RCA SUX

Yesterday was my birthday. Happy birthday to me. For my birthday, I got to sit at the DMV (It's a leper colony down there) for an hour because I just realized that my drivers licence was about to expire.

While renewing my licence, I got the opportunity to register to vote. We've moved since the last general election, so I took advantage. When they asked me party affiliation, I was seriously considering marking democrat so I could vote for the worst democrat candidate in the primarys. Then I realized that the worst candidate is going to win anyway, so I just marked republican.

On Monday, I went to see Harry Potter. Angela's mom had free tickets to a sneek peek showing, and invited me, then followed it up with the new Harry Potter book for my birthday. I'm not one of those crazy fans that runs around in robes with thier wands drawn, but I have to admit that I like the Harry Potter books, and I've seen in the schools how the books have at least gotten more kids interested in reading. Anywhooo.

I got to see Harry Potter 5, which is pretty good as far as movies go. If you like Harry Potter, you'll like the movie. If you are one of those people that think it's cool to not like things that other people like, then it will be easy to pretend that you did't like the movie. If you truly don't like Harry Potter, then why are you going to the movie in the first place? I'm going to go ahead and give the movie 3 1/2 wands out of 5. It got knocked down half a wand because of the predictable slow motion, soundless Harry Potter scream when a main character dies. I was pretty sure that was going to happen.

The best part of the movie was that I got to see the trailer for the new "Get Smart" movie. Check out this link, click on 'Watch the trailer', and tell me it isn't the funniest thing you've seen in a while. Plus, Steve Carell is about as close as we're going to get to Don Adams.

If I had a personalized license plate, it would read RCA SUX. Now sit down and listen to the story of why:

About 3 months ago, Lincoln was obsessed with the garbage. Around the same time, our remote for our semi new TV which has a DVD player built in, disappeared. We're pretty sure Link decided to throw it away.

I tried to find universal remotes that work, but I couldn't get them configured right. Finally, I concluded that if it is too hard for me to do, then it must not work with our TV.

My next idea was to go to Wal*Mart and pillage a remote from an unsold unit. I decided that was an amoral approach. So wanting to do the right thing, I called up RCA, the maker of our TV, and ordered a new remote.

8 to 10 business days later, a package arrives. I am disappointed, because the remote looks nothing like our old one, and even more disappointed that it doesn't work. Wanting my wife to be able to change the channels whilst holding the baby, I called up RCA, and informed them that they gave me the wrong remote. They asked me if I had batteries in the remote. I ignore the question because I'm not an idiot. They agree to send me the correct remote.

10 business days later, no remote arrives, so I call them. They said they were just kidding and for real were going to send the remote. They want to send me the exact same one they sent before, even though it isn't the right remote. I tell them that it isn't going to work, and 8 to 10 business days later, I'm vindicated as the second remote they send me doesn't work.

So I call them, and they tell me I have to get it at an authorized dealer, because they don't have the remote I need. I then ask for my money back. I get sent on the biggest wild goose chase in history. After calling six different numbers, I am informed that it is impossible for RCA to refund me the money, because thier policy states that they can only give refunds within 30 days of purchase of the product. I inform them that my policy is that when I buy something from someone, I expect it to work, or I get a refund. Plus, I did call them within 30 days, but they stalled me off by sending out the same remote that didn't work in the first place.

The conversations pretty much ended with a good old fashioned scream down by one of thier tech support guys who got mad with my response to if I had batteries in the remote. I told him I'm not stupid, my IQ is 142 and I could apply for MENSA if I wanted to. That is stretching the truth a little, my IQ last time I got tested was 136, and of course, having a high IQ doesn't necesarrily mean that you're not stupid.

Anyway, I spent 4 hours of my life arguing with these guys, but now I got the government to go after them, we'll see. The moral of the story is don't buy RCA products, because they have horrible customer service.

Aesop