Samsung fridge - door reversal voiding warranty?!

morgmonster

We've been needing a new fridge freezer for a while and decided on a Samsung. I went to buy on marks electrical and didn't see door reversal as an option on the model we wanted so called their customer service line, they informed me that this series of Samsung fridge cannot have the door reversed except by a Samsung engineer, otherwise you void the warranty. I called Samsung call centre and they informed me that yes, that was the case and it would be a chargeable visit to reverse the door. That's reasonable as I expected to pay for the delivery guys to do it so I asked how much, and they said that they couldn't tell me until I'd bought the item and they could then use the serial number etc to book a service visit. This is nuts, right?! Based on our experience of warranty visits for other kitchen appliances I'd presume it'd be £100+. 

It's already a pretty expensive item and I don't want to pay an extra unknown amount to get it reversed... I also don't want to void the warranty by attempting it myself or having our local appliance repair guy do it. On top of all that, the position it needs to go into, it will be completely unusable without the door reversed and we don't have room for a 2m tall fridge freezer hanging around waiting for an engineer! I've seen that john lewis sell other samsung fridges in this range and the usual "tick to add" extra of door reversal is not available there either. And it isn't listed to buy direct on the Samsung website.

So I suppose my question is... Has anyone else had samsung reverse a door on a new fridge and how much did it cost? can anyone see another option here I've missed apart from choosing a different fridge!

ThisIsWeird

Blimey!

Model number? All I can suggest is to look up the instructions for any FF you are considering, and see what it says.

From examples we've had over the years, it can be as simple as removing plugs or caps over pre-existing holes (I think our current Hotpoint even came with a set of handed caps for covering up the existing hinge position), but I think our previous Samsung only had little dimples to mark the fresh hole positions, so they either had to be punched or self-tapped, I can't remember.

I suspect they are concerned about air-tightness.

Try going on Samsung's own community forum, and asking on there for typical costs. (Tho', good luck - I've asked a couple of Qs on there about our new TV, and had no proper answer...)

grumbler

My Samsung has controls and indicators on the door, so it might be not as simple as moving the hinges. I did reverse the door after buying it without realising that this voided the warranty. I was lucky then as there were no any faults.

casper_gutman

I reversed the door on a Beko which had a control panel and display on the door. It was a bit fiddly rerouting the cable through the hinge, but quite doable following the instructions (and ISTR video) on their website. Shocked (a) that Samsung will void the warranty if you don't pay them to do it and especially (b) given that they have that policy, they don't have a means of quoting for the visit unless you buy the thing first. That is so silly!

No real advice here, sorry. Just grateful for the warning. 

Silvertabby

Must be something different about the fitting.  We bought a Bosch FF from John Lewis last week, which came with the option of door reversal for £20.  

morgmonster

Thanks for your thoughts!! It's this model. Interestingly the price has reduced by £70 since yesterday, and I've discovered we get a 6% discount on that website through a work benefit scheme, so thinking maybe I will still consider the engineer option if the purchase price is less. Looking at other options but the Samsung ones really seem to beat the rest when it comes to usable inside space within the size we need (2m tall and 60cm wide).
I did reverse our old fridge freezer doors myself, which is a now 15 year old John Lewis model, and then had to do it again when we moved house, but I had a look at the online manual for this one and it involves wiring etc so I don't think I would trust myself!

ivorproblem

I bought a Samsung larder fridge, having checked online that it had a reversible door.

 When I googled "can I reverse the door on my Samsung refrigerator", it says on the Samsung website that if it is a reversible door model, then you can reverse the door, "Any damage caused while attempting to

reverse the door opening is not covered

under the appliance manufacturer's warranty"

So having done the research, I ordered the refrigerator. When it arrived I followed the instructions in the user manual to reverse the door, it wasn't too complicated, but I did notice that it said in the instructions two things:

"Reversing the door must be performed by Samsung approved servicing personnel at your own expense because this kind of servicing is not covered by the warranty".

"Reversing failure or property damage that may occur by unapproved agencies will not be covered by the warranty".

After half an hour of disassembly, I went to move the hinges to the other side, and realised that the holes for the screw on hinges were not drilled in the chassis of the refrigerator on that side (nowhere in the instructions to reverse the door does it say anything about having to drill holes).

So I emailed the retailer, and 48 hours later (after chasing from myself, saying that they had taken my old fridge, and I needed to know if they would drill the holes, or take this fridge away, so could I plug in and use this fridge), they got back to me and asked for photos, in the meantime I put the refrigerator back together with the door on the original side. They said Samsung would get back to me within 3 working days to sort an engineer visit. So I plugged in the fridge and started using it.

Samsung didn't contact me, so after the 3rd working day, I contacted them, unfortunately the customer service centre is not uk based and it took me a week of back and forth for them to understand that there were no holes, they kept thinking I just wanted to book an engineer visit to reverse the door!

Now they are trying to get me to accept that if they send an engineer to drill the holes, but I don't pay for the reversal the refrigerator warranty will be void. I did suggest that because the engineer will have to remove the door to take off the fascia to drill the holes for the top hinge that they could just get him to complete the door reversal at no charge to make up for the inconvenience, but that was a firm no.

So now I really feel like I am being blackmailed in to paying for the engineer visit to correct their manufacturing defect!

I have had enough, so asked the retailer to take the fridge back for a refund, they asked for the reference for my contact with Samsung. That was 3 days ago, and not heard anything since!

I have a Samsung TV, a Samsung washing machine, a Samsung phone, I didn't appreciate that their customer care could be so awful, so be warned.

morgmonster

Gosh that sounds like a total pain! Exactly the kind of nightmare saga that I'm trying to avoid! Thank you for sharing.

TELLIT01

I can't add anything helpful for the OP, but this is a useful warning for anybody who will need to reverse the door to check what it entails.  I had always assumed it would just be a case of undoing a few screws to fit the hinges to the opposite side of the door.  How wrong I was.

morgmonster

TELLIT01 said:

I can't add anything helpful for the OP, but this is a useful warning for anybody who will need to reverse the door to check what it entails.  I had always assumed it would just be a case of undoing a few screws to fit the hinges to the opposite side of the door.  How wrong I was.

Some of the features in the newer fridges are a bit crazy!! Digital panels on the door (guess that is why there's wiring in the doors), wifi connectivity. I saw an ad for a fridge where the door is black glass and when you knock it twice it goes clear!! 

ivorproblem

If the doors are that complicated to reverse (this one isn't, just the holes have not been made) then they should either sell two models where you select left or right model, or they should at the point of purchase state that to have the door opening the other way will be an additional charge of x amount.