Samsung LE32R41BDX and Empire Direct

aftertaste

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I bought a Samsung LE32R41BDX from Empire Direct a few weeks ago. It developed a serious fault after a week, which caused the screen to display way too much red (sometimes people wearing black clothes were bright red, for example). There are pictures of this same fault from other people on the forums.

It was returned, and "checked" by the engineer at Empire. Now they say they found no fault and refuse to refund the money or replace it.

There is a fault. Sometimes if it's been off for a long time it clears for an hour or two. But there is a fault. I have pictures of the fault through all sources (I even have pictures when there is no source going into the TV, and the screen is bright red when it should be black).

I'm sure other oepple on here have had refunds from Empire Direct. Any advice, anyone? I can't settle for the old one coming back. It was absolutely unwatchable, and it's only gonna be a matter of time before it comes back (if it ever left).
 
I don't have a very high opinion of Empire Direct, following a bad experience with a TV I bought from them four years ago. Ever since then I've avoided ordering from them but I find it disgraceful that they won't replace a TV that a customer says is faulty. Do they think you returned it just for the sake of it and to mess them about or something? :rolleyes:

If you get the same faulty TV back (and I hope you don't) then I suggest you take some digital photos of the defect so you can show them because they obviously don't believe you. And I'd avoid ordering from them in future.

If you don't have any luck with Empire Direct then give them a good ticking off at their lack of customer trust and support and then contact Samsung direct. I'm sure they'll be more willing to sort your TV out even if it means it will be repaired rather than replaced.
 
I'm gonna try one more time tomorrow, on the phone. Try to speak to the engineer or something. If that fails, I guess I'll have to try Samsung.

I never thought it would be such hard work getting a TV with a serious fault refunded or replaced.
 
Call your credit card comapny and explain things to them. I had a similar problem 12months ago and Barclaycard sorted out the retailer (Ebuyer) very quickly. I got a full refund and Ebuyer payed for collection of the faulty goods.

Credit card companies shout louder than consumers.
 
Thanks, Orwella.

The credit card company was an option I was gonna come to when all else had failed, but after hearing that I think I'll see what they can do for me right away.
 
Did they not send out an engineer to check the unit first? As most comapnies usually do to confirm the fault or not?
 
This is the reason crappy online retailers like this go bust (unbeatable.co.uk for example).

They are cheap, but normally have crap service. Once they have your money they dont give a S**T
 
No, they didn't send out an engineer. They just said they'd collect it. Two days after that I rang and they said the card would be refunded by the weekend. That was 12 days ago. Rang again today and they said there was no fault and they were gonna send it back (God knows how long they'd have waited to tell me this if I hadn't rang).

God bless Empire Direct.
 
aftertaste said:
Thanks, Orwella.

The credit card company was an option I was gonna come to when all else had failed, but after hearing that I think I'll see what they can do for me right away.

Definitely get the card company involved. I had to do this when I had an issue with an laptop from Dabs (another company with less than stellar customer service, in my experience of course).

In my experience Empire customer "service" is woeful, calls are never returned, all the excuses under the sun "we can't make outgoing calls... No sir we have no supervisor/manager/sentient being who you can speak with" in a nutshell seemingly designed to make things as frustrating as possible for the poor old customer.

After two shockingly bad experiences with ED (how hard is it for a headset jockey to cancel an order??) I vowed to vote with my wallet and have done so.

Not all online retailers have duff customer service, I would hold out Hughes Direct as an excellent example of how it should be done. I had an issue with a Humax PVR, contacted them and within a day or so a replacement was winging its way to me and the defective unit collected. That's how it should be done.

Any company can make a mistake, or a product can have a fault, it happens. But what truly sets companies apart is how they deal with it.
 
Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

Empire Direct aren't interested in the pictures I took with my digital camera before I returned the TV (even though they show the fault via all sources and with no source at all).

Rang the credit card company and they're sending out a dispute form. The operator I spoke to sounded confident that they will sort it out for me. I wish I was as confident!
 
If you get no joy with the CC don't forget the small claims court is a very good option. I guess you'll just need an engineers report to verify the fault, and as you have documentation that you 'rejected' the goods, there shouldn't be any probs ;)
 
aftertaste said:
Thanks for all the replies, everyone.

Empire Direct aren't interested in the pictures I took with my digital camera before I returned the TV (even though they show the fault via all sources and with no source at all).

Rang the credit card company and they're sending out a dispute form. The operator I spoke to sounded confident that they will sort it out for me. I wish I was as confident!

Everyone here is rooting for you!

You should also advise Empire Direct that you are advertising this dispute on these forums and that it might (read would) be to their advantage to make you a happy man.

Cheers,

Martin.
 

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