technology

I ordered a refurb Westinghouse 19” tv from eCost in February. When it showed up it had a problem. The tv would turn off by itself every minute or so. I called eCost and their policy is to have the customer send the tv to the manufacturer. So then I called Westinghouse. The emailed me a RMA number and I shipped the tv to them at my own expense. They said it usually only takes a week or two for repair or replacement.

This is when the nightmare starts. I called Westinghouse a week after sending the tv to check the status as they told me to. There was no status update so they requested one. I called again a week later on March 23rd. Same thing, no status update from the repair center and they would request one again. I know they signed for the tv on the 16th since I sent it via Fedex. I called again on March 31st and they said usually it would be done by now but there is still no update. This time she said she would request a corporate status update that should get things figured out and I could call back in 2-3 days for the results.
I called back on Friday April 3rd and there was no response from their corporate office. I expressed my frustration since they had the tv in their position for so long and didn’t even know where it was. I called back on the 8th and they still had no status and they said they would resubmit a request to the corporate office.

On Tuesday April 14th I called again and there was still no update. I asked to speak with a supervisor at this point. The customer service rep said the supervisor would say the same thing he did, to call back in 5 business days. I told him I still wanted to speak with a supervisor and he said someone would call me back.

Later on Tuesday I received a call from Corry, a supervisor. He said that he checked my status and there is nothing else he could do.

At this point I decided to call eCost since they had my money. I spoke with a rep and explained the situation. He said he would call Westinghouse while I was on the line. A supervisor Kelly pretty much said the exact same thing. I asked if they could send me a different refurbished tv and she said they couldn’t. I asked if they would call me when the status changed and she said she couldn’t. I asked if there was someone higher to talk to and she said Corry was her boss and there is nothing they can do.

I am completely frustrated at this point. I can’t get my money back from eCost since I can’t send the tv back to them. Westinghouse is useless in helping me. What is the point in having a customer service supervisor that is powerless to help the customer. Having the supervisor agree with me that it is ridiculous doesn’t really make me happy either.

I have no idea what to do now.