Manufacturer Warranties and Protection Plans

[abhagwan]

I have realized that there is no point in buying an extended warranty from Best Buy for a Samsung TV. I am not sure if the case would be different for other manufacturers. I spent a ton of money last year buying a 58 inch plasma tv from Best Buy. One the reasons I bought it at Best Buy rather than from some online retailer (like Amazon) was because I felt that in case something goes wrong, it would make sense to deal with local people. Unfortunately, that turned out to be worst decision of my life. I bought the extended warranty for peace of mind.

One year and 10 days later, my TV stops working and there are internal cracks on the screen. We contact best buy and they sent out a technician in 2 days time. He comes and right away says that it is a physical damage even though you cant see any impact. He even went on to say that it is quite possible that someone could have accidently hit it or a vacuum could have accidentaly impacted it weeks ago and after a period of time, this happens. Now that is a very convinient explanation and there doesnt seem to be any way to disprove it since you are assumed guilty to begin with. And how do I go about proving them wrong??? 

I looked online and on cnet's forum, you can find a ton of people complaining about the same thing and Samsung essentially just refusing to honor the warranty. In my case, it turns out that Best buy is using the same excuse as Samsung to get out of taking care of the issue.

We have bought a lot of our electronic items from Best Buy but one thing is for sure that they are never again getting any business from me. And all the folks out there, just dont buy a samsung plasma tv and for sure dont buy any extended warranty from best buy.

[Mariel-BBY Retired: Community Connector]

Hello abhagwan-

Allan from our Social Media team, will be reaching out to you regarding your concern. Thank you for your continued patience!

[abhagwan]

I havent received any communication yet

[Xanthis]

It generally takes a Community Connector 3 - 5 business days to contact you on the forums.

[miss5377422]

I am having a very similar issue with mine. except still in the original manufactre warranty. and samsung thus far hasnt done nothing but assume Im guilty of damaging the tv myself. I have had to argue with them to even have a tech come out. They expect for people to just send pictures and they assess the issue like that. Well if I dont get a resolution, I will be contacting BBB, and also my credit card company in which I will ask to give me a charge back for a faulty product with no help for resolution. And if I do have to buy another TV which isnt even the issue at hand. I definetly wont be purchasing it from Best Buy nor will it be a samsung!

[abhagwan]

thats the most frustrating part. It looks like you are presumed guilty right at the onset. They have made up their mind that the explanation that they are going to use is impact damage no matter what. Even on Cnet forum, people were talking about the same thing. In my case, what sucks is that I got the extended warranty from Best Buy hoping that dealing with a local store will help in case such a thing ever comes up but then even Best Buy ends up using the same argument. And its not that there is any technical analysis done. Imagine if they did the same with cellphones where if your cellphone stopped working, they said that it is water damage and your fault That why they have that thing inside which changes color if there is indeed water damage so that there is some check to the claim. Or imagine if you car stopped running and the dealer said that you opened the hood and hit the engine with something which stopped the car and its your fault. 

And I just hate samsung. This is the 4th samsung equipment that has malfunctioned within this year so I am for sure never buying a Samsung.

[Allan-BBY Community Connector]

Hi abhagwan,

I can certainly understand where you are coming from on this, and if I was in the same situation I would be equally upset. Anyone would be frustrated if the screen of their TV cracked for no reason, and they were then told that the damage wasn’t covered by an extended service plan they had purchased for their TV.

It is true that your Geek Squad Black Tie Protection (GSBTP) plan doesn’t cover any damage to the TV, unless it is determined that the damage is the direct result of a defect in the TV, and I will be honest that this would be very difficult to conclude.

If Samsung has determined that your model TV has an inherent defect that causes the screen to crack for no reason they should be issuing a recall of your TV. I haven’t heard of a recall on this TV, which would mean to me that Samsung has determined that this TV’s screen does not crack due to a defect in the TV.

With that said I would like to see if there is anything we can offer in this matter, and I am sending you a private message to discuss this. To check your messages you should log into the forum, and then click on the letter icon in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

Thanks for posting,

[zzepman]

I thought I was having deja vu. I just read word for word exactly what i'm experiencing now. I bought a 59 in Samsung 2 months ago and it just stopped working. I called for service the tech comes out and while my wife was trying to get better lighting for the area where the tv is the tech already had his flashlight out and found internal cracks and stated it was impact cracks even though there is no external physical damage. It was like he knew exactly what to look for.
I purchased an extended waranty as the sales pitch was the extended warranty covers everything. I haven't called BestBuy yet as I had to reply to this post, I couldn't believe what I was reading and similar it was to mine. I will be calling them now.
I have to say I got the same feeling that I am assumed guilty and how do I prove them wrong?
I will post back with BestBuy response.

[abhagwan]

I havent found a way. Best Buy sent two technicians out and the just said the same thing that it is impact damage. You could have your tv behind a bullet proof glass and they would use the same explanation. Very frustrating. 

I dont want to spend another $1000 on a new tv so have reverted back to my old CRT tv from 10 years ago. 

I feel like there needs to be a class action lawsuit against Samsung. There definitely is a design flaw in these tv which is causing this issue.

[zzepman]

Same here mine is a 2011 model. Went to my local BB where I bought the tv from and talked to the GM of the store. He wasn't willing to do anything for me and directed me to samsung. The moral of the story is don't buy the extended warranty without reading the terms. Of course when your standing in line its kind of hard to do that you're also faced with making a decision of do I or dont I buy and the sales guy is saying it covers "everything" you think it covers everything. 

At this point I think I have a 2500 dollar paper weight its pretty hard to take. I also wont be spending anymore of my hard earned money at BB or on anything samsung. I have other local options where i live and they will be getting my business. I'm sure BB doesn't care and thats OK it is what it is. I hate that saying but it seems appropriate.