Small Claims Court Bexar County - question (Dallas, San Antonio: credit, attorney)

[falcon4]

I also posted this on another forum, but posting it here since I'll be finling in Bexar County:

Recently purchased a 60" tv from a well known big box retailer online. TV came defective out of the box, picture flickers intermittently (happens randomly). TV manufacturer is one of the big electronics firms.

TV manufacturer says that they will send a technician and he will try to fix the problem. If he cannot fix, they will replace. I don't want the tech to "fix" the issue since I feel that I paid full price for the product and deserve a product in new condition. Plus I did not buy any additional warranty so just have the default 1 year manufacturers warranty.

Retailer says they won't take the TV back (even though its less than 2 weeks since receiving the shipment) as their policy is no refunds/exchanges on large TV's.

I want to give it a shot in my local county small claims court against the retailer for sending a defective product and then expecting me to deal with the manufacturer. It might be a hard shot since their policy states no refunds/exchanges on large TV's which I should have read before buying. But I do feel cheated as I was expecting a good working product for the full price that I paid. Also if this was a refurb I'd have still accepted it, but definitely cannot accept a defect in a brand new model.

My question is if I take this to the Small Claims Court and end up losing the case will I have to pay anything towards the other parties legal fees? I am not familiar with how Small Claims Court work. Since the retailer is a big box firm they might send one of their legal counsels during hearing. The worst thing I'd want is losing the case and end up having to pay the retailers legal fees. Can that happen?

Does anyone have any experience with this? The amount is about $750 which may seem comparatively smaller to file a Small Claims complaint, but I don't want to take this lying down.

[outafocus]

If the rules of the warranty say they have the option to fix it, then you will have to let them fix it. I would not waste my time in small claims court. I once had a judgement in my favor in an El Paso small claims case against an auto body shop. That was in 1989, and I am still waiting to get paid!

I understand your frustration, but I had a similar problem with an RCA TV I bought in 1980. I had it a few weeks, and it totally conked out. I called RCA, they sent Hopps out to fix it, and that TV lasted nearly twenty years without a problem! The problem was a circuit board that went bad. It was fixed in two minutes. If a TV breaks down these days, it is usually right out of the box, or a short time thereafter. If it lasts the first month or two, you should get years of trouble free service from it.

That RCA TV moved with us from San Antonio to El Paso, to Dallas, and back to San Antonio in those twenty years!

[need4speed2012]

I do understand you frustration but by law you must give them the opportunity to fix it, if you take them to small claims court you will loose and yes you will be out of pocket for other fees as well.

Remember that their policy is no refunds/exchanges on large TV's and this is a contract that you went into and signed off on !!

[KM1174]

the company needs to be named. best buy recently changed their policy also, from 30 days to 15 days. this is waived if youre a preferred RZ member (silver status i think), and youll get 45 days then, but if youre not, youre screwed after 15.

learned this the hard way on a gaming mouse i bought. logitech g500s (dont get it). its the 'upgrade' to the logitech g5. feels a lot cheaper and within 3 weeks, just as my 8 year old g5 did, the scroll wheel stopped working. BB agreed to take it back but would only give a store credit due to the 15 day policy.

[justiciability]

As an attorney, I am not giving you legal advice, let me make that clear, but I do have some insight for you.

You have a viable action under the Texas Deceptive Trade and Practices Act despite their no refund / no exchange policy. To put it plainly, a seller cannot sell a product claiming that it has certain attributes, yet that not be true. That is false and deceptive even if it is not intentional. The Texas DTPA is the best legal tool a consumer can have. It's a hidden gem.

Filing a petition in small claims court costs $35. Then you would have to get the company's registered agent served which will probably be another $35 - $50. I feel close to certain that this big company will contact you for a replacement TV at this point. This is when a threat to a company gets entirely too real, even if it's small. I've done this successfully three times in the past year.

And in response to outafocus's remarks, this is a company that can pay its judgment, it's not a local auto body shop run by imbeciles.

If I were in your shoes, I would file a small claims suit.

Here's info on small claims court:
The People's Lawyer


Here's info on the DTPA:
http://www.jtexconsumerlaw.com/V8N2p...2deceptive.pdf


One last thing, attorney's fees are recoverable from the defendant if you are successful in your claim. So you can use the tools I've provided and you can also speak to a consumer law attorney.