Samsung - Buyer Beware

Greetings - I wanted to share my experiences with Samsung customer service over the past several weeks - a cautionary tale that figures to inform anyone considering buying a Samsung product. My story and experience are hopefully not the "norm" so YMMV.

I purchased a new Series 9 NP900X4C-A03US in July - at the time, this was the flagship laptop for Samsung. The machine worked fine for the first two months of service and then in early September, half the keyboard suddenly stopped working; when I say half the keyboard, I mean a random selection of keys (20 to be exact) scattered across the keyboard (left side, right side, top and bottom) would not register keystrokes at all. I couldn't type my user account name or password without pulling up the MS virtual keyboard at logon. On Sept 11, I arranged to return the laptop to Samsung for repair; received confirmation the laptop was received on Sept 14 along with written indication that the repair would be performed within 5-7 days.

After 7 days without any updated information regarding the status of my repair, I called Samsung through the normal channels to attempt to obtain additional information - unsuccessfully. Finally, on September 24th, I received an email from Samsung stating that my unit had been repaired and was being shipped back to me along with a tracking number which was listed in the email as (get this...) - "ex". That was my tracking number - "ex"! After 3 days, 6 phone calls, and 10 different customer service agents, it was finally explained to me that "ex" meant that my unit could not be repaired and a replacement unit/exchange was being "requested" - not issued, but "requested".

After additional phone calls and finally being escalated to "Executive Support" at Samsung on Oct 1, I was told that the policy that applies in a case such as mine is that a replacement unit could not be issued until the original defective unit was received by Samsung from the Samsung repair center...(yes, Samsung is waiting to receive a shipment from themselves)!!! Shipping could take anywhere from 3-5 days I was told. After the original defective unit is received, I was told the process to 'approve' and ship a replacement unit would take anywhere between 10-15 business days.

So, there you have it. I purchased a top-end laptop from Samsung, used it for 2 months, had to send it back to them for repair and Samsung considers it acceptable to ask customers to go without a computing device for upwards of 60 days. As part of my job, I deal with technology procurement to the tune of $500K annually; I've never experienced such poor customer service from any of Samsung's competitors (including Apple and yes, even Dell...). Needless to say, I will not be buying any additional equipment made by Samsung. Thank you for allowing me to rant.

 

I'm not defending Samsung, because the service you have received is totally unacceptable and shouldn't happen especially when buying an item worth that much, but I've seen very few in your boat on any site. I owned a Lenovo before my Samsung and the number of posts like yours and worse, were posted so regularly on the Lenovo site I sold my two month old laptop out of fear! Some people depending were they bought the laptop even had to pay for shipping to get it repaired under warranty.

I hope they get it sorted out soon.

 

I am not a bit surprised. It is my chief concern with buying the Series 9.

 

Can you clarify this post, do you mean you're not a bit surprised about the Series 9 issues or the customer service?

Just to clarify my previous post, when I said "very few in your boat" I meant getting such bad customer service compared to other branded laptops I've owned.

 

It's a concern of mine too - Samsung's reputation for dreadful customer support, but I hope to mitigate this with the Microsoft Assurance from the MSFT store. However, assuming you bought this online and with a credit card, don't most CC companies offer some recourse for your situation? If not a charge-back, at the very least a replacement of equal value. If you bought from Craigslist or with cash, you may be using your only means of support, but I would march right over to Facebook and post something on Samsung USA's wall that's direct and free from profanities, to see what results from a little social media tree-shaking.

 

The first generation Series 9 machines had a horrible WIFI defect. How did Samsung handle that? Terribly. That really set the stage.

Samsung has no internet presence in the USA. Their marketing website ( Laptop Computers | All Samsung Netbooks & Notebook Computers | Samsung) was littered with errors at launch and probably continues to be. I don't watch it that close anymore. Their Support site at Samsung.com is equally bad. They don't provide a forum and don't respond to customer concerns, problems or ideas.

When I started looking at their warranty, I was not impressed. For such a high priced machine there should be more than one year of warranty service. Certainly there should be options for 3, 4 or 5 years if they really stand behind their product. Sure, the FINALLY added a business channel in the USA with a three year warranty, but they jacked the price of the machine to nearly $2000 to cover the cost.

Then there's the repair channel. I did some nosing around and found very few locations in my area that would actually fix a machine in the event of a necessary repair. The repair depot for my geography has a terrible reputation.

My family has two 13.3" Samsung Series 9 NP900X3B's. I have zero confidence they'll last three years or more. Buying one for $799 helps defray the fear, but I would rather see Samsung step up and act like they care.

 

Samsung contract out their repairs to third parties but it appears that they are unwilling to trust their judgement. Keep a record of what happens then write a letter to the head of Samsung USA. That firstly alerts them to the need for improvement and secondly may well result in some offer for recompense.

The first gen Series 9 WiFi problem was a design issue that Samsung was reluctant to acknowledge (as would most manufacturers) but reliability in other respects seems to have been quite good while the newer Series 9s build on that experience.

As for reliability, my old X60 got to around 4 years before it became unusable (the backlight had faded) while the NC20 is 3 1/2 years old and is in daily use.

John