Samsung Smart Televisions - Bad Quality

Samsung Smart TV - How Bad is the Quality!

Tags: Samsung Smart TV Television Finances Quality Products Price Credit Card Offers Deals Warranties Connect Cables USB Devices Plug Factory Reset Internet Problem Blinking Technician Cost Indian Rupees Repair Profits Advertisement LED Panel Manufacturers Customers Apple iPhones Companies Technology South Korea President Management Sales Consumers Bluetooth Skype Cheating

A few years back, we had purchased a much touted 32" Samsung Smart TV. It was marketed as the best with unique features. We spent a lot for it. Those were the days when we were not circumspect with finances nor did we realise that the quality of products is constantly degrading.

Anyway, today was the day we 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. That is not all. The unit kind of conked out today. The picture started blinking on and off. Whatever we could do and was advised to do, we did but to no avail. We were 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.

We 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 or does not want to do anything about these serious quality issues and units conking out so rapidly.

So, we called a Samsung technician to check for rectification. He visited and then went on to say that it would cost us around Rs.19,000/- (Indian Rupees) to replace the panel. That gave us a shock. With the quoted cost, you would get a new TV of similar type! We do not mind paying for rectification but this - a repair cost that is more than the purchase of a new TV more or less? We asked him what is the logic of repair cost if one can go out and buy a new unit... he said that is how the company prices it and there is nothing he can do about it. We 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 - We 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 us 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. And Samsung is one of those who is at the helm of it... We 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. With our Smart TV, there were additional problems too such as that we were mis-sold the unit stating that it is bluetooth and Skype capable when it was not! Support for the latter was withdrawn abruptly sometime after the purchase but interestingly this feature was one of those wherein 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?

We even wrote directly to the Senior Management including MR. HC Hong @ hc.hong@samsung.com 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 we received positive responses from the top, then we would have thought that perhaps this is a problem at the bottom but till date, we have not even received a single response leading us to believe that Samsung top management are directly driving these kind of malpractices!

This is how we see it. What do you think? Do leave your comments...

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