JeremyR
Supporting Actor
I purchased in mid-November a Samsung UN65JS8500 during the good deals around Black Friday. I also purchased a 5 year extended service plan/warranty from the dealer at the same time. I believe the warranty is guaranteed through an outside vendor, but the purchase was made from the dealer at the time I purchased the TV and added to the cost of the TV. I made my purchase from a local brick and mortar store that is family owned, and that I've purchased a few items in the past including a 5.1 Paradigm surround setup, an A/V rack, a Blu-ray player. And I've also brought other customers in, including family from out of town who have made a couple of purchases from them. They have always been good to work with, and I'm hoping this can be resolved with them. After purchasing the TV in December I noticed some big defects as detailed in my thread "exasperated LED owner" in the panel. I went back to the dealer with the express intent of just asking about an exchange. It had been around 30 days I think at that point, and there were some large waves and crimps in the panel across the bottom. It wasn't immediately obvious during source material, but it would rear it's ugly head on occasion. The dealer suggested get it serviced instead, and while I slightly objected I decided maybe that was best since the TV was difficult to handle and I really didn't want to be dragging it in again and the service would be in home. They referred me to the service center for Samsung who I reached out to. They sent photos to Samsung who approved a panel replacement and the order was made. It took a couple of weeks at least for the screen to come in, and then for us to get a time we could get together and they could come do the work. The service center came and IMO mis-handled the set by laying it at a 45 degree angle on my couch and laying it forward, applying pressure along the front screen and bezel as the cushions squished against the screen and they used electric screwdrivers pushing against the back of the TV to re-attach the new screen. They set it back up, I looked over the screen to make sure I didn't see any defects and they were in a hurry so they went on their way. It didn't take me long to discover when I put a Blu-ray in though, that there were some serious clouding or backlighting issues all up and down the right hand side of the TV. It wasn't on the first screen, and it also is much less of a factor on the left hand side of my replacement screen. I opened another ticket in early February with Samsung, but wasn't able to be home to demonstrate the problem to the service center as I'm an accountant and am very busy from Jan-mid April. I went into the dealer to play a couple of discs where the problem was very prevalent to compare to their display model, and their display model with the picture settings set the same looked great. The dealer agreed at the time looking at the photos their TV certainly didn't demonstrate the same problem I was having with mine. I finally dropped it due to tax season but have kept in fairly consistent communication with the dealer about my problems. I re-opened a ticket a couple of weeks ago and Samsung is now refusing service. Their suggestion is to turn my backlight down and brightness down. Which I made clear to my e-mail to them with the photos and video included were already down 50% to 60% from max. Backlight at 10 out of 20, and brightness 42 out of 100. Smart LED is on high to try and activate the most aggressive local dimming, and the TV still looks like the attached photos. I asked the dealer if they could just take the TV and deal with Samsung getting it repaired and then I'll get it back when it is done. as I had already taken so much time off work to get it serviced, and reminded them they could have/should have just swapped with me in December when I came in but I heeded the advice of their tech and agreed to have it serviced instead. They suggested I just take their display model as exchange as this set is no longer available which has, likely 100 times the amount of hours that is on my set. I refused that and suggested that was like offering a lease return with 25,000 miles as a swap for what was a brand new Car purchase that hadn't been right from the day I brought it home. Attached is what my TV looks like, and I've now told the dealer I have exhausted my options. I've spent hours on the phone with ECR at Samsung, even tried on Facebook posting photos of what my set looks like which Samsung immediately took down as it shows a clearly defective product that they still refuse to service. I even emailed the CEO but have received no response. I've now told the dealer at this point I've lost countless billable hours of labor staying home meeting service centers, on the phone, etc. And at this point they can either replace my set with an exact model new in box which is more then generous IMO because of what I've dealt with getting it serviced. If that set is not available, an equivalent or better set from Samsung or perhaps Sony which they also sell might be fine as long as the features equal or exceed the set I purchased from them. A full refund including warranty is also acceptable. I reminded them I purchased the 5 year extended warranty through them and expected to have a good performing set for at least 5 plus years that I could rely on which is why I purchased it, and that I am a repeat customer who has never been in their store for an issue up until now. I have communicated by e-mail, trying to avoid embarrassing them, making a scene in the store, etc. But tomorrow my intent is to go in with my friend with the TV, and refuse to leave until they make this right. This is what the TV looks like in the attached photos. Does anybody have any suggestions for me on how to deal with this? I'm sorry for so much info, but it's just been an exhausting experience, and I'm at my wits end. I tried to make Samsung liable, but it was the dealer who suggested I service it in December instead of swapping it to begin with. I've attempted to use bias lighting, even took the Freddy vs Jason blu-ray photos during daylight.. and that light/clouding on the right hand side is still awful. And in my opinion, both that and the 5 year warranty really puts it on them to make this right. And this TV looks nothing like the display model, or really any other Samsung LED SUHD TV that I've seen.
