LG Electronics Offers Customer Amazing Service On Broken Plasma TV
If you owned an expensive TV that stopped working, and you were years out of warranty, you'd assume the manufacturer would have nothing to do with you, correct? LG doesn't play that game—Tim's experience with them when his LG set went kaput is a mind-blowing example of a company practically coddling its past—and almost certainly future—customers.
His TV is about 5 years old, and earlier this year it stopped working. Although it was out of warranty, he called LG Electronics "on a whim" and to his surprise, they extended his warranty to cover the cost of repairs.
The repairs didn't take. Tim says the 3rd party repairman's last words to him were, "I just put in the parts. You'll have to call LG." So he did.
We called LG again thinking they would say that they've given their best effort and apologize and we'd be on our way. Not so. Again, rather than making us feel bad at all the next conversation shocked me... it was along the lines of this: "We're so sorry Mr. Heuer you've had this problems. We don't want to inconvenience you anymore. We'd like to replace your TV with a new one."
In case you didn't hear it, that was the sound of me picking my jaw up off the floor.
Not only did they offer to replace it, but they gave him 3 models to choose from.
Tim summed up the experience by writing, "This whole process has really just been simply amazing to me. I cannot believe how this company is really taking customer service seriously."
"Great customer service follow-up: LG Electronics" [Method of failed] (Thanks to bmccormack!)
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Comments:
I don't know if I agree with the tone of disbelief. I know this type of customer service is rare but this is our goal. So it shouldn't be coddling right? It's just great customer service.
Maybe we could have a Best Company in America contest instead of the Worst Company in America contest? It would be wonderful to thank those companies that go above and beyond.
It's reassuring to hear of a maker of high-end electronics standing by their product. (A $1500 television qualifies as high-end in my book.)
Here's my question: If I spend $1500 on a 42" LCD or plasma tv, what's a reasonable expectation for how long that thing should work? For reference, sitting in my living room right now is a 32" Sony tv with a good ol' cathode ray tube screen. It's 17 years old and works as well as it did the day I brought it home.
@Wombatish: Yes, the LG customer service experience is pretty mind-boggling. I'm living in South Korea and recently purchased an LG external hard drive, although NOT from LG. I actually bought it through one of the many online discounters you can find here. Anyway, after about 2 months it completely stopped working; wouldn't even show up as an available drive in My Computer.
I called the service center (or rather, had a Korean friend call). They offered to have a delivery service come pick it up at my house, free of charge, so they could take a look at it. Within 3 days I got a brand new hard drive delivered to my door.
This seems to be common with South Korean companies. Just recently I got caught in a horrible downpour with no umbrella, and my Samsung cell phone got pretty soaked in my pocket. The microphone stopped working later that day, so I dropped it off at the local Samsung service center. 45 minutes and not one penny later, I picked up my phone, which had a new microphone AND a new keyboard installed because they thought it looked like it might wear out soon.
Seriously, American companies could learn a thing or three about customer retention from their Korean competitors.
I try to buy LG whenever I can. I've heard similar stories about them before and I definitely want to support such a company. Besides, they make great products that often cost much less than the competition. This year alone I've bought an LCD TV and a widescreen computer monitor. I'm very happy with the products. I don't expect to ever need to call them for service.
You hear that Sony? You're dead to me.
@ColoradoShark: I'd put Logitech right in there. my MX Rev stopped charging and they've been very helpful trying to get it fixed.
right now I'm waiting on the new replacement to arrive :)
...I'm tearing up, just a little bit.
@aguacarbonica: I don't know, getting a TV replaced that's years out of warranty -- I'd be stunned by disbelief also.
@AlexTNOA: I am actually kind of disappointed in Apple's service. They are excellant at correcting problems created by their front line of service, and they are generally very pain-free for warrenty repair, BUT they charge a premium to buy Apple, and I just don't see an improvement in quality over the years. I have returned at least 10 ipods, and 2 monitors to them. I can't imagine buying their products without AppleCare added.
Definitely agree with LG's pure awesomeness. Our entire home is outfitted with LG appliances, and we love each and every one of them like our children. However, like every family, there's the redheaded stepchild, our refrigerator.
We purchased it about a year ago, and it hasn't worked correctly from day one (the ice-maker is a completely horrible design). Through a combination of laziness, resignation, and denial, we managed to live with it until recently it threw a temper tantrum and decided to spit ice chunks and water on our kitchen floor at random intervals.
A quick call to LG brought Mike to our door the very next morning. He found one obvious problem, (a sticking solenoid that prevented the ice-maker door from closing, causing the entire works to freeze up over time), as well as a problem with the ice bucket itself. Unfortunately, it wasn't a part he had available, so he said he'd order it and that it could take a few days, (oh, here we go).
Much to our surprise, he returned the very next morning with a new bucket assembly. Five minutes was all it took and our freezer actually works the way it was intended.
LG has definitely made a friend for life.
This makes me feel really good about buying my 42" LG Plasma and 32" LG LCD. I'll be buying nothing but LG in the future. Almost makes me feel guilty for buying the 32" Sony LCD I have...
I had a similar experience with LG, I bought a blu-ray drive for my PC off ebay. It was new, but it broke (not recognized by computer) after about a week. Called LG, I sent it in, and they sent me a replacement in a few days. I was super happy about it and will purchase products from them again.
@JiminyChristmas: I've been waiting for 9 years for my Phillips 27" to die so I'd have an excuse to buy a new flat screen. No such luck yet. Still works great. I'm right there with ya.
@ColoradoShark: I like that idea. What would consumerist give as a trophy instead of the Golden Poo? A Golden Blue Ribbon? Golden Smiley? Golden Person-Whispering-Into-Other-Person's-Ear?
@JiminyChristmas: We've finally given up waiting for our 10-year-old CRT TV to wear out. The built-in VCR player died, but the TV itself is still going strong.
@JiminyChristmas: Depends. If it's an HP? About the length of the warranty, and when it fails they'll come up with dates that show the warranty expired before you bought it, or can't be covered because of the phase of the moon, but wouldn't you like to buy more of their fantastic warranty service before realizing how truly bankrupt their corporate ethics have become?...
Back on topic, LG isn't perfect but this is the kind of service that gives companies staying power. Bravo LG.
one of the best cell phones i had was an lg. i don't remember the model, but at the time having a vivid color screen was nice when everyone else was in grey/greenscale.
i do like my htc now, though.
LG is like the Hyundai of the electronics market...poor products when first introduced (LG = Lucky Goldstar), but have become better. Too bad they pretty much killed off the Zenith brand though when they bought them out.
@lotussix: I used to sell LG's phones when I worked for Sprint like 2001-2006. They had some cool phones but some were really unreliable. Eventually they became quite a bit better.
For awhile I didn't trust their stuff but it's been a few years and I've heard nothing but good things from them. This is the icing on the cake; I can't believe this article.
@ColoradoShark: This has been suggested a few times already and I would love to see it as well. Some nominations based on personal experience and other people's submissions:
Apple
Amazon
Zappos (pre-amazon)
New Egg
Nintendo
LG
@KhaiJB: If it is under warranty, I don't think that qualifies as that big of a deal. Just sounds like a standard RMA. I had the IR blasters on my Harmony 880 go out a while ago and they wouldn't do anything since it was out of warranty. They were kind enough though to offer a 50% discount on a new Harmony. Their web store prices are so inflated though, it really only turned out to be maybe a 10% discount off of the amazon.com price.
@tmed: I still think apple would be tough competition in a BCOA contest though. Though the quality in the build hasn't gotten better over the years (arguably, it may have gotten worse), I think that their customer service counteracts the issues they have had with hardware. I hear so many stories of people having issues with their hardware, they bring it to an apple genius, and boom, they get new hardware. Now on the other hand, we got a couple of DOA computers from Dell recently and because we didn't find out they were bad until after 30 days, they are trying to refuse to send replacement computers.
Wow the timing on this is great. I am probably going to buy my first LCD TV this weekend. As it IS my first, I'm nervous as heck about plunking down a lot of cash for something like this which is basically a whole lot of unknowns.
LG stuff I have had before, when they called themselves Goldstar. Never needed warranty service. Maybe I missed out!
When I buy a CD/DVD ROM/Burner - it says LG on the front. Never disappoints.
I'm actually in the market for a TV come the holidays. And a new washer/dryer. This just bumped LG up a notch on my list.
We recently purchased a 42" LG LCD on a whim to replace our 30" wide screen JVC. Although we had no problems with the JVC, we wanted something we could do more with. The LG is great!!! HTPC, HD, Blu-ray, it all looks great! I can even read the text on the Consumerist from my TV. We paid $699 for the TV from a local store and couldn't be happier.
@andrewe: Count me in. In the last decade all of our Sony electronics have slowly but surely been replaced by LG. The large living room tv is the next to go and it will undoubtedly be a LG.
They also make great kitchen appliances!
I picked up a LG 42" LCD TV from Circuit City 18 months ago. It recently died, and initially when I called LG, they said there was nothing they could do. After some persistence, and verification that it was only 18 months old, they sent a local repair company to replace - Full Warranty.
I have been happy with all the LG products I have purchased. I am especially a fan of their cell phones. I was amazed to learn recently that LG is the same company that used to be called "Gold Star". I always associated Gold Star with TV's you could buy in the grocery store and other bottom of the barrel electronics.
Excellent thread here!
I did not know that LG = Goldstar
and it is refreshing to hear good customer service news for a change.
A couple years ago I bought an HDTV, don't remember by who, I didn't like the quality, I returned it, bought an LG (I passed it up the first time thinking it would be cheap, but read reviews and they were positive) and loved it until 3 months later when it was stolen along with half the stuff in my house... I would buy LG again, especially after reading this article.
@rufus1001: The way these comments were going, when you started the story about being stuck in the rain, I thought you were going to say a friendly LG employee appeared and handed you an umbrella and galoshes. The cell phone repair is pretty good though, I guess.
@cuchanu: Well they haven't gotten that much better. I made the mistake of purchasing the LG Rumor, and it turns itself off all the time. Constantly. When I went to the forums, I discovered that they all do that. Of course, LG will happily replace it for you. With another LG Rumor, that will turn itself off all the time.
Saddest part is that I had two Motorola phones before this that did the exact same thing, and I had made great pains beforehand to never get stuck with a Motorola phone again. My friends all think I'm the world's biggest flake, try telling everybody you know that "my phone turns itself off sorry I missed your call" for years, through several different models of phone. They don't even bother calling me anymore, they just call my wife instead.
HER Motorola works just fine =/
I'm in the market for a new HDTV for the bedroom, LG just went to the top of list because of this article.
I currently have a fancy gigantic Philips HDTV with Ambilight in my living room, I ran into an issue, I emailed them twice through through their support form and they never got back to me. Eventually, a few months later, the issue resolved itself (lucky?) but that also means that Philips is not on my list of HDTV manufacturers anymore.
@KhaiJB: Logitech lost my favor with their poor service and response to the Logitech Extreme 3D Pro joystick. The joystick is poorly made and loses it's calibration within months to a year. This has been going on for years, and on their own forums they denied the problem with page after page on the thread told the same story. Thousands of people have the same issue yet it's their fault somehow? Or they're making it up? Come on now.
Well, my experience with LG is crap.
I bought a new DVD drive and it wouldn't install. I contacted customer service TWICE using their online support form, and I never heard anything back.
I then filed an online warranty claim and still heard nothing.
Maybe if they had been able to willing to help, I could recommend them, but with the experience I had, I steer people away from LG.
Nice to hear about a company that stands behind it's products. Seems to be the minority now a days
@lotussix:
HTC RULES! I am addicted to mine. It's my everything - planner, email, MP3 player, web browser, calculator, I could go on...
I'm buying an LG!
@lotussix: I had an LG cell phone. It was far from the best phone I have ever had but it was by no means a bad one either. I had some problems with it (entirely my fault) later on in its life that I called LG about. The customer service experience was amazing. I had little to no wait time and the CSRs worked hard with me to figure out the parts I needed. Eventually we got it, I ordered it and I had the new part in 2 days for under $20. Granted, it is still a huge mark-up, but fast included shipping. It turned out to be the wrong part, so they sent me an RMA form with a packet to send it back in and shipping paid for. I was blown away. No restocking fee, and they'd pay for the shipping back. After that, I got the part I needed and was set. By far the single best customer service experience I have ever had.
By far the worst was when I applied a BIOS flash to my HP provided by HP that just about toasted my computer. I have one of their wonderful lemons (like 50% of their stuff), the dv6000, that they had actually lost a class-action for and had to extend service and warranties on. Before you could send in your computer to get it fixed/repaired, you had to apply this BIOS flash to it. I called HP when it messed up and I was given so much grief over it. I couldn't believe that they would refuse to help me when a BIOS flash they required messed up my computer. In retrospect, I should have attempted to bill HP for the 20+ costly end of the quarter graduate student hours they cost me trying to fix and, ultimately, fix my computer on my own.
Well, it is great but I wouldn't say it should be expected. I mean, word gets out and then you have douches breaking their five year old tvs on purpose just to get a free one. People do this - I worked at ll bean and we had people all the time trying to return 10 year old clothes bc of the generous "lifetime warranty" policy (which really meant life of the product, not YOUR life).
Going above and beyond (what LG did here, I'd say) is so beneficial for the company. They now have a customer for life who will think of LG before other companies when buying TVs or DVD players or air conditioners or whatever else they make.
And he'll likely tell his friends and family about this, and while they may not move LG to to the top of their list, it'll be on it.
Then he's driven to write into Consumerist, and more people will see it.
So the cost of that one TV (to them, what... $400?) will make them that one-hundred fold over the next 30 years.
@kpetree10: Agreed. I loved the way LG TVs looked in bars, bought a 37" LCD and love it. And now, I love it just a bit more.
I've been leery of LG since I first started seeing them around - they always seemed to have lower price points per feature sets, which implied to me 'cheaply made'. After reading these, I'm not leery any more. Coming up for me are two new monitors and a big flat screen TV, and LG is now right up there.
My experience with LG customer service was crap. I purchased an LG Blu-Ray player(BD300) along with an LG LCD TV. The Blu-Ray player worked great for 5 months until it just stopped playing and recognizing standard definition dvd's and music cd's altogether.
I called LG customer service and they wanted me to pay $70 plus shipping/handling to repair since I was past the 90 days labor warranty. Their parts warranty is 1 year. Paying $70 just to bring it to the condition you would reasonably expect it to be in after 5 months of ownership is just wrong.
To add insult to injury, the customer service rep said he had no record of this issue in their database. Since LG pulled this model shortly after introducing it they most likely are aware this model is a lemon and are leaving their customers in the lurch.It appears that hundreds if not the majority of the owners have this same problem.
Hows the pro starcraft scene out there? You ARE a fan right? :)
@elangomatt: I certainly don't think Apple should be out of the top echelon of companies because they do fix their mistakes. I would prefer to see a more proactive company.
I've posted in the comments before about this but:
LG's customer service is apparently amazing, or they have a -ton- of spare TVs/monitors/etc lying around.
They did the same thing for my boyfriend's monitor (2 years out of warranty) except he didn't even try to repair it first.
He just called them to see if he could pay them to repair it and BAM new (bigger) monitor, free shipping and everything.
All they asked was he send back the old one so they could see what went wrong (great quality control if they care that much) and recycle it.
It doesn't get much better.