SAMSUNG SUPPORT: Are You Kidding Me?

I called up Samsung technical support at 1-800-SAMSUNG because I needed to get additional information after I have exhausted all measures that were provided on their SAMSUNG support site.

I was gladly forwarded to a technical support engineer and the conversation that transpired went a little like this.

TSE: Can I have your first and last name?

Me: Mao ni akong ngan.

TSE: Can I have your phone number starting with the area code first?

Me: Mao ni akong numero sa telepono.

TSE: Can I have your complete home address?

Me: Diri ko aning dapita nagpuyo.

I did provide the information that they needed (though above, I chose to playfully annoy the reader by putting a reply in a different dialect). Excuse my deviousness at times.

Anyway let me continue to the juicy part of the conversation.

TSE: What is the product?

Me: A television.

TSE: Is this your first time to get technical support?

Me: Yes.

TSE: Have you registered the product before?

Me: No.

TSE: Can I have the model number?

Me: (excitedly provided the model number)

TSE: Can you repeat that again. I could not find it. It’s not showing up.

Me: (ran my way to the back of the TV and uttered every digit in the model number as perfectly as I can)

TSE: Still I don’t see it.

Me: It’s probably because this product was purchased in the Philippines.

TSE: Wait a minute. Let me put you on hold for three to five minutes. I have to talk to my supervisor and see what we can do.

Me: (waiting for five minutes)

Then the technical support engineer came back on the line.

TSE: I’m sorry but we cannot help you with this product because we don’t support it.

Me: (I could sense my hair color was turning red). What? But this is a SAMSUNG product!

TSE: I understand Ma’am, but we don’t support your product because it was not purchased in the U.S. It doesn’t even show up in our database.

Me: (My BP just went up 3 point 14 sixteen points higher) You know what, all I want is just to get the name of a SAMSUNG authorized service center around the area where I live so I can have my TV fixed because I have basically read your FAQ and technical support on site and it didn’t help. Can you just give me a name of the closest service center?

TSE: Well, let me put you on hold for another three to five minutes. I will talk to my supervisor and see if there’s anything we can do.

Me: (waiting for another five minutes)

TSE: Ma’am we’re really sorry but we cannot provide you with any information. I suggest that you visit the SAMSUNG Philippines site and from there you can get help on what to do.

Me: (I could sense that my hair color just turned to neon red—if that color exists!) What? Are you trying to tell me to go to the SAMSUNG Philippines link, then what, I’ll have a technician from the Philippines come all the way to the U.S. to fix my 61-inch SAMSUNG DLP TV? Is that what you are suggesting?

TSE: No Ma’am, but we really cannot help you.

Me: (frustrated and furious) This is ridiculous! All I want is for you to give me a name of a service center for SAMSUNG television in California so I can call for an in-home service because as far as I know I have done the necessary steps to fix my ailing TV and has even replaced the lamp myself, and all it needs right now is a technician to come and see what’s wrong with it, and you cannot even provide me with that kind of help?

TSE: You see Ma’am we understand your concern but that’s not the way our system works. We have to input the correct model number so we can do the next step and your model number is not even in our database.

Me: BYE! (ended a totally futile undertaking…)

See? The best products are not necessarily the best buys that you can get these days because no matter how good a product is, if it’s not backed by a good technical support system, it’s useless. I tell you, it’s horrible when you paid thousands of dollars for a product and as soon as it stops working you’re left alone to solve your dilemma. It sucks, big time. Can you imagine a woman servicing a huge TV with kilovolts of fatal stored electricity inside just because the technical support department considers it a mortal sin to namedrop a service center for the product? And I tell you the product that I was seeking support for is not even a region-exclusive product, meaning, it’s not intended for Asian region use only because unlike typical televisions, that TV has a voltage rating that ranges between 100v-240v and it even automatically adapts to the voltage supply of the household. Otherwise it would have been stupid of us to ship that TV from one corner of the globe to another and would have been equally stupid to seek support for the product in the U.S.

Well to the SAMSUNG tech support in the U.S., get this. I will not have my TV repaired. I’ll just get a new one and I’ll make sure it’s not a SAMSUNG.