 year warranty is over, so basically in like 4 months the 5 year period is over so if this TV breaks it's not covered as this TV doesn't get another 5 years. Makes sense.
There's never a guarantee a repair guy will be honest, even an authorized technician. But always go through a big store if you can. They will use third party technicians too, but at least they will fight for you because they dont want to lose you as a store customer. There's also less likelihood a technician or company working with a big box store will screw you over as they dont want to lose the partnership deal.
The Costco/repair place partnership must be a good one since the TVs that broke were serviced by the same shop 10 years apart.
