How many times can a manufacturer repair a product and how long can they keep the product in service

Cuddl3s

Hi all,

I am writing hoping that I can find someone that has gone through something similar and that can point me in the right direction on what I can do to sort out my problem namely that I’ve been having a nightmare of a time dealing with Samsung so called “Customer solutions team” trying to get my Samsung CHG 90, 49 inch monitor fixed.

In short, I’ve been trying to get it fixed since the beginning of October of last year and so far it has been in service 4 times, for a total of over 10 weeks in service with the last repair attempt taking over 4 weeks. So far I’ve taken 8 days off to be in to send the monitor and receive it, sent out dozens upon dozens of emails and made and taken loads of calls (my estimation somewhere around 16+ hours on the phone to them).

After the last repair (the same fault keeps reappearing) the monitor also came with a scratch to the screen and the bezel which I’ve reported to Samsung and sent them the picture which they acknowledge at the time.

The Samsung Authorised UK repair centre RepairTech have been useless as well and won’t admit to the issue saying that when they received it the issue was not present even though that would be impossible.

They also won’t admit mucked up the repairs (even though I’ve caught them out on their poor repairs and QC) or that they’ve now damaged the screen and just seem to be happy to keep on repairing the monitor indefinitely. Up to now Samsung have just been happy to keep on repeating that they can’t do anything and that the decision in my case rests solely with the repair centre but it is obvious that there is a conflict of interest there and that they are not going to admit fault, or that there might be a financial incentive for them to keep on doing repairs or be at a disadvantage if they suggest a replacement.

Now after a more than a month since I’ve received it from the last repair and dozens of calls later trying to get their useless Customer solutions team to sort it out they are telling me that since the service centre denies there were any issues with the monitor when they received it, they also deny they have damaged the monitor that if I want another repair then I will have to pay for it myself as supposedly according to them it is out of warranty even though it isn’t and I’ve well establish that with them in the numerous emails I’ve previously sent them but of course they can’t find anything in their email system.

Basically, I just feel like they are taking the **** and they have been for months just trying to kick the ball until the warranty runs out as they can never find any record of anything their support sent to me or what I’ve sent to them. The previous guy that handled my case left the company and nobody bothered to get back to me and even I was promised a call back and now even though I agreed with him that there would be no more repairs now they are turning around saying that all they could do is more repairs.

Has anyone been through anything even remotely similar to this, any idea who to address to from their upper management, complaints team? Those that I’ve spoken to from their “The Customer solutions Team“ have always claimed that there is no one else above them and that within the whole of Samsung there is no one can sort my issue and they’ve implied that basically I now have to live with it the damage to the screen as all they can do is organise yet more repairs, and that the monitor could potentially go in for repair after repairs until the warranty runs out.  

My questions would be how many times can a manufacturer repair a product? How long can they keep the product in service, does the warranty extend by the time the has gone until the issue is rectified and who is responsible for damage occurred at service centre?

Thank you.

Sandtree

who did you buy from?

Your rights are with the retailer not the manufacturer. With the manufacturer you are basically at their mercy/the terms of any warranty they give you. Against the retailer they have one opportunity to fix it and if they fail to you then have the right to reject the item.

Its not clear from the post how old the item is but guessing over 6 months old. Note that if you reject the item that the retailer is entitled to reduce the settlement to reflect the use you've had from the item before reporting the defect(s) to them.

Cuddl3s

Sandtree said:

who did you buy from?

Your rights are with the retailer not the manufacturer. With the manufacturer you are basically at their mercy/the terms of any warranty they give you. Against the retailer they have one opportunity to fix it and if they fail to you then have the right to reject the item.

Its not clear from the post how old the item is but guessing over 6 months old. Note that if you reject the item that the retailer is entitled to reduce the settlement to reflect the use you've had from the item before reporting the defect(s) to them.

Hi thanks for the reply, the item is over 6 months old.
At the time the retailer themselves recommended getting in contact with the manufacturer for the repair and at first repair Samsung was fine, but now after the 4th repair and months waiting for it to get solve I've not gotten to the point where Samsung are literally acting in bad faith intentionally misleading consumers (saying they have to pay if the warranty runs out even though we are dealing with a repeat issue that manifested itself before the warranty run out) even though that does not matter here since the warranty is still valid but they are downright despicable trying to find any trick in the book that will allow them to wiggle out of fixing this.
I never would of though that Samsung of all people would act in this way, this is the response of response you'd expect from your local garage not Samsung.

Sandtree

Then go back to the retailer... if they delegated to the manufacturer for repair thats fine but its still the retailer you need to go back to after a 2nd failure.

Samsung is the manufacturer and they are right in that if you want them to deal with it after the warranty has run out they can charge. They aren't obligated to remind you of your consumer rights. 

Cuddl3s

Sandtree said:

Then go back to the retailer... if they delegated to the manufacturer for repair thats fine but its still the retailer you need to go back to after a 2nd failure.

Samsung is the manufacturer and they are right in that if you want them to deal with it after the warranty has run out they can charge. They aren't obligated to remind you of your consumer rights. 

You haven't read it properly, the monitor is still within warranty and since Samsung has already done 4 repairs on it I am keen to hold them to account till my issue is resolved.

Saying that I should go to the retailer is pointless I would just lose more time what is to say they wouldn't try to fob me off just like Samsung as they already did when they first pointed me to Samsung. On a side note if you ever try calling Curry's for a appliance fault their automated line tells you to contact the manufacturer and then they hang up on you as in we are not obliged to deal with it, so what are we talking about?

Also it is obvious the manufacturer has accepted that they are to fix with this fault since they have accepted it in for the repair 4 times already.

Also I think this is about holding Samsung responsible for the horrible service they are providing and for trying to pull stunts like knowingly misleading consumers some of which might be old and vulnerable and not able to question what a retailer says or seek advice.

powerful_Rogue

Cuddl3s said:

Sandtree said:

Then go back to the retailer... if they delegated to the manufacturer for repair thats fine but its still the retailer you need to go back to after a 2nd failure.

Samsung is the manufacturer and they are right in that if you want them to deal with it after the warranty has run out they can charge. They aren't obligated to remind you of your consumer rights. 

You haven't read it properly, the monitor is still within warranty and since Samsung has already done 4 repairs on it I am keen to hold them to account till my issue is resolved.

Saying that I should go to the retailer is pointless I would just lose more time what is to say they wouldn't try to fob me off just like Samsung as they already did when they first pointed me to Samsung. On a side note if you ever try calling Curry's for a appliance fault their automated line tells you to contact the manufacturer and then they hang up on you as in we are not obliged to deal with it, so what are we talking about?

Also it is obvious the manufacturer has accepted that they are to fix with this fault since they have accepted it in for the repair 4 times already.

Also I think this is about holding Samsung responsible for the horrible service they are providing and for trying to pull stunts like knowingly misleading consumers some of which might be old and vulnerable and not able to question what a retailer says or seek advice.

Seems like you haven't read the forum description, as this is about consumer rights.

You don't want to exercise them, so not much advice anyone can really offer that hasn't already been said.

Sandtree

Cuddl3s said:
Saying that I should go to the retailer is pointless.

With all due respect you haven't either read the response or understood the difference between a warranty and your consumer rights (noting that you have posted in the forum on consumer rights).

Your rights are with the retailer. If you approach them you do not have to accept any further attempts to repair etc but can simply reject the item for a refund... if thats what you want. 

You have no consumer rights under a warranty and are subject to the T&Cs the manufacturer sets

Cuddl3s

I think this copy/pasting saying "contact the retailer" as they have to deal with it x amount of time has passed is just none sense and of no help to anyone. In my opinion saying that is just like saying that those people that bought various cars makes be it BMW, Vauxhall etc and so forth that if they have an issue (which in some cases were fires) that they should contact the retailer (which could potentially be a small dealership in some cases), when it is very obvious that the manufacturer is the one that should fix the faults and which after pressure from the governing bodies they eventually did, I think a case could be made that it is the same thing here.

Anyway all I was asking were some simple questions namely about the number of repairs, duration of repairs and warranty extension due to prolonged repairs (along with complaints at Samsung) which by the way could also apply if the retailer dealt with the repair so I am hoping that this discussion will be of help to other people such as myself who will search for the answer to these questions in the future.

Sandtree

Cuddl3s said:

Anyway all I was asking were some simple questions namely about the number of repairs, duration of repairs and warranty extension due to prolonged repairs (along with complaints at Samsung) which by the way could also apply if the retailer dealt with the repair so I am hoping that this discussion will be of help to other people such as myself who will search for the answer to these questions in the future.

These are covered by T&Cs but as there is no consideration its not even cover by contract law. A such if you want to go down the warranty route and not the statutory right route then unless the T&Cs promise otherwise:

1) Number of repairs - unlimited
2) Duration - unlimited
3) Extension of warranty - none

UK law gives all the rights against the retailer and none against the manufacture other than in the case of significant injury etc.

Cuddl3s

Sandtree said:

Cuddl3s said:
Saying that I should go to the retailer is pointless.

With all due respect you haven't either read the response or understood the difference between a warranty and your consumer rights (noting that you have posted in the forum on consumer rights).

Your rights are with the retailer. If you approach them you do not have to accept any further attempts to repair etc but can simply reject the item for a refund... if thats what you want. 

You have no consumer rights under a warranty and are subject to the T&Cs the manufacturer sets

Sorry, my mistake, I didn't see a sub section relating to warranties and just assumed consumer rights would be an appropriate place to post the discussion. Also it seems rather ridiculous that consumer rights wouldn't also cover warranties.

That is a bit like saying if you bought a brand new house for which you'd get a warranty if something goes wrong you can only go after the developer but not the warranty provider (which in this case is a different entity to the developed) so if the developer goes bust there is nothing you can do even though you got a warranty.

Cuddl3s

Sandtree said:

Cuddl3s said:

Anyway all I was asking were some simple questions namely about the number of repairs, duration of repairs and warranty extension due to prolonged repairs (along with complaints at Samsung) which by the way could also apply if the retailer dealt with the repair so I am hoping that this discussion will be of help to other people such as myself who will search for the answer to these questions in the future.

These are covered by T&Cs but as there is no consideration its not even cover by contract law. A such if you want to go down the warranty route and not the statutory right route then unless the T&Cs promise otherwise:

1) Number of repairs - unlimited
2) Duration - unlimited
3) Extension of warranty - none

UK law gives all the rights against the retailer and none against the manufacture other than in the case of significant injury etc.

Thanks for the reply, guess this answers most of my questions. So basically if you've bought anything no matter how expensive even a house if the retailer goes bust so that you can't go to them then you got no recourse even if there is a warranty, brilliant.