Samsung TV switching itself off - no solution from repair contractor

**Juice**

Hi

We bought a Samsung 3D TV in March/April for our new house and after a few months we noticed that it was turning itself off every now and again - not with any sort of pattern or regularity but enough to make it annoying. It can do it 3 times in a day, then not do it for a week, then do it once, then not do it for 4 days then do it twice etc. It's bizarre. We've tried it in different plugs, we've swapped our tellies round to check it's not to do with our electrics, we've changed batteries in the remote and we've had two different Virgin media boxes in this time so I don't think that's the cause.

So we rang Samsung who got in touch with their local contractor - they came and looked at the TV and replaced/cleaned/looked at various bits and pieces. After they'd been out 3 times, they took the TV in for observation for over a week and it didn't turn off once! So they've said we either need to take it up with Samsung or the retailer. We've had it back for a week and it's started doing it again, let's face it if numerous repair engineers don't know what the problem is, we certainly don't.

At the end of it, we've bought an expensive telly, which although it works 99% of the time it's a bit annoying that it just switches off randomly. And for the amount we paid for it, I want something that works all the time. The retailer was online so don't think we'll have much joy there. I can't decide what to do next but basically it's going to be either ring Samsung or send them a letter as it's under 12 months warranty.

Does anyone who knows a bit more about this sort of thing have any suggestions?

Darksun

Legally your contract is with the retailler. It doesn't matter if they're online, you still have the same rights (unless they're outside the UK, which makes things trickier). If you paid by credit card, the credit card company is equally liable.

That said, it may be easier to deal directly with Samsung since it's still under warranty, so I would give them a call first and see what they say.

Also bear in mind that under the sales of goods act, for the first 6 months it's down to the retailler to prove the product wasn't faulty at the time of sale, after that 6 months it's down to you to prove it was. Depending on the exact date of purchase it may have already passed the 6 month mark, and that may affect the action you'd have to take if you were going to pursue a remedy from the retailer.

CapJ

It may not be the TV....
1. Is your TV in sight of a Window?
2. How well do you get on with your neighbours?

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_faq.php

Esqui

Is there some sort of energy-saving feature that's turned on?

**Juice**

CapJ wrote: »

It may not be the TV....
1. Is your TV in sight of a Window?
2. How well do you get on with your neighbours?

http://www.tvbgone.com/cfe_tvbg_faq.php

Ha I actually considered asking the neighbours if they had a Samsung remote that our TV could be picking up signal from (both our TV's are on the ajoining wall) but I decided they would think I was mental. We've only lived here since the end of April so hopefully no grudges held yet!

**Juice**

Esqui wrote: »

Is there some sort of energy-saving feature that's turned on?

I don't think so - because it is just so at random, I can't see how it would be on anything like a timer or sleep mode or anything. We can have watched it all day and it won't have done it or the TV will be on for 5 minutes and it will have switched off twice (like this morning!)

david39

It sounds like a command that is being received by the set from something other than your own remote control unit.

You could establish if this is so by temporarily blanking off the sensor on the front of the set so that it cannot receive such signals.

Unfortunately, that would also include your own remote control unit so perhaps you could stand something directly in front of the sensor and just move it to one side for a few moments when you want to change channels etc. Inconvenient at the time but, from what you say, it should establish if that is the cause within a few days.

If that ends the problem then the set is not at fault, it's something in your house or in one of your neighbours' houses. If it is this, you might be able to desensitize the receptor on the set by discretely covering the receptor with a small piece of semi-opaque material that would let enough IR through from the remote control in your room but not from further afield.

**Juice**

david39 wrote: »

It sounds like a command that is being received by the set from something other than your own remote control unit.

You could establish if this is so by temporarily blanking off the sensor on the front of the set so that it cannot receive such signals.

Unfortunately, that would also include your own remote control unit so perhaps you could stand something directly in front of the sensor and just move it to one side for a few moments when you want to change channels etc. Inconvenient at the time but, from what you say, it should establish if that is the cause within a few days.

If that ends the problem then the set is not at fault, it's something in your house or in one of your neighbours' houses. If it is this, you might be able to desensitize the receptor on the set by discretely covering the receptor with a small piece of semi-opaque material that would let enough IR through from the remote control in your room but not from further afield.

Thanks, I do wonder if there's something in that, may try that when I get home as we did have it set up briefly in the previous house and neither of us can recall it switching off though we can't be sure.

The_Unready

Hi,

this is a known fault with some new Samsung TVs.

I've got two colleagues at work who have had exactly this problem on new Samsung TVs that they've bought in the last six weeks.

I know that both have solved the problem with a firmware upgrade, but I'm not back in work until tomorrow so I can't ask them who they contacted for the resolution (although I believe it was the retailer on both occasions).

One downloaded the firmware upgrade from the Samsung site, and the other was sent a memory stick by Curry's with the new firmware on. You may also want to have a look at that site (presumably samsung.co.uk or samsung.com) as you may be able to sort the issue out fairly quickly.

As a matter of interest, both of my colleagues are in the West country, and one was convinced that his TV switching itself off coincided with the sending of a time signal from the local transmitter - what part of the country are you in?

The Unready

jb66

Try covering the remote sensor to see if it does it, if it does its a tv fault, if it doesn't its interference which Samsung cant help with

**Juice**

The_Unready wrote: »

Hi,

this is a known fault with some new Samsung TVs.

I've got two colleagues at work who have had exactly this problem on new Samsung TVs that they've bought in the last six weeks.

I know that both have solved the problem with a firmware upgrade, but I'm not back in work until tomorrow so I can't ask them who they contacted for the resolution (although I believe it was the retailer on both occasions).

One downloaded the firmware upgrade from the Samsung site, and the other was sent a memory stick by Curry's with the new firmware on. You may also want to have a look at that site (presumably samsung.co.uk or samsung.com) as you may be able to sort the issue out fairly quickly.

As a matter of interest, both of my colleagues are in the West country, and one was convinced that his TV switching itself off coincided with the sending of a time signal from the local transmitter - what part of the country are you in?

The Unready

Ah right, I'll see if this is a possible resolution too. I know when one of the engineers came out they installed something or checked some sort of settings on one occassion so I wonder if this was it? I'll check though.

No, I'm in the north west and as I said it's so sporadic and random I can't see how it can coincide with anything timed. I could be wrong though!