TCL also accused of lacking quantum dots in its QLED TVs

At the beginning of the month in the USA, a class action lawsuit was filed against Hisense USA, whose authors accused the company of misleading consumers by advertising their QLED TVs as devices using quantum dot technology. Now similar accusations have been made against another TV manufacturer, TCL.

Quantum dots are nanoparticles of semiconductor materials, such as cadmium selenide or indium phosphide, with a diameter of 2-10 nm. The wavelength of transmitted light depends on their size, and their behavior under electromagnetic radiation follows the laws of quantum mechanics. Because of this, QLED panels provide a wider color gamut and higher brightness than conventional LED screens.

Hisense and TCL are accused of either completely lacking quantum dots in their QLED TVs or having them in such small quantities that they do not have any effect on image quality. California resident Stephan Herrick filed a lawsuit against TCL's North American division. He purchased a 55-inch TCL Q651G QLED TV on Amazon last year, believing that a TV with quantum dot technology would provide higher image quality and richer colors.

However, the purchase did not meet expectations, and after studying the device specifications, Herrick concluded that quantum dots are either completely absent in the TV he bought or there are too few of them to somehow affect image quality. In his lawsuit, Herrick claims that if he and other consumers knew about the mentioned feature of TCL TVs, they would not have paid too high a price or would not have bought them at all.

"TCL is committing fraudulent actions to deceive consumers. Because of this practice, owners of TCL QLED TVs have suffered losses by paying an unjustifiably high price," Herrick's statement says.

On the East Coast, New York resident Robert Macioce filed a similar lawsuit against Hisense. He purchased a 43-inch Hisense QLED TV at Best Buy in November 2023. Macioce claims that the manufacturer misleads buyers by advertising their TVs as devices using quantum dots. The plaintiff is confident that the TVs either completely lack quantum dots or have so few that they do not affect image quality.

The plaintiffs accuse TCL and Hisense of deception, as they believe consumers were tricked into paying a large sum for TVs that do not actually meet the stated specifications. It's also worth noting that local company Hansol Chemical filed a similar lawsuit against TCL in South Korea, which conducted independent tests of several TCL QLED TV models, showing the absence of key quantum dot elements such as indium and cadmium. Hansol filed a complaint with the South Korean Fair Trade Commission, to which TCL published the results of its tests, claiming that the company's TVs contain the materials mentioned in the complaint, including 4 mg of cadmium per kilogram. According to experts, this indicator is so small that its use could hardly have affected image quality.

As a result of the lawsuits, TCL and Hisense may face not only fines but also serious reputational damage. If the plaintiffs succeed in court, the companies may have to pay compensation to affected buyers and reconsider their product promotion strategy in the market.

Source:

· Home Theater Review

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