Remember that Walmart Black Friday $98 32 inch TV super deal?

[MineralMan]

46. I'm thinking this is probably an operator error.

Have your friend call the cable company about this. Closed Captioning comes with the signal. If the signal is not there, it can't be turned on with the TV. For over the air broadcasts, the TV's CC option should work, but if it's cable or dish, there may be a setting on the cable box.

It's important to follow through with all possibilities before going through the roof on something like this. Did the friend's previous TV display the CC information prior to this purchase?

ETA. You could also take a TV you've checked to make sure the CC worked over to your friend's place and hook it up there. If it works at your place but not at his, it's clearly a signal problem, rather than a TV set problem.

I think this can be fixed without returning the TV.