Greg: no arguments here. I see lots of people buying off the Web due to big price differences that I find hard to believe in some cases. But I still like to check things out in person, and spend my bigger bucks where I know I'll get payback when the time comes.

The store you go to sounds like it has been around a while. They've developed strong relationships with the major companies for which they deal, and their distributors as well. They've built up their reputation for paying their bills and servicing their customers to the point where they have a say. Their salesguys get rewards from people like Sony, and some of them, along with the store senior staff, get paid trips to CES or other product shows as a result of their efforts and income. So they can offer their customers the best. That's an excellent situation to be in, from their point of view and yours.

I had a store here in Ottawa that was like that. Then bad times set in, and they folded after 40 years. Now several of the staff are working at a chain that moved in and bought their inventory... but they've lost almost all their power. They have to phone head office now to even loan out a piece of display equipment that's so old no one is ever going to buy it. They hesistate when you want to return something, even when it's on extended warranty. They can no longer do a trade-up plan. It's a shame.

Still, when I had to get rid of the lemon ProScan DVD I bought from them, I ended up with a brand new Panasonic that works just great. The only hassle was that I had to really push my sales acquaintance of 30 years, because he doesn't have the pull he used to. But if I had bought off the Web, I can just imagine what I'd have to go through. I'm sorry, but driving a bad unit back to the store sounds way better to me than packaging and shipping off to some far-off city.

... Mike

Mike, took your advice and demanded to speak to management. The support person put on hold, came back a moment later and said that they hadn't forgoten me and will get back with me when they know more. Told the guy that this was not satisfactory, I've been waiting long enough and I WANT to speak to the supervisor. He put me hold again for about a minute and then the line went dead.

After I recovered from the near heart attack, I promptly called the main number and indicated I wanted to speak to management about this experience and everything else. The operator put me on hold for a moment and came back saying someone will call me. I expressed the reason why that has not a good idea and she said that was all that she could do.

Went ahead and called support directly again and once again demanded to speak to management. They asked for my name. I told I'll tell that to the management person I speak to. They said they can't do that. So I told them my name. They knew my name and informed me that my case is worked on, someone will conatct me, and that was my only option. Period.


It should pointed out that although very firm, I have not raised my voice, made any threats, or used foul language with these people i have spoken too. Yet I am being treated like I have.

I'm not sure what to do here. As near as I can determine, the service division is the only phone number Samsung makes available in the US. No one else to call.

Unbelievable.

GregoriusM, great advice. Next DVD player purchase will be through a dealer - which by way this thing is going, will have to happen pretty soon. Apparently you need an actual working DVD player to watch DVDs:)

Visit http://www.709online.com

It's a site dedicated to all things 709, and not operated by Samsung (so it's bullshit free). The problems you are experiencing are common with the 709, and have mostly been recified through eeprom upgrades. The issues you have are debated daily in the forums there. Depending what version of eeprom you have, there is likely to be an upgrade available. You can download the binaries on the site and blow them to an eeprom (or find someone who can). It's very simple to do.

I realise this info may be a bit late in the day for Terry, but if anyone else is struggling, give the site a try.

I Should have said 709 and 909...

Terry: that is truly unbelievable, and totally obnoxious on the part of the company. It is definitely difficult to get contact info from their website. Do you have this number
201-229-4000 (800-SAMSUNG)
from this website?
[Link: samsungelectronics.com]. If that's the one you're already using, maybe the Canadian one will help. We're not know for our restaurant servce, but our tech companies generally are pretty good at responding.

I've never been unable to contact senior management, but I have had to resort to other means. First off, a registered letter is WAY more impressive than an e-mail, but of course you would have to get a name. (Here's a secondary list that may have stuff:
[Link: samsung.com])

Second, you can mention both on the phone and via letter that you have submitted a detailed description of their lousy customer service to both the BBB, and to this very funky site:
www.planetfeedback.com.
This site is kind of like the web hero for the shat-upon. They actually forward your complaints to key people in the company, and they will follow up. They may also be able to provide you with contact names.

If anyone else reading this thread has a contact name, I implore you to post it here. I have some Samsung products that are just great, but I've never had a problem with them, so I may just be lucky that I haven't had to deal with them directly.

One thing remotecentral.com is good for is spreading awareness. I know for a fact that some manufacturers read these threads regularly, and postings here have affected their plans. .... Mike

I would suggest tht you address any letter you send to the company president / chairman / chief executive. Customer service managers are rather averse to being chewed out by senior executives because they are giving bad service. Had problems with my telephone company - endless promises from customer service that the problem would be sorted immediately - a letter to the chairman elicited a call from their customer service manager two days later, and resolution of my problem by the end of the week.

Cheers
Marco

Thanks people! This is the kind of ammunition I've been looking for.

Stay tuned...

OK, here's a twist.

I call Samsung Service yesterday to "check on status" like this last episode had not happened and they promptly transfer me to a manager. I only ask her what the status on my exchange is and she comes back with "we are out of stock on reconditioned units, you have already waited long enough - 3 weeks, we'll get a NEW unit out to you as soon as possible via express shipment.

OK. Can you say "turn-around"? I was shocked - this person volunteered this solution without any prompting on my part.

Amazing.

Now I don't know what to think about Samsung. Could they have had a personnel problem (the evil manager who wouldn't talk to me), realized what was going on, and replaced her? Or do they have such deep management problems that it's a crap-shoot as to what level of service you might come across?

I don't know. I guess I'll see if I actually get the new player.

Maybe someone there saw this thread.... congrats, Terry. .... Mike

Maybe they did...

Thanks

Well, I received a new player yesterday and it works fine. Received a call this morning (via voice mail) from the "good" service manager telling me the unit had shipped 2 days ago and I should be receiving it soon. She also apologized for the delay!

Sounds like a problem in their service department was corrected. This is just about enough to undo the bad feelings of the previous experiences.

Samsung did good in the end!

We'll all be waiting to see if your new player lasts...

i search of ir codes for BDD 5700 samsung blue ray

yet you post in 11 year old thread of samsung dvd player