22 August 2012

An Open Letter to Oh-Hyun Kwon, Vice Chairman & CEO, Samsung Electronics

Dear Oh-Hyun Kwon,

Today I tried to login to Samsung.com to register a product to my account. When I attempted to login it told me my password was incorrect so I requested a reset. After doing that I received confirmation that it was reset and attempted to login again, copy and pasting the username and new password into the fields to ensure they were correct. It still failed to login so I called customer services.

Calling Samsung customer services is like having teeth pulled out. Let me elaborate: after listening to one of the longest introductions I have ever had the misfortune to hear all about Samsung, my data and its protection and such I got through to a grumpy sounding woman. I explained my login problem to her very explicitly, describing the steps I'd attempted to overcome it. She then responded with: "You have to reset your password", the exact phrase which I had just said to her when explaining what I had done! I kept my patience and repeated the fact that I had just done that, twice.

Her next response was a little more telling. She said I would have to request my password to be emailed to me. She clearly doesn't spend much time on the Samsung website as there isn't an option to request your password. I admit my patience was wearing thin by now but I persevered, explaining that I had already attempted what appeared to be the only option available to me on the website and it didn't work. She put me on hold.

After 5 minutes of being on hold she came back and said I could email support and request that my account was removed, so I could re-sign up on the site. I explained that I already have some devices assigned to that account and they have data backed up against that account so I wasn't keen to remove it if that backed up data was going to be lost in the process. She repeated that I could email them to get the account removed... and I began holding my head to stop it exploding.

I had to repeatedly ask her to confirm if the information would be lost or not as she just kept replying I could send an email to remove the account. Eventually she audibly sighed and asked if she could put me on hold again. After 18 minutes of telephone call the line went dead.

So what to conclude, apart from WOW Samsung that is really pretty special? I do like your hardware but pretty much everything else about the company sucks:
  • Communication: Complete lack of communication about upcoming or prospective hardware and software releases.
  • Companion software: Poor does not adequately describe the Kies companion software or on device App offerings. They are not fit for purpose. The website is clearly just as bad.
  • Customer services: Rude staff with a complete lack of training or knowledge does not constitute a customer services department. I would rather you didn't bother at all.
I'm not an Apple fan-boy but I do think from pre-release to after care their model is a hard one to beat. OK they have the money to do it but really it's not that hard to overcome the above issues with some thought and a modest budget.

With frustration and still unable to log in,

Phil

PS. When I contacted your company via 'Contact us' on your website the representative replied saying "I am sorry to inform you that your email has came through to the wrong department. [Please] forward your email to...". I would ask why he or she couldn't do that themselves rather than responding to me? But it is becoming clear that if there is a worse way of doing something, your team will take it.

[UPDATE] I received a call from Samsung customer services a day later. The manager 'K' initiated a solution to my registration issue and increased the warranty on both the phone and the tablet by way of an apology for the service I had previously received. That's great and I'm very thankful for it but what a shame the team couldn't just get it right in the first place.

6 comments:

  1. Dear Sir,

    my case is very similar to yours, but with an other Samsung product: a SmartTV LED 46" TV. I bought it the last January and after 11 months, the picture stopped working while I was watching it. The picture gone suddenly black, but I could still heard the sound.

    The next day, I called the Customer Service to explain the issue. A man of the technical service came to my home. He turned on the TV, he analyzed the problem and he decided to take it away. After some days, I called the technician to find out the state of the repair. He told me, that he found that the panel of the TV was faulty. For this reason, the repair costs should be covered by the guarantee. At this point, Samsung should decide if they want to repair it or if they find better to give me a new TV. The technician was only waiting for the answer of Samsung.

    Some weeks later, the TV was still at the technical service. In this time, I've called more times the Customer Service, but they gave me no information about the state of the issue: no answer for questions like when will you repair the TV?, what kind of problem has you find?, for which reason I have to wait longer?, etc. The only thing they have said to me is that they will call me back from tomorrow.

    Since the weeks gone over and the Customer Service didn't call me back, I called them to ask again, but I got the same answer. For this reason, I called Samsung again and I asked them for their Complaints Service to make a complaint. They told me, that it would be not posible to call, but I could write them if I want.

    Today, the TV is still at the Technical Service and Samsung didn't call me to explain anything.

    I cannot understand why Samsung Customer Service treats so their customers. May be, they want to led us to go to other company of the competition. Make a decision will be very easy for me and for my friends the next time.

    Best regards,

    Marco

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  2. That is nothing compared to what happens in Turkey for a painful process of being a Samsung costumer. I bought a 40ES700 led 3D tv about 18 days ago. The tv had a defect with satellite receiver. The servis said they will replace it but I am still waiting for the new product for 18 days. They said the process must be proved by North Korea ! Turkish Samsung is doing nothing to act.

    I am not sure who to blaim Samsung or Turkish side.

    FYI, 06 Jan 2013 22:16

    Osman

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  3. Hi Phil

    I am experiencing very frustrating attempts in trying to get the managers in Samsung service centre to resolve a simple issue of replacing my Galaxy Note 1 that has been shutting down so frequently I have already given up on it. They have been hiding inside the service centre and getting junior subordinates who are not empower to do anything to speak with me.

    I will really appreciate if you can provide me with the email address of Samsung CEO so that i can also write to him to express my extreme displeasure with their after sales support.

    Thanks Phil and I look forward to an expeditious reply from you.

    Best regards
    Terence

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  4. Too bad there is a service group my computer is 2 years have the same complaint and the warranty is over but the problem continues no interest in turkey my computer shuts down continuously. Please help, but the solution did not give the service 5 times (turkey)

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  5. It seems that Samsung customer service is the same all over the world. We bought a TV and 17 days later it broke. Samsung decided that they will not repair it under warranty and that is it, no discussions, no one to explain what why and how. All attempts to communicate to any manager failed as they are protected by 'Call Center' and there are no phone numbers, no contact email or anything one could normally use to communicate with other companies. WHY? It seems to be unique to Samsung and I would like to warn all potential electronic product purchasers to AVOID Samsung as my experience with mobile phone were the same. Samsung does NOT CARE about customers. That is my experience.

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  6. Samsung customer service is terrible, do not buy they're products. You will be so mad getting the run around. You'll wish you'd never given them a cent of your business.

    ReplyDelete