I have never used this blog to complain about service from a company before but I have recently been royally screwed by Samsung Electronics and their pathetic service affiliate Lakes Electronics of Fort Lauderdale, FL so I feel like I should warn anyone else out there may consider making the mistake of buying a product from either of them or using any service they provide.
Samsung DLP televisions are defective. They are so defective that to avoid a class action lawsuit the company is offering to send out service representatives to fix televisions that are no longer under warranty. Unfortunately the service company Samsung sends out, Lakes Electronics of Fort Lauderdale, is as defective as the televisions they make.
The whole ridiculous thing started a few weeks ago when I noticed that my Samsung television had a small white dot on the screen. A couple of weeks later there were two dots and eventually there were three. Concerned that a 3 year old Samsung television that cost a $1000 dollars was going out I searched the internet and found hundreds of complaints from other people suffering the same problem. Some of the other people with defective tv’s recommended that you call Samsung because there had been so many problems that they would come out and replace the defective chips which cause the problem.
So I took the advice and called Samsung. They offered to send out someone to replace the defective chip in my television. When the service technician arrived at my home I had a fully functioning television that had a defective chip and a few white dots but worked fine otherwise. By the time the service technician left my house the TV didn’t work at all.
I called Lakes Electronics to let them know that their service technician had broken my TV and they said it would be a week before they could come back out. Despite my frustration I waited patiently for them to come repair the damage they caused. Unfortunately a week later the same service tech, Adam Shapiro, came out and told me that he would not fix it because it now needs a new lamp and the owner of Lakes Electronics, Andy Macpherson, would not accept responsibility for the damage they had done. Let me be clear my television worked fine until Adam Shapiro of Lakes Electronics took my television apart to fix it.
I tried to explain the situation to Samsung by phone but they refused to do anything about the television they broke and I called Lakes Electronics and their service manager, Mike Bavetz, tried to tell me that it was a complete coincidence that my TV didn’t work after Adam Ahapiro worked on it. So now my television doesn’t work at all and neither Samsung nor Lakes Electronics will repair the damage they have done.
So the moral of the story is:
1) Do not buy Samsung products
2) Do not allow a Lakes Electronics repairman in your house
UPDATE 1/19/2011
Samsung and Lakes electronics did finally fix my television today. At the time I wrote the original blogpost neither company was willing to accept responsibility for the damage done to my TV but after I reamed them out here and on Twitter Samsung had a customer service representative contact me and agreed to send the repairman back out.
The repairman, Adam, did come back out and although it took more than two months to get the needed parts and fix the TV it is finally done. I hammered them when they screwed up so I want readers to know that they did eventually get it right. But the fact is that I would have been without a television had I not raised cain about the way they treated me in the first place. It didn’t have to be that way.
GA Jim 
Hey! Thank you for this post, I just got off the phone with Samsung and the rep did indeed tell us to call Lakes. After reading this I don’t know what to do. We haven’t even finished paying the TV off, according to my mom. Would you recommend calling another local repair service? It would be nice to simply get a different TV, and like you we won’t be buying Samsung again, but I think we have to go with the repair for now.
Thanks from Alpharetta!
Virginia- You have my condolences for owning a Samsung product 😉 I wish I had a good solution for you but I don’t. If you call another repair service you will probably have to pay out of pocket. Maybe you will have better luck than I did getting Samsung to pay for another repair company to come out but their customer service refused to do so for me.
I finally gave up and have settled for watching a TV with a shadow on it. Once it gets to the point I can’t stand it any more I’ll break down and get a Sony.
Let me know how things work out and I’ll post an update so more people will be aware of what is going on.
I am sooooo pissed. My tv wont turn on and I called Samsung with my issue. After giving me loads of attitude, they told me that they dont send a repair guy out for a “32” inch tv. Sorry that my 800 dollars isnt enough in their eyes. I didnt expect for 2 years to be the life of my tv. So, I finally got them to agree to approve home service. I called Lakes to see what the hold up was about setting up my app. They proceed to tell me that they dont go out for that small of a tv anymore. When I tried to tell them that Samsung approvd it and on the ticket it even says “in home repair” they put the manager “Debbie” on the phone. She was the rudest person I ever came into contact with. She was just nasty. I got off of the phone feeling frustrated and lost. My tv has been out for 3 weeks now and im back where I started. Your blog is the truth. Sorry, I just needed to vent. Any suggestions.
Quick Question – Have any of the posters who had power cycling issues with their Samsung plasmas actually found a reputable tv repair service for the problem in the North Georgia area? I need to have my tv reviewed for this problem, and am taking heed of this blog, but didn’t see any recommendations for alternative places of service except Best Buy. Would also be interested to know how much, on average, the fix cost owners. Thanks from North Fulton.
Upon connecting a refurbished Comcast box to my 2 year old Samsung TV the box and the TV both stopped working. Liberty Ins. (Comcast’s insurance agent) advised me to call Samsung to diagnose the problem. Well Javier showed up and advised me that it was just the bulb and $150.00 but I can purchase one cheaper on e-bay. Yes the bulb was cheaper $85.00. BUT it was not just the bulb – if the tech would have looked further he would have read the problem on the front screen. I called back and Javier was scheduled to return – the tech did not know where the third fan was and actually could not diagnose the problem. (he left the back off the tv and screws everywhere) I advised him that if it was going to be more than $500.00 and it was not caused by the cable box I would be better off buying a new TV. Javier copted an attitude and left very rudely wanting another $89.00 service call when he still has NOT diagnosed the problem. I called Samsung and low and behold – I talked to Mike Bavetz, Mgr. and he was very, very, very downright rude. Mike Bavetz (who was not here to diagnose problem and had not even talked to me before) stated that I told the tech to falsify documents. The nerve of that man – if Comcast is not responsible and if it was going to cost me $500.00 – I will be better off buying a new tv. I can not believe the way he spoke to me and accused me of asking them to falsify documents. Watch Out Mike Bavetz – don’t let the door kick you in the ass!
Best Buy makes “professional” service calls!
omg i hope i dont run in to that with lakes out of ga.
51in and only 3 mons olds and will not power up
but i do have to waite 5 days for them to comw out
so ill just hope in a lucky one with them
ill post back on thursday
Good luck
Here’s my store, spent 1000.00 on samsung tv, about 3 months stopped working still under warranty, tech came replace bulb, about 3 months later again bulb replaced. Another 3 months passed bulb goes out and new tech says try not to use tv so much, my husband’s like what? So we started to make sure we utilized our other 100 year tvs that worked fine. Then one day tv looked clouded, then we thought it was dusted inside, eventually tv covered in white dots, called samsung and searched the net to discover all the complaints about this crampy tv. They agreed eventhough warranty over to send tech to repair or replace. Tech’s fixed, 3 week later bulb goes out. Tv sitting in living room collecting dust, because we are sick of tv and samsung products.
Lakes replaced the system board on my led tv today and broke two of the bezel screws off with power driver. Didn’t tell me and then tried to tell me it wasn’t a problem. Service lady called me back and told me no eta and it was a stock order so it could take a while. Called Samsung and the manager seemed concerned that Lakes wouldn’t give eta. He called lakes and then told me to just wait. I onced believed in Samsung tvs, tv, DVD, washer dryer, phone. Why would Samsung tolerate this horrible customer service???
In May our 46″ lcd Samsung had a capacitor problem which I learned by Googling it that it was a warranty issue covered by Samsung. Adam came out & “fixed” it free of charge to us, only to have a problem again with the tv not turning on a couple months later. Samsung again directed me to Lakes 3 days ago. I set up a service call through Tiffany for today and she said there would be an $89 charge as Samsung wouldn’t honor the capacitor warranty twice. Adam was to call this a.m. to let me know what time he was coming. When he didn’t call, I contacted Lakes and Tiffany said she had no record of my service call and I had to call Samsung again to get a service #. After 1-1/2 hrs on and off the phone with Samsung, calls getting disconnected 3 times when the girl tried to get Tiffany @ Lakes on the line (Samsung indeed had record of my call earlier in the week), I was finally transferred to a helpful person in the capacitor warranty section, & was told it would in fact be covered and there was to be no charge to me. She then set up a service call with a different service company and cancelled the request with Lakes. Meanwhile, the tech from Lakes called and said he’d come this afternoon and his supervisor said if it was past 30 days since the prior capacitor repair, Samsung wouldn’t cover it and the service call charge would be $39. Further, the helpful girl at Samsung had gotten Tiffany on the phone and Tiffany said she had not received a call from us today at all! If Samsung tries to give your service request to Lakes, ASK FOR SOMEONE ELSE.
I googled this blog after becoming another one of the Lakes Electronics victims. My Samsung 46-inch LCD screen developed extremely slow starts, dots, then stripes, until it became unusable. By the web, I found out about the class action suit and called Samsung. I gave my info to Samsung. They said a Lakes Electronics technician would be coming to fix my TV and set up an appointment. But from that point on Lakes has made my life miserable and I still don’t have a repaired TV. Like the blog says, avoid Samsung number one and avoid Lakes Electronics number two. Lakes is the pits. The absolute pits.
Cape Coral, FL- Seven month old Samsung refrigerator. Model RF4287HARS/XAA …Freezer display was showing a blinking #4. I opened the freezer drawer and all contents were room temperature and the hardwood floor in front of and under the fridge were covered in water. I threw out 4 bags of food, including roasts, steaks, homemade sauces, sausages, meatballs. hungarian goulash, stocks and more. I put a towel in the drawer to clean the mess and cleaned the floor. I awoke in the morning and the freezer was freezing again, although there is a “crunching noise” when I slide the door in and out as if there ice in there. I called the customer service # in my manual reported the problem and asked to have the cost of the food reimbursed. They said someone would call me back in regards to that request. I also reported that the outside of the freezer drawer is often covered with condensation. “Eric” told me this is normal. I told him I have had other brands of stainless steel refrigerators and never had a problem. Nobody did so I called a couple of days later and spoke to “Alicia” in executive customer relations. She said that if the freezer was freezing again, there was no problem and they would not send anyone to service the freezer. I told her that appliances were not “self healing” and for this to have happened in the first place, there was a problem. She said that I must have made a change on the display panel for this to have happened. I have never touched the display. It was exactly as it was when they delivered it and adjusted the settings. I ended up on the Samsung Chat Line. I printed each page of the conversation and they had someone call me back. (In the meantime I did online research and found many with the same complaint and there was a class action lawsuit settled in 2009 for other models, with what “sounded” as the same complaint. I will check with that NJ law firm for updates.) Someone called and agreed to send someone for service, but told me if they report no problem, I will not be reimbursed for any losses. I was told that “Corporate” will not talk to consumers. Two days later Lakes Electronics called and left a message. I was unable to call back that day or the next two as I do volunteer work. I called the 800 # on the 3rd day and had to leave a message on voicemail. I called Lakes Electronics the next day and was asked many questions…not just about the freezer. “Bruce” if Lakes Electronics asked me the date of when I talked to Samsung, he then asked what took me so long to call. I told him I left a voicemail and he put me on hold (to verify that fact, maybe?). I was put on hold after the answers to some of his questions. When is the last time a service technician asked you such questions?? I can take an educated guess as to how this will turn out. He told me they are busy and can’t come here for 7 – 10 days, but would not make any appointment. I have documented every call, every date, every person I spoke with and the details of those calls along with the printed pages of the “Chat” along with printouts of other complaints from consumers with this same model number. If I am not satisfied with the outcome of this, I will contact a consumer watchdog group as well as a lawfirm.
Ok so the same thing just happened to me today. I had the white spots. Samsung sent the part to Lakes Electronics. The guy Alex came out to fix it when it did work he put the Tv back together and it does not work now he says its the color wheel that is messed up so he says to fix it would be $379.08 when Alex the tech guy messed it up. Im pissed that i have to get on the phone now again with these two companys.
I had the same problem with my Samsung and they are not cooperating. I was first told by Samsung Executive Dept representative, Sarie, that if Lakes deemed it something wrong or irreparable, they would cut me a reimbursement check or a new TV. Well it was deemed that repairs cost more than the tv over the phone- that’s what the manager at Lakes said- but then entered his notes that “it appears” that the tv may have a panel problem but they would need to come out. That’s there way of trying to get a diagnostic fee out if you. And to top it off- I spoke to a different rep in the Executive Dept, Deidra- who refused to honor what the previous rep said about reimbursement. Now my tv was over $2000 but i am not backing down. No one will call me back or respond to my emails. So off to the news, consumer affairs, and blogs I go.!
Thank you all for your reporting of your experiences…I have a new (made in 2012) Samsung
LCD that takes 4-5 minutes for the picture to come on. Samsung assigned Lakes and after reading your reports I called them and got another company assigned quite quickly; I’ll let you know about their service.
Jack, any report on the service from the other company yet? My 40″ 550 LCD Samsung’s screen has gone black. I’m afraid to use Lakes after reading all these posts.
Well I wish I had seen this sooner. I bought a front loader washer and dryer from Best Buy that is Samusung I also bought two plastic drawers that they sit on for $500.00 I spent over $2500.00 for this. They are a 1 and a half old. My dryer died last month Lakes came out and replaced the computer it still doesnt work. I had to wait for them to order another part. I travel alot for a living and am not home alot. I had to cancel a service date because i was flying out at one and the service person was supposed to come at 8 he didnt call me until 10:30 am. to late for him to come so I said lets reschedule for a week and a half away as I am flying to Norway for work. No problem he said I even called Lakes in Cape Coral to confirm. When I got home they were supposed to come the following morning well I never recieved a confrimation when I called they said the guy was busy and might be at my home at 6pm maybe not sure. I was really insensed, the manager hung up on me and said I am cancelling all further transactions with you. I have been without my dryer for a month now a new repair service is taking over I will let you know how it goes. They are ordering more parts maby they can come next week….I leave for Canada next weekend for a week so I guess if they dont come next week it will be fixed maybe at the end of the month. I am so over Samsung I had Whirlpool front loaders that I didnt have to buy a contract for that are still going in the house i sold, they are over 10 years old. I also bought a blue ray player and a 3D TV from Samusung I am crossing my fingers that they last at least 2years……really awful workmanship. I dont have any faith in Samsung and the repair people dont know customer service at Lakes Electronics in Cape Coral. They have no idea on how to treat people, when somone is upset they make it worse and you have to beg them to come and they lie and say they will come and then send in a cancellation order to Samusung without notifying the customer. I waited all day for them and the service mangager lied to me. Wow he and his team need a course in how to treat people and not escilate the problem with snide commments. I would be fired if I treated my clients the way I was treated. Unbelievable. Will post more when this is put to be.
I just got off the phone with Samsung who stated the 51 inch LCD tv was produced after 2008 and was not covered under the class action settlement. Jasmine in the capacitor dept. transferred me back to Rovir in the tv dept. who gave me lakes electronics phone number. I noticed here Samsung has began giving a second company’s information; however, no one has stated who they are or listed their information. Can anyone list the second company’s information or any results from said contact? I thank you for the stated information and will skip dealing with Lake Elect. I’ll start with FB and the BBB before making any additional calls.
Thanks everyone for your reports. Samsung initially assigned my capacitor repair job to Lakes. After reading this blog, I called Samsung and had them change the repair company. Jay from Blue Computer and Network Services in Duluth, GA, just came and he replaced the entire power board. The thing that took the longest was getting the screws in and out of the TV; it was such a simple repair. Jay was very pleasant (he even removed his shoes so as not to soil my carpet), and I feel confident that he successfully solved my TV problem. If you’re in North Georgia, ask for Blue Computer.
Thanks for the heads up. My brand new Samsung TV needs repair within a week. It has been over 1 month that I have been calling Samsung and they keep leading me through a bunch of software updates, resetting my TV, the Timer and so on. After a month of these phone games I told them they have to send in their repair person. And they have scheduled the Lake Electronics! I am going to call them right away and ask them to send me Jay from Blue Computer and Network Services in Duluth, GA. Hope I succeed. At this point I am so frustrated with Samsung and their TVs. Wish I had known how bad these products are.Earlier I had an LG and had absolutely no trouble with it till I decided to go for the Samsung Smart TV. It seems to be pretty unsmart actually.
My Samsung TV Died 4th of July weekend. Having time off from work and kids out of school for the summer I was very frustrated. Luckily I have a SONY flat screen also….. SOOOOO I called Samsung who promptly told me that Lakes would be coming out to check on it. I had some trouble locating my warranty information, upon which Samsung told me my TV was manufactured in MAY so it was out of its 1 year warranty time frame. Of course, it was manufactured, packaged, left the warehouse, arrived at BrandSmart and was sold to me, all on the same day in MAY…… I think NOT! The Lakes repairman was quite kind and told me that once I located the receipt that my $100.00 service fee would be refunded and the repair of the entire TV would be covered…. So I didnt cancel the appt, I paid the 100.00 and then I got my receipt from BrandSmart (which in fact stated that I purchased the TV in late September 2012… After many phone calls and emails and faxes with Lakes and Samsung, my receipt was finally loaded onto my account and the repair approved… BUT now I need my refund as the LAKE”S repairman said I would get; no trouble at all…. I have spent a lot of time on the phone over numerous weeks between the both of them…. Lakes says I need to get my refund from Samsung, Samsung says I need to get my refund from Lake’s. Samsung even put me in a 3 way call to Lake’s but the person who handles GA was on lunch…. Now I am sent to the manager because the person I have been speaking with for weeks is not even the person who can refund me. OF course the manager, Mike Davies (of the GA area), has declined my refund because their policy is simply that they NEVER give money back once it is paid…. According to Mike Davies I should not have scheduled the appt without my warranty info…. To which I reply…. YOUR repairman said I didnt need to cancel and that it would be no trouble to get my 100.00 refunded…. NOW, I dont know any person, WHO, with the knowledge that their TV is covered by a warranty, throws $100.00 at any repair person not expecting to get it back…. I just spent 20 minutes on the phone with Samsung while she tried to get LAKE’S Mike Davies to refund my $100.00, only to have her come back on the phone and say “Lake’s does not refund any money once they have taken it, that’s their policy” Okay then, this broken SAMSUNG TV (since repaired) is covered under warranty and even after that information have been provided Lake’s has no intention of refunding my $100.00 which they have no right the keep. Samsung has no intention of making them refund the money, even though they know the situation is fraudulent, and I have wasted 2 months on various calls with them…..
I will never buy another product from Samsung and I will never use Lake’s Electronics again…. LESSON LEARNED!
The Lakes Repair office based in Cape Coral is just as bad. After calling Samsung to schedule a repair on my 60″ LED TV, they assigned Lakes Electronics. I had to call Lakes since they never called me and their scheduling system sucks! They make you wait home all day under the hopes that you will get a call and they will come out on that day. They don’t permit you to have any input on the time. So I did that two weeks ago for a diagnosis call. Did it again last week for a failed repair attempt after a mis-diagonosis. Now today, I waited and waited and then I called them and they hung up on me and cancelled my repair because I had the gaul to request an afternoon time.
Lakes has filed for bankruptcy; go get your tv pronto if they have it or you’ll lose it.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer company,
The Lakes Electronics in Palm Beach County is horrendous. It was cathartic to put my woes on the web, (www.SamsungReview.Net), but after over five weeks of promises, I just want a working washing machine.
I want to thank everyone here for sharing their stories about Lakes Electronics. I also want to thank Debra for suggesting Blue Computers. I have had a broken Samsung TV for awhile now and opened up multiple tickets. Every time a technician calls the next day while I am at work. When he or she realizes I am not near the TV for troubleshooting which I have already performed, they simply close the ticket and E-Mail me a troubleshooting guide. Again, I had already done the troubleshooting and isolated the issue. I just needed someone to help me repair my TV. Finally I found one Samsung representative who seemed to be taking the issue seriously. This Rep assigned Lakes Electronics to save the day.
I immediately did research on them and found dozens of horror stories about having to deal with Lakes Electronics. I called Samsung back and told them I would not be stuck with Lakes Electronics. I asked them for a new Service Center. I nearly begged for Blue Computer to handle the case (thanks again Debra). After an hour or so they escalated my request and told me a Service Center would get back to me within 48 hours. I was sure I had lost, as they said Lakes Electronics was the only Service Center in my area.
The next day, a friendly man from Blue Computer called me back and had been assigned to fix my tv. He suggested the solution was exactly what I suspected, replacing the main board, and that he could fix it within the week. I want to thank everyone for their stories and suggest to people who may be reading this, Samsung might just be listening after all. Just take the time to get on the phone with them and demand a different Service Center. This has restored a little of my faith back in Samsung.
These people *AND* Samsung service absolutely SUCK!!!!!! Buyer beware: getting in-warranty service from Samsung by Lakes WILL GIVE YOU A DRINKING PROBLEM!! AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!
June – Glad to have this info. My Samsung gave up the ghost. No picture no sound. TV is a Samsung Smart TV it is approximately 4 years old. I call Samsung today and they referred my to Lakes. I purchased the tv at Costco. Will call them tomorrow and hope to get a more satisfactory response. Thanks to everyone for their posts.
I would also like to add my displeasure with both Samsung and lakeside electronics , my wife and I purchased a Samsung refrigerator from Home Depot with there Fourth of July appliance sale , in 2016 , now less than two years later it stops cooling , we called Samsung and asked for assistance, because the the refrigerator was out of warranty they recommended Lakeside Electronics . We called and they came out a day later . After being told that the refrigerator was elevated to high in the front ( 5/16 ) of an inch highr than the back and that this caused the malfunction of the cooling system .
Then after emptying the refrigerator out we were informed that it would be 275.00 to defrost the unit with a 99.00 service charge , which goes towards the repair . I called Samsung to ask about the charge and was informed that they only recommend the repair company they do not set the amounts that they charge .
Folks the same thing could have been done by unplugging the refrigerator for 3 days , I know that your thinking that you can’t do that , the food will go bad . Well at 275.00 for the service you can replace the food .
My advice is to stay away from both Samsung and anyone with Lakeside Electronics .
I am one of the lucky ones – my kitchen range went out the day after Thanksgiving – I called my home warranty company who referred me to National Service Alliance, which seems to be just a recording – they referred me to Lakes Electronics. When I didn’t hear from them I tried to call. The first time, after the phone rang 10-15 times, I got someone who transferred me to the “agent” who handles my zip code – the phone rang about 20 times (no voicemail??). I called back and after a long wait was told the agent was out to lunch. The woman took my name and phone number. This morning, having not heard back, I called Lake again – this time the phone was never answered. I’m lucky because while I was waiting I decided to check reviews and UGH! When I reached my warranty company I asked them to assign a different company so I avoided working with this disreputable company. LUCKY ME!