To save space, I have made it a big paragraph. I know it reduces the readability. Apologies in advance
Last year, I bought the Plasma of the Year as per the forum 51D550. Happy customer till July when the TV started displaying only half the screen. Other half was black. Next day, it was completely black. Fortunately, it was just 1 month short of warranty expiry. Hurray!
Now started the now 12 week saga of interaction with Samsung Customer Care
I called the Customer Care. A technician came after 3 days. He said that a board (Y Buffer?) is gone. He went back promising that it will be alright soon. He also said that they will try to get a temporary TV while this is under repair. Even after a week, no news. Called customer care. They have no clue and connected me to service center. Sir, the board is on the way. After two days, the technician came. Tried the new board. No luck. Need to try changing the other board. Another week gone. Next board also didnt work. Sir, this needs to be taken to the service center. Will get a temporary replacement TV, definitely. We will come with the replacement TV and take this one. No news for the next one week. Called customer care again. Local service center says that no replacement TV available. Hence they didnt pick my TV for repair
. Told them to take and find out the problem. After 1 week, I got a call (1st and only call from Samsung during the entire 12 week period) from the local service center that the Panel is gone and that they have to offer a Replacement or refund. Took my ID proof and bill copy. Onam came. Relatives came. Hence bought a Sharp 40 LCD for a decent price ( I can use it in my upper living room) to mitigate the risks (her sister was coming!). No news even after 2 weeks. Sorry Sir, it will take 15 days to process and another 15 days to deliver. After 15 days, called again. They still have no update. After few days, during my next call, they connected me to the Branch Officer. He said that he will call me on the next day with the update. The call did not come. At last, got a call last Friday. Sir, where do you stay? We have a TV to deliver. They delivered the TV last Friday and said that the Installer will come in a day or so. 3 days passed by. No Technician came. Called the Customer Care. CC: Sir, you want to know the update? Me: No. I got the TV want to know when the Technicain will come. CC: Oh, So you got the TV. Let me update. Now for installation, you have to raise a new request Me: So let me try to understand, for the replacement TV, I need to raise a new installation request and it will not be done by your team who said that they will do it? CC: No sir. 
New Installation request raised. I was told that the technician will call by 8 PM yesterday to schedule the installation. No call came till now. No idea when they will come for installation!
Will update in the E550 thread with screenshots once it is installed.
Good: Customer Care guys picked up the phone very fast.
Bad: CC do not have the status most of the times. They either try to connect to a supervisor or call later with the local service center on call.
Ugly: Absolutely no proactiveness in updating the customer about the status. We have to call them each time to get any status. Even when they promised that the Supervisor will call, they called only in 50% cases. I understand that due to logistics issue, the repair could be delayed. However, they will never update back. BTW, posted in Samsung FB as well. They also promised that someone will call me. That call also did not come.
2 Positives(hopefully) : (i) Got E Series TV. Supposed to have WiFi Built In. And most likely a pair of glasses. (ii) I also bought my second Sharp product after the refrigerator - 40" LCD. Happy with the performance so far. The blacks are far better than most other LCDs. Will try to post a comparison between them as well.
Last year, I bought the Plasma of the Year as per the forum 51D550. Happy customer till July when the TV started displaying only half the screen. Other half was black. Next day, it was completely black. Fortunately, it was just 1 month short of warranty expiry. Hurray!
Now started the now 12 week saga of interaction with Samsung Customer Care
I called the Customer Care. A technician came after 3 days. He said that a board (Y Buffer?) is gone. He went back promising that it will be alright soon. He also said that they will try to get a temporary TV while this is under repair. Even after a week, no news. Called customer care. They have no clue and connected me to service center. Sir, the board is on the way. After two days, the technician came. Tried the new board. No luck. Need to try changing the other board. Another week gone. Next board also didnt work. Sir, this needs to be taken to the service center. Will get a temporary replacement TV, definitely. We will come with the replacement TV and take this one. No news for the next one week. Called customer care again. Local service center says that no replacement TV available. Hence they didnt pick my TV for repair
. Told them to take and find out the problem. After 1 week, I got a call (1st and only call from Samsung during the entire 12 week period) from the local service center that the Panel is gone and that they have to offer a Replacement or refund. Took my ID proof and bill copy. Onam came. Relatives came. Hence bought a Sharp 40 LCD for a decent price ( I can use it in my upper living room) to mitigate the risks (her sister was coming!). No news even after 2 weeks. Sorry Sir, it will take 15 days to process and another 15 days to deliver. After 15 days, called again. They still have no update. After few days, during my next call, they connected me to the Branch Officer. He said that he will call me on the next day with the update. The call did not come. At last, got a call last Friday. Sir, where do you stay? We have a TV to deliver. They delivered the TV last Friday and said that the Installer will come in a day or so. 3 days passed by. No Technician came. Called the Customer Care. CC: Sir, you want to know the update? Me: No. I got the TV want to know when the Technicain will come. CC: Oh, So you got the TV. Let me update. Now for installation, you have to raise a new request Me: So let me try to understand, for the replacement TV, I need to raise a new installation request and it will not be done by your team who said that they will do it? CC: No sir. New Installation request raised. I was told that the technician will call by 8 PM yesterday to schedule the installation. No call came till now. No idea when they will come for installation!
Will update in the E550 thread with screenshots once it is installed.
Good: Customer Care guys picked up the phone very fast.
Bad: CC do not have the status most of the times. They either try to connect to a supervisor or call later with the local service center on call.
Ugly: Absolutely no proactiveness in updating the customer about the status. We have to call them each time to get any status. Even when they promised that the Supervisor will call, they called only in 50% cases. I understand that due to logistics issue, the repair could be delayed. However, they will never update back. BTW, posted in Samsung FB as well. They also promised that someone will call me. That call also did not come.
2 Positives(hopefully) : (i) Got E Series TV. Supposed to have WiFi Built In. And most likely a pair of glasses. (ii) I also bought my second Sharp product after the refrigerator - 40" LCD. Happy with the performance so far. The blacks are far better than most other LCDs. Will try to post a comparison between them as well.
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. On asking why, they said "saar.....this monitor is 3 years old and we have to deduct depreciation.......company policy saar" WTF! 
