RCA Portable DVD Player DRC 600N - hinge cracked 3 days after purchase - have gotten nowhere with Thomson Multimedia to fix DVD player under warranty - RCA promised to call back, but never does

Complaints.com received the following on March 28, 2003:

From: Keith Matocha [Email User]

RE: RCA Portable DVD Player DRC 600N - hinge cracked 3 days after purchase - have gotten nowhere with Thomson Multimedia to fix DVD player under warranty - RCA promised to call back, but never does

We purchased an RCA Portable DVD Player DRC 600N and three days later when we opened it the screen hinge cracked. It has now been a month and many many long distance calls later and we have gotten nowhere with Thomson Multimedia, Inc. which handles RCA's warranties.

First we were told that it was customer abuse, which is untrue because my wife and I treated this player like fine crystal for the few days we actually used it.. They told us to take it to an authorized RCA dealer to determine if it had been abused.

The technician stated that it had not been abused. I thought it was going to be easy from this point, but it just gets worse. When we called back to get a replacement they still did not want to cover their warranty. We finally were told that we would receive a replacement, but needed a Service Repair Number to send in with the player.

The lady we talked to said that her computer was down and that she couldn't access the number and would call us back later that day (March 14), but she never did. That was two weeks ago and after numerous messages left on her answering machine to please contact us we have heard nothing back from her. In the meantime we keep calling Thomson to try to talk to someone who can help us, but they are either not accepting phone calls that day or they don't answer in their department.

We have left numerous messages for anybody that can help us to call us back, but nobody does. So I emailed RCA and twice they promised someone would contact us, but it just doesn't happen. We have already thrown over $20.00 down the drain on long distance phone calls and all we do is get ignored. Are they hoping we will just give up and go away because that is how it seems.

I cannot believe the discourtesy this company has for its customers. I just got off the phone with them after a 25 minute call and once again I'm right where I started. They tried to transfer me to someone with some authority, but of course nobody was answering so all she could do was forward my information and have someone call me back. I'm not holding my breath, because we've been told the same thing at least 5 times. All I am asking for is a replacement DVD player for the defective one we purchased.

How do I go about this when nobody with any authority is ever available or they won't return our calls. I just do not understand why they are not living up to their warranty responsibility. I am very upset with the stress, frustration, time and loss of money we have had to endure for the 4 weeks we have been at this and the nightmare still continues. What else can we do? HELP!!