Samsung ripoff multi-function Printers no replacement of defective MFP despite numerous calls and faxes lemon right out of box service dept hung up on me then closed for the day Irvine California

I bought Samsung's CLX-3160FN, a color laser MFP (prints, copies, scans, faxes) and registered it as soon as I got it. The first time I turned it on, it made a horrible grinding noise. I called Samsung's customer service, where the rep said I obviously needed a service call and regretfully said I'd have to call back to schedule one (this was on a Sunday). He was very nice and I thought fixing things was going to be a piece of cake.

I called customer service from work the next morning (Feb 26). Though I explained to the Tier 1 rep that I'd already been instructed to schedule a service call, he insisted on spending additional time discussing the problem. He finally passed me on to a Tier 2 rep (service dept).

The Tier 2 rep said he couldn't help me because I didn't have the serial number with me (though Samsung plainly had received my registration; the reps ID'd me using my phone number). When I protested, he listened to my problem but refused to set up a service call. I persisted and spoke to his supervisor. The supervisor suggested that I try to fix the printer myself when I got home. After work, I opened it up, but nothing looked like he had described. I literally poked around, trying to find what he'd been talking about. I must have poked the right thing, though, because the horrendous noise stopped.

I started using the MFP. It seemed OK at first but then it started printing extraneous vertical lines down the middle of every page when printing or copying. And, the manual feeder refused to feed envelopes.

I called Samsung again on March 8, went through troubleshooting with both Tier 1 and Tier 2 reps. The Tier 2 rep offered to send me a replacement imaging unit (the section that holds the toner cartridges) to try to fix the problem. The replacement I received the next week was obviously used -- it was covered in toner when I took it out of the box. It didn't solve the printing problem, either.

I called again. On March 12, after more troubleshooting efforts with a couple of reps, the Tier 2 rep put me on hold, talked to his supervisor and said they were going to send me a whole new printer. I was ecstatic. (Incidentally, the Tier 1 and Tier 2 reps professed to be ASTOUNDED that Samsung had actually shipped a used replacement part for my brand-new printer.)

The Tier 2 rep e-mailed me an RMA Request Form, which I immediately completed and faxed back to him, although I declined to fax or e-mail my credit card information. No response.

I called again. On March 16, the Tier 2 rep asked me to re-fax the form, which I did. The rep promised to ship my replacement printer and e-mail me the tracking information. No e-mail.

In the meantime, the scanner quality degraded. Documents scanned using the automatic feeder had thick red lines running down the left side of each page.

I called again. On March 20, the Tier 1 rep couldn't find any evidence of my March 16 call. He suggested that the lines on the scanned documents might be caused by dust, though he finally admitted that dust couldn't explain RED lines.

After a long time in the hold queue, I got through to a Tier 2 rep. He said it appeared that they were waiting for my RMA form -- which I had faxed twice by that time. Only when I insisted did he bother to look for my RMA form, which he found sitting right there on someone's desk. Apparently my other fax had been sucked into a black hole.

The next holdup was over my credit card information. I really didn't want them to "accidentally" charge me for the replacement printer, then have to go through another nightmare just to get the charges reversed. I got the impression at that point that the Tier 2 rep was in a big hurry. He offered to talk to his supervisor, but I said I'd rather just talk to his supervisor myself. He agreed to transfer me, but all he did was dump me into someone's voicemail. End of call.

I called again. For the second time of the day, I went through the Tier 1 rigmarole and a long hold queue to get back to Tier 2. I was getting more and more frustrated.

I got the same Tier 2 rep as before, who complained that I wasn't "allowing [him] to help [me]." Huh? He started saying, "I'm going to have to release this call," then hung up on me while I asked what that meant?!

I called again. For the thrid time of the day, I spoke with a Tier 1 rep. I explained what had happened and asked to be reconnected to Tier 2. Surprise: Tier 2 had just closed for the day, so there was no one that I could talk to. No wonder the rep had seemed in such a hurry.

Got transferred to the Tier 1 supervisor, who clearly had no authority to do anything. Frustrated, I said that at this point, I don't want a replacement printer, I just want my money back so I can buy a new printer from one of Samsung's competitors. "Unfortunately, Samsung doesn't provide refunds, blah, blah, blah," which, of course, I knew.

I'll be damned if I let Samsung stick me with a replacement piece of %#!& with only this kind of service to fall back on. Starting tomorrow, Samsung executives are going to be getting angry faxes from me.

Samsung Electonics USA, Inc.
105 Challenger Rd.
Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660-0511
Tel: (201) 229-4000
Fax: (201) 229-4110

Dong-Jin Oh, President & CEO
Sam Akkapeddi, VP of Retail Sales, Digital Information Technology Division
Bryan Hopkins, Vice President and General Counsel

Christine
Spring Valley, California
U.S.A.

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