Even after just reading this I dont think I will ever buy a Samsung product. This is horrible customer service and just out of fear of this happening they just lost another customer.

Some of these OPs are MUCH more patient than I'll ever be. Apart from registering for college classes pre-internet, I've never been on hold for 2 hours before. At some point you just have to hang up and put the whole thing in writing with plenty of CC recipients.

Agreed. I think I am going to stay away from Samsung products too. This is just a suggestion, but couldn't he have recorded the calls when the ECRs promissed a RMA? As proof that he did call and that he IS supposed to have a service number. Anyways, Bad custommer service.

Wow, sorry to hear that. I had problems with one of their monitors once. I called them, and they sent me a replacement with 2day shipping, (free of charge) with a return label for the old monitor. Got the new monitor, sent the old one back. never had a problem.

I have a Samsung TV and my dad has two. They're awesome. We never needed any customer support on them so I cannot speak to that.

send them a bill

We had some weird problems at work with some of their monitors...a whole series of them decided to go bad at the same time.

Samsung replaced them without a hitch, even gave us considerably larger ones since the original ones weren't in production anymore. The problem came because for some reason we had to take the monitors into the UPS store and pick up the new ones ourselves for some reason the manager of the UPS store wouldn't give us the new ones despite having a 3 way call to samsung customer service and having them insist that he turn the monitors over to us. It was very strange.

That's disheartening, I've actually been a fan of samsung.

When will companies learn their "tenuous at best" position in this country today? One less customer puts out information like this that turns away 20 potential customers... it's a wildfire that sometimes cannot be stopped until things are righted.

Do the right thing, Samsung.

I own many Samsung products (1 TV, 2MP3 players, 1 10 yo CRT monitor, and my parents own a Samsung fridge), never had a problem. Sounds like you just got a bad run. One thing I have noticed about Samsung; is this their first attempt at a digital photo frame? If so, many time their initial offerings are not as good as subsequent versions. I bought the first MP3 player they offered, it was ok, next version was much, much better. Give them a chance is all I'm saying.

@Ash78:

I agree! Yesterday my boyfriend got upset with me for becoming terse after over two weeks on the phone and over 15 hours with AT&T with no results!

I was willing to wait and be patient because my increasingly dysfunctional phone was still able to make calls (most of the time). Now it's a paper weight. If I had been doing this for 14 months, they probably wouldn't answer my phone calls anymore because I'd be too belligerent.

@GMFish: Because of this post, I am taking a 50 inch Samsung TV off of my wedding registry. I should have gone with the Sony in the first place, anyway.

Thanks for the heads up, OP.

I work in customer service for a big company and I am constantly surprized when people make threats as if we were a small company. If you threaten to stop doing business with us, we really don't care. One person really is just too small for us to care. In fact you are complaining a lot, using customer service, cutting into our profit margin, so yeah we want you to go somewhere else. Go on, shoo, shoo. The only time we really care is if your sob story makes news...

Samsung has HORRIBLE(as in dumb/incapable) customer service. Their stuff may be great when it's in working condition, but pray you never have it break. I have a 3 year old Samsung DLP HDTV that had a defect in the screen during manufacturing(mold). It took them 8 months and 4 repair attempts to fix it. Why you may ask? Because they sent 12 screens and each one took at least 2 weeks to get here. Most of them were broken, some scratched, some not properly sealed(the original problem). I still ask myself how you shatter 8 different PLASTIC screens. The 4 that actually made it all had defects. Needless to say, Samsung never actually fixed the problem. So I'm just left with a screen that has minimal damage to it. They could have just replaced my TV... but no... they suck too much at customer service to do that.

I have 2 Samsung monitors that I love. My Samsung TV looks great though the screen sucks. Most of my electronics are Samsung and I wouldn't go with any other brand... but their customer service freaking sucks. Same as ASUS, great products horrible service.

@GMFish: " I have a Samsung TV and my dad has two. They're awesome."

You must not have one of their LCD's. We bought one a year or so ago, and have regretted it ever since. It's fine.....if you're standing directly in front of it. If you're above it, or below it, or sitting off to the side a little, forget about being able to see the screen. It's the worst LCD screen ever. We'll never again buy anything but Sony for this very reason.

Samsung products used to be high quality - my family still has a Samsung tv from like 1988 that is perfectly functional - but every recent product I've purchased from them has kicked the bucket in less than a year. Avoid Samsung.

agreed on bad customer service from samsung. i got a beautiful digital camera from them that i absolutely loved. easy to use, took wonderful pictures. then it started having a problem holding a charge (like less than a month after i got it). samsung customer service was NO help. luckily i had purchased it through overstock.com so was able to return it through them for a full refund. easy as pie. i do miss that camera though.

@snowburnt: The problem is, at least in my area, that unless you pay for a mailbox at a UPS Store, it costs $5/box to pickup UPS shipments from them. Which is kinda crap since UPS' customer centers have crazy-ass hours. My local UPS center isn't open to customers until 13:00.

FedEx Kinko's on the other hand will hold any FedEx shipment free of charge.

I guess that makes the difference between the corporate owned FedEx Kinko's stores and the Franchisee UPS Stores.

Personally, the only Samsung products I have been happy with are a TV and a couple of cell phones. I've seen far more disappointments, though.

I have had four Samsung phones in the past seven years. The first three were fantastic. No problems, great reception. My last phone, however, has been a rollercoaster since day one.

It first started spontaneously going into speakerphone while I was talking, making the person on the other end nigh impossible to understand. I have to switch between speaker and off in order to reset it. Then there's the random reboots for no apparent reason. There was one or two weeks where the phone would nearly discharge completely within a day, after a full night's charge. Mind you the phone was used a maximum of 15 minutes each day, and has excellent signal where it was sitting, so no blaming a boost of antenna power there. And then there's the cheap, fake metallic buttons covered by a plastic film that pops when you press the keys. I don't expect this crap from a phone that retailed for over $250.

My friend has had nagging problems with their last two Samsung phones. It will randomly reboot, like mine. But theirs will randomly *almost* connect to a call, but then the callers can't hear each other. It's not an issue with the network(s); this didn't happen with previous phones.

Finally there's the Samsung 37" LCD TV and "Soundbar" speaker/subwoofer system that my friend spend almost $2000 on. Don't get me wrong, the sound is AWESOME, but the picture on the TV, even when watching a DVD, leaves much to be desired.

Samsung used to stand for "quality" for me; it now represents "overpriced crap". Please don't "flame" me for my opinion. If you had the same experiences, you would think the same.

@Franknbeans: You mean like this one?

I had the same kind of treatment with my brand new LCD TV. It broke after about a month and it took almost a month to get them to fix it. First they sent my info to the wrong service center, then the second service center lied and cursed me out. The third service center tried to send a drunk out to my place. Finally, I got the right info to the right service center and he came out and fixed the problem. Or so he thought, turns out he guessed wrong and they had to overnight another part.

@GMFish: This is weird. Samsung TVs have a reputation around AV, electronics, and repair forums as being not worth the money. They have high-quality pictures and are cheap, the two things you look for in a TV, but they don't last very long, aren't well protected against damage to most critical components, and are incredibly expensive to repair. Samsung, in general, is known for using super cheap components, then charging an arm and a leg for repairs or unique replacement parts.

However, I've never had problems with their customer service. They've been very nice and very quick (and very expensive).

@root4root: Give them a chance is all I'm saying.

I think the OP gave them several chances.

It's wierd, but I don't think I own a single Samsung product. I've always considered their stuff to be good, but something else was always a better deal - usually a Sony.

@Franknbeans:

You and your company had better start rethinking your business plan. Look around. How many industries can you name that are currently ADDING customers? Ask Sprint, Circuit City, the housing market, banks, and the auto industry (not just US-based) how much they care about people going elsewhere. Nobody knows more about hemorrhaging paying customers than they do. The best way for a business to survive right now is for their customers to stay with them; getting their current customers to buy more is even better.

I am curious as to how you deal with issues with companies on a personal level? Do you just cut your losses and run? Yell and scream? Compromise?

@Franknbeans: Since you work in Customer Service you might not realize the total effect customer service can have.

exceptional customer service=word of mouth=FREE ADVERTISING!

Poor customer service=word of mouth=Loss of current customers+loss of potential customers=not meeting corporate profit goals+losing money

If you wait to address issues for when they make the news it's far too late, you've already lost the initial customer's business, anyone they tell won't buy from you anymore. By the time it makes the news you'll probably be facing legal issues which means that you could be paying the customer which will just pile onto the money you're throwing out the window by ignoring the customers.

Brilliant!

@Franknbeans: that's a shame.

what company do you work for, so i can make sure i never buy from them and get stuck with your crappy customer service ethic?

At work I manage the company's PCs and I have literally replaced more than 20 Samsung LCD monitors. They have always replaced them (after weeks of waiting) but 20+ out of 40 or so. Unacceptable!

Samsung is blacklisted from my purchase list now.

@Franknbeans: "If you threaten to stop doing business with us, we really don't care."

You suck.

@Franknbeans: @snowburnt: One example of free advertising as a result of great service: Netflix. They certainly aren't hurting.

@Franknbeans: Congratulations on your magnificent interpersonal skills and business ethics. Surely the consumer economy will boom with people like you at the helm!

Oh wait.

If your name is on the product, it's never small.

I think it costs @ $75 to start a small claims action.
In such an action, if the company sends a rep, you have the opportunity to explain directly to the judge what the isssue is, and provide supporting documentation.

If they don't send a rep you win by default.

At the very least, for your $75, they have to pay to send a member of staff to appear in court, sometimes have to fly them in. Even if you lose it could be a satisfying $75.

I think one of the problems is these companies never have a brick and mortar store you can go to.
Its a lot harder to ignore someone when they're standing right there infront of you!

KK

Just a suggestion for the OP.
I have a photo frame that we got Christmas (1 year ago) also. I worked fine for the few days I had it hooked up.
Then we unhooked it while we tried to decided where it could live.
When I hooked it up again....Nothing. No picture, No Power..

Turns out the problem was the wallwart. I tried another one (From my laptop...overpowered but it fit)
That worked. Frame is fine. So I picked up a something like this [www.walmart.com]
All is well now.... $10 later

@sleze69: The funny thing is that the panel, the image processing engine (for anything but the high-end ones), and most of the internals in a Sony LCD TV are the exact same as in a Samsung. If this is how Samsung treats their customers, I'd definitely buy the same thing from another company.

@Franknbeans:

I love it.

Threaten to never do business with me again.

From a small business perspective You (a generic you) are less than 0.000001% of my annual sales.

I may be nothing more than a "retail store", but guess what, I am also the official importer for two product lines. Go ahead don't buy it from me, I still make my cut.

I also manufacturer another product line. Didn't know that? Oh well, our names are not usually attached. But when you buy "it" from "my competition" you are still buying "it" from me.

Yo, people, businesses are so intertwined these days you can't tell the players apart.

And the threats are childish.

Oh sure,in this case Sammy screwed up. No doubt. But Sammy products AND components can be found everywhere, even when you don't expect to find a Sammy component.

Grow up. Attack the problems with poor customer service. But quit the "I will never buy from your company again" crapola. You will buy from my company again and again and again again.

@Franknbeans: What company do you work for. Seriously? I'd like to see one of the higher-ups in your company catch wind of what you said here. A customer service rep that doesn't give a crap about customers? I've heard JOBS are hard to come by, too.

Count me out on Samsung products... that just blows.

@BlackMage is doing the Time Warp agaaaaaaain!!!: I've noticed that Samsung cell phones don't last as long as other brands. My wife and I got new phones at the same time about 2 years back. She opted for the free-after-rebate Samsung option. I went for the 19.99 Motorola option. My phone is still working great, though it's pretty beat up. Her phone died 5 months ago, and she borrowed another Samsung phone from a friend to use (stupid 2-year contract), and that one's on it's last legs, too.

My Samsung Glyde is the worst phone I ever had. You touch a button at the top and it activates one on the bottom. You touch 3 and get 9. You leave the phone alone and it changes screens by itself. It downloads songs by itself and Verizon refused a refund
because they said there is no way it would do that
by itself. Ohh no?

There go the Samsung monitors I'd been looking at.
::shrug::
If they want to treat long time customers like that, why would I want to buy into that sort of trouble?

I feel the pain. I had one of those All in One entertainment setups (DVD, apm, speakers, etc...) go AWOL and shock me through the plastic houseing when I went to open it up to change the disc. (this was a much larger shock than simple static, and it was plastic)

After fighting with the CSR's and eventually some supervisor, I gave up and said the same thing. You win this round Samsung but I've told my story to EVERYBODY that I get the chance to and will never buy another Samsung product. I'm to the point that even though I know their HDTV's have some of the best ratings, I'll be purchasing mine from another manufacturer.

We sell monitors to corporate and government customers. For most office use we sell the "value" line from Acer, but for a time we endorsed Samsung as a high quality choice for 911 centers that operate 24x7. What a mistake. We've had a failure rate of nearly 100% on the 19 inch LCDs from Samsung and, while Samsung promises to cross-ship replacement units, they never have any in stock. On one unit that failed in June of 2008 they promised to send me a 100% refund of the price paid in 2006. I'm still waiting for that check. One excuse after another. Claimed "lost paperwork" and "gee, someone made a computer error" after another. It's disgusting. We, too, have crossed them off our list. We'll never again sell a Samsung product. The products suck wind, but the lying (or incompetent) employees blow.

I despise Samsung with a passion. A week after getting one of their phones, the front screen on my flip-phone cracked. Although the phone was still under warranty, Samsung refused to replace it, claiming that because the main screen was still working, a cracked front screen is cosmetic damage, and therefore not covered under warranty.

Never again.

Nobody questions the fact that Samsung makes decent consumer products - my last 3 cell phones were made by them, but in the past I had to deal with delight less customer service too. I don't doubt this story a bit. They just don't care. I guess their attitude is that you bought their product sucker; well now that you have a problem with it you are stuck. Good luck with that…

@SanjushreeTyndareus: I have Samsung LCD. Bought it nearly two years ago. Works fantastic. It doesn't have the widest viewing range, but I don't think that was an issue unique to Samsung's LCDs two years ago.