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TV warranty and intermittent faults ( small claims court? )

kevlar

kevlar

Site Supporter
Joined
Apr 11, 2013
Messages
6,571
Location
Newport, South Wales
Alias
Kevin Donovan
November 2018 I bought a 65" Samsung TV from Crampton and Moore in Leeds for £2200 with a 5 year warranty. Around 4 years into the warranty the backlight on the TV started going crazy. To stop the crazy backlight I had to remove the TV from the wall, disconnect and reconnect the cable that runs to the separate One Connect Box then put the tv back on the wall, definitely a 2 man job so not trivial. This happened a few times so I contacted C&M who put me in touch with the warranty provider, Solocare. They put me in touch with Electronic Services from Swansea, an authorised samsung repair centre. They sent a guy around who just went into the service menu, said everything looks fine and " see how it goes ". It happened a few more times so I got back in touch and the service company came and took the TV away. After 2 weeks I rang them only to be told the TV had worked normally and they would do nothing to attempt to repair the fault unless it faulted in their workshop. They've seen plenty of videos I took of the fault but unless they saw it with their own eyes they wouldn't do anything. I was going on holiday so let them keep the TV a few more weeks but it still didn't play up so I had it back in August. The warranty ran out 24th November so of course it did it again just 1 week later. I've been back in touch with Solocare and they don't want to know, saying there was no fault and now the warranty has expired so want nothing further to do with it. Where do I stand on this? as far as I'm concerned it should be covered because the fault was well documented in the warranty period.



 
For the record I'm not looking for technical help, but do I have a case against the warranty company?
 
Go back to the retailer who sold the warranty to you and kick up **** threaten to sling mud etc
 
If you go into the store you will only get to speak to an assistant who has no authority to help you while the manager hides in the back.

Best bet would be to post those videos and detail your experience on their Facebook page.
 
But is this anything to do with the store? They just purchase a warranty from a warranty company then you're contract is with them surely? I've emailed the store but don't expect them to take any responsibility at all.
 
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I doubt you would have a case for a claim against the store, however they did sell you the TV that went wrong and the warranty that failed to help you when you needed it, they may be able to put some pressure on the warranty company.

The way I see this, if you go to small claims court, the warranty company will just say a qualified technician had the TV for an extended period and identified no issue, the problem must be caused by one of your devices, interference, electrical spikes in your home, or some other voodoo.
Clearly that's all BS, but they only need to convince an old duffer magistrate who struggles to turn his own telly on.
 
Also who would you take to court, the company who sold it, or the warranty company, or the company that the warranty company instructed to check for repairing it?
 
You need a contract of sale in order to take someone to court. You would need to show the goods or service were not of satisfactory quality. It is hard to demonstrate that against the retailer at this point but you may have a claim there. It’s trickier against the warranty company as explained above. You have no route of complaint in law over the repairer.
 
What evidence have you been provided with to show that it was actually on test and monitored and not just put to one side and told yeah mate could not find anything wrong with it?
As it was not showing any faults in any service menu then they would have to see it happening but if you were not observing at the time then you would not see the fault.
 
Fenny said:
What evidence have you been provided with to show that it was actually on test and monitored and not just put to one side and told yeah mate could not find anything wrong with it?
As it was not showing any faults in any service menu then they would have to see it happening but if you were not observing at the time then you would not see the fault.
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I only have their word. Apparently backlight faults are not even logged in the service menu so wouldn't show up ( I was told this by the 2nd technician who came to take it away). The annoying thing for me is it's an intermittent fault obviously that I've caught on video half a dozen times, and they completely ignore the videos. I'm pretty sure someone at Samsung tech support would know exactly what the problem is if they saw the video, it can't be the first time they've seen it. I suggested to the service company that they reach out to Samsung but they weren't interested, if they couldn't see the fault they would make no effort to fix it. Another annoyance to me, so what if they did see the fault in person?, they'd still be guessing what the cause was just as they could have from viewing the videos.

I've reached out again today to customer service at Crampton & Moore and actually got a reply this time asking for my invoice number and saying they'll look into it ( I emailed the shop manager the first time ).

The TV is completely usable btw ( I'm playing Forza on it right now ) it's just that when this fault happens the TV has to come off the wall and takes people. It's happened maybe 8 times max in the last year.

IMG_20231214_194952.jpg
 
1. See what the retailer can do. they may have sway with the warranty company they recommended and got paid for.

2. write a formal letter of complaint to warranty co: the problem reported within the warranty repeatedly and never correctly diagnosed, despite you providing evidence of fault.

3. trading standards. sharp business practices. ie batting you off until warranty expired, lack of skills and competencies to correctly diagnose and fix the issue in the first place.

4. small claims court against warranty co.

5. hire a hitman

6. buy a new tv you cheap skate it’s ****ing 5 years old 🤣🤣🤣🤣
 
Contact Citizen Advice on how best to move forward and keep records of all contacts with retailer and repair company.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk

Citizens Advice

Online free advice from Citizens Advice to help you find a way forward, whatever the problem. Our research enables us to campaign on issues affecting people's lives.
www.citizensadvice.org.uk www.citizensadvice.org.uk
 
kevlar said:
I only have their word. Apparently backlight faults are not even logged in the service menu so wouldn't show up ( I was told this by the 2nd technician who came to take it away). The annoying thing for me is it's an intermittent fault obviously that I've caught on video half a dozen times, and they completely ignore the videos. I'm pretty sure someone at Samsung tech support would know exactly what the problem is if they saw the video, it can't be the first time they've seen it. I suggested to the service company that they reach out to Samsung but they weren't interested, if they couldn't see the fault they would make no effort to fix it. Another annoyance to me, so what if they did see the fault in person?, they'd still be guessing what the cause was just as they could have from viewing the videos.

I've reached out again today to customer service at Crampton & Moore and actually got a reply this time asking for my invoice number and saying they'll look into it ( I emailed the shop manager the first time ).

The TV is completely usable btw ( I'm playing Forza on it right now ) it's just that when this fault happens the TV has to come off the wall and takes people. It's happened maybe 8 times max in the last year.

View attachment 239775
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Did they also take away your One Connect Box and One Connect Cable and test with these?
 
My $0.02 because my experiences are in Australia and in Taiwan more recently but might help to paint a bigger picture?

I was an authorized Samsung service centre in Australia. We were contracted directly to Samsung Australia, a fully owned branch of Samsung Korea.

This issue would have been rectified even if the TV was one or two years OUT OF warranty, regardless of any third party insurance. I would simply call my contact at Samsung, explain the issue and within minutes they would email an authorisation number to do "whatever I felt needed to be done to keep the customer happy" including replacement of the set if that's what we determined.

In Taiwan, I have purchased many Samsung products because, I foolishly believed they backed their product the same way they did in Australia - not so!!!

One item I bought in Taiwan was a new 80cm curved screen monitor for about US$350. It was great for about a month until I came in one morning to see a 1" wide black stripe down the middle (I never turn my PC off - it screen saves but runs 24/7).

To me, it 'looked like' something had perhaps hit the screen on the edge as it was clear to me the screen was knackered. My office is only accessable by me and I was the last to leave the day before and the first in that morning.

Without the boring in between details about my discussion with the local Samsung agents such as being told "you broke it" etc etc etc I was determined to have it repaired or replaced.

I took The local branch of Samsung to the 'Retail Trade Affairs Office' in Taiwan. Samsung sent a representative from Taipei (a US$120 return trip on the high speed train) not to mention the days wages for her to attend the 'mediation'.

When asked for my input I whipped out the three Samsung issued "Authorised Training Certificates" in my name issued by Samsung Australia directly. This was much to the astonishment of the Samsung representative especially when I said "I bet that I know MORE technical details about this product than the Samsung representative sitting there". She nodded in agreement hahaha

Anyway - they reluctantly agreed to fix it and did - after about six months!

The experience has changed my view of the support they offer for their products in different countries. Since the monitor debacle I have purchased NEW, a 32" TV for a relative, two new phones for myself and my wife, 2 x new refrigerators, a freezer and a washing machine.

I made a point of making sure that NOT ONE of these products was a Samsung MAINLY because I wanted to contact Samsung Korea to tell my WHOLE story and there is NO CONTACT information for them anywhere!! No fax, email, phone NOTHING!!! So I bought other brands.

My advice, not having a clue about consumer laws in the UK, is to scream long and loud - to the point of paying a small consultation fee to a solicitor - get them to send a letter demanding a resolution to your satisfaction. If the local Govt consumer dept didn't take up my case, my next step here was a solicitors letter and, by this time, I was furious and was not going to let them get away with NOT honoring their warranty.

Best of luck with it and be sure to tell friends and family of your warranty experience, it matters that people know far and wide.
 
AlanJ said:
buy a new tv you cheap skate it’s ****ing 5 years old
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My 46" panasonic plasma is 14 years old it is refusing to give me a good reason to replace it, my patience may be running out though :)

Kev once this is all and done hopefully it's a easy fix if you are not successful in your case. I had an LCD arcade monitor which would intermittently work, the online shop pointed the fingers at power supply after ruling that out they ignored my emails so decided to open it up and there was a crappy loose connector, added some hot glue and it's been fine ever since. God knows how many of these monitors have that defect.

Have you googled if it is a common fault on the model?
 
Doesn't look like it's a common fault, I did find 1 other similar issue mentioned. This TV may be 5 years old but it's not some £400 edge lit crap from Tesco you'd just throw away, it was the top model at the time and still looks excellent today with inky blacks no edge lit lcd can make. Even 5 years ago OLED's were the main TV's people were buying ( at this level ) but I was put off by all the screen burn issues. When I do replace it the next one will be an oled though, they've come a long way reliability wise, you still have to be careful with them though.
 
Okay - I would absolutely go back to your purchase point.
You paid for the warranty with the TV
They took your money.

If you have proof you 'logged' this as an issue within warranty time then they need to honour that. They never fixed it when they took it away.

Retail law is governed to be amazing for the customer. Especially in the UK.

I worked in and managed retail places. Let me tell you. The nice guys get fobbed off. Be firm - dont shout - dont swear - just tell them you want it sorted.

Be a bit of a toss pot and a w anchor.

If you get no joy - then contact Samsung UK.
www.samsung.com

Email the CEO | Samsung United Kingdom

Email the CEO
www.samsung.com www.samsung.com

Good luck.

Small claims court is a waste of time/hassle/money. You will be waiting for a long time.

The contract is between you and the people you gave the money DIRECTLY to (not indirectly).

BUT JUST TO THROW A SPANNER IN THE WORKS. Most people I know would scrap a faulty TV if its 5 years old.

Next time as Alan said - buy from Costco.
 
Pick Holder said:
BUT JUST TO THROW A SPANNER IN THE WORKS. Most people I know would scrap a faulty TV if its 5 years old.

Next time as Alan said - buy from Costco.
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You're forgetting, I've been trying to get this fault fixed since it was 4 years old and still with 1 year of warranty left. If it just developed a fault having run out of warranty, fair enough, throw it away.
 
Just being honest, sorry I spent time looking for solutions for you and offering you my advice from someone who knows the retail law pretty darn well after managing a few stores.
 
Life is to short for lawyers / courts and paperwork. Spend that money on a nice new TV and don’t bother with the warranty rubbish :D
 
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