About the poor Customer Service of Group FX (Samsung UK support subsidiary)

[7D7]

Hi everyone,

I have just looged a formal complaint with the Samsung Customer Support of this.

If you are based in London and want your product to be serviced while under warranty beware: Samsung is relying on a third party company called Group FX and they are simply offering the worst client facing services I have experienced with Samsung.

Forget the efficiency of the German Samsung service team or the professional handling of Samsung France.

This is a completely different experience.

First let me list the positive:

. Group FX engineers are actually nice people and helpful

Now the negative:

. The lady answering the phone there is awful

. She would make everything she can to deter you to book an engineer appointment - even stating she will make you pay for the visit if the problem is not serious (Samsung Customer Support told me it is BS and you will pay nothing if you are under warranty)

. Don't expect Group FX to call you on the day of the visit to give you a precise time by 10H30 (they won't do it)

. Don't expect Group FX to log your repair in a timely manner as well (you have to call them for them to do so)

Bonus: Here is the exchange I had with the client facing lady you get when you book your repair @ 01708 361560

[Second call on the day to trying to understand why the engineer isn't there or when is he going to fix my telly]

Me: "I didn't get the call from the engineer regarding the time of the visit, it is 1 hour past the 10H30 deadline?"

Her: "I am going to try to call the engineer" [...] "The engineer is not reachable"

[... Rebooking the visit to a later date...]

Me: "Just to let you know this is unacceptable, I used Samsung in Germany and France, and the service was efficient here..." [Cutting me]

Her: "This is England here, you will have to follow our procedures"

Me: "Well your procedure is to get a call by 10H30, so  if I don't a call by 10H30 you can not expect me to wait forever  and  I will have to cancel and rebook every single time"

Her: "Well then we will not come"

Me: "I am the client. My television is under warranty so you will have to fix it"

Her: "We will charge you for it"

TL;DR: I called Group FX because their engineer was late/didn't got the call by 10H30 for a timeslot and the lady there not only did not apologised for it but instead acted rudely and threatened  to charge me. Consider ordering your Samsung product through Amazon or consider another brand to avoid that type of problem in the future.

[AntS]

Hi @7D7.

Doesn't sound good at all. :robotsad: What did my Customer Support colleagues advise you?

[7D7]

They confirmed the engineer would be rebooked for next week and that they will investigate with Group FX.

Because it is a subsidiary they do not have a direct control on the staff

[vishaljh]

Had similar experience with Samsung and Group FX.

Be extremely careful with the lies these guys come up with in conjunction with Samsung. Don't take anything on face value with what they say and please ask them to prove their claim. Recently my Samsung American Fridge Freezer stopped working. This was 6 years old but comes with 10 years compressor warranty so I contacted Samsung who provided Group FX's details. Agreed to pay their callout fees for them to come and diagnose the issue. The engineer without checking pressure in the line flagged it as internal leak and reported as beyond economical repair. I am sure he is just going with what he has been advised and my understanding is that samsung advices them not to change compressors. I was not convinced and had my friend (who does small AC jobs) check this. He verifed no internal leak and said that this is compressor issue and Samsung and FX are trying to flag this as internal leak so Samsung don's have to provide compressor and FX have already received their callout charges and its not worth their time to change compressor fo additional £100. By this time Samsung had put their hands up saying they will no change compressor as this is out of warranty so they cannot do anything. I was extremely annoyed and took it up with Samsung UK president office and after 20-30 emails, they agreed to change the compressor under warranty. The compressor was chnaged yesterday and the fridge is working perfectly. The engineer who changed this does said no internal leak as far as he can see. If I had not pursued this and challenged Samsung, they would have not changed the compressor and fobbed me off and I am sure they must do this all the time. The 10 year Samsung compressor warranty is false advertising as one of the engineers stated that Samsung advices them not to change compressors. So looks like this is a combined effort from Samsung and Group FX to fob off their customers. I am building a case now so that Samsung cannot cheat other customers with their false 10 year compressor warranty. Have wasted a lot of time and dealt with lot of stress past 2 weeks dealing with these muppets. Want to ensure someone else does not have to go with the same problems.

[Phil12]

Hi

A lot of manufacturers selling their goods in the UK just farm their support out to the cheapest company they can find, so quality is poor, customer service is poor, and repair quality is ofen poor.  We had similar issue getting an LG washing machine repaired.   

The repair companies don't get paid enough by the manufacturers to actually make it profitable to repair anything, and given Samsungs overal quality on their products generally I'm not surprised Samsung have gone for the cheapest.

Your best bet, in the UK anyway, is to go directly back to the retailer, it's them that has to organise the repair, not us.  If the engineers don't turn up or repairs fail to fix the problem you can get a replacement product or refund.  It's called the consumer rights act https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/what-do-i-do-if-i-have-a-faulty-product.  

Never use the warranty service unless the retailer has gone bust and you didn't buy with a credit card, as you have fewer legal rights.

Regards

Phil

[Lazarus]

I just had to write an email to the Samsung CEO regarding the incompetence of Group FX 5 engineers and the lies (I have Video evidence). I have a faulty wok ring which was replaced and the exact same issue occurred again. So far, it's taken them 8 months and they can't resolve or make a decision on the issue. The main issue is that they lied on the report and Samsung are caught in the middle - you would think that Samsung would review my video evidence which categorically proves my case... but no - it's like they can't grasp what the issue is. A company of Samsungs size should not have these issues.

[Gurps1]

Hi I am having a similar issue with my American fridge freezer and group FX have advised that changing the compressor will not be possible. I also have the 10 year compressor warranty. What do you recommend I do? 

[RWilsonL]

I  have had a horrible experience this morning with Samsung UK service. First they had instructed Group FX not to repair my very expensive heat pump tumble dryer, which has completely failed, as it was out of warranty. On the phone they claimed that this was because the 2 year warranty period runs from the date of manufacture. Not under UK or EU law it doesn't where it runs from the date of installation. I have now had to scan my original invoice to email to Samsung, which is not what their website says. It says you will have to show the invoice to the engineer when he calls. The call centre people bent over backwards to be obstructive and unhelpful and seemed totally unable to answer a question with yes or no (i.e. are you claiming that my appliance with an installation date of 14 July 2018 is out of warranty, as if so, it is see you in the small claims court. I will make every effort to avoid Samsung appliances in the future, if this is the sort of shoddy treatment customers can expect........and I still have the wonderful experience of the Group FX engineer's visit to look forward to. 

[Lazarus]

I was going to pursue my issue further because Samsung refused to accept the fault and Group FX was terrible and I have video footage of their lies.  I went to Currys PC World to complain, the manager was amazing and agreed to resolve my issue (which he didn't have to do). He recognised that I was a loyal customer and took it into his own hands. I haven't purchased Samsung since - if they can't value the customer on something so basic, forget the expensive items.

[a_k11]

I created a new post here: https://eu.community.samsung.com/t5/tv/the-service-level-of-group-fx-used-by-samsung-as-their-repair...

But then found this post so I'll copy and paste my post, Group FX need to be called out and there can't be enough places to share my experience. 

Hello,

I am certain I am not the only one who has experienced the appalling service from Group FX, Samsung's London repair centre. I will ty to keep it brief but for the benefit of anyone else scouring the internet regarding this company, here is my experience.

I logged a repair with Samsung for my Samsung Q90R TV and after some steps to troubleshoot the issue with Samsung technical advisors over the phone I was forwarded onto Group FX for an engineer visit. 

My first appointment was booked on the 26th of January and I had one of Group FX engineers (Rob) turn up and change a module in the back of the panel.

The issue still persisted and I had another appointment booked on the 9th of February where I had Stuart attend from Group FX to change the same module that Rob changed on the first visit! He also changed another module in the One Connect box.

The issue persisted and I was booked another appointment for today (17th February) for my TV to be taken away and checked in their warehouse. I had the most bizarre experience with David, another Group FX engineer. 

I had called Group FX to confirm everything that was required for them to be taken away, so the night before I had reset my TV and disconnected it and prepared everything for it to be taken away and left just inside my front door.

David, the Group FX engineer knocked on my front door and the conversation went:

Me: Hi, are you here to collect the TV

David: Yes, I came in a golf

Me: Okay, are you here to take my TV?

David: I don't want to be responsible for breaking the TV

Me: Okay but that isn't my problem and you need to speak to your office. I was informed my TV will be taken away today and I have prepared it all, pointing to it just inside the front door

David: Walks off and says okay I will call my office

He walked off and didn't come back. 

At this point I had called Samsung customer service as my patience had ran out and was informed by the Samsung customer service advisor, that my TV hadn't been collected because I was rude to the engineer! I could not believe this.

Group FX are an absolutely appalling company to deal with, their so called engineers are clueless and more like drones who just come out and replace generic parts hoping the issue goes away. They don't even hide the fact they don't know what the issue is, as they'll ask you while they go through the motion of replacing the generic parts! The woman who answers the phone also is rude and abrupt, goes by the name of Jade, when I called to confirm the SMS I got, that indeed my TV will be taken away, I was told in the most rude and condescending tone, that they are an in-repair service before I read the SMS I received from Group FX on which she conceded that they do offer this service and my TV will indeed be taken away. 

The last encounter has just been infuriating, as I explained to the Samsung customer service advisor, that it was in my interest to get my TV repaired and after preparing the TV to be taken away why would I obstruct the Group FX engineer from taking it. The truth is that David was ill prepared and didn't want to take the TV and the excuse given to Samsung that I was rude to him. Absolutely disgraceful! 

I refuse to deal with Group FX anymore and I'm hoping Samsung are able to deal with my issue.

If you do need to deal with this company, ensure you document every encounter and record all conversations. I will advise to avoid this company at all costs if you can.