Faulty Samsung TV

robdeighton

We are having an issue with our new samsung 4k smart TV.... it was bought as a xmas present for us from Currys in their Black Friday sales by my mother. So the TV remained in the box from the 11th November until the 23rd December. Set the TV up and everything appeared to be working okay... really happy.

On boxing day we to go watch a Bluray with our Panasonic Bluray player and we begin to notice tiny random dropouts out in the sound. We have a YouView box (from TalkTalk) also connected and we start to notice these drop outs on there too. I even went to the trouble of connecting up a Samsung DVD player - same problem occurs. The issue of the dropouts only occurs when a device is connected via HDMI. Normal operation through the smart TV apps or built in terrestrial is fine.

The problem is noticeable when watching films but as myself and girlfriend are big music fans we watch a lot of concerts etc, and it's really noticeable on that type of programme.

I contacted Samsung support (based in asia), who logged into the TV and reset the software and the HDMI hardware and this didn't resolve the problem. they wanted further proof of the issue and asked if I could generate/record problem down the phone (!), i stated that it wouldn't be possible as the sound issue is random and the drop outs are so small you probably wouldn't be able to hear them anyway, i was left on hold for 20+ minutes while she talked to her supervisor. After several communications with them, they have now requested that i try and 'video capture' the random fault.

I decided to try and resolve the problem away from Samsung and visited Curry's at their Hull store with our TV... the manager on TV department was not interested (tried to blame it on our HDMI cables, bluray player etc) and as the TV is over 30 days old he directed us to their 'KnowHow' desk... So we set the tv up with our Panasonic Bluray on their Know How desk and the TV behaved itself (it is a random fault after all), and the store was so noisy in that if the fault did occur you probably wouldn't of heard it anyway.... so we left with no resolution and a leaflet with telephone number to call their Customer Service centre. I must point out after our initiial communication with the manager he appeared to avoid talking to us while we were in the store and left it to the KnowHow assistant to deal with us. - which i thought was a bit unfair on the assistant.

I'm really at a loss of what to do, i'm going to try and video record and raise the problem with Samsung again it but i can see that being a task as the problem is random and i don't think my iphone will pick up the sound drop outs as they are so quick.

Also, on the samsung website there is a forum where people report issues they are having with their products, and there are number of people with a slightly different model number with exactly the same problem but Samsung are dis-interested as nobody has reported a fault with my Model number -

Does anybody have any advice on how we can get a resolution with Samsung? The thing is the TV is good, it's just this small problem that is letting it down and i can see this being a long drawn out task until the problem is resolved. There quite clearly is a problem as other people are reporting it too...

Is it worth contacting trading standards?

Thanks in advance...

Les79

The onus is on them (the company if you go for your consumer rights, or the manufacturer if you go for your warranty rights) to prove that a fault is inherent or not..


BUT if they cannot replicate the fault then they have nothing to work from. So you'd need to provide some sort of evidence to show that a fault exists, and then the manner of it can be investigated. So provide your recordings.


You mention "random" a lot, however you also have indicated that there are numerous possible triggers for it (the HDMI use and watching concerts) so I really don't think you'd struggle to gather the evidence (and you should have suggested that to them as well!) under the right conditions. My only worry, and backed up with your sentence "drop outs are so small you probably wouldn't be able to hear them anyway", is that the issue is a borderline non-issue and either due to the wiring (which can be a legitimate cause) or "PEBTAC".

[Deleted User]

robdeighton wrote: »

the sound issue is random and the drop outs are so small you probably wouldn't be able to hear them anyway

That sounds like rather a non-problem I'm afraid.

Certainly, Trading Standards are not going to involve themselves in your individual (minor) complaint.

davidmcn

Les79 wrote: »

The onus is on them (the company if you go for your consumer rights, or the manufacturer if you go for your warranty rights) to prove that a fault is inherent or not..

Might also be worth bearing in mind by the OP that it's their mother's rights, given she was the one who bought it...the OP doesn't have any rights.

neilmcl

You (your mother) need to go back to Currys as your consumer rights are with them, not Samsung.

JJ_Egan

>ropouts only occurs when a device is connected via HDMI.


Check HDMI settings on the TV and swap HDMI cable .Should be a few HDMI settings including audio.



<are so small you probably wouldn't be able to hear them anyway,?


If you cannot hear them how do you know they exist ??

chili1496

could be a decoding issue from the device that is attached via the hdmi

robdeighton

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

That sounds like rather a non-problem I'm afraid.

Certainly, Trading Standards are not going to involve themselves in your individual (minor) complaint.

When i said that it - it was in the context of samsung hearing the problem down the phone
which is what they were asking to do - however if you are in the room you do notice it, even to the untrained ear, i have had friends and relatives comment that its there - so definitely not a 'non-problem'

robdeighton

davidmcn wrote: »

Might also be worth bearing in mind by the OP that it's their mother's rights, given she was the one who bought it...the OP doesn't have any rights.

JJ_Egan wrote: »

>ropouts only occurs when a device is connected via HDMI.


Check HDMI settings on the TV and swap HDMI cable .Should be a few HDMI settings including audio.



<are so small you probably wouldn't be able to hear them anyway,?


If you cannot hear them how do you know they exist ??

we have checked all cables and they are fine - bear in mind everything was working perfectly well when connected to our old Panasonic TV. Again when i said 'you wouldn't be able to hear it '- it was in the context of samsung hearing the problem down the phone

robdeighton

chili1496 wrote: »

could be a decoding issue from the device that is attached via the hdmi

would like to hope that it is, however the fact it's happening across multiple devices and there are reports on other samsung models makes it looks like a bigger hardware problem

robdeighton

neilmcl wrote: »

You (your mother) need to go back to Currys as your consumer rights are with them, not Samsung.

My mother was with us when took the tv back to the hull store - she can be stern when she needs to be.... curry's were only interested if we could replicate the problem in store, which we couldn't because :

1. the problem is random
2. you need your full attention to pick it up
3. there was that much noise in the store environent that if the problem had of occurred you wouldn't oh heard it as a living room environment is completely different where it is noticeable