So I was playing my xbox yesterday when my 18 month old, 58" Samsung Plasma TV went pop and died. That doesn't supposed to happen to new TV's! So I looked it up online to discover that my TV isn't the only one to experience what has become known as the "Samsung Pop of Death" or "Samsung Plasma Pop!" The failure rate on my PN58C8000YF and similar models is apparently extremely high, and there are endless cases of this failure happening within hours or days of unboxing! They are the lucky ones though - theirs are still under warranty! Mine is not... Still, I decided to chat with a tech online at Samsung.com who told me that I was out of luck, so I asked her if she had a webcam, cause I wanted her to play with her boobies while she fucked me. She declined, so I read an antique paperback book that I keep for rainy days and went to sleep. I dreamed of alligators...
The next morning I woke up at 7am for some reason and thought that perhaps it had all been a dream. However, when I pressed the power button on my remote, my TV still didn't work... So I got up and took my shower and had some breakfast before I decided to call Samsung and see if I could get anything accomplished. In fairness, the picture on my plasma was amazing when it worked, but this had been the third major failure for my TV in the 18 months since I bought it, and it just seemed to me that I had a reasonable expectation that the top of the line Samsung plasma TV that I paid $3,000 a mere year and a half ago should last for, oh, I dunno, maybe the 100,000 hours that Samsung claims their plasma TV's last. Screw their express warranty, I needed Samsung to remedy this situation under their implied warranty! So, I called 1-800-samsung and was connected to an agent directly with no wait time and he even spoke English without an accent! Bravo, at least Samsung does that right.
The agent was friendly when he explained to me that he couldn't do anything for me except help arrange a service call at my expense. I asked him why I should stand behind their product if they wouldn't and asked him if there was anyone who might be able to help me at which point he transferred me to a supervisor directly. I explained again, as I did with the agent before, that I didn't give a damn about their express warranty - this "plasma pop" is a known issue and the failure rate is way too high. This was the third major failure I have had with this TV in the short time that I have owned it and I had a reasonable expectation that their top of the line plasma should last within the scope of the 100,000 hours that was stated in their own marketing materials. He asked me what I wanted him to do about my TV and I told him that I wanted him to do the right thing! I expected the situation to be remedied by Samsung to restore my confidence as a consumer. To that effect, he offered to extend my warranty and send out a technician to repair my TV free of charge. I was happy with that and thanked him and wished him a good day. At this point I am actually feeling pretty fortunate, which is odd considering that I am the one who is aggrieved...
Later that day I did indeed receive a call from the repair man as promised, and I was at first very happy. That happiness soon turned to dismay as I recognized his voice as the same repairman who had visited me three times in the past... Shortly after I bought the TV it developed a problem known as "window shading" where dark vertical lines across the screen made it almost unwatchable so he came out and verified the problem and ordered a new screen which he returned with a week later. He proceeded to dismantle my tv, removing every single component and fitting the new screen until he realized that the screen was the wrong one before disassembling and reassembling the tv with the old defective screen and telling me he would reorder the part and return. He did return a week later with the correct screen and once again went through the process of disassembling my tv and installing the new screen and reassembling the tv. When we lifted the tv off the floor I noticed that the protective film was still on the new screen and that a part of the tv was still on the floor that he had forgotten to install. He informed me that it was just a heat shield that wasn't important and that it was a good thing to have the protective film on the tv to protect it. I wasn't having it so he reluctantly disassembled the tv once again and removed the film and reinstalled the heat shield at my insistence and left me with a working tv. I never did have confidence in the tv after that, frankly. See, I own an Akita dog who sheds a lot and my carpet isn't exactly a sterile environment suitable for assembling sensitive electronics, and moreover, the stress on the components of having them disassembled and reassembled three or four times must have had some effect on their integrity. Still, my tv worked and that was that, but I cannot help feeling that all of this might well have played a
part in my tv's recent failure. So now he was asking me if the power light comes on and whether it's flashing or staying lit. I told him it came on and stayed lit and he said he'll order the part I need and be out on Thursday or Friday. That's it? That's all the diagnostics he needs? I asked him what parts he is ordering and he told me not to worry about it. My heart sank... The idea of the same guy coming out
and disassembling my tv on the floor again just seems like a bad idea! I don't think I'll ever have confidence in this unit again, and I don't expect it to last for another six months frankly
After the tech called me I got on the phone with Samsung again and gave a supervisor my case number and explained everything I explained above to her. She said she completely understood my concerns, but that she was obligated to try to repair the unit before she could send me a new TV. She did, however, send me her direct contact information and told me that if I had any concerns after the repairs that I could get in touch with her and she would do whatever she needed to do to make me happy. That was very reassuring, but I really hope that the repairs don't go well! I don't feel like I'm asking for something for nothing - I feel like I paid good money for a product, and that I did not get what I paid for. At this point, I just feel like I need a new TV with a new warranty to restore my confidence in the Samsung brand.
