Why I'll Never Buy Another Samsung Appliance Again
The $2000+ mistake I won't make again. Here's why I'll Never Buy Another Samsung Appliance Again.
I've thought about writing this post once a month since LAST December. Every time my Samsung fridge starts making airplane noises I vow to never buy another Samsung appliance again.
In May 2014 we closed on our first house. A foreclosure that was move-in ready although a little less than visually appealing.
The whole house things was a done deal as far as we were concerned before the end of February that year. The rest was just lawyers, inspections, paperwork - you know all the annoying parts of buying a house.
I was over the moon though, and started making arrangements for all of the necessities right away. Topping the list were appliances.
Having lived in rentals for years and years, I'd had a few appliances over time, but never anything very nice. Some rentals include a refrigerator, others include a washer but no dryer - there's no rhyme or reason to any of it. So we'd had to purchase a washer at our last rental property, but the dryer and refrigerator belonged to our landlord.
As a food blogger I was obviously SUPER EXCITED to shop for a new fridge and had a list of qualities I wanted in my new appliance.
- stainless steel
- french doors
- easy-to-organize freezer space
- ice maker!
- water dispenser
- at least 28 cubic feet of space
So obviously we could have gone in a million different directions. There are LOTS of refrigerators that fit these specs. Not having a brand preference at this point in our refrigerator-buying consumer career, we were open to options and shopped ... and shopped and shopped. We did our due diligence with price comparisons, and went around to all the stores so that we could open all the doors and drawers and look at the features in person.
After all the deciding we chose the Samsung RF28HFEDBSR. Here's my fridge y'all.
(Photo from the Samsung Website)
Looks good, right?
And it was good. Until December 2016.
So first, lets review the dates.
The sticker in my refrigerator says that it was manufactured in January 2014. I bought it from a local appliance store here in March 2014. We had it delivered and installed in our new house in mid-May 2014.
That means that my brand new $2000 appliance lasted exactly 2 years and 7 months before quitting.
What happened?
Just before Christmas last year the heating element in my stove went out. I had a bunch of client work due and was not super excited at the prospect of appliance shopping (except I WAS a little excited?!) in an emergency right before Christmas. But the stove came with the house and it had plenty of wear and tear before we moved in.
One $11 heating element from Amazon later and that crisis was averted.
One day later my Samsung fridge started making a loud humming noise.
The next day it go louder.
And then louder.
And I got a little worried.
It seemed like the condenser was freezing up. So I think okay... well this thing is barely 2.5 years old. So let's see what's covered under warranty.
I called Samsung.
And it was a predictable nightmare. It was like that time I called Verizon and all I accomplished was wine and anger.
I was on hold for an eternity. I got transferred 22 times. There was a language barrier. And! I have 1 million things to do that are not sitting on hold because of an expensive-ass broken refrigerator that at this point was as loud as the air compressor in the garage.
When I finally got someone on the phone though, he was the nicest guy. He walked me through the steps of defrosting the fridge. He called me back to check on me. I was like OKAY! It's good! This is all good.
I thought it was fixed.
Thirty Days Later...
It started all over again.
I wasn't too worried this time though, because The Nicest Guy ever was somewhere on the other end. Except this time HE WASN'T. I never actually reached a person that gave a damn.
Someone finally scheduled a serviceperson to come out [which is SUPER FUN when you have 6 dogs at home] but that was a whole other nightmare. It was going to be weeks and weeks before a certified technician could come to where we live. I was worried the fridge was going to quit completely and it was SO LOUD THAT I COULDN'T HEAR MYSELF THINK.
So I Googled the steps to put the fridge back into maintenance mode, defrosted the fridge and...
... have been doing that once a month ever since.
Once a month it sounds like I have power tools in my kitchen. Every 30 Days I have to put the milk in the freezer and thaw out the fridge. Then I have to worry that all the food is going to spoil and why did I buy so much chicken?!
I'll Never Buy Another Samsung Appliance Again
This all happened about the same time that Samsung phones were banned from airplanes. Exploding phones, frozen condensers, and if you take a look at Consumer Affairs we are all having the same Samsung Refrigerator issues.
I'll never buy another Samsung appliance again.
Currently seeking a new brand to love - give me your recommendations!
I also bought a Samsung a week ago when they delivered it was missing a seat screw on freezer handle called Best Buy and they in turn called Samsung they cannot provide screw so im stuck with a refrigerator that freezer handle falls off when you open door
@Charlene Gaunce,
Have Samsung send you a whole new handle, it comes with the set screws. Or take the handle to the hardware store and have them find you the appropriate size set screw.
We bought all brand new stainless steel Samsung appliances in 2015. We bought a dishwasher a stove refrigerator Built-in microwave oven washer and dryer. The 1st to go why is the laundry washer. The repairman came out and said the gears work all from plastic and it could not be salvaged. Had to throw it away. By the way when we bought it was top of the line all the appliances were from Samsung. The next thing to go was the dishwasher. It would not drain. Easy enough to buy the part online but Samsung has made it so there's one screw that a layman can't get out. You have to call a repairman. Next to go was an element on The stove. The very next day the refrigerator start making a sound like a jet engine. Is all sorts of errors flashing. One of them I can't even find what it means when you press the buttons they tell you to press at the same time to reset it doesn't work. The microwave oven had to be thrown in the garbage because it wouldn't work at all. We replaced the microwave with A Maytag. We replaced the washing machine with a General Electric. To top it all off we had bought an appliance warranty from select warranty. They will not even give me a repairman to come out and look at this junk. They keep taking my money out of my bank account for premiums every month but don't have a repair man that will work on the Samsung. We are both on social security and thought when we bought all these brand new appliances from Samsung they would last at least till we died. They all died before we did. We spent between $12010 on all these brand new appliances. I beg anybody out there who's reading this do not buy from Samsung and do not buy and a warranty from select warranty. They just take your money and will not honor your contract.
Hey,
My Fridge has been in airplane mode every 5 weeks for a year. I end up defrosting it with a hairdryer. The ice maker is frozen shut for a year. We need to petition for some heavy tariffs on these products, haha.
Actually maybe a petition to have them banned from the USA. These refrigerators are a complete nightmare. Maybe we can have Lowe’s and Home Depot stop selling them if we write enough, good luck to all!
Regards,
Dan
Ahhh it's so infuriating! I am sorry you are also dealing with it, Dan! I don't know what the answer is, but I know I will NEVER buy another Samsung appliance.
My 10k Samsung refrigerator after 2 years quit working. Samsung claims parts are only warranted 1 year except my manual says 4. But, no one to fix it and be reimbursed. My quote was $2500 to fix. That's an expensive mistake.
ugh! I am so sorry, Phillip! It is SO frustrating. Mine is still doing alright with our last repair, but every time it gets a little loud I stress.
I too purchased a Samsung Refrigerator 3 years ago..we were so excited to “splurge” on this beautiful appliance! We have had less than 3 years when we too had a loud noise coming from the fridge...then it kept freezing up and we replaced the heat element! We also around same time replaced our dishwasher with a Samsung ugh...just now online troubleshooting for it..We are so done buying Samsung products! So frustrated! I hope people spread the word about these less than adequate products!
PREACH Lesa! And UGH I am so sorry you are dealing with this as well! Fingers crossed you get at least SOME use out of the things you spent your hard-earned money on! I'll update if I figure out which appliances to buy that are not trash.
My Samsung fridge is last Samsung product I'll ever purchase also. To date the ice maker is broken, the replacement flipper is on it's way, the door seal cost us $280.00 to repair, and the freezer door handle snapped off and is on a 6 month back order . We aren't hard on our appliances, we're senior citizens who respect our belongings. When we remodeled a few years ago and purchased the Samsung, we put our old Fridgidare downstairs as a backup. It's still running and it's 32 years old! The only maintenance we have done was changing the lightbulb..
As a widower, I married a widow with a similar Samsung a while back.. We moved into her home last year. First the freezer started being impossible to reopen for several minutes after closing. Broke the plastic handle bracket. They mailed me a new handle. Didn't need that Needed a bracket. Got it, installed it, problem solved. Next the fridge got too warm. Somehow had gotten turned off. Instuction manual for control panel was impossible to decipher ( I am an electrical engineer with six years of collega). Service guy came out, pressed a few buttons and all was well. Until temp started to rise a few months later. The door indicator read 35*, but thermometer I laid on the shelf said 54*. Service guy found a frozen defrost drain tube which caused condensate to accumulate ans iced the coil. I asked if Samsung didn't have a heater on the drain. Guy said yes, but that it wasn't long enough. He melted the ice , then took a bare copper wire about 4" long, bent it into a shepard's hook and hung it from the heater, dangling in the drain tube. He said it would conduct enogh heat from the defroster to keep the drain tube clear. $275 service call.
Bride and I are building a new home. Yesterday we picked out all our appliaces- mostly LG. No Samsung!!!
Our Samsung French Door refrigerator (just over 3 years old) has been the single biggest piece of crap appliance of ALL TIMES. The ice maker (which was seemingly designed by the dumbest engineers money can by) has had nothing but problems (hope you don't really want ice in your drinks...... Took over a year of arguing and fighting with their (limited English speaking) so called customer service representatives to repair it to the point where it at least makes ice..... some of the time.
Not to mention the ill-designed evaporator cover assembly which causes ice to build up in back of the main compartment which in turn stops a fan from working properly which in turns makes the temperature fluctuate wildly. Can you say sour milk ewww. Samsung has redesigned the assembly (which they want me to pay for part and installation claiming it is out of warranty) So try to get the part, you guessed it UNAVAILABLE.
So if you are in the market for aggravation and an F'd up product by all means by Samsung .
YESSSS. This is exactly what happened to us! I 10000000% agree. So sorry you have experienced the same headache!
We bought a Samsung side by side refrigerator in late 2013. About 2 years after we got it, the ice maker went out. It cost $400.00 to repair. Now, the compressor or fan or something is going. It sounds like a gas engine running when it turns on. I can't even find anyone to come look at it. Its less than 5 years old. What a piece of crap. Prior to this, we had a Kenmore that lasted from 1997 to 2012. Its just too bad Sears is going out of business. Their appliances were great.
Hey Don - this sounds EXACTLY like what happened to us! Very recently I was able to have someone come and repair it, but it was SO HARD to find anyone that would work on the damn thing! Our local appliance store, which really runs an upstanding business, told me they's stopped selling Samsung appliances all together because they break often and no one will service them. They also told me they'd replaced Samsung with LG, and their experiences there were even worse!
I have a Samsung French door refrigerator. I think it's seven yrs old. I too was excited when I bought my counter depth French door. Perfect fit, I thought two ice makers would be nice. The old Crosley that only had one made more ice than the two. I've replaced both the upper and the lower ice makers once and I'm about to replace the lower a second time. It's been very disappointing, I can buy Crosley for wholesale at an Hvac supply house. When this thing finally shoots craps I'll go back to a less exotic more reliable less expensive. This reminds me of my experience with Michelin tires. Used to wouldn't buy anything else. Got two out of round sets in a row on service trucks. 8 mos later and countless hours waiting in a tire shop waiting room, tread separation was said to be the issue and Michelin offered me $71 per tire for the bad ones. I paid $225 a piece for them and had been vibrating down the road for 8 mos. I say buy the cheap one, it doesn't hurt as bad and it's not a surprise when it's junk. I had two bad no name brand on another service truck. They replaced both tires free off charge. I'm sorry to hear any of you bought a Samsung and stay away from Michelin
I will never buy another Samsung appliance because I spent over 2 weeks in contact back and forth with Samsung parts which was a big waste of my time. They then referred me to Customer Service - that's a joke! they told me my appliance was no longer under warranty (Which I already knew) and they provided me with a telephone number to an authorized Samsung repair company - who never returned my call! I then called an appliance repair company and they determined that I needed a new oven door handle. I then contacted Samsung parts and advised them that is what I needed and their response AFTER 22 DAYS of going back and forth with these people is "Unfortunately this part is no longer available from the manufacturer. I apologize for any inconvenience. You may be able to find the part online on amazon or ebay." so this basically means you have to buy a new appliance altogether. Their Customer Service is non-existent. Although I like many aspects of the product, I will NEVER buy another Samsung product because their Customer Service is non existent.
ahhh that's so frustrating! I had much the same experience.
We've had our Samsung refrigerator for 5 years and it started making a loud noise last week. Did defrosting your refrigerator work temporarily? I tried to get Sears To come and look at it. They offered me a $600 warranty but I declined. I scheduled service but they no showed. I'll try defrosting though just to get silence. Did it ever quit cooling?
Hi Jason. That SUCKSSSS. I am so sorry you are also experiencing trouble! I am still regularly defrosting my refrigerator. About every 30-40 days it sounds like an air compressor in my kitchen. It's seriously SO loud. It hasn't quit cooling yet (cross your fingers!) but man I am disappointed in my purchase. I'm glad yours lasted 5 years. Let me know if you find a solution or have a good repair recommendation!
Pease try changing the water filter. That helped me. Then when it did it again...same day. It needed to be adjusted. No more problems. Psych my ice maker is stuck. Wony make ice , wont release the catch to open it.
I have a ridiculously expensive ($2600) Samsung refrigerator that is only 6 months old. Same deal - ice maker is stuck, won't make ice & won't release the catch to open it!
I'm waiting for service under warranty. They're sending someone from DISH!
Yikes.
My grandparents had bad luck with Samsung refrigerators too! The repairman was there so much one month (soon after they got it) that instead of saying "bye" they said "see you tomorrow" haha. He also told them most of those only last months. So frustrating!
argh! That is so frustrating! For them and me. I am sort of glad I am not alone so I have friends to complain with. But man. That's a lot of disappointed customers.
Our Samsung fridge the same exact one as your’s does the same thing!!!! Two years into owning it boom helicopter noise and then no cool air we have lost tons of food over and over. I hate Samsung! I will never ever buy another one of their appliances.
SAME. SAME. It is so terrible so many people have had this experience!
So very sorry about this huge problem. Its such a major decision with so much money and then to get crap is very disheartening. Such a nightmare!!! I will never buy Samsung now. Ever! Not even electronics such as phones or tablets. What a mess and I feel for you. I am afraid to recommend because our first year isn't up yet on our new fridge. Since February we are happy with our super duper everything LG. It has the produce drawer that is now holding beer and wine because we had a football party one Sunday and I never want to run out.. What we really liked too was that on the right side the door it has an extra depth where you push a button with your thumb as you open it. That means it has an extra front that holds all the stuff you use all of the time without opening the whole refrigerator door. Hard to explain but so far so good. I am still nervous though. :/
Thank you so much, Ginny! And yes - appliance buying is just so nerve wracking! It's SO MUCH money and companies are just not invested in keeping you happy or retaining your loyalty as a customer. It sucks. I will check out LG! I've had good luck with LG TV's so fingers crossed for you!
I have an appliance repair company for 30 years I have seen thousands of LG refrigerators with bad compressors in less than 2 and 1/2 years good luck having LG warranty these products I have seen thousands of Samsungs that I condemn daily good luck getting Samsung to recognize any of their issues
I spent 4 months along with about 45 phone calls and 25 online chats before Samsung finally just cut me a check for a the crap dishwasher that was not even a year old before it busted. I too will never buy another Samsung appliance.
I just bought one exactly like you have
Ahhh!!! I hope your luck is better than mine was!
Heather I couldn't help, but notice your story being so inline with my own. Long story short though...I'm 110% with you. I spent literally 4 months working with Samsung appliance support before those people finally cut me a check for their faulty product. In my case, a bad dishwasher. They make the customers go through an unbelievably ridiculous process just to get a tech out there. They put me through about 45 phone calls and around 25 online chats just to be able to approve a reimbursement for my bad unit that they didn't want to fix because it cost them more to pay a tech than it did to keep honoring the warranty.
My unit wasn't even 10 months old when the problems began. Mostly loud noises from a vent on the door. What is so odd, is that they pay all of their representatives there money and I guarantee that I spent over 24 hours on the phone and at least 12 actual hours on their chat support. I don't get why they would put a loyal customer and themselves through that many hours of work all for a $421.88 reimbursement check. I'm the one who still has to remove the thing from my kitchen. It was bar none, the absolute worst and most ludicrous experience I've ever been through. I have worked a long part of my professional career in the customer service industry so I understand what these folks go through, but Samsung's policies are horrible. They are inefficient for both themselves and the customer. They do not communicate or admit their issues. I only see failure in their future. At least as far as their appliances go.
Anyway, I had to share because it was literally a mirror image story. Just a different appliance in our case.
I know the feeling you all are having. I have been an appliance technician for 35 years. As a technician I have worked on most every brand of appliance there is. My worst that have worked on is samsung. Everytime you get an error cde it's never correct and gets very costly for parts that I have to send back. Samsung makes a very nice looking machine but can be very dissapointing to consumers. The problem is with all manufactures everything in appliances is made to last only a few years with planned obsalecence. It's to bad we can't go back to the days when a refrigerator lasted 20 years plus and a washer lasted 20 years but companies can't make enough money on a product that they can only sell you every 20 years they would go out of business. So in closing it's hard as an appliance technician to tell you what to buy they are all about the same Good luck in your search maybe someday the manufacturer will make a better product we can all hope so.
I have the exact same refrigerator. Mine started making noises at about 4 months. The service man came out and looked at it, punched the problems into his little computer, and said he ordered the part, for us to call when it came in. When it came in I looked at it, and it was a tube of white silicone sealant. When he came back, I asked him about it, supposedly, it needed sealing between the top ice maker and the body of the refrigerator. The ice maker was freezing up and not making ice, dumping or anything. That didn’t fix it. He came back, played around with the controls then said he ordered another part. It never came in. I called about the service, so they sent him back out. This time he mumbled around, did nothing to it, and said it was unrepairable. I bought it at Lowe’s along with the 3 year extended warranty, thank goodness. I called Lowe's and complained. One week later I had my full purchase price back on a check through the mail. If it wasn’t for everything else working great on this piece of junk, AND having a separate bottom ice maker, I would have already purchased another one. As it is now, I’m just sitting here with the money in the bank and still using it. The bottom ice maker makes double the amount of ice the top one did when it was working correctly. I do some appliance repairs for myself on most of mine, and if it wasn’t for some serious health issues I have had, I would have already pulled it out and removed the back to check everything myself. I have done hours and hours of research, and I haven’t found any good reviews on these. Maybe someone will figure out how to repair it. and if I can’t do it myself, maybe I will get someone else to do it. Good luck with yours, and to everyone else out there with a Samsung, I will never have another penny of mine spent on a Samsung anything.
LOL I am probably little older than most on here. However at 70 I love technology. Couldn't get WIFI to work on a fridge that's supposed to have it. Between visits to HD, calls to HD & SAMSHIT over 30 days their "so called trained certified tech" shows up, Yeah! NOPE looked at fridge, no really did NOTHING but stand in front of it and say he wasn't really that good with the tech stuff & it probably doesn't have it on my model.. I then shared SAMSHIT own online brochure. WIFI YES. "oh well I don't know what the problem is,but what other appliance do you need service on? WTF? NONE. Back on phone with COMSHIT and HD. Now they want to naturally send DISH out. Why Is Samsung Sending A Dish Network Tech To Fix My Washing Machine? – Consumerist
https://consumerist.com/2017/03/01/why-is-samsung-sending-a-dish-network-tech-to-fix-my-washing-machine/ Called HD got like others paid off. Think long and hard before thinking SAMSHIT
I have the same frig. Both icemakers freeze up and you have to defrost with blow dryer. Now the top one will not defrost and the bottom one wont stop making ice. My sister in law has a samsung to and nothing but, problems. I am buying an american made product this time. Kitchen aid makes a great dishwasher I have one. Going to dump this piece of crap $2200.00 and after four years already need a new frig. Ugggh
@Mary Stephens, just purchased a Whirlpool based on all the crap going on with Chinese fridges. LG, Samsung. Love the big Made in America sticker in my whirlpool! So far a great french door frige.