How did Samsung dodge its Blue Ray player warranty obligations?
By Monica Bhatia
Consumers buy electronic products like blue ray player, Plasma Televisions, HDTV, Desktop Computers for a high price, and, expect at least a one year warranty. Sometimes, consumers end up buying faulty computers that break down or lock up, defective blue ray players that wont play, Broken or defective HDTV Or Plasma Television, that is not what it is promised to be.
However, one year warranties are actually 3 month warranties disguised to look like ‘one year’. All this is bad news for the consumer, like me, who is stuck with out of warranty issues and has to pay from her own pocket.
So, here’s my story. I am an American consumer. I expect quality in my electronic products. And, if the manufacturer or retailer has sold me a defective product, then, either they should refund my money or send me a replacement! The problem is electronic manufacturers actually had good service 4 or 5 years ago. So, this is why the big companies selling defective products is SUCH a shock.
We bought a Blue Ray Player, Samsung BDP 1000 for $300, from Sears, in October 2008. We were given a warranty of 1 year in writing. In October 2009, 24 days before the warranty was about to expire, there was an automatic ‘firmware’ update by Samsung. In a nutshell, it was updating itself, fixing its bugs and so on.
Somehow, the update went wrong, and the blueray player just locked up and stopped working in the middle of this update. How do we know? Because we were in the living room watching this happen. So, when the blue ray player stopped functioning, we contacted the Samsung Customer Service. They informed us that warranty did NOT cover any hardware repair. Hello, isnt a blueray player a HARDWARE? Then, what does it cover, anyway. Well, it doesnt cover this issue, we were told. ” Pay $90 for factory repair, and shipping cost”.
We refused to pay, because it was their update, and nothing we did that caused the problem. So, we are STUCK with a broken blue ray player now.
Basically, it is cheaper to buy a new blue ray player now compared to 2008. And, we can easily get a new one.
However, we are so miffed, we definitely want to make some noise against Samsung customer service, and, how they hide warranties.
Whether is Samsung or other big electronic giants, truth is manufacturers are getting very clever at hiding their real warranty coverage. A product is released, sometimes, in beta stage in order to meet deadlines, for, lets say mothers’ day or christmas.
Since, most electronic products now have automatic updates, these firmware ‘fixes’ of bugs are send over the Internet. So, before you can figure out WHAT”S WRONG your laptop, computer, blue ray player, or television, a firmware update will automatically fix it. This is how it works!! I know this because my husband works in the Industry.
Which is all fine. The reason I am writing this blog is that why do companies like Samsung do not even test their firmware update. Without testing, it can harm or break the unit. However, it is the consumer, who has to pay for shipping and fixing it. How is a firmware update sent by the company the consumer’s fault?
Check out the ratings in forums for electronics. This Samsung player gets the WORST ratings, among others. Here is a link:
CNET Forum Link for Samsung Blue Ray Player
So, in a nutshell, I am going to buy a new blue ray player, however, read the small print in warranty.
And, our next blue ray player we buy is NOT going to be made by Samsung.
[...] How did Samsung dodge its Blue Ray player warranty obligations … [...]
You have to have a blue ray player to play a blue ray. Some HD Tv’s have inbuilt players nowadays. So, cant say – dont know your brand.
Thank you for the Tweets and responses.