Hi All
I purchased this fridge freezer on 3rd August 23. Unfortunately it was damaged during the shipping process.
What follows below is a summary of my angst so far. This product has cost me time and money. To top it off, Samsung DOESN'T have a complaints department that I can find on its web site.
Please read on, I sure more than a few of you will have had similar experiences.
Dear Sir/Madam
I am not a happy customer.
I am extremely disappointed in Samsung’s customer service. Or rather, a lack of customer service. I now wish I’d listened to the major retailer we visited when they commented about your (in their words) “Samsung have a reputation for consistantly non existant customer service”. To be fair, you have been consistent. In as much as you have failed to deliver every single promise made to myself, bar one call. Well done Samsung.
You may ask why then did I purchased this item. Well, I considered the energy saving potential and the increase in storage space offered, (as compared to my old Samsung fridge freezer) to be a significant improvement and that it would it would be worth the extra spend compared to the competition in the medium/long term. And that I was sure that the people we spoke with had an axe to grind. How wrong I was.
I purchased this expensive fridge freezer on 3rd August 2023 and it was delivered on the 7th.
Sadly, it was delivered damaged
I have since discovered that you consistently failed to adhere to your stated policy of getting in touch with me in 24/48 hours:
On 7th August when the unit was delivered, I was offered £50 compensation by one of your customer service team. I was re-directed to another member of your team who requested that I email pictures of the damage to support my case. Which I complied with. As a result an offer of 8% of the cost (to be refunded to me) was made.
Over the following days I was not refunded/compensated.
I called again on the 16th August. I recounted the whole episode again and I was informed someone would be in touch within 24-48 hours.
This contact did not materialise. So I called again on 21st August.
Your team member informed me that the compensation would now be 15%. After a chat with her supervisor, this was then lowered to 8% then again to 5%, (dependant upon which panel/s were damaged apparently). This was apparently because the image with the side panel damage was not clear due to the smashed packaging being in place. To be open and honest this was because I had NOT accepted the unit from the delivery team at this point and I was prepared to return it to you. WHY was I not informed about this on 7th August? WHY? I would have rejected it there and then for such a derisory offer.
At NO TIME preceding this have I been made aware of any issues at your customer services end with regard to the quality of the supplied pictures and had therefore had gone ahead with installing and stocking the unit.
Your customer service team member said I should remove the unit and take fresh images.
I considered the instruction that I should uninstall my fridge freezer from its current location to take additional photographs of the damage sustained during the delivery process and concluded that:
The impact of decommissioning, removing, then storing its contents would prove a challenge and cost myself money, to put it politely. The unit would have to be uninstalled for the dents to be photographed. The resultant time taken to achieve this would would almost certainly result in frozen and chilled items having to be thrown away. This was something I was not prepared to do. Simply because the resultant cost and time would negate the increase in compensation from 5% (£44.95) to 8% (£71.92). A difference of £26.97.
A version of this letter was e-mailed to you on 26th August. All be it, the dates that state September have been amended to reflect the correct month of August.
Since that time, I have been sent a text message on 29th August asking me to get in touch. Which I did. Payment was promised and I received a message on 7th September to tell me the funds would be cleared into my account on 8th September. AGAIN, this FAILED to materialise.
I called you on the 12th Sept and heard nothing from you until 21st Sept. During which I was informed the money was in my account. I wasn’t in a position to check my acccount so the lady said she’d call again on 22nd September. AND SHE DID.. I genuinely thanked her as this was the FIRST time Samsung had kept a promise. However, the funds were still not in my account. She promised to elevate my case.. Surprise, surprise, I checked my account on 25th and 26th September and NO FUNDS IN MY ACCOUNT.
I have many domestic and personal Samsung appliances, including, fridge freezer, washing machine, 2 televisions, tumble dryer, and the whole family has Samsung mobile phones. In the past I have always praised Samsung products for their function and reliability. I have even recommended Samsung products to family and friends.
I’m sorry to say that I will no longer purchase Samsung products. Customer service is key to any company operation. It reflects the ethos/mindset of how a company thinks and operates. Clearly in this instance you have failed. Both yourselves and in your duty of care to myself, your customer.
To date, this has taken over 7 weeks now and I’m at my wits end. I feel I have been manoeuvred into a position, whereby I had to accept your reduced offer of 5%. Bearing in mind that I was initially told £50, then 8% (£71.92). Any of these monetary figures don’t add up to much when the stress and worry is taken into consideration. I am asking you to raise both your game and the amount of compensation offered. I have been the one driving this matter. It started life as a straight forward compensation payment. It is now a full blown complaint whereby I feel I should be compensated for my time and effort I have invested in this matter
I hope whomever reads this understands how deeply disappointed and frustrated I am and I challenge you to pass it to supervisor/line manager and to senior management.
In conclusion, It’s a very good fridge/freezer, and I’m glad I chose it. You should be proud of your product. That said, this whole episode has been very stressful and time consuming. It should have been resolved weeks ago. Samsung customer service has failed and let down what should have been a simple matter. You need to address this urgently. I discussed this at another major retailer this week and they agreed that Samsung customer service was “a challenge at the best of times”. I didn’t find it funny. Two retailers saying the same things. I would appreciate that this matter be closed and as quickly as practicable. I will contact the ombudsman in seven days time should this not be resolved to my satisfaction.
