6/20/07

A quick update to point out what has happened in the last 7 days.

I was on vacation last week. While I was shopping at Lowes (the hardware store) I received a phone call from a lady from Ashville TV (I think that was the name of the store). She asked what it was that they were supposed to be doing for me. I told her how Leah Bullock had told me that she was going to dispatch someone to replace the "ballast". The lady at Ashville TV told me that HHGregg should stick to customer service, and let Ashville TV work on and diagnose the television. She then told me that she can not replace the ballast as that is part of the whole light engine. She then said that she could not change the light engine as Toshiba would not let them. She offered to take my television into the shop for a few weeks, but told me that it will do me no good, and them no good as well.

Yesterday I sent the following letter to Jerry Throgmartin, with copies to those listed:

Joseph Edward Doheny
7716 Widdecomb Rd
Powell TN 37849
(865)938-6606
(865)385-2288 (cell)

June 19, 2007

To: Jerry Throgmartin (CEO H. H. Gregg Appliances)
Cc: Russ Best (local store manager)
Mary Clement (TN department of consumer affairs)
Knoxville News Sentinel
WBIR TV-10
WATE TV-6
WVLT TV-8

Dear Mr. Throgmartin,

My name is Joe Doheny. I am a middle class resident of Powell Tn. Last year I purchased a Toshiba 62HMX95. I have had problems since day one with the television. When I brought it home the top right corner of the screen was missing. I returned the television the next day. Against my better judgment, I let the manager sell me on another television of the same model. That worked fine until February when the lamp blew. It ran until May when the lamp blew again. In doing product research I find that these Toshiba 150 watt televisions are blowing lamps way too often. I have tried working with Steve Miles, who I believe to be the floor manager here in Knoxville. I have tried working with Russ Best, who told me to deal with Toshiba myself. Toshiba will not acknowledge the problem. The sales rep in your store acknowledged that he knew some Toshiba televisions do indeed have this problem. My warranty runs out in about a month, and I have been working since mid May to get someone to fix my problem, with now success.

I would like you, or someone in your organization to work with Toshiba, telling them just how unsatisfied with the defective product this customer is. I would like H. H. Gregg to force Toshiba to write a RMA so I can return this defective product. I believe I am entitled to a working product that is not going to cost me $400 a year plus to operate after spending $2000 on the television. I have been keeping records of everyone I work with, and everything I have had to do in relations to the television. You can view all of my work at http://hhgregg.blogspot.com/ .







I look forward to your reply within 14 days and hope this matter can be sorted out quickly.

Yours sincerely,




Joseph E Doheny

This morning I received a phone call from Leah Bullock following up on the Ashville TV work. That I do have to give credit to HHGregg for. I thought for sure that once they called the TV repair store they would have written me off as doing what they could for me. I do tip my hat there and say good job for the followup phone call. She is checking into it and said she would give me a call later today.

I received a comment on my last post as well, from a user saying that he bought a tv from HHGregg 7 months ago and he has not had any problems with it. He refered to HHGregg as a "Great Store" I guess because he bought a tv from them and it hasn't broke yet. He suggested I deal with Toshiba directly. I have, Toshiba will admit no fault, even though if you search for 62hmx95 lamp problems, you find may pages of upset customers who purchased this same television. I am also assuming that this person who left the message is in a different tax bracket than I am, as I can't really afford to spend $200 - $300 every couple of months just to watch the television that I paid $2000 for.

My purpose for this blog is two fold. First off I want to document every bit of detail on the troubles I am having with this television, and what it takes to fix it. Secondly I want to document the quality of the service I get from both HHGregg and Toshiba. I can understand the persons position who left the comment. I personally would expect the vendor in my neighborhood who made money off of me by selling me this product, to stand behind the products they sell. Is it Toshiba's responsibility to fix it? Absolutely. When I can get no support from Toshiba, I do expect the person/company who sold me the tv, and who made money off of selling me the tv to stand up and use their buying power to make Toshiba make the customer satisfied. HHGregg is still selling Toshiba brand products in their store, even though they are fully aware of the fact that they sold me a defective product and Toshiba will do nothing about it. That is where I, and from what I have seen my neighbors feel as well. I want the site here to get more traffic so that more of my neighbors know what to expect if they purchase a defective Toshiba product from HHGregg. If I end up buying a $2000 paper weight, Then honestly, I would want my neighbors to have the knowledge of my experience prior to making their next major appliance purchase. I would like them to know what to expect from both HHGregg and Toshiba if they happen to purchase a lemon.