Samsung India — How B. D. Park Led Samsung India Is Fleecing Customers

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra

“Ours is the best brand in the world. The components, the machines are good for the next 7-8 years. You can trust us. We would never wrong you” “Ha, your 1-year warranty is over, pig. Yes, only by 3 months, but it still is over. And so you’ll have to pay Rs. 20, 000 to get a new component, because we are too lazy to do a proper quality-control of our product” A couple of months back if someone showed me the above two statements and told me they are from the representatives of the same company, I wouldn’t have believed. Now that it has happened to me, I don’t have a choice. This is the story of how Mr. B.D. Park led Samsung fleeced me. [protected]----- A couple of weeks after my wedding, I was on the lookout for a new TV. I visited some showrooms and spoke to a few salesmen. Ultimately I zeroed-in on a 39-inches Samsung LED TV. While I was considering it, the salesman walked up to me and told me something to the effect of: “Don’t worry about checking out other brands, sir. This is Samsung we are talking about. They make the best devices in the world - including TVs. You can go ahead using this TV for seven, even eight years, and neither the picture quality nor the build is going to deteriorate. You can close your eyes and pick a Samsung. You won’t regret - that’s my promise to you”. So I bought the TV because - hey, nobody likes to regret, right? (And because I trusted Samsung, not because of that sales pitch) “Eight years! That’s solid! Even if it makes six, it’s gonna be good enough” - I thought to myself. But barely fifteen months after the purchase weird colour patterns started to appear on the LED screen. Patterns which made it look like the screen was smoking pot. Or Methamphetamine, may be. So I called Samsung, and told them about it. They informed me that my warranty is over. “Fair enough”, but have someone come and have a look at it. “Sir, the engineer visit will be charged at Rs. 650”. Wait, what? The “visit” will be charged? What else, do I also need to send a limousine to pick up Mr. “Engineer”? So the rule is no matter what, if the “engineer” comes to your place, you have to give him Rs. 650. Doesn’t matter if he succeeds in fixing your TV or not. (And I used to think KRK was ridiculous). Anyways, I decide not to pay for the visit alone. The “engineer” comes, opens my TV - and casually informs me the LED is gone, and will have to be replaced. Cost? Approximately Rs. 20, 000. Let’s take step back here and understand the situation a bit. I did not buy a Vu, and I did not buy a Reliance (they have their own branded TV sets now, which they sell at their stores - Reliance Digital). These brands were much cheaper than Samsung AND were also offering 1-year warranty just like Samsung. But still I did not buy them. Why? Because I had trust in brand Samsung. Because I KNOW that those forty-five thousand rupees that I'm spending on a Samsung TV are getting me a world-class product with impeccable quality. Because I trust a Samsung TV to not go kaput within 15 months! And when that happens, I feel it makes a strong statement on the brand value of Samsung. I need to know that warranty or not, a Samsung TV is meant to last long, much longer than 15 months, and when it does not, Samsung - the company - has my back. I need this assurance to be confident about paying for a Samsung product. Without that, I don't see why should I not save some money outright and buy products from a local, much cheaper brand. How can you - as the world’s leading brand of electronic devices - make a television where the main component will break down in less than an year and a half ! So I tried to get in touch with higher authorities in the company, using the “Suggestions To The CEO Office” section on their website, but as with most of the corporates, this is more a tool for than anything else. I have so far written three emails to their CEO - Mr. B.D. Park and all I have received is calls from interns sitting at call-centers - who gave me more about company’s “policy” of not leaving any opportunity to screw their customers - or this gentleman - Sameer Jain - who calls himself the Manager of “Customer Experience” and basically told me that he cannot care less about my loss (I had paid forty-five thousand rupees for that TV), and the best he can do is give me a 20% discount on the new LED panel (original cost - Rs. 18, 000, so I still need to pay Rs. 14, 000.). When I asked him to connect me to his superior he told me basically that the buck stops with him. Ohh, and he also added that if he gives me that 20% "discount", I won't get an year's worth of warranty on it. Only 3 months. Because, hey, we already gave you discount, right ? I am now stuck with a faulty TV from a company, headed by a man (B.D. Park) who doesn’t care about his company’s reputation and a customer “experience” manager - Sameer Jain - who is in the absolutely wrong job.