Complaint Review: RCA - Thompson - Nationwide

On May 17, 2008 my husband and I purchased a RCA 46 inch LCD television model number L46WD22. We were very excited because it was our first LCD tv. We watch only one movie on the TV before it no longer worked properly (approximately 1 week later). The picture seemed to be a negative image - black was now white on the screen - making it impossible to watch. Thankfully, or so we thought, we had registered the product online with RCA/Thompson.

My husband contacted the company through their website sending them an email regarding the problem. We did not hear back from them - so I called them. The first person I spoke with was Karen. She told me to call a local service center to have the television looked at and fixed. She also provided me with a case # 2v8xv. I called the service center, which actually took numerous calls to get a hold of someone who could help. After several weeks waiting to get information from the service center - which they stated that we needed a new digital board - I called RCA and gave them my case #. This time I spoke with Charles on June 24, 2008 at 10:00 a.m. EST. Charles told me that I did not have sufficient information regarding the placement part that was needed, despite the information that I received from the service center, and that even though we had registered online and submitted all information to them back in May, that we needed to submit everything again before they could help us.

Well, I could not find my receipt that I had already sent a copy of to them. Even though I had all the information from the day that I sent the information to Karen, that was not acceptable. I asked to speak with a manager and finally was able to talk with Vincent. Now the receipt was no longer a problem while talking with him and he said that he would do a global search for the part and I would have an answer in 48 hours. Ah, wishful thinking right!???!!! So on June 26, 2008 at 2:30 p.m. EST I call back and talk with Louise. I give her the new case number that Vincent had provided me (2wlqx) and she tells me that they can not help me because they do not have the receipt - which was already sent to them and dealt with on my call talking with both Charles and Vincent. Regardless of the fact that they were sent my receipt - they will not help me. I asked why I was told that I would have an answer regarding the part in 48 hours if they did not have my receipt as I had already told them. Of course, no answer, just the same response time and time again. So, I ask for a supervisor/manager and I'm told that I can not speak with one.

Well, I'm not willing to accept that as an answer. Finally I speak with Sara who tells me to call the store where I purchased my television and ask them for a copy of my receipt. Ok, a long shot, by I agree, despite being upset that I already sent them my receipt and dealt with this before and know that they have it - I hang up to try and get a copy of my receipt - which I get no help. Apparently that is a silly question to ask a store if one can get a copy of a receipt from over a month ago.

So here I am with a broken television that I only watched once and no receipt that I can find. When I did an online search of the problem, with hopes of maybe purchasing the digital board myself and having the service center repair it at my cost - I found out that this is a huge problem with the television. So if this TV has so many complaints, why haven't they recalled the TV? What is the law in this situation? Ok, granted, I feel stupid for buying the TV and not researching in the first place. Rarely do we ever buy something big on impulse - the TV was a great price - so why not we thought! Well didn't we learn a lesson.

So what can we do? Do we have any rights? We registered the product immediately after purchasing it and sent all information to the company. Any suggestions? Any legal precident?

Flandersgirl

Flanders, New Jersey

U.S.A.

Click here to read other Rip Off Reports on Thomson Consumer Electronics