Another reason not to buy Bluray
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2009 16:45:11 -0500
From: Gene Spafford <spaf@cerias.purdue.edu>
Subject: How to NOT perform customer service and updates
This both an accounting of experience and a warning away from a vendor.
I recently purchased 2 Samsung Blu-Ray DVD players: a BD-P2500, and a
BD-P1500. Both have Internet connections for firmware updates and Blu- Ray
Live. The BD-P2500 also supports live streaming of Netflix content.
A couple of days after Christmas, the 2500 froze up. I could not get it to
respond to anything, including the factory reset code. I contacted Samsung
and was given information to send the player in for service. They've had it
for nearly 2 weeks with a status of "waiting for parts." It has now been
broken longer than it was working.
The 1500 came up with a message on Thursday that a firmware update was
available. So, I initiated the download. It went without error, according
to the display. After completion, it too was dead in the water -- no
response to anything. So, I called Samsung again. The problem was
escalated in customer service. This is what I got told:
1) There was a bad update put on the servers, and many players that got the
download have frozen up.
2) They do not have a fix for it at the current time and do not know when
one will be available.
3) I should check their WWW site once a week to see when an update is
available. "It should almost certainly be within a month."
4) Even though it is their fault for putting up a bad firmware update, if I
am required to send in the player, it is out of warranty for service so
it is my own expense.
I wonder how many other people around the world are stuck with
non-functional players and a vague answer about the fix? And the best they
can do is have me check the WWW site once a week to see when they are ready
for me to pay to install a fix to a problem they caused in the first place.
What crock!
Needless to say, I will probably not buy another Samsung product. You might
want to consider this as a big red flag in your own purchasing decisions --
the risk of bad updates and really bad customer service.
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