TCL 55" 4-Series 4K HDR Roku Smart TV

I tell you what, I typically don’t do this type of thing, it takes a real effort to get me to the level of ‘pissed off’ that I am now with a consumer product. Because I would hate to see any of my friends or family fall into a trap the same as I have, I have decided to share my experiences with TCL USA and the brand TCL in general. As many did this past holiday season, I was wooed by the deals being thrown around with consumer electronics, big TV’s and low prices ‘tis the season’. TCL is doing a great job of buying the lower cost market as of late, they have been receiving good reviews, which may or may not be heavily curated, I can only share my experience. Historically I have only bought the big-name products, @samsung, @sony, and @sharp for the most part; that said TCL had a deal that was too good to pass so I decided to try the brand out, the specs were as good or better than the others what could go wrong. The TV arrived mid-December and once mounted was everything I had hoped for, deep blacks, matte screen, 4k HDR, etc. Then randomly April 23rd, the screen just went black, there was sound, but no picture. I contacted TCL support on the 24th, spent about 10 minutes troubleshooting and it was determined a fix was needed and they were sending parts to a local repair service. I was AMAZED that the parts were to the service and scheduled to repair the TV on the 28th, 4 days later, including a weekend; TCL was showing they stood behind the product and were providing excellent service. Sadly, the very next day April 29th, not 12 hours later the TV was out again!!! So, another call to TCL support, they did they standard troubleshooting and determined the TV was bad, but this time rather than sending parts they were going to replace the TV in total. Again, some of the best customer service I have experienced. Unfortunately, the replacement took a couple weeks to get here, but that is not their fault, it takes time to ship an item that size. The service scheduled a time to deliver and mount the TV, they missed that and one other appointment, but eventually got to me, not TCL’s doing as it is a service they use. The TV again was mounted and good to go, back to enjoying our main family room entertainment. Fast forward to June 18th, roughly 5 weeks into the 2nd TV and guess what, it goes out again, same issue. So, I call the TCL support team, who has been great, quick troubleshooting and yep, needs repair. I received a call the next day from the technician who had my parts! Again, wow, very fast, set an appointment for the next day a Saturday morning no less. Well unfortunately the TV parts they sent did not fix the issue so here we go again, TV #2 is also a lemon, back to TCL support. At this point I recall the adage, ‘fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’ comes to mind, I let the support person know I need to speak with someone at TCL that can make this right once and for all as I will not continue to deal with this issue and the next TV they send needs to be a different series as clearly they have QC issues with the model I bought. I asked they have someone contact me. After playing phone tag with Daniel from TCL USA (not TCL support) yesterday he and I were able to connect today. Daniel said initially they were sending a new TV on his voicemail, I let him know that would not be acceptable if the plan was to send a 3rd of the same model that has proven to be incapable of working for more than a few weeks at a time. The only remedy that would be reasonable is to provide me a different model (series) than the one that keeps failing as clearly the one I have is a problem. Then Daniel’s tone changed and “what he meant to say” was they were going to refund me the purchase of the TV?!? Wait, I asked, you would rather solve your problems by washing your hands of a customer in need of support rather than make the issue right? Daniel explained that it is the policy of TCL USA to not provide a different series in replacement for failed units. I asked again that they would rather wash their hands of a customer than handle the problem with a reasonable resolution? Daniel clarified, he didn’t want me to “feel” like they were “washing their hands of me”, so I asked if he could explain to me why I should not feel like that, he answered with again he is sorry I feel this way. So I pressed Daniel, “I don’t want an apology, I want you to tell me why I shouldn’t feel as though TCL is ‘washing their hands of me’”, to which Daniel finally admitted that he could not explain why this is not exactly what they were doing. I continued with Daniel that given I made my purchase in December of last year, when all the deepest cuts to consumer electronics are available, the only way to replace with a reasonable facsimile of the TCL purchase would be to in essence double my investment as there are no ‘Cyber-Monday’ sales going on for any products currently. Again, I was placated and that he was sorry for the inconvenience and they look forward to making it right by me, which includes them sending people to come take the TV and in 7-10 business days I would receive a check for the purchase. I am sure the check they send will not include the $70 I spent on the additional warranty, which clearly, I didn’t need as TCL products by my personal experience only work a few weeks at a time anyway. So, in end I would say TCL customer service is spectacular, which is a good thing because the products I have had of theirs are anything but. Save yourself a lot of time and headache and buy from a known manufacturer, my 8-year-old 60” Sony, and 10-year-old 60” Sharp are still working perfectly, never a problem; lesson learned. TCL thanks for what I can only consider a life lesson going forward.