MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Our 32" TV has just packed up. We bought it last august so it's now out of warranty. The problem is that although the sound is fine, there is almost no picture. The only way to see anything is to turn off the lights and shine a torch at an angle to the screen. I believe this may be an issue with the invertor. Has anyone had this issue and fixed it themselves? Could it be something else?
I'm pretty pi**ed that the TV only lasted 16 months and Samsung are saying we would need to take it to a service centre and pay for a repair. It's not like it gets used much either.
Any help gratefully received.
Cheers
Your back light has gone I'm afraid.
buy your next one from costco - they have an automatic 5 yr warranty on tv's - I know it doesnt help you now though
buy your next one from John Lewis - they have an automatic 5 yr warranty on tv's - I know it doesnt help you now though
Phone the company, ideally marketing department/UK CEO, explain your situation and say if its not sorted you are going to take this to the media. Contact a few newspapers. Also isn't there this EU requirement for a 2 year warranty on electrical goods
Thanks guys. Is this repairable?
It's a Samsung - it will happen. 16 months is crap though, the one we had lasted 4.5 years before going bang. Luckily Costco gave me my money back even though they were only doing 3 year warranties on TVs back then.
explain your situation and say if its not sorted you are going to take this to the media. Contact a few newspapers.
Seriously ? Front page of the Times tomorrow no doubt. 🙄
It can be done but cost is the issue .
Contact a few newspapers. Also isn't there this EU requirement for a 2 year warranty on electrical goods
Yes but it's overruled by the Sale of Goods Act, which may be worth pursuing. You need to prove its a fault that shouldn't happen in that time period.
Contact a few newspapers.
Heh...really? I mean reaaaaaaaaaaaally?
* looks worryingly at 2 year old samsung 32" tv in living room 😕
Thanks for the replies. The Sale of Goods Act says that the item must be of reasonable quality, so either Samsung resolve this issue, or they believe that it's reasonable for a TV to last less than a year and a half! I've sent an email to this effect so we'll see what happens.
* looks worryingly at 2 year old samsung 32" tv in living room
My Daughter's 3 year old one is still going strong so don't worry.
@Jamie - yes the marketing people don't like that. The newspapers have consumer watchdog columns who'll take up the case (hopefully), quite topical at this time of year when people are buying tv's for the christmas holidays
Jambalaya - my wife has promised the kids a movie night on Xmas eve. It's off unless Samsung pill their finger out - bet the papers will love that.
Yup two years on electrical unless it's concidered reasonable for a product to wear out in that time. Contact Samsung customer relations and explain the fault, if they refuse to co operate email the CEO and you'll probably get a new tv. In work anything electric within two years I refund on the spot.
We bought it last august so it's now out of warranty
Two year EU warranty on electrical goods.
it's overruled by the Sale of Goods Act
SoGA may cover you for up to six years, depending on what you can argue is a "reasonable" time for the goods to last.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-1677034/Two-year-warranty-EU-law.html
The EU directive in question is 1999/44/EC. The full wording is contained here (open the word documtent and scroll to page 7) but the important bit is this: 'A two-year guarantee applies for the sale of all consumer goods everywhere in the EU. In some countries, this may be more, and some manufacturers also choose to offer a longer warranty period.'
As with UK law, a seller is not bound by the guarantee 'if the (fault) has its origin in materials supplied by the consumer'. But the EU rule does not require the buyer to show the fault is inherent in the product and not down to their actions.
The EU rule also says buyers need to report a problem within two months of discovering it if they want to be covered under the rule.
I believe this may be an issue with the invertor.
I'd concur.
Samsung are saying we would need to take it to a service centre and pay for a repair
Did you buy it direct from Samsung? Under SoGA the retailer is responsible for rectifying the problem, not the manufacturer. You have no contract of sale with Samsung.
My 32" samsung bought 2nd hand onboard power unit went so off 12 mile trip to tv repair shop and £108 later, I had a tv that cost me £95 or so more than a new one!
Bugger as it was a brothers best mate's seconds and it got offloaded to me bloody pain that was getting it sorted!
Thanks Cougar, I think my next email needs to be to Amazon
Just to be clear. The SOGA is over rules the EU directive in the UK.
http://www.theguardian.com/money/2011/feb/05/how-long-electrical-goods-guaranteed
As above, SOGA overrules that European directive.
[i]"We do not consider failure after 14 months to be indicative of a manufacturing fault"[/i]
(or words to that effect, was Samsung's reply to our TV packing up. Luckily I discovered I'd taken out an extended warranty, so it was replaced.
Utter pish.
I'd never buy Samsung again.
When my Samsung went on the blink out of warranty recently I took it to the repair center for diagnosis (I think this was a fixed fee of £65 for diagnosis and repair - you had to buy the parts on diagnosis if you wanted a repair). On inspection it was found the motherboard was to blame and was going to cost me c£250. I complained (ie stated that something so terminal should not happen in <3 years to a £1000 TV) via the link above and was contacted within 24 hours and informed Samsung would cover the cost of the part. Maybe I could have got the cost of the service back too (£65) but I was just relieved to have a fixed TV back and no further cost (I got the TV at a huge discount anyway so still feel up on the deal).
Our Samsung packed up just before the extended John Lewis guarantee period finished luckily. Repaired free of charge but I don't think I'll buy another when it packs up next time.
Good luck!
When I was a engineer at Sky, Samsung was the most common brand we came across that developed faults, I came across 2 that were faulty straight out of the box.
I know there will be plenty of people very happy with there Samsung TV's and have had no issues , personally I avoid them because of the above.
When I was a engineer at Sky, Samsung was the most common brand we came across that developed faults, I came across 2 that were faulty straight out of the box.
seen these comments before.
I also recommended one to my sister and the screen started going wrong about a day after the warranty was up 🙁
Combined with the pants picture processing on Samsungs I can't see their appeal myself.
Same goes for their shite mobile handsets!
Mention on their Facebook page that all of your friends that have LG ones have had much better lifespans, generally about 4 times longer than Samsung.
As above don't take warranty-bollocks for an answer.
Our fridge/freezer packed up after 17months. The retailer (comet) refused [b][u]point blank[/u][/b] saying 'you should have bought one of our aftermarket warranties sir'. We were about to go down the *recovery/small claims-route when hey presto comet folded. Upon hearing the news the fridge/freezer sprung into life and has worked ever since.
*On principle I was going to follow this all the way then contact the Directors and explain to them about doing the right thing/customers being key to a business but funnily they folded before we got to this.
The SOGA is over rules the EU directive in the UK.
It overrules it because it [i]exceeds[/i] the EU directive. SoGA covers you for six years as opposed to the EU's two. However, it's full of wooly terms like "reasonable." Is it reasonable for you to expect a two grand telly to last six years, probably; is it reasonable to expect a 49p screwdriver to put up with six years of daily abuse, probably not.
Is it reasonable to expect a TV from a respected brand such as Samsung to last 15 months? Almost certainly.
It overrules it because it exceeds the EU directive. SoGA covers you for six years as opposed to the EU's two. However, it's full of wooly terms like "reasonable." Is it reasonable for you to expect a two grand telly to last six years, probably; is it reasonable to expect a 49p screwdriver to put up with six years of daily abuse, probably not.Is it reasonable to expect a TV from a respected brand such as Samsung to last 15 months? Almost certainly.
Yup. Kind of what my link says. 😀
Thank goodness for decent consumer protection legislation in the UK & EU. Warranties are a nice bit of extra cover from the manufacturers, but the real consumer protection comes from the SoGA. I'd be annoyed if a TV gave up after 16 months. I'd chat with the retailer and ask for a replacement or refund. With Amazon that can be an interesting conversation I expect.
My Sony is working OK after 7 years. The OP's post makes me think that I'll go for an LG or Sony for the next one.
OP, on the bright side it might be a chance to upgrade?
The LG TV we had at work lasted less than 2 years. The Sony one we replaced it with is still going strong after 4 years.
That said LG have upped their game somewhat the last year or so.
My 32" samsung bought 2nd hand onboard power unit went so off 12 mile trip to tv repair shop and £108 later, I had a tv that cost me £95 or so more than a new one!
So you bought a second hand TV for £13 less than the new price...?
Hmm.. I wish i have your trouble.. Me and my kid is waiting impatiently for our very old telly (its Sharp ...1st batches of the 1080p) to die so I can have valid reason to get that Curve 4K tellys now we saw in Currys last weekend
I'm not seeing any compelling reason to get a 4K set currently, so he might be waiting a while.
Here's my recent thread re an all-in-one printer failing after 1 year and 4 days. I'd been in contact with Epson Customer Service who repeatedly told me to get it repaired, it was like dealing with bloody parrots! I also e-mailed their CEO and never received the courtesy of a reply.
Contacted the retailer (as advised on here) and Amazon have been incredibly helpful. It has now been returned to them and should have a refund shortly.
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/epson-all-in-one-printer-anyone-had-one-repaired
^ I was bounced between the retailer and the manufacturer. The retailer said basically 'go away/any issues is handled by the manufacturer'. Manu told me £400 to fix. So I contacted the retailer Diretor who was concerned to how I found him. Stick at it OP.
The retailer said basically 'go away/any issues is handled by the manufacturer'
To which the reply is "just so we're clear for legal reasons, would you mind putting in writing that you're refusing to honour my statutory rights?"
Just an update. Good news, I have phoned Amazon and they almost immediately offered to send a courier and issue a refund. After reading up on my rights according to SOGA they had to I suppose. Credit where its due though - thanks Amazon.
Thanks so much for all of [i]your[/i] input too. I owe you a pint!
Phil
Nice, with the rate of progression of tv's you will probably be able to get an even nicer one now.
takisawa2 - Member"We do not consider failure after 14 months to be indicative of a manufacturing fault"
Or to phrase it differently, "it's totally normal for this shit to break after 14 months"
Send a 14 day notice. Proceed to small claims. I did this with a faulty telly from online company. Must be fit for purpose etc. Got money back and bought next one from John Lewis. Didn't need to actually do small claims part. Also handy having a sister who is a lawyer.
Or contact them without silly threats like he did and then get your refund.