A Thumb-Up To Samsung’s After Sales Service?

Avid readers of my site may recall my acquisition of a Samsung 22″ wide-screen LCD monitor 3 months ago. One month ago, I saw one vertical line full of dead pixels. I called the Samsung customer service the next morning and I must say, I did find the operator very friendly (unlike the horrible experience I had with SingTel). I described the problem and asked her how the green line could be turned off. She put me on hold for a while and then told me that they have to send a technician on site to fix my problem. I am actually used to their SOP (standard operating procedure). My previous Samsung 17″ LCD monitor has broken down twice. She asked if the technician could visit my home the next day and I suggested the coming weekend instead. It was not a life and death situation. Just one vertical green line of dead pixels.

Then another green line appeared right next to the first one, and another one appeared. Not only that, one line turned red and another one to blue. Pretty funky I must say.

As the technician appeared at my doorstep, we were like … long time no see! He was the same technician who visited my home to fix my previous Samsung LCD monitor twice changing its motherboard because it refused to display anything. I showed him the lines, he verified the problem, and he told me that he needed to order the panel for me. He would have to dissect my two months old monitor and replace the panel. Ouch! I asked if this is a problematic model. He told me that mine was (still is) the first one in Singapore to go wrong. I must buy 4D. In fact, the product quality has gone up so much so that he may be out of job soon, he said.

Two weeks later, the lines were still there and they were getting annoying. So I called up the service line again to explain my situation and suggested a one-to-one exchange. After all, it was pretty new and I reckoned it would be faster to replace the entire monitor than to wait for the parts to arrive. In the afternoon, someone from Samsung called me. I guess she must be pretty senior because of her English proficiency. She verified the problem and I had to wait for their response. In the evening, another person called me and told me that they could not commit to a date when my monitor would be repaired. The most they could do was to loan me a set – not the exact model but something standard. I said, “Look I do have another Samsung LCD monitor at home and all I need is to have my rather new monitor fixed.” He said a one-to-one exchange is not possible because it is more than a week old. I said I wanted to talk to someone who could make decision and he insisted that he got the directive from his manager. “Fine,” I said, “I will write in then.”

I have done some corporate governance projects before and for the sound corporates, letters of complaint usually get routed to an independent entity within the organization that reports directly to the MD or CEO. Moreover, some may have that as a measurement for KPI (key performance indicator). So that was all I did – a very nice professional and mature letter of complaint.

The next day, Samsung called me to arrange a one-to-one exchange and proposed to have the monitor delivered to my doorsteps within 12 hours. Now I am staring at my yet again brand new Samsung LCD monitor. Thumb up to Samsung’s after sales service? I think so. Some friends of mine are curious about what I wrote in that letter of complaint. Here it is just because you ask for it and not anything else.