SAMSUNG – let’s not take ownership of a problem , SAMSUNG -significant disconnect between their values and reality,

Item: Samsung South Africa
Rating: 1
Author: dornel.swart dornel.swart

Hallo Peter I was think of a title for my letter but can’t pick between the following options: SAMSUNG – let’s not take ownership of a problem SAMSUNG – significant disconnect between their values and reality SAMSUNG – a lot of lip service SAMSUNG – let’s drag our feet till the warrantee lapses and then we ignore you or throw the book at you Background: We bought, what was supposed to be our dream TV (a 65’” Smart 3D HD), which was sold to us at double the price of a Hisense 65” set based on the supposed flawless picture, excellent colour contrasts and engine behind it (fast enough to deal with action sports), which would assure a great viewing experience for the whole family. Within a short period we noticed that mainly on the left of the screen, one could see soft vertical banding – almost like a ghost curtain image in the background. The flaw is not that visible at first glance, but my husband is a golf nut and this ‘backdrop image’ is most noticeable on flat green pictures such as golf courses and rugby fields etc. especially of the camera pans to follow the action. Not what you would expect from a very pricy TV. There has been an exchange of complaints and service calls and parts replaced since the original complaint was logged over a very lengthy period of time. The local service agent took action and tried, but it was a longwinded affair with permissions and approvals from their HQ that tested our patience. Then tried to upgrade the software, then they replaced the motherboard, then they tried to upgrade the software again and so on and so on and so on. The communication were poor and we got the impression that they never really took ownership of the problem, but just went through the motions hoping that somewhere at some time the problem would disappear. Each time we would revert with confirmation that the problems persisted and that they need to take further action. Eventually we figured out that they are no longer interested as the warrantee had lapsed and that the problem was now ours – NOT THEIRS! Is this acceptable of Samsung to delay warranty issues and then say that although they did not fix the set in time, it no longer is their problem? We tried to contact Samsung’s top management, but were fobbed off with responses like… revert to your local service agent or someone will come back to us . Blah blah blah… shocking!!! When I ask how is it possible to have an “open” call reference number for longer than a year I get told that this issue will be escalated to client complains department who deals with this issues. On 17 November at 10:25 I finally got a call from a call centre agent, just to tell me he is so sorry that I had to wait so long for a response from SAMSUNG, but because of the time delay (longer than a year) my TV is now out of warranty and it’s not their problem. I asked Thembiso that he must please advise who, and how, they tried to fix the problem the last year, while it was still covered and his response was simply that he cannot see anything but it is now out of warranty so that is just very unfortunate. This is when I decided I am going to turn to you today as these guys are just not interested! Samsung advertises that one of their brand values is ‘integrity and product excellence…’, but take it from me – that’s just lip service! We’re talking about only a TV here, not even mentioning other devices like the tablets, phones, the Samsung surround sound system we bought with the TV and the future business they stand to lose! I have tried to make contact with someone at Samsung head office and this is the response I got: “ Dornel, we're sorry to hear you're having such trouble with this. We would love to help direct you to someone who can assist. Please try and call 0 ********** or send a private message to Samsung South Africa on their separate Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/SamsungSouthAfrica as they can look into issues based on individual model, serial, and reference numbers. Thank you. I then forwarded a message to Samsung South Africa and this is the standard response every time on my post: Samsung South Africa Hi Dornel, we will get the complaints department to contact you. ^;sm I then phoned the head office again to speak to Khanyi Gumede (Samsung VOC Senior Customer Service Executive), but every time I phone this individual is on tea break and will return my call. I am still waiting. I then received an e-mail that a Consultant called Dhyna will contact me by close of business and yes days later I am still waiting for that call…. I then left messages for Michelle Potgieter who is according to my knowledge the marketing director that says all over social media that Samsung live out the value of Integrity and product excellence but she does not speak to customers. I then tried to phone Matthew Thackrah Deputy MD at Samsung SA and send him a facebook message directly as his call centre keeps on ignoring me but seems like this is a company value as after all my facebook messages and all my email complaints the only feedback I get is “someone is looking into it and will come back to me”. So now we have a R30,000 TV set with several components removed and replaced with a non-functional remote control, while the original complaint had not been addressed. Surely it cannot take over a year to “look into it”. Hello Peter please help. We are not a lavish family and the idea behind this purchase was really to spoil ourselves with such a tremendous product which has turned out to be an unpleasant experience. They’ve advertised a state of the art TV without vertical banding in the background and that is all that I am asking for, give me a TV set that works! ALL I am asking for is a TV that works like they are advertising. But with the Samsung South Africa Group refusing to TALK to their customers it is very very difficult to resolve any issues.

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