I have for a long time held Samsung video products in high regard. I’m not saying that I am changing from that stance but I now see some of the dark side of the brand. I still like my Samsung 22 inch flat screen computer monitor even though I did have to replace a couple of blown electrolytic capacitors on it a year or so ago, and yes, I may at the least look at Samsung as a replacement should this one ever fail and have to be replaced.
Likewise, both my wife and I have been well pleased with our Samsung 61 inch DLP TV and will not rule out the brand for any future TV acquisitions. It is that TV which is the subject of this note and what might be considered a rant.
A few weeks ago we noted the appearance of a tiny white spot on the screen. Of course it can only be seen against the background when that is dark. Sometimes referred to as a "pixel" it’s not technically that but the affect is close enough to understand the reference. I had heard of this happening before so it did not come as a total surprise but is no more welcomed. Where there is one spot, more will follow. Sure enough, some time later a second one appeared. There is now a third one trying to appear. This one is sometimes on and sometimes off. In time no doubt it will be there full time like the others.
A little on-line searching revealed that this does occur and for most owners, the dots have multiplied to the point where the TV is unusable. One very disturbing commonality among the complainants is what appears to be a very poor response on the part of Samsung to acknowledge that the problem exists. The standard response is that the problem YOU report to Samsung Support does not apply to YOUR model of TV. That is a very curious stance considering the number of reported cases by users reporting exactly the same symptoms on the same model series and even the same model number. The following is a listing of the exchanges I had with Samsung Support.
Product Category:TV
Summary :White dots on screen
Details :My TV is a HLT6187SX DLP which in recent weeks has developed a couple of white dots on the screen. The TV was purchased new in 2007. Many on-line forums suggest that the problem is with the DMD chip. I spoke by phone today with Samsung Support and they gave me the part number for the chip. BP94-02307A. Looking at the available parts shown on the parts web site, that part number is not show but rather what they call the DLP Chip. PN: 4719-001997. Is that the same component?
Note I did not ask them to consider it a warranty question. The TV was purchased in 2007 and I am not expecting it to be covered by the warranty. I simply wanted to confirm the identity of the affected component. Thus the following reply from Samsung Support.
Hello Dan,
Thank you for reaching out to us via Facebook. We apologize for your frustration, unfortunately your model is out of warranty and cannot be covered by any Samsung policies. Our engineers have done extensive research and testing on these units and have determined which models and which production ranges have the particular parts that tend to fail at a higher rate than others. Our records show we have contacted you previously. We cannot make any accommodations. Other customers’ cases have no bearing on yours and that we are following a strict guideline based on the research of Samsung engineers.
We apologize for any inconveniences. If you would like to contact an authorized service center in your area, you can find one here:
My reply to their reply is self-explanatory. And perhaps a little heated.
Ok, it appears that you did not really read my comments so I’ll try one more time. I realize the unit is out of warranty and I never made any reference to that being the issue. I made the issue one of simply wanting to be sure that I had identified the correct component which is causing the problem. I will purchase that component and will install it myself. My entire career has been in electronics field service thus I am quite qualified to handle electronic component replacement.
And to correct an error, I don’t know what other customer’s cases you refer to when you said that they have no bearing on my problem but you’re apparently not referring to the hundreds of reported complaints from users of the exact same model and for the exact same symptoms. Do a simple Google search for the problem symptoms and reference the TV model. The problem is the reliance on your engineers as a resource. I would suggest relying on your customers as a resource instead. And you might want to re-read my initial comments and question again. It is conveniently located at the bottom of this message for reference and when answering a customer’s complaints or comments, do not rely on boilerplate copy and paste text for an answer. It is very amateurish and unprofessional.
I guess that the label "Support" can be defined any way you wish it to be defined. This seems to be usual experience among those reporting their dealings with Samsung Support.
Hello Dan,
We apologize for the any confusion. Unfortunately, we do not provide repair information via email. We have authorized technicians that are certified to repair Samsung Products. Therefore, we suggest you contact an authorized service center in your area, you can find one here:
My options are to have a Samsung authorized service rep. come and do what they do, or to, and a far better choice on my part, bypass them completely and purchase the required component and put it in myself. That’s easy enough and what I wanted to do in the first place. I never did get them to answer my original question. Oh well. I can figure it out.
