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  • Report:  #68705

Complaint Review: THOMSON MULTIMEDIA - Aka RCA CONSUMER ELECTRONICS ) - DURANT Oklahoma

Reported By:
- LANSING, Michigan,
Submitted:
Updated:

THOMSON MULTIMEDIA - Aka RCA CONSUMER ELECTRONICS )
( They Have Numerous Addresses ) PO BOX 1490 DURANT, 74702-1490 Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Phone:
580-634-0067
Web:
N/A
Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good? What's this?
On May 7, '01, I purchased an RCA ( Thomson ) DWD490RE, which is called an "ULTIMATETV" receiver. This product is several products in 1 box. It is a dual tuner DIRECTV receiver, hard drive video recorder, WebTV browser ( for those of us who don't own a computer, it let's you do e-mail stuff ), and gives the ability to record live TV, giving you slow motion, freeze frame, fast forward and instant replay of live TV, and record up to 2 DIRECTV programs at the same time, or, record one and watch another.

On Sunday, June 15th, while watching DIRECTV, I got a message on the screen that the receiver was getting a software upgrade, and that it would be back on in about 10 minutes.

When it didn't come back on, I called DIRECTV, and asked what I should do. They suggested a couple of things which did not help, and said that it must be a hardware problem ( defective device ).When I called Thomson Multimedia ( manufacturer of RCA products, among others ), they insisted that it must be a problem with my DIRECTV signal. Being caught between a rock and a hard pace, I phoned Circuit City, and asked if I could bring it to the store, and hook it up in place of their display which WAS working, and they complied. My unit did not work in their store either, which meant it WAS an ( RCA ) Thompson defective piece.

After calling a couple of repair centers, I was told no one fixed satellite receivers, to call Thomson and ask them what to do. They said that I had to them $158.95 on my credit card ( regardless of what was wrong ), then they would send me a factory rebuilt unit with a 30 day warranty. Every time you have a transaction with Thomson, they assign a tracking number, or SR #, as they call it, and my first was SR03688124, which was shipped on 7/01/'03.

When it arrived,I could tell that a) it was poorly packed for a $400 piece of electronics ( a 1/4 " thick cardboard box, with 2 layers of bubble wrap ), and b) it had been dropped during shipping - UPS ground. When I opened it, sure enough one of the back corners was dented in to the point of bending 3 sheet metal surfaces. I called Thompson, and they said to ship my original defective unit back to them, and when they received it, they would send a new re-furb ( SR03697855 ). Problem was, they didn't tell me that I would have to set aside another $160 on my credit card to secure the 2nd unit, and since I didn't have that open on the card, they didn't ship it. A couple weeks went by. At this point, I asked to speak with a supervisor, and got someone named Misty (they don't give out last names - with the kind of service I got I understand why not ), and since by the time I called I did have credit availabe on the card, she did ship out the 2nd unit.

However, since it was packed the same way, and the UPS guy wouldn't wait for me to inspect the box, I again had two units with shipping damage on the rear corners, only this time it was the opposite corner, and damaged much worse.

When I called Misty back this time, she suggested that instead of sending another poorly packed ( my words ) unit, that I should send it back and Thomson would credit my card for the $158.95. OR, she suggested, she could send a newer, more expensive unit ( DWD495 ) to us upon receiving the 2nd damaged one. When the "more expensive "unit failed to show on time I called customer non-service, and was told that:

- There weren't any DWD495's available

- Thomson didn't know when any would BE available. They had to wait for one to go bad so that they could fix it.

- I had to keep ANOTHER $160 available to secure this unit when and if one became available!

At this point, ( not wanting to lose all self respect in the eyes of my wife ), I went for the " buy-back", and was told by Misty that I was to fax my bill of sale to them so that they could BUY BACK my " original " unit, which upon approval from her superiors ( that I would find out are non-existant ), I was to ship back the remaining unit with a letter explaining the procedures as to the " buy back " ( Including for the first time the phrase PRO RATED in regards to the

" buy back " amount ).

I complied with all of the directions, including sending the unit back insured, with delivery confirmation. However, this time there had been no "pre-paid" shipping sticker, so I had to pay S&H in the amount of $22.25. I did, however, delay sending the last unit back, as there had been several "assurances" as to when the $158.95 was to be credited to my account. I had been told, more than once by Misty, when I would receive the credit, including a " same day " promise, which, as I suspected, didn't happen, and so I had towait until I finally received the credit on 8/23, and on 8/27, I shipped it to a Socorro, TX address that I've seen in other complaints against this company in your files. According to the USPS, Thomson received the unit on 9/ 2/'03. I was told it would be ( first ) 4 to 6 weeks ( then ) 6 to 10 weeks from that time for them to decide how much of a "pro rated" refund we would be receiving. On Sept. 28th, I re-faxed the bill of sale, as well as a bill of sale for ( color me

( stupid ) an RCA product purchased to do part of the DWD490's job : ( a WebTV server ) for $99 plus 6% sales tax;

which no other product will do all in one. That's why I had tried repeatedly to simply exchange it , and a brief note explaining my concerns.

Days went by, with no response, so I tried calling Misty at her direct number ( which was perpetually busy with MANY different reasons why she couldn't answer the phone ), or return my calls ( the professional and curtious thing to do ) so, I called the 1-877-722-4388 customer no-service number,

and was told that they had just authorized a refund check for approx. $240 ( so,in 2 years and 2 months, we / I had used up 35 of it's pro rated value - that is, of the state of the industry's top of the line product ), and that it was going t take another 6 to 8 weeks to go through all of the proper protocals at Thomson. I asked repeatedly to speak to someone higher up the food chain, and was told ( as I've read in other complaints ) that these people DO NOT EXIST at Thomson, there is nothing that can be done to expediate the transaction - no faxes - no inter office memo's, no e-mail, nothing! I do not, in any way believe this.

It is simply regardless of how many times ( ALL ) of the problems with this case ( case #0306300492) have been on their end, and apparently, having no supervisors, the customer non service personel higher and fire themselves, which would be the only rational explanation for a company of this size not to understand that the customer IS the reason for having a job. But I suppose when you do BILLIONS of dollars in sales annually, pissing off even as much as 10% of your business is still just a drop in the bucket.

Thank you for this forum for the stepped - on customers of companys like Thomson Multimedia, people who's only mistake was to not wait and take a chance that someone ( like Sony did with this product ) would introduce it to the masses at a later date, perhaps at a sligtly higher selling price, but with substantially better customer care. I spent 25 years in the consumer electronics industry prior to degenerative disc disease putting me on the sidelines.

At least I have the satisfaction of knowing no matter how large or small a customer's transaction was, I ALWAYS had the class to treat them with the kind of respect and fairness that would bode well for a company like Thomson in today's competetive consumer electronics marketplace. I REALLY must have been a fool to purchase the RM2100 of theirs. When it takes a dump slightly after the warranty expires, I pray that I've leaned my lesson regarding Thomson's customer (non)service, and just move on.

Duane

Lansing, Michigan
U.S.A.

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