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General discussion

Is the bowing on my HL61A750 normal?

Feb 25, 2009 10:20AM PST

The bowing on my HL61A750 (purchased last month) is very obvious and distracting to me. I called Samsung support tonight to see how this should be dealt with. The representative was willing to send out a technician to look at it, but could not guarantee that the service call would be covered under warranty, since the bowing may be within spec. If it is within spec, then I would be responsible for the service bill. She informed me that any bowing more than 1/4" would be considered out of spec.

Before I start the careful measurements to see if this is indeed a covered warranty issue, I'd appreciate your opinions of whether this bowing is normal. (And does it really matter exactly what the measurement is if it's so visible??)

Samsung phone support stated that they WOULD NOT look at the photos of my problem, so I'm posting them on this forum. I'm hoping someone at Samsung can give me some guidance.

http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/lightspeed100/cropped.jpg
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/lightspeed100/grid.jpg
http://i359.photobucket.com/albums/oo34/lightspeed100/grid2.jpg

Discussion is locked

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Anyone?
Feb 26, 2009 9:11PM PST

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

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Bowing
Feb 27, 2009 4:57PM PST

kessler2,

I'm not sure why you'd be charged a service call, since the unit is under warranty. Let me look into that on Monday.

I've heard that the bowing is indeed 1/4 inch within spec, and would be regardless of visibility. This can also occur if items are placed on top of the television, or if the television is uneven or not on a level surface. If neither of these are the case, then it may be something that we can fix.

I'll look into this, and post back if I haven't responded by Monday.

--HDTech

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Thank you for looking into this
Feb 28, 2009 2:44AM PST

There is nothing on top of the TV, and it is on a level surface.

Here is the list of picture problems:
- Vertical bowing, most extreme on the bottom left and bottom right, but also visible on top.
- Horizontal bowing at the top of the screen. This is most visible when viewing a letterboxed movie.
(As you can see from the grid, the geometry is far from "square" over most of the screen. The distortion is visible with normal television content.)
- There appears to be a dark piece of debris on the back of the screen, effectively blocking one or two pixels.
- There is what's been described as a "convergence" issue with white text appearing blue and red at the top of the screen.

Aside from the picture issues, the remote control broke after two days. It took about a month for it to be replaced through Samsung.

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Convergence update
Feb 28, 2009 5:09AM PST

I took a closer look at the convergence issue, using the grid. The convergence looks all out of whack, except for the center of the screen. In the left half of the screen, lines appear white and bright red. On the right half of the screen, the lines appear white and blue.

There seems to be quality control issues with this model:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1076521

I hope Samsung stands behind its product.

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Specs
Mar 4, 2009 4:47AM PST

kessler2,

Well, the unit is still under warranty, correct? You might want to get the piece of dust covering up the pixels fixed with a service call. As far as the bowing, I don't know if that's considered normal or not. You might have the tech take a look at that while he's out fixing the other issue.

--HDTech

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Lawsuit imminent
Mar 26, 2009 12:12PM PDT

Samsung's customer service has been awful. (I won't even get into the month-long saga to replace the remote control that broke days after I received the TV.) I am tired of the procrastination, misinformation, and general lack of care. My experience, even with Executive Support, has been exasperating. I will recap what has transpired since my last post.

1. On March 14th, Williston Park TV Service inspected my TV. The written report on the receipt is as follows: "Checked TV set. vertical lines has bow in center of line. try to get engine for optical issues. Red line out of convergence at top of screen." This was written by Jose, the repairman.

2. On March 17th, I received a phone call from Adrianna at Samsung Service Tracking, stating that the part is unavailable, and Samsung is offering me an exchange of the TV. (I have retained this phone message.)

3. The next day, I left a message for Adrianna to call me back. She hadn't called me back, so I called Samsung and spoke with Susan to accept the offer of an exchange. Susan said she would submit the ticket for the TV swap.

4. Later in the day, I received a follow-up message from Adrianna stating that the exchange was submitted, I should give it a week, and will be contacted via email. (I have retained this phone message as well.)

5. I did not receive an email from Samsung regarding the exchange, so I called up Service Tracking today to see what why the exchange was delayed. I was told the exchange was declined. I then spoke with Catherine in Executive Support who told me my light engine would be repaired. I told her this was unacceptable, since I already accepted the offer for an exchange. She said she would call me back, but did not.

6. I called up Executive Support and spoke with Daniel S. He offered me an LN52B550 as a replacement for my TV. I told him I needed to look at the specs before I accepted. He said that would be fine, and put me on hold he handled the paperwork. When he came back from hold, he told me he could not offer me the TV, because someone in "Tech" said my TV was within spec. This was the SECOND time Samsung reneged on an offer of exchange.

Whether my TV meets Samsung's internal tolerances is completely irrelevant to me. I was not warned of possible optical problems when I purchased the TV. These optical issues are not noted on the TV's specification sheet, nor on its advertising. (In fact, the specification sheet states "crystal clear picture without any possibility of convergence errors.") As a courtesy, I am giving Samsung until the close of business tomorrow (3/27/09) to arrange the exchange of my TV. If the exchange is not arranged tomorrow, I will absolutely pursue legal action without delay. My transaction number is 4003221681.

HDTech, what's the point of having a warranty if it's not honored?

Caveat Emptor.

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Lawsuit imminent
Mar 27, 2009 6:03PM PDT

kessler2,

I'm not sure what the outcome of your deadline is, and I just read this message this evening.

I haven't heard from you in over a month since our first exchange. I didn't know anything about this.

I'll still be forwarding this to our ECR Department and request they review the issue on Monday.

<b>I'd have been happy to step in at any point had you asked for my assistance with your transaction number.</b> I've stated in several posts around the forum that legal action threats is where I step out.

My hands are tied. I'm sorry, but I can't comment further.

--HDTech

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Lawsuit imminent
Mar 28, 2009 2:24AM PDT

There is no need to forward this to the ECR department, as someone in the dispute resolution department started handling my case at the close of business yesterday. She will follow up with me on Monday, which is past my deadline, but I'm willing to give this one more day. I have extended Samsung every courtesy possible under these circumstances.