Ice maker repair gone bad

[easthamnaples]

Today I discovered that my original post had disappeared and been replaced by a Samsung post with phone numbers to call for various issues. My profile says I have zero posts with 2 replies (those still exist). Am I to understand that if a post makes Samsung look bad, they simply delete them?

Fortunately, I saved a copy of the post. Here it is one more time:

Our 4-year old Samsung refrigerator was making a single large block of ice which would get stuck in the icemaker mechanism. I learned online that this was a common problem which they would fix at no charge. I called Samsung on January 28, and the CSR explained my refrigerator was out of warranty and he could not do the repair for free. I mentioned that I had seen this very problem in these forums, it was a known problem, and if I called this number it would be repaired for free. He then asked if I owned any other Samsung appliances. I told him no. He put me on hold for a minute and returned to say "Good news. Because you are a loyal Samsung customer, we are going to repair this at no charge".

They set up a ticket (#<HIDDEN>) and I received a call from Asurion to schedule a repair for February 2. That became February 3, then February 7, then February 13. In the time in between, I received 5 packages with a total of 8 parts. One circuit board, 6 ice maker parts and some food grade sealant. The Asurion repairman came to the house, installed everything, and within an hour the refrigerator was making ice cubes. From there things went downhill quickly.

The next day, the ice cubes were smaller and had fuzzy edges. On the second day after the repair, the ice tray was full of water. That was when we realized the entire refrigerator and freezer were no longer cooling at all. We ran out and bought ice, loaded everything into coolers and called Asurion. They said I would have to call Samsung to get a ticket number. After a lengthy discussion with Samsung as to whether they were responsible, they reluctantly set up another ticket (#<HIDDEN>) for repair (they claimed an ice maker repair was different from a refrigerator not cooling). Asurion gave us a re-repair date of February 27. Unacceptable.

After several hours of calls with Samsung asking to speak with various supervisors, I got the repair moved up to February 22. They also told me I would be getting a call from the Refund and Exchange Department because they may choose to replace our refrigerator due to the multiple service calls for the same issue. Never heard from them.

On February 21, the day before the repair, I did not receive the “reminder” text, so I called Asurion to confirm the appointment. They told me the service call had been cancelled by Samsung because I had been given a buyout. I called Samsung and I was transferred to the Refund and Exchange Department. They apologized for the confusion. Because the refrigerator was 4 years old, it did not qualify for an exchange or refund, but they would give me “an accommodation”. They offered 2 options. I could have 50% off a new Samsung refrigerator or $500 off any Samsung appliance. By now my blood pressure was approaching the 200 mark. I told them neither of those options was acceptable, I just wanted them to fix the refrigerator, which was only broken due to the repair performed by their designated repair service 9 days earlier.

Samsung set up a third repair ticket (#<HIDDEN>). Asurion scheduled a repair person to come out and “inspect” on March 1, then they would order parts and come back at a later date. Looking through my phone, I have now spent over 7 hours on the phone with Samsung and Asurion representatives, some very polite and helpful, all the way to one explaining that he could not transfer me to a supervisor and I could not hold for one, so he was going to “terminate my call” and a supervisor would call me in the next 24-48 hours. Imagine you have no refrigerator, no hope of having one for 2-3 weeks, and no one will take your call. Now I am seething.

February 24, now 26 days past my first call to Samsung, I called Asurion who explained they are still waiting for Samsung to submit the (third) ticket for the repair. Then Samsung calls minutes later to explain that the ticket they wrote yesterday (the third one in this series) has not been submitted to a repair service. They could not find one in my area – even though Asurion was a repair service in my area last week (they’re 25 miles away). Samsung told me to call a repair service and have them do the work, then send Samsung the work order and they would determine if they would refund it.

I suggested they call a repair service, since they chose the last one who broke the refrigerator, and fix the problem they caused. They said they could not do that. I hung up and called back. This time I got someone named Kurt, who understood the issue and wanted to help. He wrote a new ticket (fourth one, #<HIDDEN>) for Asurion to come back out and fix the original work they performed. Within 15 minutes, Asurion called to schedule an appointment for February 27. They said they would order a new circuit board in advance, seeming confident that this had to be the problem. This appointment turned into March 1, and then March 7, due to problems getting parts. If the schedule actually holds, by the time this repair comes up we will have been without an ice maker for 5 weeks, and without a refrigerator for over 3 weeks as a result of the first ice maker repair.

This has been a lesson in the bureaucracy that is Samsung Customer Service. If you ask for a Supervisor, they will do everything in their power to talk you out of it. Even if you can get to one, they say there is nothing they can do to help. My $2,300, elegant looking, French door refrigerator lasted just 4 years, and apparently - if I buy another Samsung refrigerator - has lost half of its value. It has always spit out water before giving ice cubes. The one ice maker repair performed by Asurion (at no charge) stopped the entire refrigerator/freezer from working because they installed a defective circuit board. Getting Samsung to accept responsibility and fix the problem was an incredibly lengthy process, and an exercise in futility. Their goal seemed to be to wear us down so we would give up. Their proposed solution to the problem, 1/2 off a new Samsung refrigerator or $500 off another Samsung appliance was insulting. They broke our refrigerator and offered us half off a new one. If you treat your customers this poorly, why would they ever want to buy from you again?
We gave up. We are going refrigerator shopping. We will have Asurion finish the repair in our garage, and then sell this as a used refrigerator.

Samsung Ticket#s: <HIDDEN>

UPDATE

Received this email from the forum today about this post, still 5 days out from my next (4th) repair:

Your topic recently received a reply.
Topic: Refrigerator repair gone bad - horrible customer service
Date: 02-27-2023 11:46 AM
Did it solve your problem?

Well, no. The only reply was a fellow consumer saying "Wow". The Samsung moderator did go into this post and hide the 4 ticket numbers and later, delete the entire post. What they did not do was take the time to call, write, email, post or make any effort toward solving the problem.

[MzTrell]

This mobbed- up type of ignorance of their consumers is the reason Samsung isn't a winning team to me. It's the exact same corporate bs strategies whatever you go; people are literally losing their shirts while corporate asses harass them about paying the debt accumuled during Samsung's delays.

[Samsung_Moderator · Accepted solution]

Hello, We can certainly understand that experiencing issues like this can be frustrating, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. We want to assure you that Samsung is here to help you in any way we can.

However, please note that this is a peer to peer support page, designed to provide basic troubleshooting steps for our users. Since you are already in the service process, there may be limitations to the assistance we can provide through this platform.

If you have any specific questions or concerns about your service process, we recommend reaching out to one of the moderators here in a private message. We are happy to review your case and provide any available updates.