Complaint Review: Philips Electronics

On July 5th, 2005, I purchased a television from Philips Electronics. It was a refurbished TV purchased from Philips own outlet store at http://www.outlet.philips.com.

When I received the television and got it set up, I quickly noticed that there was some discoloration on the screen. I contacted Philips right away, as they only provided a 90 day warranty on refurbished TVs. This began a process of many months of repeatedly calling them, trying to get them to repair the television they had sold me.

I was initially told to use a local authorized service center to get the TV looked at and repaired. Unfortunately, they would not cover the cost of a service person coming to my house, so I had to wrestle the television into my vehicle and drive it to the one place in town authorized by Philips. They fairly quickly determined that the problem was a faulty picture tube and said they'd have to order one from Philips. I initially left the TV at the service center, but it quickly became apparent that the picture tube was not going to be shipped to the service center quickly, so I brought the TV back home.

Needless to say, the service center never received the picture tube. Philips was no more helpful to them than to me - lots of miscommunication, ignoring calls and just flat out lies.

I spent months calling Philips, trying to make something happen. Once the 90 day warranty was up, they 'lost' my already opened claim and each phone call began with a long process of explaining that I'd already filed a warranty claim, then going back and forth with the customer service agent before they'd finally 'find' my claim again, only to begin a new round of running me in circles.

I eventually managed to be allowed to speak to a supervisor, but she was worse than the normal agents. She'd only ever tell me that she didn't have all the information she needed in front of her and would call me back, which she NEVER did.

At this point, more pressing concerns intruded into my life and the issue with Philips got put on the back burner. By the time my attention turned back to Philips, I just didn't have the energy to begin the whole process again. Now I'm stuck with a damaged television, and Philips laughed all the way to the bank.

Alex
Ann Arbor, Michigan
U.S.A.