[mukeshgoel]

I bought a Samsung Soundbar Q950A from Croma (Retail Store) on 29th April, 2022 and it was delivered to me next day (30th April).

On 1st May, the assigned installation person did not come but another person came very late when I was about to leave for some work. He unboxed and installed it in 10-15 minutes and left, I didn’t have time to check it that day.

Next day, I checked it and while calibrating, I got to know that “Tune Auto EQ” fails at every attempt. Auto EQ feature analyzes surrounding spaces with a built-in microphone mounted on the subwoofer. This offers optimized sound by calibrating excessively amplified low frequencies and sounds that are offset by other audio.



Samsung claims:

“Auto EQ

The included subwoofer automatically fills the room with surround sound and powerful bass calibrated for you.

* This function is not exclusive to Samsung TV models and can be used with any TV brand's models.”

I tried various locations for subwoofer placement in a quite room. I tried different mobile phones but no luck. I even tried it in a different room. It seems it is a known hardware issue with defective microphone in the subwoofer in some units and Samsung has replaced subwoofer in some countries.

So, after trying everything suggested in various forums, I registered a complaint on 3rd May, 2022 (Complaint SR No.4346647822), I was assured that it will be attended same day before 8:00PM but it was not attended on 3rd, 4th and 5th May.

On 6th May, an engineer (Mr. Anil Sharma) came but he tried 10-15 times through my phone but could not solve it. He assured me that he will discuss it with his seniors and provide me a solution next day.

Then there was no action 7th, 8th and 9th May.

On the 10th May, another engineer (Mr. Bhushan Mishra) came but he reloaded the same version firmware from USB pen drive and tried many 10-15 times through my phone and his phone the Auto EQ failed every single time. He also assured me that he will discuss it with his seniors and get back to me shortly but no calls/solution after that.

In the meantime, I raised the issue with Samsung India on twitter on 5th May. I got a call from Samsung corporate office on 7th May and the person assured that he will surely provide me a solution by 9th May but no solution so far. I am reminding them on twitter almost daily but I guess they have abounded their product and it’s warranty.

This is the summary:

Day 1 (29/April) - Bought Samsung Soundbar Q950A from Croma Store.

Day 2 (30/April) - Soundbar delivered.

Day 3 (1/May) – Assigned engineer (Mr. Sudhir Kumar Arya) did not come for installation. Later, another engineer (Mr. Sangeet Yadav) came and unboxed and installed.

Day 5 (3/May) - Complaint registered (SR No.4346647822).

Day 6 (4/May) - Assigned engineer (Mr. Sandeep) called and said that he does not know how to fix it so he send a senior engineer.

Day 7 (5/May) - Assigned engineer (Mr. Bhushan Mishra) didn’t come.

Day 8 (6/May) - Assigned engineer (Mr. Anil Sharma) came but could not fix.

Day 9 (7/May) - No action.

Day 10 (8/May) - No action.

Day 11 (9/May) - No action.

Day 12 (10/May) - Assigned engineer (Mr. Bhushan Mishra) came but could not fix the problem.

Day 13 (11/May) - No action.

Day 14 (12/May) - No action.

Today is the 15th day and there is nothing from Samsung. Q950A is one of the most premium soundbars from Samsung and they are not giving warranty/replacement support for a brand new unit. They are behaving as if I bought a cheap chinese unbranded product without warranty.

Please suggest me how should I take it further with Samsung to get the issue fix.

Mods: Please feel free to move this post to an appropriate thread/sub-forum.

[ike]

Sorry to hear about your problems, most unfortunate! I suggest that you Loop Croma into this if you haven't already. Hope you get this resolved to your satisfaction.

[DuHasstMich]

This has worked wonders for me whenever I ran into issues with Samsung. Now I steer absolutely clear of this brand, no matter which appliance I am considering.

https://www.samsung.com/in/support/email-the-ceo/

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by DuHasstMich

This has worked wonders for me whenever I ran into issues with Samsung. Now I steer absolutely clear of this brand, no matter which appliance I am considering.

https://www.samsung.com/in/support/email-the-ceo/

Thanks, contacted them through all available options suggested in the link you provided.

[CarNerd]

Please check all the documents that came with your Soundbar. There should be a Warranty Card specifying the warranty information and repair/replacement terms. Make sure your product is registered with Samsung for Warranty. Keep all the bills and hard copy of your communication with Samsung and Croma.

You have an option to file a Consumer Case against Samsung for failing to repair/replace the Soundbar within Warranty. You don't even need a lawyer to do that.

But first I suggest you to try other things like escalating the matter with Samsung, Complaining on Facebook and Twitter repeatedly and registering your complaint on websites like:

https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/

https://https://www.consumercomplaints.in/

There's a website dedicated to AV products just like Team-Bhp which might be useful:
https://www.hifivision.com/

You can even make a video explaining the problem clearly and put it on YouTube if you want.

But if nothing works, filing a consumer case definitely works. It worked for me!

[Oxy]

Originally Posted by CarNerd

But if nothing works, filing a consumer case definitely works. It worked for me!

Would be very helpful if you can guide us on the procedure to file a consumer case. I have heard of this website called pgportal.gov.in but as far as I know that is restricted to Government bodies and not private limited companies.

[Shome]

Sorry to hear about your ordeal. I suggest that you keep persisting and ask for a replacement. Make some noise on relevant social media platforms and groups which may impact their brand outlook, as you have done on this forum.

Croma will put their hands up as this is a manufacturing related issue. If you take the consumer court route, it can be your last resort, quite certain it will drag on and you will be stuck with this defective piece for years.

I faced similar issues with the rear speakers for the Sony HT-Z9F that I bought from Amazon, they kept disconnecting. Although the service team spent a considerable number of days trying to resolve with updates etc, they finally agreed and replaced after they could not solve the issue.

The challenge for consumers of such high-end and hi-tech gadgets is that the vanilla service centers are not trained and equipped to diagnose these issues, they will keep visiting you and try the same solutions. So keep persisting on getting it replaced, being polite yet firm with the service guys may get the job done. Ultimately, they will open the service request with Samsung to get it replaced which will then have a tracked ETA.

Hope you get a response from the Samsung bigwigs soon, good luck.

[Everlearner]

I suggest to raise the issue with Croma and push them for a replacement. I had bought a sound bar from them and it was defective. After trying the company service which could not resolve the issue even after one replacement with a new unit, croma finally refunded my money

[CarNerd]

Originally Posted by Oxy

Would be very helpful if you can guide us on the procedure to file a consumer case. I have heard of this website called pgportal.gov.in but as far as I know that is restricted to Government bodies and not private limited companies.

Since I had filed a case in 2017, I can tell you what I remember:

First you need to send a notice to the company mentioning the issue and informing them about your intention to approach the consumer court if they don't respond within 30 - 45 days. You can get the notice format from Google. Send it through Registered Post with Acknowledgement Due - It's nothing but proof of delivery.

After the notice period is over, Visit the nearest Consumer Forum and fill the application for filing the case. You need to attach a notarized affidavit and all the documents like bills/invoice, emails, delivery acknowledgement, etc along with court fees via DD. You can get the details by visiting the nearest Consumer Forum. I went here:

Bangalore Urban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, 8th Floor, Cauvery Bhavan BWSSB Wing, KG. Road, Bengaluru. Ph: 080 - 2221 1137.

You can call them for any queries. After that, you can view the status of your case online and proceed accordingly.

But I think a new law has been passed in 2019 and you can file your case online:

https://consumeraffairs.nic.in/acts-...mer-protection

https://kscdrc.kar.nic.in/

https://edaakhil.nic.in/edaakhil/

[Oxy]

Thanks a lot @CarNerd.

OP, of course going the consumer court way is the last resort, but keep pushing them on Facebook and Twitter, and also haggle for a replacement at Croma.

[mukeshgoel]

Day-16

Thank you everyone for your valuable suggestions.

After sending few emails yesterday, I got a couple of calls from Samsung followed by a visit today.

It was the same person who visited earlier. He tried a couple of things but could not fix the problem. He called his senior and as asked by his senior, I sent purchase invoice on his senior's email id.

Then I spoke to his senior, and he confirmed that he got the invoice and assured me that they are raising the issue for replacement or refund, they will let me know the outcome on Monday most probably.

Does anyone know how refund works in such cases? Do they pay at the time of product pick-up? How do they pay? Is it checque/IMPS/neft?

PS: I am not impressed with knowledge of service engineer. He tried same basic things again and again. His seniors sent him a PDF on whatsapp with steps to fix the problem. He was not confident of following those instructions and forwarded the PDF to me to help him with those instructions. The document was internal document and first line of the document read "CONFIDENTIAL". I thought Samsung would employ better engineers. Not mentioning his name purposely in this post.

[bigron]

Samsung engineers are no better or worse than your friendly neighborhood electrician.
Over the years I ve dealt with few who have had no idea what they were doing and few who would parrot the company policy and stick to it. But no one was willing to work out of the box or look for solutions even if a cheaper solution was available to solve a problem.

[mukeshgoel]

Originally Posted by bigron

Samsung engineers are no better or worse than your friendly neighborhood electrician.

When he came earlier, he rotated the soundbar to access USB port for firmware update and the front side was facing down now.

Then remote was not working. He asked me new batteries, I gave him batteries. Even then remote controller was not working. And he was like totally lost. Then I told him that IR sensor which is normally at the front, is now facing down and IR remotes require line-of-sight. He rotated the soundbar a bit and remote started working.

I guess he learned something new (???) that day.

[Rocketscience]

This is odd, but I'am sure sense will prevail and you will surely get an replacement, although being from a major city like Gurgaon (Same city as mine) and having had niceish support experience from Samsung, I didn't expect it to drag this much, you should have gotten replacement or complete motherboard or relevant part repair within the first week of it without having to go through hell of running from pillar to post to get it done.
Maybe since this is not a major part failure which is obvious, as in unit not powering on or a speaker not working, they are not taking this seriously. Perhaps this could be a firmware issue? As in their development team screwed it up?

[Old_Salt]

Keep persisting, is all I can say. Call customer care and ask to talk to senior/escalation at level 2 or whatever they may call it in their escalation matrix.

Digressing, I bought a blue star window AC which had its PCB replaced 4 times in 6 months. As someone pointed out, they were not able to diagnose the problem and like updating the firmware of your sound bar, they kept changing the PCB. FYI, BlueStar does not have its own team and has outsourced the servicing to local players.
Cut the long story short, got hold of seniors during calls with customer care, started with polite but firm emails and basically told them that I wanted that garbage out of my house. 1 month of pursuing and Blue Star agreed to send a brand new AC after 8 months of initial purchase.

So, keep the pedal to the metal. All the best!