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ATOT Consumer Advocates: My Samsung HDTV died.

F

Fausto

Elite Member
So the HDTV I bought two years (Samsung HCN4226W) ago just died. The convergence amp crapped out and the green tube is on its way out (found this out once the CA was fixed).

The tube is barely out of warranty, but the other thing is out by a year. I've already opened a dialogue with Samsung and faxed them the original bill of sale + the writeup from their Factory Authorized tech that was out today.

Basically, I'm at their mercy, but I'm working the "you should stand behind your product when it's only two years old" angle and the "not standing behind your product is going to cost you a customer" angle if necessary.

I'm supposed to get a decision from them next week. Assuming they tell me to piss off, what are my options. I'm more than prepared to annoy the hell of them until I get my way, but I want to be smart about it.

Advise away. 🙂

FINAL UPDATE ON THIS WHOLE STUPID SAGA 8/18/06

Background: I spent a ton of time on the phone with Samsung and got them to credit me toward the new television of my choosing. I ended up going with a HLS4666w (46" DLP) for $800 after my credit. I :heart: this TV. 😀

I also got on the horn with MasterCard because my gold card automatically doubles the manufacturer's warranty on things like televisions. They needed a LOT of paperwork to file the claim, but they are cutting me a check for the amount listed on the repair invoice (I had a factory-auth Samsung repair guy diagnose the TV).

So, my grand total for the new TV is about $130. It just took two months and a hell of a lot of time on the phone. 😀
 
Good luck. Some agents will cover things out of warranty, some won't. I haven't found it to be a company policy as much as an individual agent's bias.

Having said that, you are almost 1 full year out of warranty.
 
Did you happen to buy it with a CC that has warranty extension? I have learned to buy anything high end with my AMEX for that reason. It's saved my butt before.
 
Originally posted by: Garet Jax
Good luck. Some agents will cover things out of warranty, some won't. I haven't found it to be a company policy as much as an individual agent's bias.

Having said that, you are almost 1 full year out of warranty.
Click to expand...
The tube is 2 years, everything else is one.
 
Originally posted by: iamwiz82
Did you happen to buy it with a CC that has warranty extension? I have learned to buy anything high end with my AMEX for that reason. It's saved my butt before.
Click to expand...
No, purchased with Sears MC (ie- one year no interest).
 
looks like a tough case, unfortunately. if you could find proof of other owners having the same problem, that would help your case, but legally i don't think they are obligated to do anything about it when their express warranty expires. maybe you could get them to repair it at a discount.
 
I highly doubt they will help you. Samsung's not known for their customer service - their printer division is horrible when it comes to service, I hope for you the TV division is more lenient.
 
Originally posted by: CptObvious
looks like a tough case, unfortunately. if you could find proof of other owners having the same problem, that would help your case, but legally i don't think they are obligated to do anything about it when their express warranty expires. maybe you could get them to repair it at a discount.
Click to expand...
I've actually found evidence online that the convergence amp is a very common issue. The rep went right to it today when he got the back of the TV off.
 
the reason they make you pay for a warrantee is cause they wanna recoup the cost of fixind what they already sold you. I doubt they would offer to do this unless you pay them to
 
eh, when i bought my plasma they basically said if my tv watching habits are heavy it won't last more than a few years (at least til it reaches half life on the brightness or something) so since we got a slammin' deal i went ahead and got the 4 year warranty which covers brightness. still paid 300 less than the tv alone at retail. hotness. i'd say try the people you bought it from but i dunno that sears would help out much.
 
Good luck with that. I went through a similar incident with Samsung about a year ago. We had an HDTV that was less than a year old and the CRT started going out. So at random times all the colors would change (red turned to blue... stuff like that).

First they tried to tell me that the behaviour sounded normal. WTF? Then they finally agreed to have a local TV repairman come pick up and install a new "board". This was after one of their level 2 tech support guys had told be it sounded like the tube was bad and it would be cheaper for them to replace the TV than fix fit. Anyway, the repairmen took the TV abnd I didn't hear back from them for over a week. So I called them and they said that the first board Samsung had sent them was bad so they had to send away for another one.

Well, after a couple of weeks they got a working board put in and brought it back. Same damn problem!!! Like the tech support guy had already told me, the board wasn't the source of the issue.

So I had to call Samsung several more times. Each time I called they always made some excuse and then would claim they were going to "up" my ticket to a higher level to get it processed faster. BS. They finally agreed to send me a another TV, but wouldn't agree to sending me a new one. All they would agree to is sending me a refurbished unit.

The refurb is a newer model but the picture is ass. It has all kinds of geometry issues... the picture bends inward on the right hand and the top and you can some sort of green background at times on those sides. But I was honeslty so sick of their "customer support" that I just don't give a fvck anymore.

My next TV will NOT be a Samsung.
 
Originally posted by: fisher
eh, when i bought my plasma they basically said if my tv watching habits are heavy it won't last more than a few years (at least til it reaches half life on the brightness or something) so since we got a slammin' deal i went ahead and got the 4 year warranty which covers brightness. still paid 300 less than the tv alone at retail. hotness. i'd say try the people you bought it from but i dunno that sears would help out much.
Click to expand...
Sears has a "satisfaction guarantee", but it's "within a reasonable time from purchase" so I'm probably screwed there too.

I may just buy the next one from Costco so I can return it whenever it dies. 😉
 
Originally posted by: Thraxen
Good luck with that. I went through a similar incident with Samsung about a year ago. We had an HDTV that less than a year old and the CRT started going out. So at random times all the colors would change (red turned to blue... stuff like that).

First they tried to tell me that the behaviour sounded normal. WTF? Then they finally agreed to have a local TV repairman come pick up and install a new "board". This was after one of their level 2 tech support guys had told be it sounded like the tube was bad and it would be cheaper for them to replace the TV than fix fit. Anyway, the repairmen took the TV abnd I didn't hear back from them for over a week. So I called them and they said that the first board Samsung had sent them was bad so they had to send away for another one.

Well, after a couple of weeks they got a working board put in and brought it back. Same damn problem!!! Like the tech support guy had already told me, the board wasn't the source of the issue.

So I had to call Samsung several more times. Each time I called they always made some excuse and then would claim they were going to "up" my ticket to a higher level to get it processed faster. BS. They finally agreed to send me a another TV, but wouldn't agree to sending me a new one. All they would agree to is sending me a refurbished unit.

The refurb is a newer model but the picture is ass. It has all kinds of geometry issues... the picture bends inward on the right hand and the top and you can some sort of green background at times on those sides. But I was honeslty so sick of their "customer support" that I just don't give a fvck anymore.

My next TV will NOT be a Samsung.
Click to expand...

Ouch.

I'm definitely not buying another Samsung, but I'm going to do my best to get them to help me out with this one. Hence the paper trail I'm creating with faxes and letters to follow if need be.
 
Originally posted by: Fausto
Originally posted by: fisher
eh, when i bought my plasma they basically said if my tv watching habits are heavy it won't last more than a few years (at least til it reaches half life on the brightness or something) so since we got a slammin' deal i went ahead and got the 4 year warranty which covers brightness. still paid 300 less than the tv alone at retail. hotness. i'd say try the people you bought it from but i dunno that sears would help out much.
Click to expand...
Sears has a "satisfaction guarantee", but it's "within a reasonable time from purchase" so I'm probably screwed there too.

I may just buy the next one from Costco so I can return it whenever it dies. 😉
Click to expand...

it might be worth checking into anyway. i would expect an expensive purchase like that to last more than 2 years, but who knows these days.
 
Originally posted by: Fausto
[Ouch.

I'm definitely not buying another Samsung, but I'm going to do my best to get them to help me out with this one. Hence the paper trail I'm creating with faxes and letters to follow if need be.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, I forgot to add that they actually sent me the wrong refurb model. I was given a choice of several models and chose a model I knew would fit in the entertainment center. It was one of their SlimFit models of which there was two varieties. One model had the speakers on the side and the other model, which had the same specs, had the speakers on the bottom. The one with the speakers on the side was too wide for the entertainment center so I told them to send me one of the others.

The TV arrived and it was actually in the box of the correct model I ordered. But when I opened it up it was the model with the speakers on the side. I tried in vain to see if it would fit even though I knew it would not.

So I went out and bought a new stand... which was actually fine with me since I hate fully enclosed entertainment centers (i.e. the kind with doors that can close in front of the TV). It was my wife's though and since this was the TV in the living room (main rig is in the den) she wanted the enclosed entertainment center. This gave me an excuse to get an open stand. But the main point here is that they couldn't even ship me the correct model.
 
Wow, so the company that consistently undercuts the price of competitors has crappy customer service? Who'da thunk'd it?
 
Originally posted by: Fausto
So the HDTV I bought two years (Samsung HCN4226W) ago just died. The convergence amp crapped out and the green tube is on its way out (found this out once the CA was fixed).

The tube is barely out of warranty, but the other thing is out by a year. I've already opened a dialogue with Samsung and faxed them the original bill of sale + the writeup from their Factory Authorized tech that was out today.

Basically, I'm at their mercy, but I'm working the "you should stand behind your product when it's only two years old" angle and the "not standing behind your product is going to cost you a customer" angle if necessary.

I'm supposed to get a decision from them next week. Assuming they tell me to piss off, what are my options. I'm more than prepared to annoy the hell of them until I get my way, but I want to be smart about it.

Advise away. 🙂
Click to expand...

If the warranty has expired, you have no legal remedies that I am aware of.
 
These things make me hesitant to purchase a HDTV, i'm still using a 1989 Sony 26" CRT, this thing has been repaired only once 😎, hoping it lasts atleast another 3~4 years, they don't make em like they used to.
 
Originally posted by: Night Blade
These things make me hesitant to purchase a HDTV, i'm still using a 1989 Sony 26" CRT, this thing has been repaired only once 😎, hoping it lasts atleast another 3~4 years, they don't make em like they used to.
Click to expand...

buy from costco, not such worries.
 
it sounds liek it is going to be a tough fight..basically they have no obligation to help you since the tv is out of warranty
 
Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
it sounds liek it is going to be a tough fight..basically they have no obligation to help you since the tv is out of warranty
Click to expand...

Right, but I can be hugely annoying and I'm on two boards with 100,000+ members each. 😛

Interwebs >> Samsung.
 
I have similar problem with a CRT TV from JVC a couple years ago. The picture tube just went dead, totally black, while everything were ok. The TV was about 1.5 years old and the warranty was 1 year. I contacted JVC and they told me nothing they could do since it was over 1 year old.

As you can guess, it will be snow in hell before I will buy another JVC product of any kinds.
 
Tomorrow is D-Day for an answer from Samsung, but I'm going to call them today just to see what's up. 😛
 
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