My 40" Samsung lcd was taken away last week for repair because the hdmi socket was faulty. The work was to be carried out by an authorised Samsung repair centre. I returned home from work today and the tv was sitting on the living room floor with a job docket attached reading:

MAIN ASSY PCB REPLACED

Great, I think, just in time for Heroes in HD tonight. Then I noticed the stand. It's absolutely ruined. Great big scratches and gouges, even a couple of lumps lifted out in places. I was livid to the extent of almost crying.

At least the screen and casing is ok, I thought. Wrong! The case has been fitted in such a way that only the scarts fit, just about. All other connections are sunken and misaligned and the i/o plate is badly bowed where it is sitting on top of the stereo outputs. And because I was in work till 8 tonight, I can't even ring Samsung until tomorrow.

I'm going to demand a new stand and that an engineer comes out tomorrow and put's the casing right. And if the hdmi still doesn't work, I'll be demanding a new tv. I am truly heartbroken by this because I saved long and hard to be able to buy this tv

[avinitski]

The cheek! Think before you ring what you need to say and get it all straight in your head then unleash!.....god i sound like your dad im sure you'll be fine....son!

[Jenn]

Don't hold your breath ! My Samsung TV went faulty where it would emit a loud hissing noise when on standby so I got Samsung to get it repaired under warranty.

Their subcontracted repair centre took three tries to pick it up in the first place. We had it securely packed and protected and in pristine condition.
A week later the TV is back: the package consisted of an old cardboard box with a screen inside. No bubble wrap, no little polystyrene thingy, no protection. For the TV the bezel was scratched to death, dented and in some places cracked as if it had been dropped on a corner. Oh and the fault was still there !
Called Samsung who couldn't care less, called the repair centre and said I wanted the TV replaced because I didn't know what damage could have been caused by it being dropped. So they just replaced the bezel
Won't be buying Samsung again.

[la gran siete]

hope you get your set fixed quick

[Mac Man]

If you start having problems with them I suggest you keep a diary of all your calls. Or... better still get it put down in writing in case the case gets nasty and you have to go through small claims court to get it resolved.

It's certainly made me think twice about buying Samsung.

Contrast this with Optoma when my projector developed a fault. Turned around within 2 weeks and packed properly when sent back to me. And they even did a discount on the bulb - which was going dim

[CFC1]

Take photos before repair collections and after the set has been returned, as proof of any damage caused.

[skytecbvmo]

Originally Posted by CFC1

Take photos before repair collections and after the set has been returned, as proof of any damage caused.

That's a good point i would do this also.

[Ed Selley]

This is ironic (although I sympathise with those who's screens are sick) as I was thinking of posting about how good Samsung have been in the last few days at replacing the specific USB cable for my NV7 camera that I lost in a drunken stupor.
Maybe the difference is that the cable came from Samsung proper rather than an "authorised repair centre" (three words that fill me with dread). Anyway- I hope it all gets sorted.

[JonnyTester]

Well I rang Samsung this morning. They told me to ring the repair company, which I said I was not prepared to do as they were appointed by Samsung themselves and the only direct contact I had with them was when they rang to say the tv was being collected. I was at work at the time so could not be there when it was lifted. They insisted I lodge a complaint with the repair company first byt assured me if there were any complications, they would put matters right.

I then rang and spoke to the repair company. They were very apologetic and said that they would ring me back this afternoon to arrange a visit tomorrow and once the damage to the stand was examined they would decide what to do.

About 10mins later i got a call back from them to say they were on their way out straightaway. I guess Samsung had been on the phone to them. Then about 30mins after that i got a call from an engineer to say they had fixed the i/o plate back into place and all connections were now accessible. But he said that the stand was in that condition when they lifted the set. I suspected they would do that to cover their backs (I even said so to Samsung), so I told him that the stand was most definitely not in that condition when it left my home and when I mentioned the large chunk taken out of the back of the stand he conceded that that had happened when in their care.

I said I wanted a new stand and he said he would call back to the manager about it. I haven't heard anything since.

[Jenn]

Sounds about right...

[Pat_C]

Originally Posted by JonnyTester

Well I rang Samsung this morning.

Are you also 'PrettyGreen' then?

Originally Posted by Pat_C

Are you also 'PrettyGreen' then?

Well spotted! I am actually Jonny's brother and he is house sharing with me while his new one is being built. We also share a pc as a result and he must've been logged in when I posted my reply. It was thanks to him that I bought the tv in the first place as he has one as well and never shut up about how good it was. He hasn't had any problems with his though.

RESULT! I've just had a call to say they have a new stand on order for me.

[Mr Incredible]

Just in time for Christmas then!

[KoThreads]

I do like Samsung gear but after one of their microwaves went wrong under warrantee and the shambles they made of a repair, i slung it about a week later, and a friend who had one of their digital cameras that kept on draining lithium batteries after 20 odd pictures and once again they could not fix it under warratee i would never buy any more of their products.

Another update. I got home yesterday and right enough, the casing was on correctly and all connections were accessible. Then I tried connecting my V+ box up by HDMI. The connection was very loose and fell out at the slightest touch and there was no picture at all. HDMI wasn't even available as a source. I'm also concerned about the picture quality sinc the tv's return, as it has a total lack of vibrancy and the sharpness I was so impressed withoriginally just doesn't seem to be there anymore.

I don't believe the repair company has even bothered to test the set before returning it, they certainly never tested the HDMI connection and if they upset the screen setup settings, they haven't attempted to correct them either.

I was back on to Samsung like a shot and told them that as I'm obliged to give them the opportunity to put the matter right, and if the set is not returned to full working standard over the next few days I will be instigating proceedings to have the set replaced. They said that they will treat the matter as urgent. That was last night and so far today, the repair company has not contacted me. And as it's after 6 o'clock now, it will be at least Monday now before they do.

This is an absolute shambles and a disgrace.

[Mr Incredible]

Let me just pick my chin up off the floor. I cannot believe you have been treated so shoddily. I hope you get it fully sorted to your satisfaction.

[Jenn]

Unfortunately I'm not surprised

As I said before my tv came back not only smashed but the fault was still there and Samsung were not interested, they simply pass the bucket to the repair centre.

Now I'd rather pay the extra pounds and get a good brand, one that looks after its customers.
Faults happen, fair enough, but if the manufacturer doesn't care then I won't buy again.

[Mr Incredible]

Originally Posted by Jenn

......they simply pass the bucket to the repair centre.

Is that for the customers to cry into?

[CFC1]

Originally Posted by Malice

Is that for the customers to cry into?

[Saggy]

We have a nightmare with a Samsung Authorised repair centre that we have to send lcd's to in the first year of g'tee. they have a habbit of not turning up, not repairing the fault, not updating through the repair process etc etc all things we and most other repair agents we know do. The way that word can spread in this modern age of poor service and wokmanship I just dont understand how these companys keep going and getting special treatment from some manufacturers. We have been asking Samsung for some time now to become a repair centre for lcd's as we repair their other products but we dont even get a response from the mails / letters we send so I feel for the end users. Hopefully you can get it all resolved and I would still push Samsung but from experiance I am not sure how far you will get...

good luck.

Mart

[GingerTez]

I've been looking into buying an HD Samsung LCD but this has given me some serious reservations about what will happen if something goes wrong.

But... how many other LCD manufacturers use such shoddy 3rd party repair centres? Are Samsung actually just doing the same as Philips, Sony, etc and if so are their 3rd party repairers any better?

I guess I'll have to look into it further and possibly even figure out how likely it is that there'll be a fault (any sites for manufacturer reliability figures?).

Cheers,
Terry.