'American Style' Samsung Fridge Freezer (merged threads)

DomSez

lyndonp wrote: »

i purchased the RS21DGRS fridge freezer in 2005, and finaly had the modification carried out last April last year 2010,
it has now started the rattle again and the fridge is overheating

so rang samsung today,
thier reply,, sorry sir we cant help you,, but we can give you a number for an engineer to have the fridge repaired yourself.

the reason,, as the fridge was now over 6 yrs old,,, that they were no longer liable, and that the new parts fitted only have a 90 day warranty

when i said if it was for a fridge that did not have any known faults i would find that totaly understandable and reasonable,,
but as samsung knows there is a design fault, and that they had even tried the modification, surely out of courtesy, they could look at it,, but the answer was still no...i was even passed on to customer complaints but still to no avail!!!!

yes its a 6 yr old fridge,, but as others have said,, my last fridgefreezer lasted nearly 20 yrs

anyone have any ideas

If it's the same as mine, they only extended the warranty to 5 years. That's why they won't touch it now.

I've just emailed Samsung again. I didn't realise that their stupid email address doesn't take incoming emails and that you have to do it through their website (GRRR! I hate that! Talk about trying to get out of listening to your customers!) so I've just copied and pasted the whole thing into their site, as I'm keeping a record of the whole thing.

I can't send them the serial number at the moment as I can't see it without moving it and it takes more than one person to move it, and I'm only one man.

More news as it happens.

figozz

Sandwich1 wrote: »

Hi

I bought a RS21 in May 2004, last week it started making a noise like a fan constantly buzzing away. I did a quick search and saw that this model had been the subject of a Watchdog report so contacted Samsung direct for some advice.

Sooo, on Tuesday I phoned them, on Thursday afternoon at 2pm I got a call to say the engineer was on his way, by 4pm the whole faulty unit had been replaced, the fridge was back to working order.

Wow that is what I call customer service and best of all it was FREE!

I don't know how old my fridge is exactly as I bought mine used from eBay, but it was having the same problem with the evaporator cover assy gradually freezing up inside and ice build up outside also.

Over the period of a week or so it was sounding more and more like a helicopter when the fridge door was closed with the sound stopping when the door was opened. Eventually the noise stopped completely and the fridge wasn't keeping the correct temperature, with it being cold at the bottom and warm at the top.

I have since learned that some of the parts inside the fridge had a design fault / flaw and were not suitable for the application they were intended for, eventually failing... quite commonly in fact... so much so that it was featured on an episode of BBC Watchdog because so many people were reporting the exact same fault. The helicopter sound is ice building up around the fan, so as the fan spins it catches on the ice and causes the noise. Eventually the ice will build up sufficiently enough to stop the fan spinning completely, therefore the noise is no longer evident.

I very nearly purchased a repair kit for my RS21 on eBay recently (for around £100) until I saw the above post and another post (which I can't find now) where someone mentioned ringing Samsung also.

You can contact Samsung free of charge (from landlines) on 0800 988 0123

Even though I had not purchased the fridge from new myself, I didn't tell Samsung this and made out that I had owned the fridge from new for 4 or 5 years and had not previously had an engineer out for the problem. I gave them the serial number (on a sticker on the wall of the inside of the fridge by the way) and advised them of the problem (not forgetting to quote BBC Watchdog). After a short conversation they said they would send an engineer to repair it. I asked if there would be a charge, considering the fact that it was a design fault, and they said no.

Sure enough, an engineer came out, swapped a host of parts (evaporator cover, sensor, drain heater, thermometer, defrost heater)... all free of charge and it is now working.

For the record, I had previously tried removing the cover and defrosting it inside myself. I had also widened the hole in the polystyrene beneath the fan (where it had frozen up) as per some of the suggestions made on this forum. However, although this did solve the problem briefly, it eventually began to freeze up again after a couple of weeks.

If you have the same problem, just ring Samsung, quote BBC Watchdog and be adamant that you are not prepared to pay for the replacement/repair of the faulty/defective parts.

lyndonp wrote: »

just read through the problems with regard to a possible fire risk,, so looked at the samsung site and typed in my serial number,, and it said i needed a home visit to rectify the problem...

funny how they wont cover the existing problem i have reported again though, now that the extended warranty is up!!!

Below is the URL to check if your Fridge Freezer needs modification:
www .samsung.com/uk/homevisit/

(remove spaces)


.

June_S

First of all, after the problems I’ve had with my Samsung American style fridge freezer, I have to say what a relief it is to find such a vast wealth of information from others on this website.!

My husband and I started to get the noises from the fridge section until eventually it started to run warm and the water stopped coming through the drinks dispenser. After reading lots of different advice, we tried calling Samsung who weren’t interested as it was out of warranty. They were far more helpful a year or so ago when we had a safety modification done on it following on from the BBC Watchdog programme, but this time, we were referred to another company, who gave us an estimate for the work to be done. Like many others, we weren’t really happy with the idea of paying a large sum of money for a repair that appears to be an inherent problem on these American style Samsung models. We tried calling the retailer, but soon realised that they didn’t want to help us, and that they seemed far more interested in offering us a ‘great deal’ on a new model, so we gave up on that idea as well. We tried phoning other local refrigeration engineers who mostly said they won’t touch Samsung appliances, or they referred us back to Samsung or advised us to buy a repair kit and fix it ourselves as it would work out much cheaper in the long run. Until I read the posts on these forums, I actually thought that was sarcastic advice. We recently tried switching it off for a couple of days, and that did cure the problem – for almost a fortnight only though!
. When we told one of the engineers we had done this, he told us that this can actually escalate the problem, and the only way to fix it properly is to replace the required parts.!

After much deliberation, we decided to save some money and do the same as many other people were doing on this and other forums that we looked on. As we had seen there had been nothing but praise for a company called Appliance DIY Repairs, we took the plunge and bought a repair kit from them to fix it ourselves. This seemed to be by far the most efficient and economical decision for us, and just as other customers have also reported, we too received an excellent service, we followed the simple instructions and did it ourselves for a fraction of the repair cost that we were quoted.!

As much as we enjoyed fixing it ourselves, and were genuinely pleased with the service and the price of the repair kit, I still find it hard to comprehend why for so many people like ourselves, it seems to be so difficult to either find a local engineer that can fix these properly, or receive a standard of service from the manufacturer that doesn’t appear to be consistent.!

As it happens, we decided to wait before posting any comments – just to ensure the repair worked, and I’m pleased to report that it runs like its brand new again.

!Again, thanks to all of you for your advice, and I hope this helps someone else.!

DomSez

figozz wrote: »

I gave them the serial number (on a sticker on the wall of the inside of the fridge by the way)

Didn't realise that until you mentioned it, thanks

They're booked for Friday. It's down as an 'all-day appt' but they'll ring in the morning to confirm if they're coming in the morning or afternoon.

What exactly do they do to rectify the problem? Do I brace myself for lots of mess?

DomSez

Can anyone give me an idea of what to expect on Friday, please?

Will he make a lot of mess? And how long should it take?

janie-h

Had mine done a couple of years ago now (Samsung contacted me) and again for a check up (again, Samsung contacted me). Took him about 30-40 minutes the first time - just moved some stuff out and into a cool bag while he did his work. No problem really...

Reading through some of the previous posts, it looks like some have had problems with Samsung but I can honestly say that they were no trouble at all for me - they contacted me (twice), quick response, no fuss work and no problems since.

Hope you all get sorted out x

DomSez

janie-h wrote: »

Had mine done a couple of years ago now (Samsung contacted me) and again for a check up (again, Samsung contacted me). Took him about 30-40 minutes the first time - just moved some stuff out and into a cool bag while he did his work. No problem really...

Reading through some of the previous posts, it looks like some have had problems with Samsung but I can honestly say that they were no trouble at all for me - they contacted me (twice), quick response, no fuss work and no problems since.

Hope you all get sorted out x

Thanks. That all sounds very straight-forward. I wasn't sure if he'd need to move the unit out to access the back.

dogspods

...have a 5yr old Samsung RS21 FF, with the evapuorator cover mod fitted but the buzzing/constant running noise is back and ice is forming behind the L/H deodorising filter panel. Removed the panel to defrost and noticed the black foam strip around the back of the panel is damaged and doesnt fit as shown in images from various sites selling them. Is this a possible cause to the noise and ice build up?

sarah_ace1

aha!! i had a letter from samsung about a check up on my appliance about a year ago but i ignored it thinking it was more money for warranty...stupid me! anyway i have just purchased a repair kit and will attempt to bribe someone to fit it

mwddrwg

Our Samsung fridge freezer was making the 'helicopter' sounds as described above over the weekend and I was going to attempt the defrosting of the fan thing last night but the noise seems to have stopped. Can't work out if this is a good or bad sign! Any ideas/thoughts?