Faulty Samsung 52 tv - 14 months old (2 months outside warranty)

[Muppet Pie]

Hi all

First, please let me say thanks for the great website, I was scrabbling around for advice and this place has really helped me and gave me a some piece of mind. Ok, with that said, onto my issue.

I purchased a Samsung 52" LCD tv from Dixons online in June 2007 for £1823 delivered.

All was fine, until a couple of weeks ago when the tv would not switch on, well it would switch on for 2 seconds approx with a buzzing coming from the back of the set and then the picture would disappear. After trying a to switch it on a number of times I resigned myself and contacted Samsung. Basically, because it was outside the manufactures guarantee they advised me to contact an affiliated Samsung repair centre in the area, they really did not want to know. This I did and arranged a call out (£125) in a couple of days time. That afternoon, I tried to switch the tv on again and amazingly it worked, all was good, I could not reproduce the fault. I cancelled the call out with the tv guys and got my £125 refunded (eventually).

Sadly, this was not the end of the troubles a few days later the same thing happened again (and has been happening ever since). So rather than go the Samsung route, I tried the Dixons route, after getting transferred a couple of times after following the prompts, I got put though to the TECHGUYS. Basically, they said it would be £175 to collect the tv and take it to the workshop and from that point onwards repair charges and cost of replacement parts would have to be payed by me, as it was outside the 12 month warranty. Not too happy about that, so in the hope of getting somebody to try and fix the tv before sending it away to repair I went back to the Samsung repair specialist and organised a call out, that was last Wednesday.

He turned up yesterday to what I hoped would be to fix the tv, but he was not interested in that at all, I showed him the fault and he called his office and arranged for it to be collected, this Saturday to go to the workshop for further analysis . If I had know this at the time I think I may have gone the Dixons route, but with the tv in the hands of an independent, it may not be such a bad idea. . He could not provide me with a fault report at this time, which I was disappointed with as I wanted to get the ball rolling with Dixons on the Sales Of Goods Act route.

Last week, I spent a fair chunk of time on this site and had prepped most of my documentation for SOGA claim against Dixons. Yesterday I used the template (thanks) for SOGA, and added photocopy of receipts and sent it recorded delivery to Dixons, advising that the tv was faulty and that an Independent repair team will provide a report, hopefully sometime next week. I also called Dixons yesterday and advised them of this, they added the details to my order/log reference.

I have been doing some investigation into this fault and it does seem that quite a number of Samsung LCD tv's develop this fault, generally after 14-15 months use it seems?. It would appear that a power convertor attached to the back of the actual panel becomes faulty. As this is soldered onto the actual panel, the whole panel requires replacing which comes to a very expensive bill. I have instructed the repair guys not to complete any chargeable repairs until I have the report and have forwarded it to Dixons for a response.

I also contacted and raised an issue with Consumerdirect.com, so that they are aware of what is going on.

The really disappointing thing about all this is that I have now been without a tv for 2 weeks and it seems like I will not be getting a resolution anytime soon, so my SKYHD box is going to waste right now. Without this site I would probably have caved in and payed for repairs but I wont be doing that now, I really cant afford to anyway if they do have to replace the actual panel.

So thanks again, I will update this thread when I have any further news.

Is there anything else I can/should do at this point?

Muppet Pie

[davisc02]

Sounds like you've done pretty much everything you can for now. Another little tip....one other thing I did was go to the The Freecycle Network website and got myself a 26inch tv that someone was giving away on there so I had something half decent to watch whilst waiting. I have since advertised and given it away on the same website, but this is a fantastic website for freebies.

[Muppet Pie]

davisc02

Thanks for the reply and info.

That website is a good idea, I should be ok though as I am using a old 23" SD tv at the moment, its a bit of a come down, but it still gives quite a nice picture TBH.

As for my tv the repair team came and collected my LCD on Saturday, the guy said he had seen this problem once before and that If I get no joy from Dixons then I should complain to Samsung and her reckons they will authorise the repair. Not heard back from DIxons yet, although it will only be a week, so will have to see what happens.

[Bookworm]

I think you've got it all in hand. Let us know what Dixons come back up with, should be interesting.

[Muppet Pie]

Quick update

I received a call from Dixons yesterday, a very polite lady advised me she was dealing with the case. She had contacted the tv repair workshop just before 17:00, most people had left for the day there so she is contacting them today. She advised that she needs to first determine that the fault is a manufactures fault and what the cost of repair would be.

When this information is available Dixons will decide whether to get the tv repaired, replaced or give me a part refund. So that for me is great news, a real weight off my mind and hopefully some sort of resoloution in the nearish future (I am really missing having a nice tv).

Out of the 3 options I think a refund will be most likely at this point. If so I think a fair amount would be £1500 (so a loss of £323), I dont think I want any less than that as trying to find a 52" 1080P LCD for any less than that will be quite tricky.

Do you think that is a reasonable amount?

Also, she did advise that they will pay the £125 engineers bill as well.

So, not quite out the woods yet, but things looking much more healthy, so thanks to all those that have contributed to this website, as it really gave me the required tools to fight my case..

Updates to follow...

MP

[Bookworm]

Sounding good. Don't settle for any less than it will cost you to replace for an equivalent TV, there is no reason you should be out of pocket. In fact, you could try and push for total refund and argue that with the unprofessional way you were treated in the first place and the way you had to do all the legwork to get them to comply with your statutory rights, frankly you would consider this as adequate compensation for your trouble...

[Lula]

I would do some research, including in their own store and look at equivalent Tv's but no better, and get a few quotes so that you know what sort of figure you will be looking at.

[Muppet Pie]

Hi Folks

Latest update... not good news sadly.

The tv has been at the Samsung affiliated repair workshop since 13/09/08. After much chasing I got a response this week. It seems that the power unit on the back of the panel is faulty. As this is soldered onto the main panel the whole panel requires replacing (please note i had come to this conclusion in my first post, by looking for this fault on the Internet). They advised it will cost £786.77 to repair (less the £125 I have already given them).

All sounds good you may think. I have been in contact with Dixons numerous times over the past week and they have actually been very helpful, at least the lady assigned to my case has been. I advised them of the situation and Dixons seemed happy to pay the repair bill on the proviso that this is a Manufactures fault. Here is were the problems have started. The repair engineer have advised that it is not a manufactures fault. As the workshop have not sent me the fault report I have no idea what they are claiming it is? Are they claiming mis-use I dont know at this time?.

It is certainly nothing other than a manufactures fault though. I have scanned the Internet and there have been numerous occurrences of this exact fault with the solution being to replace the panel. If any body is interested I can post links here to people with the same issue. I have advised Dixons of this fault and sent them these links and they have escalated to Head Office, but they are saying that if the engineers say it is not a manufacturing fault then they cant pay for the repair. So that leaves me in a very frustrating limbo, Dixons wont pay and my tv is sat in the workshop gathering dust and none of the parts that are required will be ordered until someone pays for it.

I can only think that the Samsung affiliated workshop have been advised not to admit that it is a manufacturing fault in case this exact problems becomes more and more apparent. It seems that many of the TV's that were manufactured in July 2007 have this problem.

Dixons are still trying to get a Manager to explain the findings at the workshop but nobody there is responding and returning calls, they have acting poorly throughout this whole process and I am starting to become very, very frustrated....

I have invested so much time and effort into getting this resolved and it feels like I am being stone-walled at every single stage of this problem. I did raise a call with consumer direct at the time, so perhaps I should go back and update them of this latest turn of events.

Any suggestions.... please

Muppet Pie

[Muppet Pie]

Ahh, somebody is smiling on me at last.....


Just had an email from Dixons and they have agreed to pay the reapir bill, they are sending me a cheque for the full amount, including the £125 I payed to have the fault diagnosed.

So, after all that it was well worth it. Thanks to all that helped and asisted in this matter. Hopefully, I should have my tv back by the end of next week.

Thanks all

Muppet Pie

[ForestChav]

Just because it's failed doesn't mean it has a manufacturing issue in all cases... it depends why. Obviously with an expensive TV you would expect a longer lifespan but it may easily be a surge or wear which has caused it.

OTOH, it sounds inherent.