Complaint Rating:

Company information:
RCA/Thomson
United States
www.rca.com

RCA 42" LCD HDTV

Model: L42WD22

Purchased on 06/10/2007 at Wal-Mart

One-year carry-in warranty

11/07/2007: The sound failed on 5-month old TV. I called RCA Tech Support and was advised to take the TV, along with the sales receipt, to the nearest warranty repair center which entailed an 80-mile round-trip.

11/20/2007: Having been without a TV for 2 weeks, I called warranty repair center to check status. I was told that a circuit board had been ordered from RCA.

12/04/2007: I again called warranty repair center and was informed that the delivery estimate for the board from RCA was mid-January, 2008. I called RCA Tech Support and was informed that they could not help me and that I would have to call Customer Service, which had already closed for the day.

12/05/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and was assured that they would either locate a replacement board or generate another resolution to the problem within 3-5 business days.

12/11/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and was informed that RCA was unable to locate the circuit board needed to repair my TV. I was requested to fax a copy of my sales receipt, which I did within 2 hours of that conversation.

12/17/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and was informed that they were going to replace my TV, but currently had no similar models in their warehouse. They expected to receive needed replacement TV within a week.

12/21/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and was informed that they were waiting for warranty repair center to provide them with a copy of the Work Order. They said that they had requested it on 12/20/2007.

Called warranty repair center and talked to manager. He said that he had had no communication with RCA since being informed about the part delay on 12/02/2007.

Called RCA Customer Service again and gave them the phone number for warranty repair center and manager's name. They assured me that they would contact him "today" and request the needed paperwork. They then said that I'd be hearing from them "sometime next week".

12/27/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and was informed that all necessary arrangements had been made to replace my TV except that they still did not have the correct model available

12/31/2007: Called RCA Customer Service and asked to speak to a supervisor. They offered me a 50" DLP rear projection TV.

I took the model number given me and did some online research, then went to Wal-Mart and looked over the RCA 50" Rear Projection TV that was on display there. I learned that the 50" DLP would be physically too large for the area I have available. Also, both my wife and I considered the picture quality to be below that of the LCD TVs.

Called RCA Customer Service, asked for a supervisor and declined the 50" TV, stating my reasons. I was informed me that my only two choices were to take the 50" or wait two or more weeks for a 42" LCD to become available. I told her Wal-Mart still had three 42" LCDs, same model number as mine, available on the floor and asked if she could send me a voucher to purchase one of those. Was told that would not be possible.

01/04/2008: Called RCA Customer Service. They again offered me the 50" DLP and when I again refused, was told that they should have an LCD available within a week.

01/07/2008: Called RCA Customer Service. Was informed that they still had no replacement TV available and had decided to refund my money, but were waiting for a copy of the Work Order from warranty repair center in order to process my refund check. I reminded them of our phone conversations on 12/21/2007 concerning warranty repair center and the Work Order. I again gave them the name and phone number of the manager at warranty repair center. They said a "resolution specialist" would be calling me within 24 to 48 hours.

01/08/2008: Called warranty repair center. They had never received any request for Work Order information from RCA.

Called RCA Customer Service. They stated that they would contact warranty repair center "today" and that I would be hearing from the resolution specialist soon.

01/09/2008: RCA Customer Service called and informed me that warranty repair center had received the circuit board necessary to repair my TV. I told them that I no longer wanted an RCA television in my house and was informed that I could still receive a refund check instead of accepting the repaired television, but it would take 6 to 8 weeks after RCA received my television from the repair center.

01/14/2008: RCA Customer Service called to confirm my address, phone number and the refund amount.

01/18/2008: A transportation company called from to make arrangements to pick up my TV. I referred them to warranty repair center.

01/31/2008: Called RCA Customer Service who confirmed that the TV had been picked up from warranty repair center and was in transit. Was informed that the Refund Department had my information and that I could expect the check 6 to 8 weeks from 01/22/2008.

03/04/2008: Received refund check from RCA.

It took RCA 4 months to resolve this situation.