Samsung: I want my money back! -- Problems with warranties? Post to newsgroups!
Gilles Pelletier
---------
The product is great, but service at Samsung is a complete joke! They'll
keep you waiting on their busy lines, they'll provide bogus email addresses,
you leave a message, they don't call back, etc., ANYTHING goes to escape
fixing the problem.
You'll find my letter to George Dytoc, Samsung Canada service manager below,
but here are a few remarks first.
The address provided at 1-800-726-7864 (then press 1 - 7 - 1) is bogus(1)
and most probably has been for months, if not from the beginning. When I
found out about this a week ago, I dialed 1-800-726-7864 (the press 1 - 7 -
1 - 1, then 5130 for service) and I was told they knew about the problem but
wouldn't be able to fix either the server or the voice box until the end of
December... or God knows when.
(1) Here's the reply from Samsung's own server:
Your message:
To: ser...@seca.samsung.com
Subject: Testing
Sent: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 14:13:28 -0500
did not reach the following recipient(s):
ser...@seca.samsung.com on Thu, 20 Dec 2001 14:14:52 -0500
The recipient name is not recognized
-------------
On your first call at Samsung's service center, you get to service in a
snap.
Then, as you explain you won't pay a cent to fix a product that was sold to
you defective, the lines get busy, people you used to talk to are away, etc.
Instead of sending somebody to adjust the monitor or pay to send it to
their nearest service center, they say they'll send you a brand new monitor.
Contrarily to VISA practices, they insist on having your credit card number
even if you don't have a cent to pay. Finally, you never get the new
monitor.
From the dealer to Samsung service, everybody hides behind (telephone)
lines.
Here is how it all began. If you're into epics, you'll enjoy. Otherwise, get
to "epilogue" right away.
----
To George Dytoc,
Samsung service manager
On october 23rd 2001, I bought a Samsung SyncMaster 950p from SygmaWave on
MacKay street in Montreal. When I installed it with Linux, the top of the
screen sank in. Oh, not much, hardly 2 millimeters... But try it on the
sides of your monitor and tell me if doesn't show!
I thought the driver Linux concocted by giving H and V scan rates might not
have been optimal. One month later, I installed Windows, and I had the very
same problem with Samsung's drivers. So, I called my store, dear SygmaWave.
They had sold me this monitor as a professional monitor, with special BNC
connectors, that's one wire per color, so that they keep as pure as
possible. Surely, no professional would accept strait lines looking like
cooked spaghetti!
They told me the problem could have many sources. It could have been
interference... but there is no electrical appliances or circuitry around
the computer. It could have been the video card -- which I also bought from
SygmaWave. I brought it to the store and it worked flawlessly on one of
their monitors. It could have been a wrong match between this video card and
that monitor. Unfortunately, SygmaWave apparently didn't have one single
videocard, PCI or AGP, 4 or 128 megs, at hand. No luck! If only I could
bring back the monitor, they'd gladly check it.
Here's the little problem: the monitor comes in a 23" cubic box that hardly
fits in a huge american car, and it weighs 56 pounds. Quite a lot of trouble
for checking a card - monitor match! Otherwise, I could send it to Samsung
service. At my expense, of course. But Samsung would pay for return.
The warranty card in english says there is one year on-site service... but
apparently, that's in the US only. You know, in Montreal and vicinity, we're
only 4 millions. So why send a technician home to give 1/8 of a turn to a
pot or, better yet, send him to the store BEFORE the monitor is sold? It's
so
much easier for the custumer to ship the monitor... at his expenses! As a
techie from RBA, an autorised service center explained to me, to be done
accordingly to standards, an oscilloscope is needed and it's so much easier
to move a 56 lb monitor than an oscilloscope!
God knows why, I began to feel a little irritated. Apparently, Samsung will
soon sell fridges and washing machines in Canada. Will they have to be sent
back too? Why did I have to pay anything to fix a poorly adjusted monitor? I
had to think about this for a while.
Finally, I figured there was no way around it, I'd have to pay. The techie
had told me it would take only three days. So I called back RBA, where I
spoke a certain Valerie(1).
(1) Did you ever noticed how employees are not so keen on giving their
family names these days? I figure, next, we'll be talking to Sweety or Daisy
or whoever, and that's gonna be it! Why should one care about who he's
talking to? I was talking, not to a person, but to a company!
Upon further investigation... it seemed they wouldn't pay for return!!! Was
I ever glad to learn this! So I called back Samsung Canada at
1-800-726-7864 -- I had already called them to inquire if, by any chance,
they couldn't send a technician -- where a certain Bilel told me RBA had to
pay for return. If I could only wait a few minutes, I'd call them back to
settle the matter.
Half an hour later, Bilel came back explaining he couldn't get hold of
anybody at RBA. If RBA could call back, it would be just fine! In a matter
of seconds, I got hold of my dear Valerie! (Gee! Hadn't I rechecked her
number with Bilel? Doesn't Samsung have private phone numbers to call their
service centers?) She called Bilel and, yes, of course, they'd pay for
return. If I could only leave a few more details, they'd send me an RMA.
Money was ok... What about time? How long would it take to have 1/8 of a
turn given to a pot? But there was no such thing as "1/8 of a turn given to
a pot"! First, an evaluation had to be made. Three days, at least! An
evaluation? But the monitor was on warranty, almost brand new! Why an
evaluation? The job had to be evaluated! Final. Then another evaluation, of
the problem, this time. had to be made by technicians. Three days, at least!
And then, and then, and then...
Then I said I wanted to talk to the boss. A certain Jimmy answered. "Jimmy
who?", I insisted. Jimmy Langlois, I was told. Jimmy, who apparently knew
very well about the business at hand, explained that some parts might have
to be ordered from California and that a two week delay was the minimum to
expect.
Am I so easily infuriated? I was getting mad! I said "No thank you!" and
called back my dear Bilel. Couldn't get hold of Bilel... Waited, waited,
waited... no Bilel! Called back on the english line -- I used to call on the
french line -- got hold of the said Bilel in a matter of seconds... How
strange!
Well... as for the delays... he couldn't help. I explained how I once
settled a problem with my Canon printer using the newsgroups and asked if,
by any chance, I couldn't speak to his superior.
_ Of course!
_ What's his name?
_ George.
_ George, who?
_ George Dytoc, with a "Y".
Of course, George was busy on the line, so I had to wait again. Half an
hour later, when the line was freed, I could talk to his message box. Great!
Call me back George! Or send me an email. Bilel thinks I should talk to you.
On Monday, I took care not to keep my line busy for too long. George didn't
call, didn't send a message. So, at the end of the day, I called him back.
And waited and waited and waited. Both on the english and french line, no
answer. George was hiding "behind the lines".
My monitor hasn't moved one inch on my desk, and yet, that's what my
relations with Samsung are up to. Can you imagine how eager I am to have it
fix by such keen people?
(...)
---
Yesterday, december 19th 2001, after loosing hours waiting on the phone and
writing to everybody, I was told by George Dytoc that Samsung wouldn't ask
for my credit card number. The problem is I had provided it to Bilel
Boudjellal, one of their employee, the day before and Visa thought this
wasn't standard procedure. That' exactly what I had written to George about,
Apparently, George can't read!
George said all I had to do was call a certain Nita, and she would send me a
"General Replacement Form". The problem is I had already filled the form and
sent it to Bilel, who said Nita would call me back. I called Nita this
morning, and no answer from Nita.
Then, it's going to be Christmas, than the New Year. Then I will have bought
my monitor on the previous year. Etc.
That's why I decided to go public. The product is great. Maybe my dealer,
Sygmawave, fucked up the monitor, I don't know. When I first saw it, an
employee was using it and customers could take a look at it. When I bought
it, it wasn't on display anymore. So, maybe the monitor needs parts. All I
know is I have absolutely nothing to do with it and I have no service from
Samsung.
Merely considering the time involved, BOTH Samsung and I have already spent
much more on this monitor than it would have costed to fix it. And this kind
of nonsense happens all too often.
Two years ago, my Canon BJ-300 printer stopped working. I knew it was
because of a little sponge in the purge unit: the techie at the service
center
had shown me the sponge when the same problem had happened while
the printer was on warranty. Although it had merely taken 5 minutes to
remove the sponge from the purge unit, Canon now pretended it was a 250$
job and I'd be better off getting a new printer.
After spending hours with Canon online, I wrote to the newgroups and, out of
the blues, came a techie to tell me where the purge unit was. (In a little
hole right under the printing head. But the printing head is black and the
ink is black...) The problem was settled in less than 10 minutes. I merely
rinced the sponge in distilled water. A week later, I received a sponge from
Canon. It costed 75 cents, but there was no charge.
Somebody on the newsgroups finally identified the techie as a Canon
autorized
in Ottawa. Canon has since lost its stronghold on America. Do you believe it
was only because Epson came out with a better printer technology, or because
Canon had too many employees in their offices hiding behind lines and not
enough techies fixing problems?
Hey! I've had enough of this stupidity! I don't trust Samsung anymore. I
want my money back! Otherwise, I'll get my monitor adjusted at my expense,
but, believe me, Samsung and Sygmawave will have their money's worth of
publicity in return. Next, this will be posted on my site.
Gilles Pelletier
Robert P. Drake
<gipe@spamMEnot_videotron.ca> wrote:
Samsung Canada posts a number of service centres across Canada on
their website, did you try there? I was about to by a 950p, and
having local service centres is a big plus.
Anyway, waiting to get computer components fixed is a great past-time
of mine. Waited four months for an Asus motherboard replacement five
years ago, three months for a USR modem (...before Compusmart admitted
they lost it), and nearly a year for a Pioneer CD-ROM ("oh, they
stopped making them, so no replacements are available, sorry!"). Last
couple years I've been lucky, had another Asus board die one year
out-of-warranty that my VISA replaced with its extended warranty. I
now dread every computer component purchase and procrastinate for
months (sometimes years).
One thing I have learned, if you can't get any action from the grunts,
you need to go to all the way up the line until you reach someone who
will take action. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Good luck.
Gilles Pelletier
news:48652uch9dnocrl3m...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 20 Dec 2001 16:15:43 -0500, "Gilles Pelletier"
> <gipe@spamMEnot_videotron.ca> wrote:
>
> Samsung Canada posts a number of service centres across Canada on
> their website, did you try there? I was about to by a 950p, and
> having local service centres is a big plus.
That's what I have: a 950p. It looks to me like a good monitor, but the
service is rotten. I'd now rather give Viewsonic a try. Many people I know
have been satisfied with Viewsonic, but the the 950p really suited my needs.
I didn't want a flat monitor unless it's with aperture grille, and they were
too expensive.
> One thing I have learned, if you can't get any action from the grunts,
> you need to go to all the way up the line until you reach someone who
> will take action. The squeaky wheel gets oiled. Good luck.
Yes... usually. But I even wrote to Korea to no avail. I get short anonymous
answers -- not even a first name, this time -- telling me Samsung Canada
will certainly settle the problem. That's why I decided to post. As I said,
that's the only way I could fix my Canon printer after months of nonsense.
You know what's my feeling? Maybe you have seen this publicity where people
got their business going computer and network wise and suddendly they
figure... they're going to have things shipped here and there and nobody
thought about that. Well, it seems to me it's the same at Samsung. It's like
they figure they're going to talk and talk and things are going to get
fixed... or the client is going to be get pissed off and give up.
It seems the mere idea of putting a kid in Kia with an oscilloscope to give
a quick fix to some silly little problems never crossed their mind. It's
bureaucracy all the way! Maybe Samsung got too big. They're into insurance,
securities, investment, chemical products, etc. and I believe they've lost
control.
I would definitely now rather go for a Viewsonic. They seem to me like a
clean company. Every time I visited their stand at the Comdex, their
monitors were perfectly adjusted. Of course, you'll say this is silly, all
manufacturers set their equipment perfectly for shows. Well... take a closer
look at monitors. Many are not well set and representatives give you all
kind of silly excuses explaining that this is the kind of thing you do at
home.
Too bad! Because, if it wasn't for service, this Samsung monitor would be
fine for me. And that Canon printer that apparently needed a 250$ fix still
works today and hasn't cost me a cent.
Gilles Pelletier,
A really pissed off client who will never give up.
Eric Wilhelm
"Gilles Pelletier" <gipe@spamMEnot_videotron.ca> wrote in message
news:X1yU7.8622$tP.4...@wagner.videotron.net...
[snip]
> I would definitely now rather go for a Viewsonic. They seem to me like a
> clean company.
I have 2 Viewsonic E771 monitors that have been running side by side
(literally right next to each other) for many hours a day for 2 years now at
1024x768 each. I am very satisfied with them.
Also, if you bought them on 10/23, you should very quickly file with your
credit-card company. Mine gives me 60 days to report
fraud/general-screwing-over. They will generally take the charge off of
your bill and go hound the merchant/company that is giving you problems.
The credit-card company has more resources and leverage than you do, so they
are not afraid to sue or send collection agents to take care of things.
--Eric
Gilles Pelletier
news:a006nu$fft$1...@news.cc.ukans.edu...
> Also, if you bought them on 10/23, you should very quickly file with your
> credit-card company. Mine gives me 60 days to report
> fraud/general-screwing-over. They will generally take the charge off of
> your bill and go hound the merchant/company that is giving you problems.
> The credit-card company has more resources and leverage than you do, so
they
> are not afraid to sue or send collection agents to take care of things.
Well... Next time I'll certainly consider paying with my credit card. Thanks
for the advice!
Gilles Pelletier
oh gr"eight" "one"
<gipe@spamMEnot_videotron.ca> wrote:
>bureaucracy all the way! Maybe Samsung got too big. They're into insurance,
>securities, investment, chemical products, etc. and I believe they've lost
>control.
There are over 260 different Samsung companies all over the world.
They hire over 300,000 people. They make potato chips, computer
chips, fire trucks, tanks for army, textiles, motor oils, MSGs,
heatsink fans, butter bread, motherboards, kimchi, LCD, well need I
go on.
The marketing people sold crap digital camera, and tech support
peoples were not informed/trained and did not even get a sample
machine for 2 months. etc etc. Everyday was an adventure working
at Samsung.
Having said that only thing I would buy from Samsung would be monitors
and RAM modules. Their bigger monitors use Mitsubishi tube, probably
most popular OEM tube out there.
They also make decent motherboards, for an integrated variety, but
they don't sell those in US.
Dell used to use Samsung as their monitor supplier so Dell monitors
are almost identical to Samsung ones. Dell save 2.5cents per unit by
using smaller capacity RAM chip. The result is that Dell branded
monitors cannot save as many preset as Samsung ones.
DO NOT BUY A SAMSUNG PRINTER or FAXMACHINE, EVEN IF SOMEONE IS
POINTING A GUN AT YOU TO DO SO. Oh many Lexmark printers are rebadged
Samsung ones. Beware.
Robert P. Drake
<ohg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
Would I be wrong in suggesting that Samsung also makes many IBM
monitors? I notice that a few of IBM's are almost identical to
Samsung's (the Samtron 17" for example is nearly the same at the IBM
low end 17", but much cheaper).
GP
> Having said that only thing I would buy from Samsung would be monitors
> and RAM modules. Their bigger monitors use Mitsubishi tube, probably
> most popular OEM tube out there.
As I said, I believe my 950p is a pretty good monitor, but having to pay to
fix a monitor that was sold poorly adjusted is not my idea of good service.
And I really don t like to spend my time on the phone making my point.
GP
oh gr"eight" "one"
<haildi...@no.hotmail.spam.com> wrote:
>On Sat, 22 Dec 2001 09:08:56 GMT, "oh gr\"eight\" \"one\""
><ohg...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
>Would I be wrong in suggesting that Samsung also makes many IBM
>monitors? I notice that a few of IBM's are almost identical to
>Samsung's (the Samtron 17" for example is nearly the same at the IBM
>low end 17", but much cheaper).
Samsung was OEM for just about all currently surviving major computer
computer company at one time or another...
If you see two identical monitor with huge price difference and diff.
label, that means one thing: the more expensive ones have gone through
more QC steps. Advanced monitor QC requires qualified technicians
with experience(5-7 years), and that means higher cost. (Ok, you are
probably paying something for that three letter logo as well... )