Read this if you are thinking about buying Samsung

[Karonaway]

I bought a Samsung HLT5687S from Amazon on the 18th of May (StoreFront was HiDef Lifestyle). I had done my research and found this TV to have all the features that I wanted, the picture was beautiful, and it was a good price. TV was delivered without incident on the 25th of May. Unfortunately the Remote Control wouldn?t work. I called Samsung support. They apologized and were going to send me a new remote. Later that day, a technician from Disk Network installed a new High Def receiver. He couldn?t get his remote to work with the TV either. That is when I wondered if it was the remote. I looked through the codes and found one for my VCR. I entered the code into the remote and sure enough, the VCR powered on and off. This was the 27th of May. I called back on the 28th of May and spoke to support about my findings. They agreed that the problem was with the TV and not the remote. They put in a Service Call and said I would be contacted by the Service Center. Two days later after not getting a phone call, I called back, that was the 30th of May. They tried to get in touch with there service center, a company called Audio/Visual Experts located in Brunswick, GA (I live in St. Marys, GA about 25 minutes away). They couldn?t get in touch with this company, so they were going to assign it to someone else, or so they said. The next day, the 1st of June, I get a call from William at Audio/ Visual Experts. He said he could come on Saturday. That sounded great to me and I said I would be home all day. William didn?t show and didn?t even call. I left messages with no response. Starting on the 4th of June, I called Samsung three times, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The Executive Customer Relations support kept on saying that they would email somebody or call somebody and get back to me. Nobody did. On Monday, the 11th of June I called and the support rep said she was going to send me a remote. I said ?Are you kidding me, I have already established that it isn?t the remote, it is the TV? (Today, I took the remote to a friends house who has the same model, and guess what, the remote worked). The support rep said she would email the service center and get back to me. After telling me for weeks that there wasn?t another service center close to me(by the way, I live 20 minutes from Jacksonville, FL which has over a million people) I get a call from a company in Kingsland, this was the 15th of June. A man named Terry said that Samsung had faxed him information about the TV repair Job. Then over the next week and a half, Samsung made his life miserable by not giving him access to there website, with paperwork, throwing up roadblock after roadblock. I think the only reason he did the job was because he felt sorry for me. Finally, on the 26th of June he got the part, came over the next day and fixed the TV. He did a great job and I appreciated his help with my problem (He owns T & G TV/VCR Repair). I also want to say that HiDef Lifestyle was very helpful as well. They wanted me to get the TV fixed, but assured me that if Samsung didn?t follow through, they would send me a new TV (I believe it was pressure from on HiDef that forced Samsung to do something, anything!!!!). Now for Samsung, I must say, it was the worst support that I have encountered in a long time. I am the senior IT Tech for a computer company in Brunswick, GA and I have dealt with some bad support. It is sad to because I had a lot of respect for the Samsung brand. I have already instructed my company (Network Monkeys) to stop buying Samsung products. I would hope somebody reads this and thinks twice before buying a Samsung product.

Brad Meyer
St. Marys, GA

 

[dwell]

Call Executive customer support at 1-800-522-7341 and tear them a new one. If they don't do anything call the BBB. I had a run in with Samsung last month. They are heartless bastards.

 

[Karonaway]

I am already on the case, I have been posting this all over the web. I will be heading to the BBB shortly. I sent letters to the Excutives of Samsung, but never heard anything. And I am so sick of talking to Samsung that I can't stomach calling them. It was such a Nightmare

 

[zCypher]

I've seen this type of insultingly poor support many times in many different industries. Unfortunately that's the way many people do business, they only care about making money and don't really care about the customer at all. Of course there are some businesses that do care about their clients, but they are usually smaller businesses (that's not to say that all small businesses are good).

Glad to hear you got it fixed though, although it always sucks to have to fight to get what should be given.

 

[DBL]

I hope you included paragraphs in your letter. I find that nearly impossible to read.

 

[montypythizzle]

Originally posted by: DBL
I hope you included paragraphs in your letter. I find that nearly impossible to read.

Same.

 

[dandragonrage]

Yeah, that was pretty bad grammar. And I must say that it hasn't convinced me not to buy or recommend Samsung. It sucks but you can't really expect us to think, "Hey, some guy on a forum said that he had to call Samsung like 5 times before getting his TV fixed. I'd better not buy a Samsung!"

 

[Karonaway]

Hope this is better

I bought a Samsung HLT5687S from Amazon May 18th(StoreFront was HiDef Lifestyle).

I had done my research and found this TV to have all the features that I wanted, the picture was beautiful, and it was a good price.

TV was delivered without incident May 25th. Unfortunately the Remote Control wouldn?t work.

I called Samsung support. They apologized and were going to send me a new remote. Later that day, a technician from Dish Network installed a new High Def receiver. He couldn?t get his remote to work with the TV either.

That is when I wondered if it was the remote. I looked through the codes and found one for my VCR. I entered the code into the remote and sure enough, the VCR powered on and off. This was May 27th.

I called back on May 28th and spoke to support. They agreed that the problem was with the TV and not the remote. They put in a Service Call and said I would be contacted by the Service Center.

Two days later after not getting a phone call, I called back, that was the 30th of May. They tried to get in touch with there service center, a company located in Brunswick, GA (I live in St. Marys, GA about 25 minutes away). They couldn?t get in touch with this company, so they were going to assign it to someone else, or so they said.

The next day, the 1st of June, I get a call from the company. He said he could come on Saturday. I said I would be home all day. He didn?t show and didn?t even call. I left messages with no response.

Starting on the 4th of June, I called Samsung three times, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The Executive Customer Relations support kept on saying that they would email somebody or call somebody and get back to me. Nobody did.

On Monday, the 11th of June I called and the support rep said she was going to send me a remote. I said ?Are you kidding me, I have already established that it isn?t the remote, it is the TV? (Today, I took the remote to a friends house who has the same model, and guess what, the remote worked). The support rep said she would email the service center and get back to me.

After telling me for weeks that there wasn?t another service center close to me(I live 20 minutes from Jacksonville,FL) I get a call from a company in Kingsland, this was June 15th.

A man named Terry said that Samsung had faxed him information about the TV repair Job. Then over the next week and a half, Samsung made his life miserable by not giving him access to there website, with paperwork, throwing up roadblock after roadblock.
On June 27th, the TV was finally fixed. It was the worst customer service experience that I have ever had.

Look, you can buy Samsung or not, it is your money. I am telling my story in the hope that it can help people with there decision. People read Magazines, Websites, watch TV and learn about the product(s) the're going to buy. Take this as one consumer's experience with Samsung. Maybe other people have had better. Or maybe Samsung's service is taking a dive because they have become to big for there britches. Who Knows?

 

[iRONic]

Originally posted by: Karonaway
Hope this is better

Look, you can buy Samsung or not, it is your money. I am telling my story in the hope that it can help people with there decision. People read Magazines, Websites, watch TV and learn about the product(s) the're going to buy. Take this as one consumer's experience with Samsung. Maybe other people have had better. Or maybe Samsung's service is taking a dive because they have become to big for there britches. Who Knows?

That's horrible. But whatever...

 

[cubby1223]

Next time buy your tv through a local store instead of a discount internet retailer. TV would have been replaced immediately, problem solved.

Since Samsung does not have regional stores, they must rely on service through many local technicians. Whether you bought a Samsung, Toshiba, Pioneer, Sony, Sharp, etc. etc. etc. you probably would get the same local technician for all these manufacturer's support. Don't go blaming all this on Samsung, as if all other manufacturers have immaculate support.

 

[Karonaway]

I agree with you. It is a crappy situation all the way around. I have dealt with some crappy support in a range of industries. But that doesn't let Samsung off the hook. This by far was the worst support experience I have ever had. So, if I say nothing or just shrug it off, then I should expect to bend over and take again the next time. If Samung or any of these companies don't want to deal with the support end of the products they sell, then just say it.

I do regret buying it online. I almost bought a similar model at Circuit City. But the one on Amazon was a newer model(same size) and was a couple of hundred dollars less.

Have I learned anything from this experience. Yep

I buy easily returned small items online. Or buy online from companies with Brick and Mortar stores nearby.

I also learned that Samsung, while making quality products with good features(my TV has a beautiful picture), has horrible customer support.

If I buy another Samsung product all I am saying is that I deserved to be treated like crap

 

[biggestmuff]

You did research on a company's product, not reviews on a company's customer support.

So, how does the TV perform? You left out that part.

 

[Karonaway]

The TV is Wonderful. I have no problems with it now that it is working. The picture is beautiful.

We subscribed to the Hi-Def package with Dish Network. The Discovery HD is amazing. It also scales DVD and standard def very well.