Samsung TX-P2675WH 26" Widescreen HDTV
Read Before Purchasing a Samsung Item; Poor Customer Service, Grade F
On December 26, 2005 I purchased a 26\\" Samsung TXP2675 widescreen, flat screen, high-definition television from the Rex store in Niagara Falls, NY.  I enjoyed this television until March 31st, 2006 when it stopped working.  Many warranties expire 90 days after purchase.  I was lucky on March 31st, 96 days after purchase, that my television was under a one year warranty.  It is unfortunate that this particular television broke after such a short period of time, but I attempted to rectify the situation promptly. <br /> <br /> I called Samsung's toll-free technical support line and was instructed to try a variety of solutions (all of which I had already tried on my own before calling).  Eventually, the technical support personnel gave up and gave me the number of a company that would service my TV free of charge.  The Lifetime Service Center based in Buffalo, NY was willing to come and service my TV but repeatedly told me that my TV was no longer under warranty because it broke after 90 days.  I checked with Rex and located my receipt and warranty information for the television and confirmed that it was still under warranty, despite the Lifetime Service Center's insistence that it was not.   <br />  <br />To their credit, the Lifetime Service Center came to repair the TV on April 3rd.  Despite knowing the model of my television and having a thorough description of the problem before coming, the repairman did not have the needed parts to perform the repair.  He told me he needed to order the part, and left for the day.   <br />  <br />The repairman returned on April 8th.  He replaced the power supply of my television, but that did not solve the problem.  This led him to conclude that it was my picture tube that was broken and that Samsung did not replace picture tubes, they simply replaced the television.  He claimed he would file the paperwork immediately.  In later conversations with Samsung's replacement department, they informed me that the paperwork was not filed Saturday April 8th when the problem was discovered, but Wednesday April 12th.   <br />  <br />Samsung's replacement department told me on April 17th that they did not have any of my particular model available and instead I needed to choose a different model.  My choices were a 27\\" television that was not widescreen, or one of two 30\\" \\"SlimFit\\" televisions.  Both of these TVs appeared to be too large to fit in the TV stand that I owned, and the customer reviews alerted me to numerous problems with these models.  Offered only these three choices, I had to choose the TXR3080.  It could be considered a slight upgrade over my model because of the marginally larger screen, but with such negative customer reviews I was concerned.  At this point I had already been without a working television for 17 days and wanted to get another TV as soon as possible. <br />  <br />The company in charge of delivering the TV to me, NVC Logistics Group, wanted to deliver it on Wednesday, April 26.  Unfortunately, I had to work during the hours that they would be available to deliver the TV.  Normally I work 9-5 Monday through Friday and NVC Logistics does not have any Saturday hours so I had no choice but to take a day off of work.  Fortunately, on that Friday, I thought I would be able to leave work early and be at my house by 12:30 in the afternoon and could receive the television.  This way I would only need to miss half a day of work.  I received a call from NVC the night before indicating that they would deliver the TV sometime between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.  This forced me to take a day off of work so that I could receive the TV.  They did not show up between 11:00-1:00, they arrived at 10:45 AM.   <br />  <br />As the movers unpacked the TV, it was quite obvious that the TV had been damaged.  One corner of the TV looked like it had been smashed with a hammer.  It was apparently dropped or somehow mishandled during shipping.  I refused to accept the damaged TV and called Samsung's replacement department to see how I could get a new TV delivered. <br />  <br />Over the next hours I talked to various people at Samsung's customer service line, replacement division, and Rex.  My only recourse appeared to be, \\"waiting for new paperwork to go through the system.\\"  At this point, 28 days after my TV broke; I thought I deserved some sort of compensation.  I had been without a television for nearly a month, had missed a day of work so that I could receive a broken TV, and had undergone undue aggravation in the process.  Samsung told me that my warranty would be extended for a month or two and that they would expedite shipping on the next television.   <br />  <br />I was upset that the television arrived damaged, but Samsung refused to take any responsibility for this, simply telling me that they were not responsible for damage that occurred during shipping.  They choose to ship their TVs with this company, and I believed that they should be responsible for who they choose to contract work to.  If a company they have selected is unable to get a TV to me unharmed, they ought to choose a different company and stand behind the services and companies they use. <br />  <br />The \\"expedited shipping\\" appears to be an outright lie as I write this on May 11th and am still without a TV.  The first TV arrived 11 days after talking to the replacement department.  The next TV has not materialized after 13 days. <br />  <br />This experience has left me with many questions.  Why did my TV break so quickly?  Why has it been so hard to get it replaced?  Most importantly, what has become of customer service?  In the past, companies strove to make their customers happy.  In this instance, Samsung has shown no interest in doing anything to please me.  I told them that I was not expecting a check to make restitution for my time missed from work, but an upgraded television would be a nice gesture.  When I suggested that, one of the representatives at the Replacement Department laughed at my request as ridiculous.  If anyone from Samsung is reading this, his name was Mike.  Also, why does the replacement process have to be so convoluted?  Samsung could easily have sent a money order to the store where I bought my TV and had them provide me with a new one.  This solution would've gotten me a TV within days.  My television broke 42 days ago.  I'm still waiting.