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A few years back, I had purchased a much touted 32" Samsung Smart TV. It was marketed as the best with unique features. I spent around Rs.43, 500/- for it. It was marketed as SMART TV, Motion Control, Skype Capable, Full HD and Bluetooth, to name a few. Those were the days when I was not circumspect with finances nor did I realise that quality of Samsung products was going from bad to worse.
Anyway, today was the day I rued that decision on multiple counts. A similar TV today costs around 1/3rd of the price I spent then, may be far less, if one is knowledgeable about credit card offers, deals, extended warranties, et al. The worst part is that the unit kind of conked out today. The picture started blinking on and off. Whatever I could do and was advised to do, I did but to no avail. I was suggested to disconnect and reconnect all the cables, pull out any USB devices and plug them back in, do a factory reset and so on. All done but with no positive outcome.
I researched the internet just to understand the nature and extent of the problem. It turns out that Samsung has this huge blinking problem with numerous of their TV sets, both old and new. The problem is plastered all over the internet. Just imagine that but Samsung does not care or want to do anything about these serious quality issues and units conking out so rapidly. Customers spend huge amounts on recognised brands rather than unknown brands or unbranded products because they expect high quality assurance from such companies. Now to know that within few years, the TV is useless is extremely painful.
Further, I realised sometime back that I was mis-sold the unit stating that it is bluetooth and Skype capable when it was not! Support for Skype was abruptly withdrawn within a short time from purchase date but interestingly this feature was one of those USPs for which the unit was priced heavily - so how can such a feature for which customers paid through their noses be just taken out. Is that not cheating?
For the blinking complaint, I called a Samsung technician to check for rectification. He visited and then went on to say that it would cost me around Rs.19, 000/-(Indian Rupees) to replace the panel. That gave me a shock. With the quoted cost, you would get a new TV of similar type! I do not mind paying for rectification but this - a repair cost that is more than the purchase of a new TV more or less? I asked him that is it not illogical for repair cost to be more than a new unit. he said that is how the company prices it and there is nothing he can do about it. I also asked him how come the unit has failed so rapidly despite the fact that we use it sparingly and also quite carefully, so much so that our unit still looks new to the naked eye. He said it does not matter and that the panels typically fail in 3 years.
He also said that only those individual bulbs which failed can be repaired making it far cheaper but Samsung has ordered them not to do so and that the entire panel should be replaced - I guess to increase their obscene profits! It is also interesting that Samsung regularly advertises that its LED panels are highly reliable and last for decades with normal usage when in fact that is false and misleading advertising!
That got me thinking. does this mean that manufacturers are deliberately making their units fail after certain period to force customers to fleece out for either repairs or purchasing a new unit? Sometime back, it would have been difficult to consider such a thing but today is not that day! Remember, the recent fiasco of Apple slowing down its old iPhones deliberately through its OS to make customers buy new ones? Also remember, how companies aggressively sell through planned obsolescence of features of their products wherein an item becomes deliberately obsolete in short periods of time? Further, though companies already have the technology, they refuse to let it out in the market all at once, instead adopting planned obsolescence!
It appears that too many corporates are resorting to previously taboo / unheard of unscrupulous, unethical, indecent and unprofessional practices to make that extra buck to shore up their profits at the cost of customers. Profits are not bad but obscene methods of making profits are! And Samsung is one of those who is at the helm of it. I mean its previous CEO and heir to the Samsung empire was convicted in South Korea and is facing imprisonment for bribing a former President of South Korea. If these are the corporate ethics at the helm of Samsung, then imagine what all negative practices their lower rungs of management and sales teams would follow at the bottom with consumers? And it is not just Samsung. Over recent times, the virus has engulfed most corporates. very few remain untainted perhaps!
Samsung has clearly been a bad boy and has made quite a bad name for itself in such horrible practices. I hope someone from Samsung Senior Management India or the world sits up and takes notice of my problem and provides a good resolution! However, I do not think there is any intent to redress customer issues! I even wrote directly to the Senior Management including MR. HC Hong to check if it is the lower rung of Samsung staff who are being ineffective and unscrupulous or this is directly emanating from the very top. Had I received positive responses from the top, then I would have thought that perhaps this is a problem at the bottom but till date, I have not even received a single response leading me to believe that Samsung top management are directly driving these kind of malpractices!
Today, I connected with another independent and qualified TV technician to get a second opinion. I only told him the problem but not all that Samsung said and my own research and findings. I wanted to see if he was competent to give me a sound opinion. To his credit, he just took few minutes to look at the TV, picture, the blinking, etcetera and gave me his opinion. Apparently, one or more of the bulbs have failed. That is why the blinking issue. If those are replaced, the TV should work fine. I asked him if the problem will recur once the repairs are completed. He said he does not expect it so for a reasonable period of time. I asked him whether he was sure it would get rectified. He confidently assured me that they get lot of LED TVs from Samsung with this problem and he was sure of rectification. He quoted me Rs.4, 500/-. I will be handing over the TV to him tomorrow. He will complete repairs and hand the TV back in the evening after testing. Charges will be collected once I am satisfied with the work. And I was so frustrated that I thought I had to do away with this highly paid TV for junk. oh my God!
Now guys, just compare this Rs.4, 500/- with Samsung quote of Rs.19, 000/- and you tell me if Samsung is not doing something unscrupulous? Check the internet - complaints of Samsung LED panels failing between 2 - 4 years are many - it can’t be just a coincidence! I believe Samsung is engineering it so deliberately! Once the customer comes crying to them, they will loot the customer exorbitantly by replacing entire panel at high cost instead of replacing only failed bulbs! This way they unscrupulously shore up their ill-gotten profits. This company appears to have gone down the drain completely. Nothing can be ruled out! Remember that its former CEO is facing imprisonment after conviction