By Mark Huffman
ConsumerAffairs.com
January 22, 2010
When you check
the complaints on ConsumerAffairs.com, you normally find a fair share of
consumer accounts of problems with their flat screen TVs. Most popular
brands are included, such as Vizio, Sony, Samsung, Philips, Mitsubishi, and
others.
But all of a sudden, owners of Samsung TV's appear to be having the most trouble, posting 110 complaints in the last 30 days. The bulk of them have come in the last week or two.
"We bought a 52 inch Samsung LCD in 9/2007. It needs a new front panel, probably $1200-1500," Mary of Arlington, Tex. told ConsumerAffairs.com.
"We bought a 40 inch Samsung TV about two years ago and now it takes anywhere from 20-50 clicks before the TV will come on," reports Brenda, of South Euclid, Ohio.
"For at least the past year, our Samsung 62 inch TV shuts off sporadically," said Kim, of Durand, Il. At first it did it once, and some days not at all. About a year ago, I started contacting Samsung. They will not help me."
Fears confirmed
Many consumers have been visiting Web sites such as ConsumerAffairs.com to find out what others have experienced. Often the news just confirms their worst fears.
"Purchased Samsung LCD TV LN46A650A1F on July 8, 2008," Tim, of Enid, Okla., told ConsumerAffairs.com. "On January 18, 2010 we experienced the same power on/off cycling that so many have reported."
Tim says he thinks a TV -- one that costs several hundred dollars, no less -- should last longer than 18 months. He notes his old fashioned Toshiba is still going strong after 19 years.
"I purchased a Samsung 40 inch LCD TV in February of 2007," Bruce, of Waialua. Hi., told ConsumerAffairs.com. "The TV was working fine up until Saturday, when it suddenly developed vertical lines across the entire screen. I have tried all of the inputs and it does not appear to be an input or cord problem. The TV also takes quite awhile to turn on and always has. I have read that Samsung used faulty capacitors in the TV's power supplies during the time frame that I bought mine. My TV is long out of warranty but I paid nearly $2000 for it and it seems criminal that a television could break like this after only three years."
A poster going by "L," from League City, Tex., also mentioned the capacitor issue.
"Repairman came today and replaced two insufficient 10V capacitors with two 25V ones and now (the TV) works again," the post reads. "He could not believe Samsung used 10V capacitors in a 9V Power Supply Circuit Board."
Vizio too
Last August ConsumerAffairs.com received a rash of complaints about Vizio flat screens from consumers reporting the so-called "black screen of death," when their year or two old set would suddenly go black. At the time, we interviewed Pikeville, Ky., TV repairman Ray Hall, who told us no one brand of flat screen TV was any worse than another. They are all cheaply made, he says, and not real easy to work on.
Hall said in many cases the problem in flat screen TVs stems from a power supply failure.
"Most of these sets have three power supplies," he said. "The main power supply usually holds up but what happens, one of the screen power supplies fails. When that happens the screen goes dark and repairs can be costly, assuming a service provider can get the parts.
"It used to be you could buy a TV set and it would last 20 years," said Hall. "It's not like that with these flat screens."
