Samsung American Fridge Freezer Problems

positivenote wrote: »

Just wanted to let you know how this all turned out.... which was good in the end. I rang Samsung haven been given a different number to ring following my threat to get onto consumer affairs and letting them know that i felt that i was being treated like a fool. I got through straight away and there was no problem at all, a free service call was arranged and the fridge has been fixed without and cost for labour or parts. They have also advised me of a 'loss of food' compensation policy that I am entitled to go for. I think that its a matter of persistence as it took me five emails before being given a no. other than the one i had to call.
anyway, hopefully the issues wont come back again.
Thanks for all advice

Glad to hear it worked out!

We had the dreaded noisy fan, temperature too warm, ice build-up problem on the fridge section of a Samsung American style side by side fridge/freezer. It is a RSH1NHSW model purchased in September 2009 costing €700. Although I was aware of and had previous experience of poor performance of Samsung equipment, we purchased this unit because the dimensions fitted (just) the available space, the colour (white) matched our other kitchen equipment and lack of an ice dispenser was also what we wanted. Had there been another make with this specification, we would have purchased this instead.

Eighteen months later and we loose the food contents of the fridge due to a warm temperature and ice build-up. So we execute a full manual defrost and all is good for a few months and then the noisy fan and we loose the food contents again. So then we get into a routine of planned manual defrosts every quarter but by late 2012 even this does not restore the cooling performance. It was time to do some research and it became apparent very quickly that this is a design issue with multiple models of Samsung fridges that has gone on for many years, so much so that there are various third parties offering DIY repair kits. There have been lawsuits and massive product recalls with some units allegedly exploding.

The Samsung website which is endlessly patronising was no help to me because it insisted that I submit the serial number of the unit. The serial number is not on any of the enclosed documentation and can only be found apparently on the lower left hand side of the unit. In my case, I could only access this be de-constructing some of the built-in section of the kitchen and I was going to incur additional cost to do this and make it good afterwards.

So I called Samsung. This was fun (not). It took three attempts and many hours to get to talk to someone. They tried every trick in the book to avoid one to one contact – well you would I suppose if you have sold hundreds of thousands of faulty units to now irate customers around the globe. Well again, the serial number was asked for and I explained my difficulty in getting it as above but I also explained that I had documented proof of purchase. This cut no ice (pardon the pun) with them and I was basically told – no serial number, get lost. I asked what was the probability that they would give me a direct replacement so I could assess if it was worth kitchen de-construction to get the stupid serial number, again I was dismissed with no answer.

I reconsidered my options. Getting a new unit from another maker would cost me €1000 or so when I add in the required kitchen modifications. Appliance DIY Repairs in the UK (http://www.appliancediyrepairs.co.uk/) offer a whole range of Samsung repair kits and for my model the cost is £133. Delivery is free in the UK but is extra to Ireland so this is expensive but for me it was potentially my least worst option. I am pretty technical so fitting the repair kit was not going to be an issue. The really neat thing for me was that the repair kit could all be fitted within the fridge compartment without the need to access the back or sides so I did not have to move the unit and incur additional kitchen modification costs.

I found Andy at Appliance DIY Repairs extremely responsive and very helpful and dealing with him in contrast to Samsung was chalk and cheese. The repair kit includes an apparently improved evaporator cover with fan, evaporator heater with thermal fuse and a defrost sensor which (and this is critical) you install in a different location to the original. It also comes with an excellent set of installation instructions. Anyone that is reasonably handy should be able to fit this kit but you need to set a full day aside for it. It can take quite a long time to get rid of the ice build up. I used two hair dryers blowing close to the evaporator cover (but not touching it as this will melt the plastic) to get the cover free and I had to pour boiling water on the drain hole at the bottom of the evaporator for hours to get this clear of ice. The unit has been working fine since repair but I cannot vouch for the long-term effectiveness of the repair kit until more time passes. Given that the repair kit is also made up of Samsung components, I have no confidence that it is a permanent fix.

I estimate this Samsung mess has cost us in the region of €400 so far when I include the two batches of food wasted. In fact we have never had a good Samsung product. Our first Samsung product was a CII-5361AT/MIC television bought in November 1996. From day one had a faulty circuit board and the TV had to be hit slap here and there every other day to get a picture. The current crop of Samsung TV’s also seem to have loads of issues even on their high end units. Just Google Samsung TV clouding and banding to get an idea.

We managed to avoid Samsung products for a decade until our second Samsung product which was a DVD-VR320 VHS/DVD recorder bought specifically to archive VHS tapes to DVD in April 2006 as it was the only one available locally. The VHS deck was terrible and it made awful grainy DVD’s from the VHS tapes. The vendor (Currys) allowed to me trial their display unit but it was no better. Then I read the professional reviews and found that they had the same issue – the terrible VHS deck was not just a fault on mine but a “design feature” of all of them. It was utterly useless and sits gathering dust in the attic. We imported a Panasonic DMR EX95 VHS/DVD/HDD recorder to do the job. It is a class box and I now use it as a PVR for recording TV programmes from a set top box and archiving them to DVD.

So our third Samsung product, the poorly designed and very unreliable RSH1NHSW American style fridge/freezer will be our last.

WE WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER SAMSUNG PRODUCT EVER AGAIN. :mad:

We are careful users and tend to operate stuff by the book. Thankfully over the years other appliances we have owned (brands like Bosch, Electrolux, Zanussi, Belling, Mitsubishi, Philips, Panasonic, Sharp, Sony, Apple & Dell) have given us good service and value for money, only Samsung has not. What is amazing is how Samsung gets away with this. It seems to achieve it by being highly innovative in avoiding after-sales service and in avoiding it’s customers. It’s a shame it does not deploy the same level of innovation in the design and build of the products.

Buyer beware.

Hi there, My Samsung RSH 1 fridge / freezer has started tripping the trip switch at the electric box, any idea's please.

Thanks I will do that

does anyone know where i can get a second hand or new motor for the freezer fan in a samsung cool n cool fridge freezer..top fridge bottom freezer..9 yrs old...my fridge and freezer are both not keeping their temperatures bit still running...spoit food etc ..nightmare..in dublin....

Hi, I bought this American fridge since 2007, after the waranty expired we have having problems upon problems. We do spend 200-300 euros to repair but to no avail. Please do me a favour how can we get right than spending a very year. This problem, making a noise and finally stop freezing.

micratoyota wrote: »

My daughter bought RS7527BHBC American fridge freezer for €799. from HARVEY NORMAN last Christmas to go with her new kitchen. 4 weeks later it broke down destroying everything. Took weeks to get it sorted . Now last week its gone again and had the man from AVC said there has been several Samsung freezers with the same circuit board problems, so they replaced all three of them. But it doesn't seem to have worked. Hers is the first one to go for the second time. Now she bought it when Harvey Normans were having a sale and Samsung said she could have her money back but they don't have one to replace it at the same price. They are €100 extra. and Samsung offered her €50 as a good will gesture and nothing for all the food she has had destroyed. So DONT BUY SAMSUNG PRODUCTS.

That sounds just awful and from the sound of your email I think Samsung can go a bit further than that. Is it still inside the 1st year of purchase? There is also the sale of goods act If not. I would not be happy with the way that was left by the company and having been in the same situation also would not be afraid of going the legal route or at least informing the company of my intention in that regard.

runawaybishop wrote: »

Nothing to do with Samsung. The Retailer is responsible and must also replace any food lost.

Is it really Harvey Norman who are responsible for the cost of the lost food. American Fridge Freezer was bought in Nov. 2013 and delivered middle of December. Broke in end January 2014

hi, sorry i am not sure how to go about my problem but i filled out a questionnaire about the recall of samsung fridge freezers, i left all my information and their promise was to get back in touch with me within 14 days to arrange a home visit , a couple of months have gone by without a phone call or an e mail ,thanks.

catherine7 wrote: »

i cannot find that page again so i have no idea of their email address, as you can guess i'm not very computer wise.....so all help welcome....

Check your email again in case a spam filter has moved it into a Junk or Spam folder.

If still nothing, you could email them again or better still phone them:
Contact details : http://www.samsung.com/ie/info/contactus.html

Merged into the long running Samsung fridge thread

dudara