Quote:
Originally Posted by
ronr48 
I purchased the Sharp TV/DVD combo at Sears on 6-16-2007 for $689. Returned it on 6-21-2007, because it was completely unsatisfactory. Low, low sound, poor choice of aspect ratios in SD, long time to come on after turn on, limited menu, etc. The bummer to this whole story, is that Sears charged me a 15% restocking fee of $104. Word of advice, do NOT buy any electronics from Sears. This is the first time I have ever been charged a restocking fee. The Sharp unit was so unsatisfactory for me that I ate the $104 charge, went to another store & upgraded to a Sharp LC-26D43U LCD Tv (no DVD combo). Read the good writeup in Cnet today, where they reviewed the Sharp LC-32D43U unit, same family, but different size. I also bought the Samsung DVD-HD1087P upscaling DVD player. Note this is not a HD player, it just upscales the signal. The LC-26D43U is great, better menu, better sound, no warmup, etc. I am happy I made the change. I have not hooked up the DVD player yet, because the HDMI cable is on order. This is the way I should have gone in the first place, instead of buying a combo unit. Hope this helps you in your decision making.
The restocking fee is not charged if the set is malfunctionning, only if the customer simply changes their mind. Many customers claim a non-existent or intermittent malfunction in order to avoid the fee, and invariably succeed; I applaud your honesty.
I work in the electronics dept. of a large Sears store. We are instructed to make sure the customer is aware of this restocking fee, it's printed on the receipt and we are required to circle the printed statement of the policy in the presence of the customer at time of sale. If you were not made aware of this policy at the time of sale you should have asked to see a manager and explained this and it most probably would not have been imposed.
At the particular store I work at, many items like $29 dvd players are returned simply because the customer ran out of ready cash and needs to get a pizza and a sixpack, or because their kid stomped on it and destroyed it. In the past there was a severe problem with people purchasing $3k big screen tvs in time for the Superbowl and returning them the week afterwards, and we still see this happening from time to time. Then you have the people who want to do an in-home demo of a variety of sets before making a final choice, leaving a trail of heavily discounted open-box tvs in thier wake and raising prices for the rest of us--these forums are infested with these clowns.
It is unfortunate that some retailers have found it necessary to take steps to avoid abuse of formerly liberal return policies, but it's not just Sears doing it as evidenced by Costco's recent change to a 90 day return on tvs.
Many times issues with sets that make them unsatisfactory can be discovered in the store prior to purchase, but not always. Without access to the remote you had no way of checking out the menu feaures and some of your other complaints and in stores the remote is not always available to check these things out.
I am not by any means trying to lump you in with the return policy abusers, you are not one of them but you are indirectly one of their victims.
