Complaint Review: RADIOSHACK ONLINE OPCO LLC

Having purchased two items on Labor Day 2021 from the new RadioShack online website, one of the items, a RadioShack Antenna-Mounted High-Gain Signal Amplifier × 1, failed to function despite the power LED being illuminated.  The unit would not amplify my new HDTV antenna signal and actually deprived my TV of channels that had existed even without amplification!  Replacement with an amplifier of exactly similar  specifications ultimately resulted in my obtaining over 110 OTA TV channels! 

I initiated a return and informed Radio Shack within their automated return process that the unit was defective and proceded to generate the return label with boxing instructions.  Once the proper information was submitted, a return receipt was generated informing me that even for this defective(-out-of-the-box) product, I would be charged a $10 "label fee."

I called the customer service phone number on their web site and was informed that I needed to have taken a photo of the defective product to reveal the visual evidence of the damage, in which case I would be provided a 150% credit on their website for additional product.  The problem obviously involved component-level failure of an electronic component within the unit, and I was not going to take it to an electronics lab for bench testing and photography of the compent-level failure.   Did Radio Shack want a former electronic troubleshooting report of which diode, resistor, capacitor, IC or transistor went bad?  They simply had to be kidding, but weren't.  They again reiterated that a photo of the defective part would be required for any action to be undertaken.  To clear up any possible confusion on their part, I clearly explained this to be an electronic failure, not gross external damage to the unit of its packaging materials.

I am not going to editorialize here, but suffice it to say that this second or third reincarnation of Radio Shack simply cannot survive for long if they are going to charge for the return shipment of defective-out-of-the-box product.  I informed them that I would have no alternative but to notify the RIP OFF REPORT and other pro-consumer websites of my experiences for the sake of other unsuspecting patrons of their online store's return policies.