Written by James Fohl
April 28th, 2005

A lot of people declare RCA as a pretty bad brand of consumer electronics. Although almost everybody has heard a horror story about an RCA electronics product, such horror stories pretty much exist for every electronics company.

Why RCA has been hit hard can be discussed for decades. What should be said however is that RCA is just as fine an electronics company as any other. Take a look at their television sets; they are feature rich and even have lower price tags than some of the televisions manufactured by companies nobody has ever heard of before.

Back in January when I was shopping for a new nineteen inch television set to replace my ten year old RCA, just about everyone I had talked to told me to avoid RCA at all costs. While they themselves never had a problem with an RCA unit, they told me the so called horror stories that had plagued their friends and family.

They told me that RCAs have high failure rates. Not to sound like a negative writer or anything, but isn’t that the way it is with pretty much all electrical devices? My laptop computer has been returned to the factory twice, while my MP3 player was dead on arrival. I am quite confident this is why manufacturer’s provide warranties with their products.

After telling the salesman about the warranty, they quickly told me that it was only for ninety days. My philosophy on the whole ordeal is that if something is going to break, then it is going to break within the first two months or after several years of service. Still, I took full advantage of the store’s extended warranty program (two years for fifteen dollars).

Five months later, the twenty inch flat screen stereo RCA television I had purchased for a mere hundred twenty eight dollars is working wonderfully. It’s an excellent replacement for the old ten year old nineteen inch RCA that was replaced due to the lack of stereo, as well as RCA inputs.

If you find yourself in a store staring down at a flat screen RCA television that has all the features you want, but are deciding not to purchase it because of the horror stories you have most likely heard, stop and think about your warranty options. If the unit is dead on arrival, you can take it back to the store and get your money back. RCA currently offers a ninety day warranty on their television sets, which while it is not as long as other companies, is still a warranty. Many stores also offer extended warranty programs that will extend the manufacturer’s warranty for a couple years. This is the best option for those who feel really compelled to buy an RCA television, but don’t wish to get burned, supposedly like all the other people from the RCA horror stories.

I guess I will never truly understand why so many people have a thing against RCA. For me, they have provided me with two wonderful television sets that have never failed to perform. While I do not have any plans to go out and buy another replacement television any time in the near future, I do strongly believe that I will go out and purchase another RCA television when the time comes.