'American Style' Samsung Fridge Freezer (merged threads)

Joesoapy

I too have a faulty RS21, not my first Samsung product with a known fault. I note with interest that many people say that Samsung have extended the warranty to 5 years. . . This is not quite true, unless I am mistaken the law gives a one year warranty on products relating to faults however this law also states that the warranty is extended to 5 years, but the difference is that it is the consumers responsibility to prove the item was faulty when bought. This forum proves beyond doubt that the product was manufactured unfit for purpose. So Samsung have no choice other than to give five years.
I think Samsung have the worst service I have ever come across, I emailed them 37 times one day after many days of single emails, yet still no reply.

dizzzy

Hi

I'm just after some info regarding the RS21 fridge. My fridge is 6 years old and has just started making the noise from the fan, I phoned up Samsung but have been told that because they came out to my fridge in 2009 and changed/added the new fuse block that I will have to pay to have my fridge repaired.

What I wanted to know is when people have had this fault fixed is it just parts at the back that are changed or are things done inside the fridge.

The reason I ask this is because when they came and changed/added this new fuse block he said that there is something he was supposed to do inside the fridge. He couldn't get the drawers out though so didn't bother doing it.

I wanted to know if this should've been done but hasn't and now I'm being fobbed off.

Thanks

tbw

dizzzy wrote: »

Hi

I'm just after some info regarding the RS21 fridge. My fridge is 6 years old and has just started making the noise from the fan, I phoned up Samsung but have been told that because they came out to my fridge in 2009 and changed/added the new fuse block that I will have to pay to have my fridge repaired.

What I wanted to know is when people have had this fault fixed is it just parts at the back that are changed or are things done inside the fridge.

The reason I ask this is because when they came and changed/added this new fuse block he said that there is something he was supposed to do inside the fridge. He couldn't get the drawers out though so didn't bother doing it.

I wanted to know if this should've been done but hasn't and now I'm being fobbed off


:cool:




Thanks

My fridge/freezer had the same problems when it was 4 years old. As it was a known fault the guarantee was extended to 5 years without any hassle. After 3 different engineer visits it still had problems _ and then Samsung did a recall ad in the Mail after the same model caught fire in a couple of homes.I made a pest of myself and after a bit of wriggling they agreed to replae it with a new different model. No depreciation and totally free of charge.

This model is a disaster and Samsung know it - keep arguing with them.

dizzzy

tbw wrote: »

My fridge/freezer had the same problems when it was 4 years old. As it was a known fault the guarantee was extended to 5 years without any hassle. After 3 different engineer visits it still had problems _ and then Samsung did a recall ad in the Mail after the same model caught fire in a couple of homes.I made a pest of myself and after a bit of wriggling they agreed to replae it with a new different model. No depreciation and totally free of charge.

This model is a disaster and Samsung know it - keep arguing with them.

Thanks for the reply. I've been waiting for a call back from Samsung since last Thursday so I'm going to give them a ring back today.

I don't think they'll do anything though, they are really not interested as my fridge is 6 years old. Just very annoying that it is design fault and whenever I speak to someone at samsung I get a different story.

laserboy_2

We've had a Samsung RSH1NHMH for just under three years (so out of normal warranty period).
Sunday - fridge started making the "helicopter" noise.
Monday - found this forum; spotted ice build up around internal vents; turned up fridge thermostat to 6C to try and melt some of the ice
Tuesday - rang Samsung and arranged engineer visit. Samsung would not admit design fault, but did say repairs would be free if the symptoms were as described
Wednesday (today) - engineer arrived; said that lots of Samsung american style fridge-freezers have the same problem; removed the vent/fan unit at the base of the fridge (lots of ice present); replaced with new version. No charge
Fridge-freezer now running nice and quietly. Thanks to everyone on this forum for advice:-)
Apparently the problem is that the sensor that is supposed to regulate the heater that defrosts the ice doesn't actually detect all of the ice and so stops the heater prematurely leading to the gradual build up of all the ice.

xhell

We had the dreaded noisy fan, temperature too warm, ice build-up problem on the fridge section of a Samsung American style side by side fridge/freezer. It is a RSH1NHSW model purchased in Ireland in September 2009 costing €700. Although I was aware of and had previous experience of poor performance of Samsung equipment, we purchased this unit because the dimensions fitted (just) the available space, the colour (white) matched our other kitchen equipment and lack of an ice dispenser was also what we wanted. Had there been another make with this specification, we would have purchased this instead.

Eighteen months later and we loose the food contents of the fridge due to a warm temperature and ice build-up. So we execute a full manual defrost and all is good for a few months and then the noisy fan and we loose the food contents again. So then we get into a routine of planned manual defrosts every quarter but by late 2012 even this does not restore the cooling performance. It was time to do some research and it became apparent very quickly that this is a design issue with multiple models of Samsung fridges that has gone on for many years, so much so that there are various third parties offering DIY repair kits. There have been lawsuits and massive product recalls with some units allegedly exploding.

The Samsung website which is endlessly patronising was no help to me because it insisted that I submit the serial number of the unit. The serial number is not on any of the enclosed documentation and can only be found apparently on the lower left hand side of the unit. In my case, I could only access this be de-constructing some of the built-in section of the kitchen and I was going to incur additional cost to do this and make it good afterwards.

So I called Samsung. This was fun (not). It took three attempts and many hours to get to talk to someone. They tried every trick in the book to avoid one to one contact – well you would I suppose if you have sold hundreds of thousands of faulty units to now irate customers around the globe. Well again, the serial number was asked for and I explained my difficulty in getting it as above but I also explained that I had documented proof of purchase. This cut no ice (pardon the pun) with them and I was basically told – no serial number, get lost. I asked what was the probability that they would give me a direct replacement so I could assess if it was worth kitchen de-construction to get the stupid serial number, again I was dismissed with no answer.

I reconsidered my options. Getting a new unit from another maker would cost me €1000 or so when I add in the required kitchen modifications. Appliance DIY Repairs in the UK offer a whole range of Samsung repair kits and for my model the cost is £133. Delivery is free in the UK but is extra to Ireland so this is expensive but for me it was potentially my least worst option. I am pretty technical so fitting the repair kit was not going to be an issue. The really neat thing for me was that the repair kit could all be fitted within the fridge compartment without the need to access the back or sides so I did not have to move the unit and incur additional kitchen modification costs.

I found Andy at Appliance DIY Repairs extremely responsive and very helpful and dealing with him in contrast to Samsung was chalk and cheese. I notice another user sings his praises at post #625 above and I could not agree more. The repair kit includes an apparently improved evaporator cover with fan, evaporator heater with thermal fuse and a defrost sensor which critically you install in a different location to the original. It also comes with an excellent set of installation instructions. Anyone that is reasonably handy should be able to fit this kit but you need to set a full day aside for it. It can take quite a long time to get rid of the ice build up. I used two hair dryers blowing close to the evaporator cover (but not touching it as this will melt the plastic) to get the cover free and I had to pour boiling water on the drain hole at the bottom of the evaporator for hours to get this clear of ice. The unit has been working fine since repair but I cannot vouch for the long-term effectiveness of the repair kit until more time passes. Given that the repair kit is also made up of Samsung components, I have no confidence that it is a permanent fix.

I estimate this Samsung mess has cost us in the region of €400 so far when I include the two batches of food wasted. In fact we have never had a good Samsung product. Our first Samsung product was a CII-5361AT/MIC television bought in November 1996. From day one had a faulty circuit board and the TV had to be hit slap here and there every other day to get a picture. The current crop of Samsung TV’s also seem to have loads of issues even on their high end units. Just Google Samsung TV clouding and banding to get an idea.

We managed to avoid Samsung products for a decade until our second Samsung product which was a DVD-VR320 VHS/DVD recorder bought specifically to archive VHS tapes to DVD in April 2006 as it was the only one available locally. The VHS deck was terrible and it made awful grainy DVD’s from the VHS tapes. The vendor (Currys) allowed to me trial their display unit but it was no better. Then I read the professional reviews and found that they had the same issue – the terrible VHS deck was not just a fault on mine but a “design feature” of all of them. It was utterly useless and sits gathering dust in the attic. We imported a Panasonic DMR EX95 VHS/DVD/HDD recorder to do the job. It is a class box and I now use it as a PVR for recording TV programmes from a set top box and archiving them to DVD.

So our third Samsung product, the poorly designed and very unreliable RSH1NHSW American style fridge/freezer will be our last.

WE WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER SAMSUNG PRODUCT EVER AGAIN. :mad:

We are careful users and tend to operate stuff by the book. Thankfully over the years other appliances we have owned (brands like Bosch, Electrolux, Zanussi, LG, Belling, Mitsubishi, Philips, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, Apple & Dell) have given us good service and value for money, only Samsung has not. What is amazing is how Samsung gets away with this. It seems to achieve it by being highly innovative in avoiding after-sales service and in avoiding it’s customers. It’s a shame it does not deploy the same level of innovation in the design and build of the products.

Buyer beware.

bradybunch1

I have taken a look at the posts here about the Samsung American style fridge freezers as I am about to invest in one, I notice the issues seem to relate to the older models, is this still the case and has it been put right in the latest models as I was looking at the ice/water dispenser american fridge freezer which is plumbed in. Would appreciate it if you could let me know if this is the case. Thanks

xhell

@bradybunch1

I have no experience of the current models and I do not intend to get any experience of them so I cannot comment specifically on them. One thing to bear in mind though - even if the feedback is positive now, that may not mean anything in the medium term. The reviews from buyers in 2009 of my model and others in that family of products were glowing in general but by 2011/2012, customer reviews had dropped to one star out of 5 as they encountered the multitude of faults.

There are a number of appliance brands I avoid if possible because of their poor reputation for build quality and/or after-sales service and Samsung is one of these. It's build quality issues appear to exist across a whole range of products, even the Galaxy tablet so I would never buy one. Instead, we have 3 iPads in the family and they are a joy to own. My last two Samsung purchases were because there was nothing else available locally to match my need. Big mistake on my part as Samsung lived up to it's infamous reputation.

greenshieldstamp

Hello all
I've been getting nowhere with the email/telephone Customer Services Dept.
Does anybody have a mailing address and or contact name?

Thanks

bigsuzy

I have a Samsung RSH 1DLMR American style fridge freezer and had no problems with it for the past 4 years. 2 days ago there was an intermittent clicking coming from the fridge side of it and last night I realised that the temperature had risen in both freezer and fridge -even tho the digital display on the front hadn't changed. Tried switching off at the mains and back on with no success. Food completely ruined. Any suggestions?