Samsung LCD Model LA40B530: Poor Production Quality Control

You all might have read good reviews about Samsung LCD TVs. I also read them and decided to buy only Samsung LCD TV due to its perceived ’Value For Money’. But little did I realize that I was


in for a huge disappointment when I bought a high end Samsung LCD TV model LA 40 B 530 ( 5 series Full HD TV) paying whopping 61K Rs!!. This review is not aimed at giving details of features of the LCD TV, but to enlighten the prospective buyers of Samsung LCD TVs about is extremely poor quality control in its production lines. So, read this review and decide whether you still would like to go for Samsung LCD TVs.

I bought this model, LA 40 B 530, a 40 inch, full HD LCD TV with all the latest features, paying 61 thousand rupees at Bangalore. Got the delivery on 8 Jun 09. As I read in some other review, everything was good, an SMS immediately after I gave a call to its Customer Care Center for demonstration, prompt arrival of the technician, etc. Everything was good till he installed the TV. Immediately after installation , the technician switched on the TV. Within 5 secs, the picture went off but audio remained on ( I had given the Set Top Box (STB) input through AV in). The technician could not explain the phenomenon and switched off and on the TV. This time the picture came and remained. He promptly attributed the fault to the loss of signal from STB. Since the problem didn’t repeat again that evening, I also thought the same. That evening was a happy evening at home with the new big TV and a newly bought Sony component home theatre.

The next morning, when I switched on the TV, same thing happened again, no picture, but only audio. this time, even after switching off and on, it happened again, Also I found that, before the picture went off, the backlight flickered dangerously ( LCD TVs use backlight for screen projection whereas the Plasmas use tiny gaseous pixels). After about 5 switch off and on, the picture ’held’. After observing the problem for 2-3 more days ( by now the switch off and on increased to 15-20 times before the picture held on), i reported the problem to customer care center. An engineer arrived the next day and as expected, initially attributed the snag to the Hathway STB. But when I told him that the backlight goes off, he thought that it may be some loose connection of strip cables inside the TV. he opened the TV ( imagine how it feels to have your brand new high end TV being operated ruthlessly in front of your eyes!) and reconnected all the strip cables. To my horror, when the TV was opened, I found the strip cables not properly taped (to avoid loose connection). He could do only that much because, there is no other part inside the TV which he could finger, everything is sealed. he switched on the TV, but only to see the screen going off again in 5-6 secs. He agreed that the system was defective piece. He had to, because everything else was perfect, power supply without fluctuation, supply to the TV through V Guard stab and spike buster multi plug extender, etc. I was thoroughly disappointed. During the process of opening, I also observed that the TV did not have any warranty seals on it!! Generally you see the seals put over the screw holes in electronic gadgets to prevent any mishandling. In this Tv there were none of those! This means, the dealer can even do some local repair to the TV (if he had some transit damage) and pass on the product to you!!

Next day when I rang up the service center, the manager promised me that the set would be replaced with a new one, but i need to give them the copy of invoice voucher. I promptly gave it with a detailed explanation of the snag. But the manager said that the approval has to come from the company headquarters at Delhi which may take anywhere from 7-10 days. Already 5 days have passed, let me see how good is this ’reputed company’ in its customer care.

At this moment, here I am, sitting in front of this beautiful looking brand new high end TV, which doesn’t function most of the time, gives me heart attacks whenever functions because of its dangerously flickering backlight!!.

This shows that, even the ’so called’ reputed consumer durable companies have very ordinary production line quality control. If this can happen in a latest model high end LCD TV, imagine what will be the quality of a cheaper product. At least, I had this problem immediately after i bought the TV, so that the fault is covered under warranty. But imagine having such problems immediately after one year when the warranty lapses! I asked the engineer who came to my house for repair, what would be the repair cost if the same problem comes up after lapse of warranty period. He replied that it will cost about 70% of the cost of the system ( about 40 thousand Rs as they have to fully replace the LCD screen!!). With such kind of poor quality control in Samsung anything can happen any time!!!

I should have gone for Panasonic Plasma, which I had initially zeroed on. But due to popularity of the LCD TVs, I decided for this TV. So, here I am , regretting my decision of going for this lousy Samsung Tv. It may be possible that the problem i faced in the TV is due to transit damage. But such kind of snags shatter your confidence in the type of Tv (that is, LCDs)itself! LCD Tvs seem more delicate than Plasmas. My confidence in LCD Tvs has shaken so much that I am even skeptical about the replacement TV I am going to receive in a few days. I will never recommend any LCD Tv to anybody henceforth.

So, my friends, decide whether you want to take chances by purchasing Samsung LCD Tvs for the benefit of few thousand rupees lesser price or go for truly reputed products such as Sony or Panasonic.

All the best
Pester these guys and ask for replacement - in fact LG offered refund to one of the members I think.....

Keep us posted buddy - In case of delay lemme think a plan ......

okay bro i understand your pain - but the thing is that particular piece might have been a lemon - do not hold the company at fault. There have been so many happy samsung display owners on this forum with no problems whatsoever.

They will change the model - to hurry up things talk to the samsung HQ - drop in an email. If things do not get addressed within 2-3 weeks - send them a mail about going to consumer court.

BTW i am in now way supporting samsung or related to samsung in anyway - and such cases with sony too have been reported too.

PS: we Indians should stop respectig brands - we perceive honda s luxury car maker while its cars in the US (accord is a cheap mid sized sedan thats it - they command a premium here because of our mentality - same is given to sony. Tomorrow sony might give the same problem that was with this particular model of samsung

I am sorry to hear about this. But such rare instances can happen to anyone and any product. At-least they are having it replaced and NOT repaired. Who knows, some other company may not oblige in this manner?

So then how about suggesting to go for Samsung LCDs, because they take care of you if anything goes wrong? Anyway, it may not be correct to suggest to avoid Samsung LCD TVs, because of your one-off bad experience.

I agree with the other members that it could be a one off problem. But whether one should go for a Samsung TV (Or for that any other Samsung product) should be based on how they respond to the complaint. The fact that they have to refer the matter to Delhi to solve it is not an excuse. When their engineer agreed that the set is defective, why refer it to Delhi. It is their problem to sort out after they replace the set. So let us wait and see. Please keep us posted and if the response is not satisfactory, then the only alternative is to stop buying any Samsung product.

P. N. Reddy

Yes I feel it is one off isue . In fact when my brothers Samsung HTIB needs to be repaired twice -post complaint they simply returned the money ...no questions asked!! Which I know no Indian company does!
[/QUOTE]But whether one should go for a Samsung TV (Or for that any other Samsung product) should be based on how they respond to the complaint. The fact that they have to refer the matter to Delhi to solve it is not an excuse. [/QUOTE]
Please understand nomally service is given by a department having far lesser power than Product or Sales- and replacement requires sanction and system entries. Unfortunatly things do not happen ot the go . Anyway one need to paster the service personnel as I have seen lack of Coordination and communication between departments! So referring it to delhi is not lame excuse IMHO, it is system & procedures!
[/QUOTE]When their engineer agreed that the set is defective, why refer it to Delhi. It is their problem to sort out after they replace the set. So let us wait and see. Please keep us posted and if the response is not satisfactory, then the only alternative is to stop buying any Samsung product.

P. N. Reddy[/QUOTE]

Note that what I've feel is due to rapid technology change a lot of half baked products are coming to market .....and noone is spared ---not even sony! The worst battery issues and subsequent recall happened with DEll Laptops and the batteries were supplied by Sony!!

My suggestion is that go away from " first day first show" mentallity...ie never by any gadget -be it audio or cellphone or anything else -immidiatly after it's release....and it is very true about new ehnologies!

Dude, Just chill out. The particular piece is a lemon. That is all. I have atleast half a dozen friends who own the 37inch or 40 inch version of the samsung 5 series. Never had any problem. There is no quality issue also.
Thousands of users on the AVScience forums have dissected the 5 series from samsung and compared them to otheres from sony etc... and they are a winner and great VFM.Just relax. The new one will just work fine.

This can happen to any model from any brand.

seriously man chill out.....there are defective pieces from sony and panasonic as well, if you go through these forums you will see people complaining bitterly about customer service from Sony as well......it's sad that you had the bad luck of getting a lemon, but they are going to replace it. I suspect even a Panasonic and a Sony would take some days to process this replacement. It might not be a logical thing to use this experience to condemn a company and all its products (I own and use a Samsung plasma as well as a Samsung fridge, and I've had no trouble, whereas I've had trouble with my Sony Ericsson phone, and my Sony car stereo.....but that doesn't mean I've concluded that Sony is a poor company or that they have poor quality control)

this can happen to any company and any product,be it a plasma or a lcd,or even a high performance hyper car.
even in plasma if something goes wrong u will be charged quite a lot,in one of the other popular indian forum TE there was a member who had bought a hitachi plasma,it went kaput just after warranty and the price for replacing the plasma panel only was the same price as a pv8 plasma.

in ur case the tv had a faulty backlight or the backlight powersupply.just like a tubelight which even if u had a bought a new one some times the new may flicker,so that doesn't mean the entire line of products from that company is wrong.

I fully understand what you guys are speaking. But what irked me was the view inside when the service engineer opened the Tv in front of me. The Samsung LCD Tv has just two big PCBs inside. These PCBs are interconnected and in turn connected to the screen module. The screen module, the engineer says is not openable onsite. Whe he opened the TV, I saw that the strip cables which are connected between the PCBs were not taped properly. Tapes were there, but were not taped to the strip cables. Another thing I observed was absence of warranty seal on the TV. Any respected company ensures that these warranty seals are put on their products. U see it on all the computers. These issues made me think negatively about the Samsung product. Now i only have to wait and watch how soon they are going to replace the set. Let us see.....