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General discussion

LN52A850. STOPPED WORKING - 13 DAYS AFTER PURCHASE!

Mar 6, 2009 4:51PM PST

I have always respected the Samsung brand and considered it to stand for new & cutting edge technology, innovative design and something that would make my friends green with envy. All of these are reasons why I decided to purchase the LN52A850 LCD TV.

On February 14, 2009 I purchased the TV and my wife and I enjoyed a truly phenomenal television viewing experience. We couldn't wait to start our evenings perched on the couch to watch the brilliant HD picture quality. Thirteen days after purchase on, February 27, 2009, while watching TV the screen went completely black and only audio was coming from the TV. I went through all the precautions of disconnecting the TV from the surge protector and from the wall for 10 minutes; connected the TV to a VCR to see if other inputs would work and I made sure all components were correctly connected. And after doing all of this the TV remained inoperable!

As you can imagine this is very discouraging, inconvenient and breeds our discontent for the Samsung brand. After having the TV for only thirteen days it goes out and is seemingly beyond repair. To compound matters we had to wait almost an entire week before the technician came to our home to try and fix the device and once he got there on March 5, 2009, after replacing boards the TV still remains inoperable! Now, the technician has to order new inverter boards and a new panel altogether; which ultimately means more time without a TV and more frustration. (Repair Transaction #4003226000)

My concern is for anyone who pays close to $3000 for a TV shouldn't have to deal with design flaws, technical issues, out-dated materials or whatever is causing our very expensive TV to sit in a living room for weeks and we can't enjoy it. If there is someone who can shed some light on this situation that would be helpful. This has proved to be an expensive inconvenience to me and my family and has tarnished my perception of the Samsung brand.

Discussion is locked

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Return
Mar 7, 2009 4:48AM PST

If the TV went bad after thirteen days of purchase you were most likely still within your return period from where you purchased the set, depending on where you bought it. I would have taken that route if i was you, it's less hassle. Something malfunctioned on your TV set. it happens, You were unfortunate, swap it out for another one that's why most stores have a return policy in case something is wrong with the product. Your chances of this problem happening again on your next set are slim.

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LN52A850. STOPPED WORKING - 13 DAYS AFTER PURCHASE!
Mar 8, 2009 9:46AM PDT

Brewer7,

I'm terribly sorry to hear that your experience hasn't been a good one thus far.

Sometimes these issues can occur from a rare factory part that didn't work right. That said, there are also many variables after the television leaves the factory that could have contributed to this particular situation. This isn't a widespread issue that I know of, and while ANY repair is always a bummer, I hope at least we're able to address this issue and get you back to a phenominal picture.

Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, but that's why we have a repair network in place - to address these issues if they arise.

Keep me posted.

--HDTech

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Thanks
Mar 8, 2009 9:54AM PDT

Thanks for the reply, HD Tech. Truly a bummer indeed.

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I hear you!
Mar 8, 2009 12:25PM PDT

Brewer7,

No problem. Let me know if I can help.

--HDTech

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Same thing here, LN52A850. STOPPED WORKING, twice!!
Mar 19, 2009 6:57AM PDT

I just recently moved in to my house and 2 months after moving in my 10 year old 50" rear projection screen TV died, thought great! New TV time. Bought a LN52A850 on December 7 08 and almost 1 month later while playing the Wii half the screens converegence went way out of wack, there was still picture but 5 different image overlays on the left half of the screen. It would only happen intermittantly and would work after turning the TV off for a few hours for sometimes 1 hour to all day. Called a Samsung, they sent a tech out, he tried but couldn't fix it so I returned it and got a new one. Fine and dandy untill 3 nights ago while watching a blu-ray the screen got bright and then went black with only audio working. That's 3 TV's dead in a 5 month span and I been trying to figure out what was wrong with my house. After reading this I unfortunately think Samsungs "thinnest HDTV" has some serious issues.