Hi all

First, please let me say thanks for the great website, I was scrabbling around for advice and this place has really helped me and gave me a some piece of mind. Ok, with that said, onto my issue.

I purchased a Samsung 52" LCD tv from Dixons online in June 2007 for £1823 delivered.

All was fine, until a couple of weeks ago when the tv would not switch on, well it would switch on for 2 seconds approx with a buzzing coming from the back of the set and then the picture would disappear. After trying a to switch it on a number of times I resigned myself and contacted Samsung. Basically, because it was outside the manufactures guarantee they advised me to contact an affiliated Samsung repair centre in the area, they really did not want to know. This I did and arranged a call out (£125) in a couple of days time. That afternoon, I tried to switch the tv on again and amazingly it worked, all was good, I could not reproduce the fault. I cancelled the call out with the tv guys and got my £125 refunded (eventually).

Sadly, this was not the end of the troubles a few days later the same thing happened again (and has been happening ever since). So rather than go the Samsung route, I tried the Dixons route, after getting transferred a couple of times after following the prompts, I got put though to the TECHGUYS. Basically, they said it would be £175 to collect the tv and take it to the workshop and from that point onwards repair charges and cost of replacement parts would have to be payed by me, as it was outside the 12 month warranty. Not too happy about that, so in the hope of getting somebody to try and fix the tv before sending it away to repair I went back to the Samsung repair specialist and organised a call out, that was last Wednesday.

He turned up yesterday to what I hoped would be to fix the tv, but he was not interested in that at all, I showed him the fault and he called his office and arranged for it to be collected, this Saturday to go to the workshop for further analysis . If I had know this at the time I think I may have gone the Dixons route, but with the tv in the hands of an independent, it may not be such a bad idea. . He could not provide me with a fault report at this time, which I was disappointed with as I wanted to get the ball rolling with Dixons on the Sales Of Goods Act route.

Last week, I spent a fair chunk of time on this site and had prepped most of my documentation for SOGA claim against Dixons. Yesterday I used the template (thanks) for SOGA, and added photocopy of receipts and sent it recorded delivery to Dixons, advising that the tv was faulty and that an Independent repair team will provide a report, hopefully sometime next week. I also called Dixons yesterday and advised them of this, they added the details to my order/log reference.

I have been doing some investigation into this fault and it does seem that quite a number of Samsung LCD tv's develop this fault, generally after 14-15 months use it seems?. It would appear that a power convertor attached to the back of the actual panel becomes faulty. As this is soldered onto the actual panel, the whole panel requires replacing which comes to a very expensive bill. I have instructed the repair guys not to complete any chargeable repairs until I have the report and have forwarded it to Dixons for a response.

I also contacted and raised an issue with Consumerdirect.com, so that they are aware of what is going on.

The really disappointing thing about all this is that I have now been without a tv for 2 weeks and it seems like I will not be getting a resolution anytime soon, so my SKYHD box is going to waste right now. Without this site I would probably have caved in and payed for repairs but I wont be doing that now, I really cant afford to anyway if they do have to replace the actual panel.

So thanks again, I will update this thread when I have any further news.

Is there anything else I can/should do at this point?

Muppet Pie

Sounds like you've done pretty much everything you can for now. Another little tip....one other thing I did was go to the The Freecycle Network website and got myself a 26inch tv that someone was giving away on there so I had something half decent to watch whilst waiting. I have since advertised and given it away on the same website, but this is a fantastic website for freebies.

davisc02

Thanks for the reply and info.

That website is a good idea, I should be ok though as I am using a old 23" SD tv at the moment, its a bit of a come down, but it still gives quite a nice picture TBH.

As for my tv the repair team came and collected my LCD on Saturday, the guy said he had seen this problem once before and that If I get no joy from Dixons then I should complain to Samsung and her reckons they will authorise the repair. Not heard back from DIxons yet, although it will only be a week, so will have to see what happens.

I think you've got it all in hand. Let us know what Dixons come back up with, should be interesting.

Quick update

I received a call from Dixons yesterday, a very polite lady advised me she was dealing with the case. She had contacted the tv repair workshop just before 17:00, most people had left for the day there so she is contacting them today. She advised that she needs to first determine that the fault is a manufactures fault and what the cost of repair would be.

When this information is available Dixons will decide whether to get the tv repaired, replaced or give me a part refund. So that for me is great news, a real weight off my mind and hopefully some sort of resoloution in the nearish future (I am really missing having a nice tv).

Out of the 3 options I think a refund will be most likely at this point. If so I think a fair amount would be £1500 (so a loss of £323), I dont think I want any less than that as trying to find a 52" 1080P LCD for any less than that will be quite tricky.

Do you think that is a reasonable amount?

Also, she did advise that they will pay the £125 engineers bill as well.

So, not quite out the woods yet, but things looking much more healthy, so thanks to all those that have contributed to this website, as it really gave me the required tools to fight my case..

Updates to follow...

MP

Sounding good. Don't settle for any less than it will cost you to replace for an equivalent TV, there is no reason you should be out of pocket. In fact, you could try and push for total refund and argue that with the unprofessional way you were treated in the first place and the way you had to do all the legwork to get them to comply with your statutory rights, frankly you would consider this as adequate compensation for your trouble... ;-)

I would do some research, including in their own store and look at equivalent Tv's but no better, and get a few quotes so that you know what sort of figure you will be looking at.

Hi Folks

Latest update... not good news sadly.

The tv has been at the Samsung affiliated repair workshop since 13/09/08. After much chasing I got a response this week. It seems that the power unit on the back of the panel is faulty. As this is soldered onto the main panel the whole panel requires replacing (please note i had come to this conclusion in my first post, by looking for this fault on the Internet). They advised it will cost £786.77 to repair (less the £125 I have already given them).

All sounds good you may think. I have been in contact with Dixons numerous times over the past week and they have actually been very helpful, at least the lady assigned to my case has been. I advised them of the situation and Dixons seemed happy to pay the repair bill on the proviso that this is a Manufactures fault. Here is were the problems have started. The repair engineer have advised that it is not a manufactures fault. As the workshop have not sent me the fault report I have no idea what they are claiming it is? Are they claiming mis-use I dont know at this time?.

It is certainly nothing other than a manufactures fault though. I have scanned the Internet and there have been numerous occurrences of this exact fault with the solution being to replace the panel. If any body is interested I can post links here to people with the same issue. I have advised Dixons of this fault and sent them these links and they have escalated to Head Office, but they are saying that if the engineers say it is not a manufacturing fault then they cant pay for the repair. So that leaves me in a very frustrating limbo, Dixons wont pay and my tv is sat in the workshop gathering dust and none of the parts that are required will be ordered until someone pays for it.

I can only think that the Samsung affiliated workshop have been advised not to admit that it is a manufacturing fault in case this exact problems becomes more and more apparent. It seems that many of the TV's that were manufactured in July 2007 have this problem.

Dixons are still trying to get a Manager to explain the findings at the workshop but nobody there is responding and returning calls, they have acting poorly throughout this whole process and I am starting to become very, very frustrated....

I have invested so much time and effort into getting this resolved and it feels like I am being stone-walled at every single stage of this problem. I did raise a call with consumer direct at the time, so perhaps I should go back and update them of this latest turn of events.

Any suggestions.... please :?

Muppet Pie

Ahh, somebody is smiling on me at last.....

Just had an email from Dixons and they have agreed to pay the reapir bill, they are sending me a cheque for the full amount, including the £125 I payed to have the fault diagnosed.

So, after all that it was well worth it. Thanks to all that helped and asisted in this matter. Hopefully, I should have my tv back by the end of next week.

Thanks all

Muppet Pie

Just because it's failed doesn't mean it has a manufacturing issue in all cases... it depends why. Obviously with an expensive TV you would expect a longer lifespan but it may easily be a surge or wear which has caused it.

OTOH, it sounds inherent.

???????

Hi Muppet Pie - I have the same problem with my Samsung 42" that I bought from Dixons online in Aug 2007. Can you please give me contact email or phone No's for Samsung or Dixons that I can start my complaint off for this obvious manufacturer problem. Thanks

]]]

i too purchsed from currys a 46 inch lcd samsung what does not switch on it was bought spt 2007 and have been told that the fault will cost 250 plus to repair due to powee failure any advice please.

i will be contact consumerdirect i have already been advised to contact currys cusomer serve but wondered how you got on many thanks

??????

?????

hi there

the latest is.....

i sent a letter to currys outlining the problemn and what i felt was acceptable ie repair or repalce product and sent via first class recorded mon and have given them 10 days to reply before i take further action under the sale of goods act i spoke to consumer direct who were extreamly helpful will keep you posted x

update

currys replied to my letter, asking for an engineer report and estimate to repair, cause of problem and how it was likely to be caused.

i took tv to a samsung approved engineer in my area.

fault is faulty power supply

call out charge 45 inc report

had fitted a reconditioned power supply which inc call out cost 137.00

very helpful company, this happens to most tv serts of samsung after approx 18months. In fact my friend who bought the same 2 days befire me happended to break down a week after mine her repair bill was the same as mine.

have sent currys the invoice and they are going to refund the money paid and apologised for the inconvienience.

result! good luck all keep going on at them and hopefully you will have a good outcome

good result

??????

Hi Nicky,

Great news on your TV. I think I will follow your lead by also writing to Currys as this is obviously a manufacturing fault that occurs after approx 18 mths use. Could you pls send me the address you sent the letter to Currys, my email address is [email protected].

 

best regards, Derek

SENT YOU EMAIL HOPE YOU GET SOMEWHERE

I purchased a Pioneer Plasma 50" on 3rd August 2007, 3 days ago i noticed a manufactured fault with the screen, there is a slight warble effect, aparantely this has been a problem on some Pioneer tv's according to google search.

Yesterday my tv stopped working altogether, now for the price i paid i would have thought that it would last longer than that seeing as Pioneer have a very good name for the best tv's in the world?

But my warranty has run out after a year, so i have a tv that dont work and when it does it also has a screen defect on it. What can i do about this? this could be an expensive job, but according to the sales of goods act a tv is expected to last up to 6 years at least? and as its a Pioneer i would have thought it would last longer than that before it develops any kind of fault.

Am i covered in anyway here at all?

Thanks

BBC - Watchdog - Watchdog - Sale of goods

??????

well done

dx

Thanks for the info on this item, i have just had a problem with my Samsung 40" tv. it is 2 years old and out of warranty. It would not come on, all it was doing was clicking.

Rang Samsung on the phone number provided, they accepted they have a problem with these lcd tv's, and sent an engineer 2hrs later. The engineer replaced the 4 10vt capacitors. Job done! FREE OF CHARGE

Thanks for the information.

I had the same wont switch on problem with my Samsung 40" LCD TV which is now 2.5 years old, so out of warranty. I called Samsung customer care number here in UK yesterday and they told me they would contact my local Samsung service centre. I received call from the service centre within 1 hour and they told me technician could visit today. The technician came this morning, changed the offending capacitors in about 15 minutes, TV now working perfectly again.

Being in the electronics industry, I do understand that products sometimes have problems, but it is about how they are dealt with. In this case, well dome Samsung!

Rob H, Cambridge, UK

It would be useful if the model number of the TV is mentioned in forum posts. I have a LE40B620 that is waiting repair at the moment. The Samsung authorised repairer has admitted that this model TV is known to be a sufferer of 'Capacitor Plague', although my problems look to be more severe.

If the model numbers are mentioned and other members are having problems with the same model, then some trends might be established.