SaferProducts incident

Failure type

Fire / ignition

Incident narrative

SaferProducts.gov consumer incident report 20140211-17D45-2147447366. Severity: Unspecified. Matched catalog product: Coby TFTV3229. Incident: I was sold a 32" Coby tv for $75.00. I was told that the tv "shuts off every now and then". After getting it home, it shut off 4 times in 40 minutes. Then the next day it shut off 3 times in a little over an hour. I also noticed that it would come back on by itself as well, no matter how many times I pushed the power button. This particular fact was not explained to me. So I got online and tried to find a solution to what might be going on with the tv. That's when I found out that it had been recalled for safety reasons (possible burn/fire hazard) and that resale of a recalled item was a federal offense. I immediately unplugged the tv as instructed by the website. I tried texting the woman who sold me the tv 4 times, but got no response. When I tried to call, one of her kids answered and handed her the phone, at which time she hung up on me. I've tried to explain that I rent a room from friends who have kids, and I myself have kids that come and visit me, and I do not want to put anyone in harms way with an item that is a safety hazard. This got a response from the seller saying that I was a scam artist and that I was threatening her by telling her it was a federal offense. I responded by saying that in order for me to have been remotely close to being a scam artist, I would have had to be the one selling the recalled tv. Anyway, at this point I just want to know what I should do. Did I just get conned out of $75.00 and there's nothing I can do about it?