Complaint Review: Rca Thomson Consumer Electronics

RCA/Thomson won't send me a check they owe me, which they promised me nearly 5 months ago.

I took an RCA CD recording unit(under warranty) to an authorized RCA repair center (Geis Audio/Video - Greenville, OH) for repair in December of 2003. They were unable to fix the unit because the required part was no longer available.

RCA called me in December and offered to do a buy-back on the unit since it was still under warranty. She said they would send me a check for the full purchase price ($190.79) and it would take about 6 weeks or so for me to receive the check. I thought 6 weeks was a long time, but I was more than happy to get a check instead of repair or replacement.

I received an e-mail from the repair center saying they scrapped the defective unit per RCA's instructions on Jan 10th, 2004. Geis Audio had faxed a copy of my receipt and all information to RCA. I should've received the check within 6 weeks from this point (although no one could explain why it should take that long to issue a check). So I waited. The check never came.

I called RCA on March 23, 2004, nearly 10 weeks after my unit was scrapped. No one could tell my why I hadn't received my check, even though all my info was on file and seemed to be in order. The stock answer to all my questions was, "it's in the approval process". Brennan, the first person I talked to couldn't tell me anything, so I insisted on talking to his boss. I then spoke to Brandy who claimed to be the top person at this Oklahoma office. She said she was unable to check on the status of my check. She said she didn't know why it was taking so long, but she was fairly certain the check would be written on the last day of the month (March 31) and I would receive it via FedEx within 4 days from then (by April 4th). So I waited. The check never came.

I called back on April 6th. Again, the first person I talked to, Rebecca, was unable to help. She transferred me to Benjamin. He said he was the one who started the paperwork on my claim, but he didn't start it until March 17 or 18. He said he didn't know why it took so long for it to get to him. He said it would be impossible for him to check on the status of the check, but he said I would receive it in 4 to 6 weeks from the time he started processing it. So I waited. The check never came.

It's been more than 6 weeks since Benjamin started processing the paperwork and I still haven't received my check. It's been nearly 5 months since I took the unit to the repair center. All of my information is on file, but no one knows anything about my check. They won't let me talk to anyone who is responsible for approving the check. They claim they're not even allowed to talk to these mysterious people, whoever they are. Brandy and Benjamin claim to be the highest level employees at RCA/Thomson that a mere human like me is allowed to talk to. They refuse to give me contact information for the headquarters in Indianapolis, and they say that no one there could do anything about it anyway.

Ken
Muncie, Indiana
U.S.A.