On Halloween night, the Samsung repairman rises out of the potato field and delivers working televisions to all of the couch potatoes of the world. He chooses only the most sincere couch potatoes; those who wait patiently for his arrival and keep the faith that he truly will come. Reader Joe, the most sincere couch potato of all, waited all night for the Samsung repairman to arrive and fix his television’s faulty capacitor. But the Samsung repairman never came.

Much like Linus waiting at home for The Great Pumpkin to arrive on Halloween night, I too, spent my Halloween evening at home waiting on my Samsung TV to be repaired. And much like Linus’s Great Pumpkin, the Samsung repair guy NEVER showed up. So, I wonder if the Great Pumpkin and the Samsung TV repair guy are the same person? I love that Charlie Brown program and would have loved to watch it with my family last night – but my Samsung TV doesn’t work!

The issue with the TV started last Friday. The TV was slow to power up and would sometime make a “clicking” noise. Within a few hours, it escalated to no picture and no sound except the clicking. About 90 seconds of Google time revealed that this condition was a widely known issue of a defective capacitor and the subject of at least one Class Action Law Suit, resulting in Samsung establishing a toll free number for repairs.

I called the Samsung toll free number Friday evening and the nice person took my Model and Serial numbers and verified that my TV was indeed a victim of the bad capacitor and that Samsung would arrange for a repair. On Monday, a TV repair company called and stated that they would be out to my home on Wednesday to make the repair. I was pleased with the response thus far. On Wednesday morning, the service company called and stated that a technician would be at my home between 4pm and 6pm to make the necessary repairs.

You guessed it. They didn’t make an appearance – nor did they call to say that they would be late, had a flat tire or had seen the headless horseman and had to return home to change underwear. Nothing. So, at 6:15pm, I phoned Samsung again and asked for their assistance in updating my repair status. Samsung lacked the understanding of my frustration: leaving work early to be home at 4pm, not going out with my family to a planned Halloween event, etc. Samsung stated that they had no idea what was going on and was at a loss. Me too.

I gave the repair service until 7pm, with still no contact. They didn’t answer my calls nor did they return voice mail messages left. I called Samsung back and asked if there was any other repair option available in my area. A few key strokes later and Samsung had reassigned my repair ticket to another repair company. Samsung stated that the new vendor would call me Thursday morning for scheduling.

On Thursday, when no one called by 11am, I telephoned the new service provider and the gentleman stated that he was aware of the Samsung work order and that he could fix my TV. When I asked when he might be available, he replied “maybe today, maybe tomorrow”. But that he just wasn’t sure when he could get to me.

Maybe today, maybe tomorrow.

Maybe never.

If the new company can’t help, maybe it’s time to escalate this complaint within Samsung North America. We hear that Officeofthepresident@sea.samsung.com is a reliable address to reach someone with actual power.

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