You hear a lot about bad service and companies, and this tale is mixed. Long story short, I bought a RCA 46in LCD TV, the TV had problems, and RCA was a pain in the ass to deal with. RCA subcontracts everything to local mom and pop repair shops. The closest repair shop they subcontracted to is a whopping 2 hours away and is open 8-5 (and I work 8-5), making it very hard to get things done. The repair shop took a month and a half to fix my TV because RCA had issues getting the parts to them. One part was the main controller board for the TV, and the other was the stand (since it was bent). RCA didn't want to replace the stand because its a "cosmetic defect." During this ordeal, I learned that RCA does not give a flying shit about its customers and their concerns. I talked many times with the consumer relations department at RCA (there is no higher level to talk to), and they flat out didn't care about helping in my situation. Oh, and in case you guys were wondering, after I finally got the TV back, it had the same problem of the picture cutting out, only worse. The guy at the repair shop mentioned to me that he sees these TVs all the time, and has had at least 20 come through his shop. Then again, he didn't know what a "dead pixel" was either.
If you are thinking about buying a RCA product, just be prepared to grab your ankles if you ever have to get anything repaired.
So I decided to call up Walmart's corporate office. While Walmart's system isn't the greatest to deal with (you call the 800 number, and then your case gets reviewed by management, and they call you back) it is effective. After dealing with corporate for a week and a half, I got a call back from a manager saying I could bring the TV back and exchange it for any other one I preferred.
So I paid the $41 dollar difference and I got a 47in Philips LCD TV. Its working great, so the story ultimately has a happy ending to it. Walmart really stepped up to the plate when RCA didn't give a shit. The end.
