'American Style' Samsung Fridge Freezer (merged threads)

poodlehorse

I think anyone who hasn't had the problem it is only a matter of time, it is a fatal flaw in design imo. I had my engineer out on a recall today but he took one look and phoned Samsung (I was upstairs at the time so don't know what he said - my bladder has bad timing) but what he said to me was all the readings were coming out fine but clearly it isn't working, he could "fix it" but it would just keep happening. Samsung are going to be phoning me back - don't suppose anytime soon if they have their way. In the meantime I am doing research on Maytags and other such things. I just want a permanently working machine, and I don't think 3 years is acceptable for this. My wee guy said that if it is the gasses (which apparently it could be) that it will be put down to wear and tear so I think I am going to end up having to buy one. I don't think the service from Samsung is right but I am also not sure how happy I would be with a new Samsung anyway, I have lost all confidence in them. So I think it is going to be a wee trip to Comet or John Lewis for me (the only people round here I can find that do Maytag. But I will need to check that it will fit in my kitchen door as I am sure we had to take the doors off the Samsung to get it in.

poodlehorse

well I have found a Maytag (US made) at a great price, it is 713mm with the doors off. My kitchen doorway is 720mm, I know that is more but....do I risk it?

bbarryhalll

I had the same faults. All the described faults of noisy fridges and high temperature are probably the result of freezing in and around the fan. I had all of those problems. I eventually investigated and adopted the following procedure which i have posted on another web site,

"I had the same problem which i fixed over the weekend. The problem was that the circulating fan in the fridge had stopped as a result of icing up. The fix is to remove the ice. I did it by removing the internal fan assembly which is located in the bottom of the fridge compartment at back secured by 4 screws. This compartment was frozen up and had to be released by blowing hot air via a fan heater. When fan housing is removed (unplug two electric connectors) The ice will be evident. I then applied hot air to the exposed opening and the fan housing. Took about 2 hours to remove all ice. I the reinstalled and everything worked perfectly.

You will probably be able to free the internal fan without stripping the housing by applying a fan heater to the bottom back area (fan housing) of the fridge compartment but this will take longer say 8hours."

Note - during above work fridge/freezer should be disconnected from the Electrical supply. There should be no need to remove the freeze contents but freeze to maximum befor undertaking work and keep monitoring the temperature.

As this problem (which is a design fault) has occured and been known by Samsung when the fridge was in warrenty all with this fault should have, I believe, an additional 6 years warrenty on the equipment that caused the fault. Samsung should correct the fault - see Latent Damages Act. All with the symptons describbed in this thread should notify Samsung and request they correct immediatly.

poodlehorse

Wanted to wait until I had had it confirmed officially before posting but Samsung have authorised a replacement, take your pick between 7-10 and 14-21 days for delivery as I have been quoted both today. In short they have honoured their obligations but their system is kaka.
Communications are nil and they never have a note to call me back, so you really have to do the legwork yourself on this one, I made myself a pest by constantly being on phone but was always as polite as they were, and they were very polite. I think the trick is either 3 callouts and then a replace if it is the same fault, or get your engineer to consider it goosed, he puts in a report to that effect and then you have to provide proof of purchase (not sure why since I did that when I registered for the warranty) and then a week later they are supposed to contact you (but obviously didn't). My engineer wasn't willing to fix again, and he is the only authorised engineer for my area, hence they didn't have much option. They don't get paid for recalls so he wasn't willing to keep coming 50+ miles to replace some bit that wasn't actually faulty, I think this could have been sorted 3 months ago if anyone was willing to admit that this problem is known and will end up being a replacement but he said it could have been a few things. Hmmm.
DH was told weeks ago not to expect a replacement as it was a LIMITED warranty, don't believe that for a second. Don't know what buffoon told him that but nobody else has pulled that number with me. I was told by the engineer that it "could be the gases" and in which case it would be put down to wear and tear even after 3 years and hence no replacement.
So while I am far from happy with the way this has gone I can't say that Samsung haven't done what they were supposed to at the end of the day, just not very efficiently and part of problem is they like everyone else don't have their own engineers, just subcontractors. Mine was very nice but it is the system and comms between Samsung and engineers is poor too, he admitted he missed me a couple of times from the callsheet as the interface he has to use is so bad. I really felt quite bad for him by the time he left.

poodlehorse

and can I just suggest that the defrosting option isn't a fix, it will freeze up again, get a callout, get 3! get a replacement. The only reason the callouts appeared to work is because it defrosted the system when they replaced the panel. There was never anything wrong with panel we don't think. WE defrosted ourselves to keep it going but each time it lasted less and less and now it isn't working at all, I get it colder than room temp but it is nowhere near cool enough. Every few days I turn it off overnight just to get it going again a bit better. Might get DH to take it to bits again now in the vain hope that may work again for the next 2 weeks, but untenable to do this every few days and I don't dare do it myself as I remember the trouble he had getting it put back together the time he did it.

0scar123

I, too, have a RS20CCMS. The refrigerator section failed yesterday, with the temperature LED flashing at 5 degrees and the internal temperature being 12 degrees. We managed to put our frozen food in my daughter's very large freezer. She also loaned us a spare fridge, and I am now in the process of allowing the RS20 unit to defrost. This should take about 48 hours, apparently. I have put a container of hot water in the freezer compartment in order to hurry things along, as the rear interior panel is frozen solid, and I want to remove it.
The F/F is about 5 years old, so it appears that we have been lucky, if that's what you call it. I will post back when I have completed the operation to let you know how things went.
I shall certainly never buy another F/F combination. If one fails, you lose the lot. Lesson learned.
And, after reading all the negative posts on this forum, I shall never buy Samsung products again.
I should have known better, anyway. I used to work for Mastercare, and Samsung TVs had a very high failure rate, if I recall.
Oscar

0scar123

Further to my above post, I have now been able to remove the interior panel from the freezer section, and am confronted with an enormous block of solid ice at the base of the cavity. I will have to wait now until it melts, before I can proceed any further.
Oscar

0scar123

Hopefully, the last post in this saga. Have just reassembled everything after the defrost, and it appears to be working OK.
Fingers crossed.:)
Oscar

Wednesdays_girl

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has posted on this thread...
Our Samsung RS21 developed the problems described above and i was all set to call out an engineer, except i couldn't find a local one. We'd had it over five years, so I didn't consider contacting Samsung as it was out of warranty. It was all looking rather expensive (was quoted £100+) so i left the fridge defrosted while we were on holiday. Came back, turned it on, same troubles with temperature etc.
I was looking for an engineer again when I came across this site and all the stories and advice on this thread. I didn't know about the warranty extension, the fire risk, the free home visit or how common these problems are but we called Samsung and said the things people had advised, and sure enough within 24 hours we'd had an engineer out and the fridge was fixed for free :j I am under no illusions - I believe that Samsung should have contacted us about the known fault / risk and I expect the fridge will probably pack up again, but at least I know what to do now!

So thanks to everyone who takes the time to share their experiences and bring together the little guys :T

shellysexbomb

Hi y'all :O)
Looking for advice on a conked out samsung fridge freezer. Engineer just been (sent as goodwill gesture by samsung, its just shy of 3) Its had the fix for the fire hazard thig but the engineer say it isnt the model with the known faults as above. The model number is RSH1dtmh The gas has gone and it is not repairable. Paid £900 for this less that 3 years ago so how do i stand on sale of goods etc? Problem I thne have is I bought it from empire direct sept 07 and apparently they went bust in 08. They have no records prior to being taken over by the new owners. Where do i go from here?
Any advice gratefully received ))