PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
Should I put up with a dead pixel?
Q I bought a new monitor from Amazon – well, new to me. It was from the company’s Warehouse range, so it was cheap because (I presume) it had been returned by someone else and repackaged. It was graded as ‘very good’ condition. To be fair to Amazon, its condition is fine, but for one bright-red pixel near the top left of the screen. I didn’t notice it at first, nor in truth much of the time I use it, but knowing it’s there is annoying.
I contacted Amazon’s customer services and was told that dead pixels were “normal”. The company did offer to replace the monitor, but said the next one could have a dead pixel somewhere else, and it wouldn’t keep replacing the monitor indefinitely – so also offered a refund.
I’m not really criticising Amazon’s service here. However, what do you think about this? Should I put up with this dead pixel, or get a replacement? Obviously, I saved money by going through Amazon Warehouse. Do you think getting a refund and then paying extra for a brand new one would be a better bet?
Philip Hayes
A This is a tricky situation because – believe it or not – dead or ‘stuck’ pixels are considered ‘acceptable’ by the industry. Indeed, there are actually industry standards that describe the levels of permitted defects – starting with ISO 13406-2:2001 and currently up to ISO 9241-210:2019 (www.snipca.com/48479). These are thick, jargon-heavy documents but, essentially, they contain guidelines for manufacturers on faulty pixels. Even though they’re only guidelines and not requirements, many manufacturers do adhere to them – and, within certain constraints, the standards do acknowledge that a screen might have one or more dead or stuck pixels.
So, yes, by that measure this is ‘normal’ or at least sometimes to be expected. Should you put up with it? Well, we’d be similarlydead or stuck pixels is higher than with new ones, simply because someone before may have returned it for precisely that reason. Put it this way, if you return this monitor to Amazon, it’ll mostly likely eventually be sold once again via Amazon Warehouse!
