A very small percentage of my shopping is done online. I've recently purchased a tv online and had to return it, then purchased one in a store and had to return it. Neither experience was fun, but each was different.
First, I purchased a 40" philips tv from walmart online and had it drop shipped to the local store. The box looked as if it'd been beat up, opened, then poorly retaped with one plastic band missing. It took a few days to notice, and the light in my room had to hit it right, but there was damage to the tv and it never seemed to work right. Contacted walmart and they said to box it up and bring it back in with my shipping label, the label I never recieved. As I'd purchased a tv because I wanted to be with a tv, I couldn't understand why I had to return the tv for a refund, return the extended warranty for a refund, then reorder both and again wait for them to show up. It seemed as if they should have shipped one to the store for me, then had me bring it in for a simple exchange. I went back and forth with them for days on this, ultimately choosing to return it and take my business elsewhere.
A couple weeks later I saw a bestbuy ad and saw that they had a 40" samsung on sale for $200 off, and decided I may as well go with the best to avoid any possible issues down the road. Bought it in store, picked it up in store, and returned it in store. My roommate has the same model but with a 46" screen, and using the same exact settings his picture flowed smooth while mine was super glitchy. Only way I could get it to smooth out was to drop it to the lowest quality settings, but why run a 120hz tv at 60hz when you paid for better technology? I took it back the next day and it was an easy return, except I had to wait several days for them to send me a check since it was a purchase over $500.
After doing some research, it seems bestbuy has one of the best warranties out there, and they'll price match even online prices on the same model tv, so I'm fairly sure I'm going to buy the same tv I initially bought from walmart, except through bestbuy.