Samsung: really bad experience

[datuca]

Hey,
Bought Samsung 50C550 a couple of weeks back and am I already regretting my decision.

The TV is for my living room and we have built a wooden entertainment unit which is fixed to the wall. The TV is suppose to be wall mounted and electrician made arrangements for power outlet and HDMI cable from my AVR. When the installation person came and marked where he was to put the bracket, we found out that the HDMI hole was being covered by the bracket. And Samsung's suggestion was that I should break my entire entertainment usit and move the HDMI hole elsewhere. I told them to make a hole in their bracket for HDMI cable to come ou but they refused. I told them that I will get the hole made, and then you just have fix the bracket and mount the TV. They refused to do that as well. As per them if there was any modification in the bracket they would not install the TV. Are you freaking kiddin me!!
I told the installation person that I wanted to speak to his manager. He said he is not allowed to do that and I can call their service centre. I called them and wanted to speak to the manager and of course manager was not in the office. The person in their service department asked the installation guy to call the manager and let me speak with him but also said a bunch of other things which i was not able to hear. Then the installation guy says that the manager is on lunch so he can't call him. I asked for manager's number which he refused to give. I aksed him to wait till his manager's lunch was over but suddenly he was in a hurry as he had to go for another installation.

I did not know Samsung service was so pathetic. I would have never bought their product. And please don't tell me others are as bad because they aren't. I put a 32" Sony LCD and their people were very helpful and did a great job. i bought LG A/Cs and fridge and they provided a great service. But Samsung is just pathetic. Their managers don't have guts to talk to their own clients. It's a shame!

 

[Imrahn]

Its so saddening to hear such experiences after paying a premium of our hard earned money that its almost ridiculous to call it Customer Service anymore....though this is most probably a case of a bad orange in the bundle, still its unacceptable that such incidents happen afterall.

The samsung guys who came to my house were all very polite and very cooperative as i was setting up the HT area and needed a week or so for it to complete before the TV can be mounted.They kept calling up every couple days to see if it was ready and they even came in between to make sure the arrangements were made so that no problems would arise that would need a change once the setup was done.They were even willing to provide suggestions regarding false roofing which i actually implemented and am very much happy that i did.Couldn't ask for more from them guys.

But had a very bad experience with a UPS guy just a week or so back.My bro's PC UPS was down and after some 8 days of registering the complaint, they called up and gave their local technician's contact number.So, called him up and he said he got time only the coming saturday(this was a wednesday) and i told him to plz not forget as my bro had project work to do and our gov power supply was as unreliable as it could get, with monsoon to boot.

So,saturday at 2 pm , i took a bath and came back to see 2 missed calls from an unknown number, called back and lo and behold- it was the holy technician.And what more to add than him being angry to the point of shouting how he had waited for 5 minutes(!!!!!!!) near our location and now he couldn't do that anymore that he is returning home and he MIGHT have time only by next saturday.I was like "man, i was just taking a shower....can u plz come now??" to which he was like "No way, I am already a kilometer back!!!" Then i proposed that he wait and i will come, pick him up from his current location in car and drop him right there as it was real urgent for my bro to have backup to which his reply was "I have a bike and i am being paid proper- I don't need no one's favor" and he cut the phone. Unfortunately or fortunately, i lost my temper at this very incident and called him right up again and raised my voice/tone that would put a FS to shame and man, that did work although with the help of some vocals regarding legal actions and what not i could think of right then.Within 15 minutes, he was at my house, repairing the UPS,soldering and finally replacing the board.I felt a bit ashamed of myself seeing his face in person(as if he was expecting to get physically mauled by me!!!) and went and apologized to him and made him a good coffee, shared some cake and halwa over discussions over some of my HT stuff and all was well. He said he was being overworked with lots of areas to cover under his belt and that was why he was a bit frustrated when i failed to answer the call.

Sorry for this cheap long story, but what i meant was that it always happen with everyone bro.....if not today with one company,definitely tomo with another company.Try to get a regional higher up's number online and call up and complain that u were mistreated, they will definitely heed and send someone else.

 

[harry10]

Samsung people are not good. Only when i had threatned to return the tv back they came for installation 3 days after delivery. However the installation guy was nice and cooperative. Still i had better services from LG.

 

[adder]

Well i doubt samsung themself do the installation its mostly outsourced to some ISP.

 

[goyal.sanchit]

Well as far as making hole in the bracket is concerned I somewhat agree with them!

If TV falls from the bracket I guess it is the company's guarantee so maybe they do not want to take any chance with it and off course customer satisfaction isnt important for them.


Apart from that the whole incident with the manager was pathetic and show their real standards!


On a side note I have kind of decided that never to buy any Samsung product. Whether it is a TV, or a laser printer etc I have always had issues with samsung.

I bought a Samsung laser printer costing above 10k 1 year back so that I could print fast and cheaply. Its lying useless since more than 8 months since samsung doesn't have the cartridges available!

 

[VSG12777]

I've had bad service from Samsung too for our 2 ton split a/c at my parents' place. The a/c used to work for only 15-20 mins and then just shut off. It would turn on by itself again after another 10-15 mins. Technician came, checked and said there was some problem with the compressor and it would have to be taken to their service place to be checked. 2 days later, they picked it up and I get no response from them for the next 1 week, regarding when the thing would be fixed and fitted back. Then after raising my voice at the customer service rep on the phone, the guy tells me there is a major problem and since it's under 5 year warranty, the compressor would be replaced free of charge but we'd have to pay for the transportation, gas filling etc which amounted to 2.5k!

We agreed and another week later, a technician brought the compressor back and fitted it. The a/c seemed to be running fine. The very next day, the same problem was back. 15-20 mins of running and then shutting off. Complained again, and I get the same old story - compressor will be replaced, I have to pay the charges etc etc! I had to drill it into the idiot's head that the compressor had just now been replaced with a new one, and it was still doing the same thing! Then 3 days later another guy landed up and spent 20 mins doing all sorts of stuff and finally the a/c was running. He said the previous guy may have been a new joinee and did not know his job properly. He called up his boss and gave the phone to me on his own for me to speak and his boss was very understanding and apologised for the delay and problem, and the shabby job done by the previous technician.

After that, touch wood we have not had problems. This was about 2-3 months back and to get that a/c working, it took almost a whole month. My parents could not watch tv and entertain guests in the hall as it was so warm and sultry without the a/c. All due to Samsung's goof-ups. But, there is a Samsung 250 ltr fridge (2008) there, 19 inch Samsung LCD monitor for the PC and I have a Samsung 6.5kg automatic washing machine as well as a 250 ltr (2009) Samsung fridge at my apartment. So far, so good.

I have never been happy with Samsung's attitude towards their a/v products though. Nobody in the showroom is even interested in showing you their plasma range, let alone interested in selling a plasma! And from what I have been reading, the 50C550 plasma has been a problematic model with various people on the forum reporting issues.

I am glad I went for an LG 50PJ560 plasma 2 days back. I will also never buy any a/v products from Samsung ever again. LG's service is 1000 times better and I am very happy that way.

---Venkat

 

[opeth]

I would advice all the prospective buyers to check the wall brackets before finalizing the Brand/Model.We had installed 20+ nos of 42B450 for Video Conference application and all the Samsung supplied wall brackets were hitting our PC inputs.We managed to change the brackets,since it was corporate installation and include the cost.

Problem din't stop there...Our installation was in month of march and within 2-3week out of 20+ 42B450 1 was dead and 3 plasma's where showing(OSD) "check signal cable" even though the screen is active, showing the PC Signal...!

The dead plasma got panel and PSU changed after 15 days of complaint and second issues was the greatest challenge to the samsung guys.They complaint me of Poor VGA Cable,Incompatible PC Input and lots more.And I proved everthing wrong...They finally did the firmware update in the month of july 2ndweek and finally got it solved...

Without escalation,things won't happen in Samsung,that's what i learned from this...

 

[pnreddy]

A few months ago another form member had complained about poor Samsung service. Can we a thread for poor service of different vendors similar to the price thread. Some times it could be the local agencies that are giving poor service and the members of that town could avoid those brands.

Regards

 

[rana_kirti]

@ datuca

Sorry to hear bout ur experience... hope its all fine now... ;-)

How do you like the TV ??

 

[datuca]

Well well. I was doing research for a new plasma TV and found my own thread.
The reason I am looking for a new plasma is because the samsung one has a problem. Three months back it started showing a black horizontal line 1/4 way down from top. I called samsung a couple of times and they said they will send someone but did not. Knowing how bad their service is I called the dealer (Vijay Electronics, Santacruz E) and they assured me that samsung will fix it. So they start calling samsung and a week later a guy comes to check the TV. He said the display panel is gone and since it is under warranty it will replaced for free. I let the dealer know about it and they promise to follow up. They do so and a week later samsung says they do not have the panel so they will replace the TV for free. I tell them that I either want the exact same model or a better one. A week later they say that they do not have that model anymore and will refund me the money. Another week of calling them everyday by my dealer and they send a guy to check the invoice and he assures me that they will pay back the invoice amount in a week or so. Its been 2 weeks now and they haven't refunded the money.
The only saving grace is that my dealer is awesome and calling them everyday. He says he might be able to get me the money by Friday. So we will see.

But this is not a one time issue, a friend of mine had a real bad experience with them as well.

Samsung f**king sucks. Its like they put in extra effort to be really bad at what they do!

Never ever will I buy a Samsung product again.

 

[datuca]

@ datuca

Sorry to hear bout ur experience... hope its all fine now... ;-)

How do you like the TV ??

I had to take the bracket and get the extra hole done myself. Then call the dealer and he made the samsung guy come and install the tv.

TV was nice for about 6 or months and then had a problem.

 

[denom]

Thanks for the update!!! Appreciate it.

 

[s_anuj]

Looks like a lot has changed with Samsung since i bought my LCD in 2006...

Bad service, dodgy panels.... I never faced any problems that time... I guess they are pushing hard on margins.

How's Sony's service? If I understand correctly, Sony doesn't have different panels. So, looks to be more secure buy

 

[sriramgiyer]

Samsung f**king sucks. Its like they put in extra effort to be really bad at what they do!

Never ever will I buy a Samsung product again.

I am also leaning towards it. Biggest mistake buying samsung A/C (thought was cheaper)...Carrier and Hitachi in two other rooms are running fine...Samsung build was not OK (however, touchwood compressor doesnt have any problems so far). Lately, waiting for a replacement original remote for the A/C since a week already. God knows when I will get.

 

[Deleted member 17547]

I had a very gud exp with Samsung Service.. I own Samsung's AC and TV.. but never had any problem with customer care or service guys..

It could happen with any company... like i had lot of probs with Airtel.. specially when i was disconnecting my number...

So its always better a get a number of their manager or supervisor.. It helps..

Cheers..!!!

 

[AD14]

Hi - though this thread is more on samsung tv issues- but still i thought i should share my exp of buying washing mc from samsung - abt 3-4 months back. bought it from adishwar. smooth delivery as the shop was hardly 100 mtr from my place.installation was also ok and on time.Problem started when we used the mc for the first time.once the washing was over wife realized that lot of water has leaked out.Since we had no idea whether it was a overflow or just a case of negligence from our side.we didn't raise any complaint but the next time same thing repeated itself.Called up the samsung guys and the service person comes and say that their is a overflow pipe which is cracked and we need to replace the same.On being told that this mc is just 2 days old he said that in that case its better that you get the machine changed itself from adishwear-but pls don't tell them that i suggested this.tried to follow his advise but as per adishwear after the piece is sold its samsung we should be talking to.After a very intense followup(min 5 calls/day) managed to get the replacement from samsung after 1 month!.Samsung has a pathetic service levels when compared to someone like LG.

 

[manjunath.forum.all]

me and my friend purchased samsung refrigerator from ezone.
The piece delivered to me was good no issues. but the piece delivered to my friend had a dent and friuts compartment broken.
when contacted ezone, the comments are similar
" Once sold it is between samsung and u. The replacement piece will be delivered in 9 days"
9th day, 10th day ...14th day no news. fed up with this attitude my friend asked for refund of money from ezone.
i think this is with most retailers.
so next time u buy first ask the retailer " What is the procedure in ur shop if u deliver a damaged piece ? ".
so ensure u know the procedure and then buy. this is my frank suggestion.

 

[theironhorse]

not sure bout the products but samsung has always been pathetic ni service.

somehow i end up buying lg products always... but samsung will get a lesson soon..

 

[datuca]

Looks like a lot has changed with Samsung since i bought my LCD in 2006...

Bad service, dodgy panels.... I never faced any problems that time... I guess they are pushing hard on margins.

How's Sony's service? If I understand correctly, Sony doesn't have different panels. So, looks to be more secure buy

Touch wood, I have had no problems with sony LCD tv installed in the bedroom. But their attitute and service was much better than samsung when they came for installation.

 

[prankey]

Touch wood, I have had no problems with sony LCD tv installed in the bedroom. But their attitute and service was much better than samsung when they came for installation.

My experience is bad with Sony TV with my BIL's Panel failing all of a sudden.

My Samsung LCD is working absolutely fine without any issue since last 4 years. Has done more than 10k hours.

Also, within warranty, I have seen LG and Samsung offering full refund as most of us have got when issues were unresolved. So in a way its not a bad service gesture when they take a hit on profits and take back their product.

I have also seen issues them honoring out of warranty claims through free replacement of parts or giving heavy discounts (though essentially cutting their profit from it).

All products can go bad, however as far as service goes, I never really had bad service experience with Samsung with them promising a refund if they could not resolve an issue.