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In the service industry, parts availability was always a problem for the foreign companies, which made many American brands preferred by the technicians. In my area, we had several local companies who carried a full line of parts and service items for RCA, GE, Zenith, and Magnavox. They delivered weekly, and if you were in a hurry, you could jump in the truck and go pick up a part from the distributor's parts counter. To get parts for foreign brands meant ordering on the phone, paying shipping fees, and waiting a week or two for your parts.
Plus, many of the import brands had higher parts prices....especially Sony. Many people who brought in a Sony would mention the high price they paid to buy it, to which we'd think to ourselves "you aint seen nothing yet, wait until you see how much replacement parts cost".
Further, most of the American manufacturers took good care of their authorized service centers (until the mid-1990's). RCA and Zenith were always holding training schools, mailing tech-tips and materials to us, and they paid out warranty claims quickly. Getting a warranty claim paid from Goldstar, Samsung, or Sharp took forever, and if you forgot to dot an "I" or cross a "T", they denied your claim.
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