CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 9668

Samsung TVs (LCD, plasma and DLP) had millions of units affected that resulted in a class-action lawsuit. The units being made from 2006 onwards, only represented 1% of the overall sold units, but still numbers in the millions of affected units.

**AnalogRocks**

Nashou66 · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 6:37 pm Post subject:

So I guess P.O.O.G.E.ing is something we should do with new sets, Unbelievable!!!

Athanasios

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject:

It's about time manufacturers get called out on crap like this.

I don't think I posted, but my 11 month old Eureka carpet shampooer died at the 11 month mark. After 6 weeks in the shop (where I bought it from), and a bunch of miscommunication between the tech and the front staff '(they never old me to look at it'), they coughed up a brand new one. It lasted 18 months. Same problem, the main motor had sparks shooting out of it.

Cost of a new shampooer: $299
Cost of a new motor: $150.

THey offered me a used motor at $75. NO thanks either way, eBay has them for $47, and I'll most likely repair this one. I talked to the tech for a couple of minutes, and he confirmed that appliance manufacturers are doing the same thing as electronics companies, designed to die right out of the warranty period.

garyfritz · Joined: 08 Apr 2006 Posts: 7097 Location: Fort Collins, CO

Makes me real eager to shell out buck$$ for a new one, NOT.

My current kitchen appliances in my house are all 22 yrs old. All still function flawlessly. I think I might have had a service call on my Maytag D/W about 10 yrs ago but other than that they've all "just worked."

But 20+ yrs is pushing it even for reliable appliances. I don't relish the idea of spending thousands on new fridge, stove, D/W, micro -- and having them crap out a year or two later. Evil or Very Mad

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 12:08 am Post subject:

My Maytag washer is running maybe 30 years, the Kenmore dryer is newer, probably 20. I've done maintenance and repairs twice on each. As a major appliance guy told my mom when I was a kid: "if he can fix TVs, he can do your appliances'.

He was right. Smile

WanMan · Joined: 19 Mar 2006 Posts: 9668

I really don't think you can compare appliances to electronics, except for those appliances with a bunch of sophisticated features in them. Also, Samsung operated no differently than say a car manufacturer in cases where they weighed the costs between fixing early on during design vs. via forced recall later.

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:29 pm Post subject:

Sure you can! Both ARE designed to fail just outside of the warranty period. In my shampooer, the motor died on two machines, sparks and flames out of both... just outside of the warranty period. Coincidence? Naaaah!

Years ago, a bearing engineer who worked for one of the 'big three' posted on avs that he was being told to design bearings that would fail at 65,000 miles, as the powertrain warranty was 60K miles. He said it was very difficult, as someone driving the car hard would wear the bearing out within the powertrain warranty.

I'm glad these Ahole companies are being called out. What would it have cost Samsung to put in better caps in the first place? 10 cents maybe?

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 1479 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

I dont think the capacitor issue was Samsungs fault.. at least not fully. There were over 30 companies I memorized from electronic repairs I have done from 2003 to roughly around late 2010, Samsung was one of the many who had faulty capacitors in their electronics.

Samsung, Dell, HP, Sony, NEC, Acer, BenQ, viewsonic, nVidia, ATi, Asus, EVGA, etc.... I'm sure that theres a brand I've not mentioned that has had the infamous capacitor issue.

Point being, it was not only each of the companies fault, it was the source they were getting them from. And we all know how cheap every company on the list above likes to be, so does it REALLY surprise anyone that there are electronics that fail right outside the warranty?

I actually loved the capacitor issue days, easy money, REAL easy money, pop 6 new caps in send it on its way, then move onto the next. Almost like a repair assembly line Very Happy

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 3:28 pm Post subject:

I agree with you Jer, but I don't think the 'bad cap' days are over. In the last 3 years I've looked at over 300 LCD computer monitors, and I've noticed a trend that the later the monitor, the faster the caps fail. I get in 2 year old LGs and Samsungs with leaky caps, but the older Viewsonics and Acers are lasting 5-6 years. You're right though, simple fixes, easy money. Smile

Don't you think though, that in the ever diminishing electronics pricing, that Samsung didn't go to the cap manufacturers and say 'we won't pay you 1 cent for a cap, now the price is 3/4 cents'? Not that Samsung is making the monitors anyways, they are all cranked out in China by the low bidder...

As for the high failure rates of stuff, they're not losing business either. So some customers won't ever buy Samsung again because of high failures.... you can bet that an equal number of Sony customers won't be buying Sony due to bad LCD screens, so those few percent of customers rotate brands,.. and all manufacturers get new customers. It's insane.

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 6962

You guys are funny. Very Happy

Think about it. If you want something electronic to fail in a determined amount of time, which part is one of the only ones that you could control this with? This was not an error. Not by Samsung and not by any other manufacturer. Which by the way Samsung boards are in a majority of TV brands. Only a few other manufacturers. It's all about money. The faster a tv breaks the more tv's will sell since it usually costs more to fix it then to just replace it. Or if the cost to fix it is under the replacement cost people will often elect to buy new instead, thinking they will have a warranty again. Only to have it fail again after the warranty has run out. And so the cycle continues and the only winner is the manufacturer, who keeps intentionally using poor quality parts. This settlement is super small potatoes compared to the sales acquired by using this process. If I had to pay a million dollars to make a billion.......... Confused

macgyver655 · Joined: 22 Aug 2007 Posts: 6962

**Curt Palme** · Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 5:58 pm Post subject:

I had a discussion this weekend with an HT guy that owns a lighting manufacturing company. We were talking about stuff like this, and I mentioned that the CFL lights at my g/f's place were lasting 8 months instead of the 7 years advertised. He said that he ran into that all the time, that he had experience with faulty ballasts on some huge order, where replacing bulbs was a massive PITA. they were also lasting 1/5 of the expected life, and of course everyone was passing the buck, blaming someone else for the problem. He finally threatened a lawsuit, and got new bulbs from his supplier.

I still say the electronics industry in the last 30ish years has completely the wrong business model. It needs to be like cars.

1080i = Kia = $1000
1080p = Porsche = $3000.

Everyone makes more money, stuff lasts longer, service techs get employed, less resources are used.

Jeremy112 · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 1479 Location: Fond du Lac, WI

I agree completely, its a sad but true fact that all these companies care about is money. But hey, I guess if thats all they care about, FINE with me. Thanks to shotty components, I can get them for next to nothing, spend a bit of time working on them, and if I get them going, either sell the item or keep it if its something I wouldn't mind having.

Capacitor days not over yet you say Curt? Another FINE with me Mr. Green

lol

CasetheCorvetteman · Joined: 09 Nov 2008 Posts: 1968 Location: QLD, Australia