Help with a faulty smart TV / Sale of Goods Act / Sect 75

rodsey

Thanks, guys. Dongle it is, I think. Annoyed they won't help me, but, hey - if I can solve the problem for £30, why not..

LilElvis

rodsey wrote: »

Thanks, guys. Dongle it is, I think. Annoyed they won't help me, but, hey - if I can solve the problem for £30, why not..

It shouldn't cause any problems - my tv has 2 usb ports so I use one for the dongle and the other for an external hard drive. Any problems I have had are related to my router rather than the TV and its connectivity.

CoolHotCold

rodsey wrote: »

Thanks, guys. Dongle it is, I think. Annoyed they won't help me, but, hey - if I can solve the problem for £30, why not..

Keep in mind that WiFi signal quality can be influenced by interference on the 2.4GHz frequency (phones, microwaves, radios, baby monitors etc) stone or brick walls, large metal paneling, radiators, soundbars and subwoofers, electrical cabling etc etc etc etc.


Please note, just because Saumsung said it is faulty, doesn't really always mean it is. It wouldn't be the first time a representative has said something to get the customer to stop contacting them.


What I would have tried is moving the TV closer to the router see if that resolves the issue (same room, different position etc).

Even if other devices work fine, they all have individual characteristics, some more powerful than others, better antennas and reception areas, updated firmware or incompatibilities with some chips (Intel, Broadcomm, Aethos etc etc).


It's unusual for a device to be faulty if it drops signal, usually there is something else affecting it.

Something like

http://www.pcworld.co.uk/gbuk/networking/networking/cable-wireless-routers/tp-link-tl-wr702n-n150-wireless-cable-router-16842030-pdt.html#cat-0 which takes power from the USB on the TV and plugs in through the ethernet port on the back of the TV to provide internet access.

If it is a weak wifi hotspot then you can move this little do-da around to get the best signal.

Plus it is a handy device, Router, Access Point, Repeater all in one (Depending on how you set it up)

rodsey

Hi,

Can anyone help? I've been speak to Currys, to try to get help. They want £95 upfront, which they will refund if they find a fault. I feel like this is them keeping all the cards, so have said I will pay if they don't find a fault. They have refused. Feels like I'm offering the same outcome, but keeping the playing field level...after all, they'll have my TV! Any advice? I've copied the e-mail thread and put into order below..

ME:

Hi,

I’m hoping someone can help me resolve an issue I have.

I have been speaking to Samsung since 18th February, regarding a Smart TV that I purchased from your Northwich store. This is in relation to an intermittent fault with the Wi-Fi connectivity of the TV. Essentially, the wireless signal to my broadband router intermittently drops out every 20-30 minutes, and needs to be powered off/on to re-connect. This renders a selection of the Smart features unusable.

After a long amount of back-and-forth, and many, many, checks, Samsung have advised that I need to speak to you, as the people who sold me the TV, to resolve this issue. Before doing this, however, I have also purchased a Samsung dongle, and connected it to the TV (Samsung have since advised that this won’t work, as there is no way to bypass the internal wireless), and I have also upgraded my broadband to fibre, and upgrade my home router, in an attempt to find a way to resolve the issue without contacting you. After performing all these checks and other things, Samsung have confirmed that the TV has a fault.

With regards to the TV itself, it was purchased from your Northwich store on 26th December 2013. Unfortunately, I only really started using the smart features at the end of 2014 / start of 2015, which then led me to discover the fault and seek help to fix it in February of this year. Becuase the fault was apparent from when I first fully used the features, it leads me to believe that it is more than likely that the fault had been there all along.

Although out of the 12 month manufacturer’s warranty, I have been advised to speak to you, due to the implications this has under the Sales Of Goods Act 1979, coupled with the Limitations Act. Under the Sale Of Goods Act, I hope you’ll agree that (especially for the money paid) the TV has not lasted a reasonable amount of time. Also, some investigation in various forums leads me to believe connectivity issues are a “known fault” with Samsung TVs, meaning I'm slightly concerned that I may have been sold a TV with a known fault.

I do not want a refund on the TV, nor do I want a replacement or upgrade, or anything. I am simply hoping you are able to help me have this TV repaired to working order, without having to pay out any more money.


Thanks
Rich


CURRYS:


Dear Mr Rogerson,

Thank you for your email dated 7th May 2015. I would like to have spoken to you today, however, the contact number you have provided is a digit short.

I have noted your email, regarding an out of warranty Television. As a company we do understand our obligation to repair products outside of the initial warranty period provided with the goods. I do appreciate that defects may not manifest themselves until after the warranty has expired.

In view of this and in order that we may consider your request, we would like to inspect your product to diagnose the cause of the fault. With this in mind, we will require a payment of £95.00 for us to collect the product and assess the unit at our repair centre. Should our workshop discover a manufacturing fault with the product, your assessment charge will be refunded and your product repaired at no cost.

Please can you call us on 0344 800 9090 and quote case reference CC2636342, so that we can discuss this in further detail. We are open 9am to 8pm Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm on Saturday.

Kind regards,

Jack Aspinall
The KNOWHOW™ Team



ME:




Hi Jack,

Thanks for responding so quickly.

I can see that I did add my number incorrectly to the e-mail. It should have been; **********. If you want to give me a call, further to this e-mail, it would be good to speak to you.

Thank you for your offer to help – it’s genuinely appreciated. One small area to overcome – at the minute, I am working under the assumption that the television has a manufacturer’s fault, as advised by the Samsung Support Team. If you, or a member of the repair centre, would like to confirm Samsung’s diagnosis, and see a full list of the checks, actions and results from the time their support team spent on the TV, this can be done by contacting Samsung and quoting reference number 2116620807. With this in mind, I will be unable to make a payment of £95 ahead of the TV being picked up and assessed by your repair centre. Should a fault, caused by myself, be found by your team, I would, of course, be happy to pay the £95 before the TV is returned to me.

I hope you see my point and are in alignment with me on how to proceed towards a resolution.

Thanks again
Richard Rogerson

CURRYS:

Dear Mr Rogerson,

Thank you for your email dated 8th May 2015, I have been unable to contact you by telephone today.

Samsung will not disclose any information or supply documentation to any 3rd party. If you can supply an independent report to confirm the fault, we can collect the television free of charge. We are unable to authorise the collection until the payment has been taken and are therefore unable to comply with your request.

Please accept my apologies for any disappointment this may cause.

Kind regards,

Shirley Cook
The KNOWHOW™ Team

ME:

Hi Shirley,

I have had the report from Samsung sent to me by their support team. I have just forwarded it to you under the subject 'REF: CSUP2814204CR' without the inverted commas.

Can you confirm receipt of this other e-mail, and that we can now proceed to the collection please?

Thanks
Richard

CURRYS:

Dear Richard,

Thank you for your email dated 9th May 2015.

I can confirm that we have received the callnotes logged by Samsung, but I regret that we are not able to consider these as engineer's report from them in the current format.

The report from your independent engineer would need to be on letterheaded paper from the company you deal with, then sent to us as an image or .pdf file. Until we have a report in the format we require, we would be unable to continue with your request.

Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Kind regards,

David Jones
The KNOWHOW™ Team

JJ_Egan

(Can anyone help? I've been speak to Currys, to try to get help. They want £95 upfront, which they will refund if they find a fault )

That is fair and reasonable or you need to pay for an independent report if they do not accept what Samsung are sending .

SuperHan

As above, as product is > 6 months old, it's up to you to prove the fault is inherent.

You can either go get an independent report (at your expense) and then chase them for the cost of the report if it finds in your favour, or you pay them the £95 and get a refund if you're right.

They're your options. If it were me, I'd just pay the money to Curry's for the ease of it.

pinkshoes

I wouldn't pay Currys for the report; I would get an independent report then bill Currys for it.

I cannot see how any report from Currys could be unbiassed given it is not in their interest to find a fault.

rodsey

pinkshoes wrote: »

I wouldn't pay Currys for the report; I would get an independent report then bill Currys for it.

I cannot see how any report from Currys could be unbiassed given it is not in their interest to find a fault.

Any recommendations of companies to contact for independent reports? If not, I'll try to find someone local..

Fosterdog

pinkshoes wrote: »

I wouldn't pay Currys for the report; I would get an independent report then bill Currys for it.

I cannot see how any report from Currys could be unbiassed given it is not in their interest to find a fault.

I can see where you are coming from but there have been plenty of threads on here where people have paid the £95 and then had the TV repaired and the £95 refunded. They do seem to have been pretty honest about the reports they do

Esqui

Fosterdog wrote: »

I can see where you are coming from but there have been plenty of threads on here where people have paid the £95 and then had the TV repaired and the £95 refunded. They do seem to have been pretty honest about the reports they do

I think that's mainly cause the engineers don't have the time to look in depth at the cause of a fault. They check for any damage or obvious signs of misuse, and if they can't find any, order the part and fit it when it gets there.