Philips Electronics warranty ripoff of brand new broken product Chicago Illinois

I was given an MP3/CD/Stereo player for my birthday in mid-July. I opened it about two weeks later as I was in the process of remodeling my room. None of the 5 CD trays opened from the first time I tried to open them right out of the box!!!!!!!!!!

My friend bought it from Best Buy with cash and lost the receipt. They refused an exchange.

After countless phone calls to the 888-philips customer service number and endless transfers and holds my request get my product fixed was almost answered. The rep had noted in their system my product was still fully under the one-year warranty. I was told to bring it to an "authorized service dealer". They told me of the only location within 100 miles of the city of Chicago, Astronics Electronics, luckily it wasn't too far.

After hauling the stereo there on public transportation, the small, crapy, storefront electronics store that barely had working light bulbs refused to honor Philips warranty without the original receipt. (If I still had it wouldn't I have exchanged it to Best Buy in the first place?!?!) I gave them the instructions from Philips corporate: the Warranty #, the phone number they are to call to verify, and other relevant info. He still refused service. He then swore up and down about how Philips is the only company that he has problems with. He told me to either pay the full price to fix the problem or come back with a letter from Philips.

Another 15 hours of phone calls to the Philips SmartCenter (yeah, right!) has gotten my "case" escalated to a higher department. Philips has put the authorized Philips dealer "UNDER INVESTIGATION" for my and other such complaints.

I now have to ship the product to Kentucky to have it fixed but Philips. I am currently awaiting a phone call back regarding my request for Philips to pay for the shipping.... after all it is not my fault that I have to ship it to them after I was refused service from their dealer while I still have complete warranty.

LET'S SEE IF I WILL EVER HEAR THE MUSIC...............

A word to the wise: do not support Philips, they have horrible bureaucratic layers of customer service starting with an outsourced center in India (that's where you call when you dial 1(888) PHILIPS!

Cheryl
chicago, Illinois
U.S.A.