I bought a Samsung DLP HLS5687W TV in August of last year. I did not purchase the extended warranty. On March 11th a dark line appeared on the TV and I called Samsung to ask about repairing it. They (Samsung) told me they would locate a service center for me as the nearest one was 80-100 miles away from my address. (I live in central Maine.)
They then gave me a date of march 29th as to how long I would need to wait to have the TV exchanged if they were unable to locate a service center for me.

So, for the past few weeks I have been patient and kept waiting to hear from someone who would/could fix the TV but no one called. When the Tv stopped working altogether I finally called Samsung back and they told me they located a service center (They of course are over 100 miles away from me) and gave me the number. I was told they had made an arrangement and he was going to repair the TV. Apparently they had to offer him extra money and he agreed. I called and left a voice mail message several times, I never heard back from them.

So the 14 day period for repair has now long since passed and I am still no closer to having this fixed. They told me that they had until the end of business on 29th of March to come up with a solution or they would replace the set. The day comes and goes and I do not hear anything. I called again on the 4 of April and told to call back on Tuesday the 10th and they would have a solution for me.
Yesterday I call them back and I'm told by the clowns at the ECR center (After being hung up on 4 times) and they are now telling me that the service center they originally contacted will fix the TV and the reason he never called me back was because they had to wait for him to become authorized. What a bunch of BS and lies !!! This company never had any plans to fix this TV. But I am now told once again that i must wait another 2 days for them to call me. I know they won't.

It has now been one month and I am still no closer to having this set repaired.

Samsung is stalling because they don't want to replace this set although at this point they are now obligated to. I also feel like my warranty should be extended for an additional month but they have told me that they will not do it.

My state's Attorney General office has been contacted as well as the BBB but I highly doubt will do any good.

I will never buy another Samsung product again, and I will never recommended their products to anyone else. Their actions are inexcusable

once they start giving you the run around, request a fax number so that you can forward them a written document stating who you spoke with at Samsung and what that person promised you would happen on those certain dates.

Demand that they reply to the fax acknowledging its receipt and also confirming the listed information.

I am truly sorry to hear that. My Samsung service experience has been nothing but good. I Have had a service tech to my place twice, and both times were just a matter of a couple days. The service man was nice, and he even set up a few of the service menu items I requested(Like turning off the QAM(I believe) by default, and a couple other things). I truly hope you get this resolved..

This same story has been told for most others manufacturers as well (do you think Sony is any better -- there would be nothing left for you to buy if you read all the similar stories posted here). Samsung service seems to be very dependent on the local repair shop they use; some are very good and some are not. IMO, your problem comes from the fact that there are none in your area. I had a problem with a new 30" Samsung CRT; Samsung arranged for a local shop to service it; the shop picked up the TV and returned it completely fixed a week later.

I would call Samsung service on a daily basis until they solve the problem. I bet you'll end up with a new set afterall.

Your story sounds very similar to my experience. Check out this thread:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=794357

I am coming up on 4 months since I first requested service and I still don't have a functional TV.

What I would suggest for you is to call customer service every day and get them to transfer you to an executive. All of their executives have direct lines, so once you find one that seems even slightly helpful or sympathetic to your situation ask for their EXT# so that you can call them direct in the future.

All you can really do is just keep calling them every day to the point where you simply become such an irritant that they want to get you off their back and will issue the exchange. I think their whole service center radius crap is exactly that, crap. Samsung gives you a 25 mile radius from your residence and the service center must be within that radius. In your case you live 100 miles from the nearest center, so essentially you are screwed from the start. Samsung should disclose the terms of their warranty service up front.

2 customers should receive the same level of service REGARDLESS of how far they live from a service center. I don't care if you live in NYC a half a mile from a service center or out in the midwest 500 miles from a service center. Samsung should be able to provide service in a timely and professional manner to all of its customers. If they can't, they need MORE service centers obviously.

I, like you, will never buy another Samsung product again and have already convinced at least a half dozen friends NOT to buy a Samsung TV (they all live in my area and would receive HORRIBLE warranty service if ever needed based on my service center). So they have probably lost a good $15,000+ in sales just from my word of mouth so far which will continue indefinately... all because they couldn't (didn't) expedite a TV exchange quickly when I had a problem.

Any business that isn't willing to give up $500 or so in order to save $15,000+ is just a poorly run operation and that's not someone that I want to buy a TV from.

Your story is also much like this one.

Sony's Service (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10284560&&#post10284560)

There are plenty more where that one came from -- Panasonic, Hitachi, Toshiba, LG, Mitsubishi and on and on. The more sales a big company makes the more serious service problems that will be reported.

To get out of the horror story you guys are in you have to be persistent. Waiting for long period of time for a "big" company to "get back to you" probably doesn't work. Knocking on their door every chance you get is more effective.

htwaits,

With all of these big time manufacturers having similar service related concerns amongst customers, don't you think it would be in their best interest to put more of an emphasis on customer satisfaction?

I think that if any of the above mentioned big names took on a "no excuses" policy and took care of all customer concerns VERY QUICKLY (replacing a set if necessary) that they would in 1-2 years time excel their sales due to word of mouth promoting of their product. Sure they'd lose a little from the bottom line, but in 1-2 years time they'd be driving their top line like no tomorrow.

Well, I can't believe it. The repair center that has been contracted to fix this TV FINALLY called me !!!

He Told me there was a mix up and that another person who lived in a different town had my same address and didn't think we could have the same problem.
It caused a major screw-up.

So this guy then asks me what the set is doing and I tell him. Shadow on the right hand side that grew and moved across the set. You can still see the picture but it is dark and out of focus. I know it's the light tunnel or light engine. So the repair guy is finding out first hand that Samsung DLP TV have problems with their light engines. He is new to fixing these sets and from what I have been reading is in for quite a surprise.

I told him how it's been said that the mirrors are held on with double sided tape but he simply did not believe it. I wonder how long before he finds out that it's true?

He is going to order a light engine and get back to me. There is no telling how long it will take. I don't even know if Samsung has them in stock.

htwaits,

With all of these big time manufacturers having similar service related concerns amongst customers, don't you think it would be in their best interest to put more of an emphasis on customer satisfaction?

I think that if any of the above mentioned big names took on a "no excuses" policy and took care of all customer concerns VERY QUICKLY (replacing a set if necessary) that they would in 1-2 years time excel their sales due to word of mouth promoting of their product. Sure they'd lose a little from the bottom line, but in 1-2 years time they'd be driving their top line like no tomorrow.I agree.

Doing it is the problem.

From my five years of observing Samsung in particular, they are more likely to respond in the way you suggest than the older companies. There have been situations where Samsung replaced sets for minor problems when the owner was too far from service. Of course that's the same situation, distance, that has led to some of the worst horror stories.

All of the manufacturers come through some of the time. But, it seems that as volume sales increase and margins decrease, the horror stories increase.

The way people buy on the Internet or at Walmart type stores, looking for the lowest possible price, makes the situation worse. Companies see that trend and the accounting departments see it as a numbers game based on results today.

There is probably a devil's strategy in use that if we all have defective service then all we have to do is attract customers from other companies who have defective service by using great new marketing features like DNIe and lower prices every year. :eek:

I paid 14% over my local purchase price for four years of warranty coverage from my local (Magnolia Audio-Video) dealer instead of Samsung. What that buys me is a loaner TV if my set is down for any length of time that is unacceptable to me. It also means that their service department, which has a good reputation, will do all the work. It doesn't insure that Samsung will supply parts in a timely fashion.

If the set can't be repaired, it will be replaced on a dollar for dollar basis.

On the other hand that business model is failing for other companies like Tweeter, and good independent service companies have been driven out of business over the past twenty or so years because the customer base is driven to find ever lower prices. The long term effect is that building customer support like you do is overcome by what a Walmart type operation does to local small business when they move into a town.

During the first two or so years that I looked at the DLP sets in our area, one reason I wouldn't buy was that the best dealer had no service department of their own. The one they used had already developed a bad reputation working on microchip displays. That dealer has been out of business for over a year now.

Tweeter, who supports their own service departments, is having trouble, and I wouldn't be surprise to find out at some point that Magnolia Audio-Video is having trouble too. I do know that they are testing the market in at least one store to become more of a custom shop.

I don't know what the solution is, but I do know it pays to develop skills at dealing with big and sometimes unresponsive organizations -- government or free enterprise. :eek:

It also helps to have a local newspaper or TV station with a consumer advocate feature. :D