My Samsung Warranty Hell

thepominlaw · 23 Mar 2010 at 12:35

A while back i bought a Samsung 2253 monitor, it worked great for a while, then the control buttons stopped working, this wasnt an issue though as i never needed to switch inputs and i used the socket on the wall to turn it off.

Then came the day that i needed to use it as a second source......time to return it. The call was handled very professionally and i was promised a call from their support company Amputron, the call came and i thought great. They arranged for a courier to replace the screen by a swap on site. Wonderful i thought.

Then the courier arrived, he opened the box picked up the screen and it fell appart in his hands, :mad:

bits of black plastic went everywhere. So i refused delivery and tried again.

Screen number two arrived a few weeks ago, looked good, was not in pieces but was horribly dirty, still i thought it was cleanable and accepted it. So i plugged it in buttons worked great

then the flicker started :mad:

and it got so bad i couldnt use the screen.

A week later replacment number 3 arrived, was clean, looked good buttons worked and then ....... dead pixels ....... not one ...... not two but 73! Yes 73 so many i had to count them twice. A prompt call to Samsung was placed and i was promised Amutron would call to arrange a replacment........they called at 07:45 over an hour before they were due to open now thats service.

Replacement number 4 is due in about 30 minutes, lets hope its fourth time lucky otherwise i am contacting Trading Standards........

Aod · 23 Mar 2010 at 12:56

that's just amazingly bad luck - i hope this newest replacement is a more typical indicator of Samsung Quality

PCM2 · 23 Mar 2010 at 13:17

I've never had such a string of bad luck with them! Please let me know how the 4th replacement is. That sounds like a shocking experience though.

izzy eckerslike · 23 Mar 2010 at 13:25

Just think , some poor sod will shortly be making a warranty claim & the courier will bring them one with - a faulty button, i.e. yours.

I had the same thing with Epson, had 3 different replacements which were all faulty on arrival & obviously supposedly reconditioned but more likely straight in & straight out

territt · 23 Mar 2010 at 13:54

i had a couple of faulty returns from samsung, in the end i compained so much that they upgraded the monitor for me. maybe worth a shot,

sibeer · 23 Mar 2010 at 14:18

My replacement HDD drive with Samsung was handled quickly and relatively stress free. Return drive works fine, but a little worried that it had a date 12 months older than the one sent back. Don't know how that will affect the remaining warranty (new one is outside 3 years) if there is a problem. Also don't feel too happy that you aren't being given an upgrade to a new drive for the inconvenience of the thing going wrong in the first place. But the replacement was definitely clean and working with a turnaround of approx 2 weeks.

alex24 · 23 Mar 2010 at 14:31

The monitor RMA service is outsourced to Amkotron (IIRC, not amputron - sounds like a disabled robot).

My SM226BW's buttons also stopped working properly. I wanted to get a replacement with the same panel (i.e. Samsung) as I have no way to calibrate a poorer panel so that it was up to scratch. I don't want to possibly downgrade my monitor just because the one I bought doesn't work properly, and I've kept mine pristine, I doubt I'll get a nice one in return. They couldn't help me, and Samsung just didn't want to know, so I'm still using the monitor now, but can't change anything except the brightness and source. The magictune software allows me to do the other functions, but I'm still a little peeved after the whole panel fiasco to begin with.

If you don't know about that, it's that when Samsung released my monitor (and some others), they provided review samples and early models with a Samsung manufactured panel. Later, they began to change them to inferior panels from other places, but sell it as the same model. Technically, on the spec sheet they're both the same, but the cheaper ones have worse ghosting with RTA enabled, and a dominance in blue, as well as worse backlight uniformity. I must note that this is standard practise now, but the panels were very different, and the samsung one was better enough to warrant this monitor being reviewed great and bought up by many, with them actually getting an inferior product. I think it's dishonest tbh.

It's also recently come to light that a lot of SM226BW and similar monitors are failing because of cheap components used in the power board.

I have to say, at the time Samsung seemed top of the game, but it looks like they got complacent, and they really don't seem to care much about after-sales, so I won't buy another Samsung monitor in case it goes wrong.

I think I'll be looking at Dell (probably some of the best monitors), BenQ (well priced, service is fine) or Iiyama (also now well priced, their CRTs were great).

HDD replacement is not handled by the same people, and HDDs are a different kettle of fish entirely, so they're not really comparable in this instance.

thepominlaw · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:14

Wife says its arrived, it had better be a good one this time.

sibeer · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:36

alexhull24 said:
I have to say, at the time Samsung seemed top of the game, but it looks like they got complacent, and they really don't seem to care much about after-sales, so I won't buy another Samsung monitor in case it goes wrong.

HDD replacement is not handled by the same people, and HDDs are a different kettle of fish entirely, so they're not really comparable in this instance.

The same company is responsible for the aftercare whether it is outsourced or not. They should be checking up on the work carried out in there name and deciding if it is being done well enough. It seems to me that Samsung clearly don't have the highest quality of After-Sales care regardless of product.

sibeer · 23 Mar 2010 at 15:37

thepominlaw said:
Wife says its arrived, it had better be a good one this time.

Good luck, if still no good I would write them a serious letter though as you are within your rights to claim for wasted time if they are being unreasonable with their procedures (i.e. not checking what they are sending you). Imagine if you had wasted a days holiday every time you had waited for a swap over.

C64 · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:00

alexhull24 said:
The monitor RMA service is outsourced to Amkotron (IIRC, not amputron - sounds like a disabled robot).

My SM226BW's buttons also stopped working properly. I wanted to get a replacement with the same panel (i.e. Samsung) as I have no way to calibrate a poorer panel so that it was up to scratch. I don't want to possibly downgrade my monitor just because the one I bought doesn't work properly, and I've kept mine pristine, I doubt I'll get a nice one in return. They couldn't help me, and Samsung just didn't want to know, so I'm still using the monitor now, but can't change anything except the brightness and source. The magictune software allows me to do the other functions, but I'm still a little peeved after the whole panel fiasco to begin with.

If you don't know about that, it's that when Samsung released my monitor (and some others), they provided review samples and early models with a Samsung manufactured panel. Later, they began to change them to inferior panels from other places, but sell it as the same model. Technically, on the spec sheet they're both the same, but the cheaper ones have worse ghosting with RTA enabled, and a dominance in blue, as well as worse backlight uniformity. I must note that this is standard practise now, but the panels were very different, and the samsung one was better enough to warrant this monitor being reviewed great and bought up by many, with them actually getting an inferior product. I think it's dishonest tbh.

It's also recently come to light that a lot of SM226BW and similar monitors are failing because of cheap components used in the power board.

I have to say, at the time Samsung seemed top of the game, but it looks like they got complacent, and they really don't seem to care much about after-sales, so I won't buy another Samsung monitor in case it goes wrong.

I think I'll be looking at Dell (probably some of the best monitors), BenQ (well priced, service is fine) or Iiyama (also now well priced, their CRTs were great).

HDD replacement is not handled by the same people, and HDDs are a different kettle of fish entirely, so they're not really comparable in this instance.

I hate the fact that product baiting is legal, no way should they be able to make stuff to a high standard which gets rave reviews then swap the internals for some crap and get sales on the back of the initial release reviews it's a disgusting practice that should be outlawed.

It's like western digital releasing a a 1tb hard drive which gets 100mb sec speeds then swapping internal parts and selling it as the same model which gets 60mb sec speeds.

alex24 · 23 Mar 2010 at 16:08

sibeer said:
The same company is responsible for the aftercare whether it is outsourced or not. They should be checking up on the work carried out in there name and deciding if it is being done well enough. It seems to me that Samsung clearly don't have the highest quality of After-Sales care regardless of product.

Absolutely, though I don't think it's a case of Samsung not checking up - both companies gave the same answer and agreed with each other, though only Amkotron would acknowledge that some panels were better than others. Samsung claimed the monitor adheres to it's specs, which is true, but there's a lot more to it than that.

C64 said:
I hate the fact that product baiting is legal, no way should they be able to make stuff to a high standard which gets rave reviews then swap the internals for some crap and get sales on the back of the initial release reviews it's a disgusting practice that should be outlawed.

It's like western digital releasing a a 1tb hard drive which gets 100mb sec speeds then swapping internal parts and selling it as the same model which gets 60mb sec speeds.

Yes, in effect it's the same thing. I think I'm going to keep my monitor until the warranty is almost up, then get it replaced. I'll get back another screen, possibly worse, but I'll be looking to sell on and move upwards by then. As above, Samsung won't be getting my custom, not that they care.

thepominlaw · 24 Mar 2010 at 00:14

Hmmm there is something very different about this replacement, not their ususal stuff. It looks NEW.

Not dirty, scratched, marked or anything infact it was sealed in its own cellophane wrapper. I have not tried it yet so will let you know but it is VERY different to the other warranty replacment i have received.

Listy · 24 Mar 2010 at 00:31

I had this with BenQ. They sent me 2 scratched & battered refurbs before I kicked up a polite fuss and they sent a new one (which I promptly sold on after I'd tested it worked!).

thepominlaw · 24 Mar 2010 at 00:34

same here i will now sell the 22" as i got fed up of waiting and bought a 24" to go with the PC