Samsung Highly Overrated Brand?

CheapBrah on 04/04/2022 - 22:13

Seems that around the time Samsung got really big in the phone world (Galaxy S2?), Samsung has been seen as a top tier brand

While their products are generally pretty good across the many categories they are in, not the Apple level they seem to strive for, but still generally pretty good, their customer service is usually bad. I've had the pleasure of dealing with Samsung support across phones, electronics, IT hardware, etc. and every time its below average at best. Frankly, they are behind many smaller/cheaper brands in this regard and below the expectations that most consumers have these days.

Yet they still seem to have a strong reputation, and get away with charging the associated higher prices.

is it just me who finds them really not worthy of the reputation they have? Am I missing something?

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Comments

  • furakoph on 05/04/2022 - 13:48
    +1

    They are one of the top electronic brands imo.

    HAve had good experience, had their plasma tv for 15 years.

  • CRS34 on 05/04/2022 - 14:18
    +2

    Customer service is no where near apple's in my experience.

  • OzHunterNSW on 05/04/2022 - 14:44
    +1

    Not at all… the brand is fantastic, far better than appeal.

    I have many Samsung items…. and recently I have cause to contact regarding washing machine… even out of warranty, they sent a service guy out and fixed the issue all without charge.

    I have have many Samsung phones - far far superior than Appeal

  • KernelPanic on 05/04/2022 - 14:54
    +2

    Their phones are good. Their customer service is trash though. I ordered a phone from them two weeks ago and still it hasn't been shipped.
    Emailed them about it and no reply. Tried calling and their automated response said all their staff are too busy and try calling another time.
    I needed the phone urgently and won't be in the country by the time it arrives and since you can't connect with their customer service, the order can't be cancelled.
    0/10

    • jace88 on 06/04/2022 - 22:59

      For all you know it has shipped… that's what I found when I ordered a phone. I also stupidly got it delivered to the Samsung Experience store and despite all the websites/trackers saying it wasn't there or even shipped out yet, it was the tracking ID which I found by accident which let me realise it was in the store. Maybe it just hadn't been processed, but I rocked up and they were able to get it for me.

      (in case you're wondering, I didn't want it delivered to Samsung Experience store… I just thought it would mean I could click and collect and pick it up straight away since it was a common S21+ model during last year's sales)

      • KernelPanic on 07/04/2022 - 20:47

        Nope. Still showing Processing. No package arrived.
        Leaving Friday morning so I won't be receiving the package and I'll be out of the country.
        Great job by samsung.

        • jace88 on 08/04/2022 - 07:48

          That's a shame. Unfortunately one area where they haven't done sufficiently well to copy the Apple sales and post-sales experience.

  • raspudala on 05/04/2022 - 15:29
    +2

    After many years of using Samsung smartphones I'm switching to Apple just for this reason alone - absolutely shocking customer service. I rather have less fancy features and less customization (Android vs iOS), but at least I know that if I've any issues I can just walk into Apple store and they won't refuse to help.

  • cupcake on 05/04/2022 - 15:29

    I am a fan of Samsung products.
    I've been generally happy with my phones, tablets, chargers, ear pods, dvd player etc.
    It also helps that I have a family member work for them so I can get 50% off. Even better.

  • dealsucker on 05/04/2022 - 15:51

    Absolute and utter trash if you buy their flagship phones for full price, very good at 50% off. At 50% off its cheaper than most chinese upstarts with better specs and all around hardware to boot

  • McSquintus on 05/04/2022 - 16:42

    If you have a good experience with a company or product, you continue using the product and think nothing more of it.
    If you have a bad experience, you will probably complain to others, write a negative review, post a forum OzBargain, etc.

    If Samsung were that bad (even for our small Australian market), they wouldn't have that strong reputation you seem to be annoyed about.

  • hopper on 05/04/2022 - 16:43

    They deal with ANC to ship their TVs… They took 2 months to delivery out to me… Shame on samsung

  • congo on 05/04/2022 - 17:06

    No, their Samsung Fold 2 ($1000) & Classic watch 4 ($400) is actually quite good.
    Their QLED TVs and Frame TV and Sound bar are also good.
    Their 32" 144hz monitor is good also.
    Their washing combo machine is still working after 6 years, but average. It takes too long.

    Are their fridges any good?

  • gromit on 05/04/2022 - 18:38
    +1

    It is a common problem when you are at the top, Both Apple and Samsung are definitely priced well above what they are worth, but both still providing top end products. Neither of which would ever be my first choice any more.

  • MessyG on 05/04/2022 - 18:44

    I like Samsung appliances, probably wouldn't buy a phone.

    • eek on 07/04/2022 - 11:23

      I'm the opposite. My house came with a Samsung dishwasher that kept having problems, service calls, repairs then eventually leaked all over and died. Samsung phones are great. Have owned the last five flagship models without any issues whatsoever.

  • [Deactivated] on 05/04/2022 - 21:01
    +2

    Samsung has good products and a good engineering team however every department related to customer support is sub-par from personal experience(In AU atleast). Still remember buying a note 9 when it first came out and having to fight with support for a month for an s pen replacement that got stuck in the phone 24 hours after using it and the tech guy at their shop ended up breaking while trying to get it out. This is despite the offering no questions asked free spen replacements in other countries because many other people had similar issues.

    In contrast, had to get my macbook keyboard fixed by apple, which was 4 years old and 2 days over the additional cover period for the whole butterfly keyboard issue. Support still fixed it and threw in a new battery at no extra charge.

    Had to deal with support from both brands a few more times in later years as well and the experience has been pretty much consistent. Even their sales teams are worlds apart, samsung guys just seem to makeup information on the spot if they don't know something, whereas apple will pause the call and check with a manager always making sure you get accurate information.

    Also in terms of phones, samsung really isn't worth paying full price, considering the gamble with support if something goes wrong and the fact that their resale value plummets within a year.

    • eug on 06/04/2022 - 12:21

      In contrast, had to get my macbook keyboard fixed by apple, which was 4 years old and 2 days over the additional cover period for the whole butterfly keyboard issue. Support still fixed it and threw in a new battery at no extra charge.

      It's amazing what the threat of a class action lawsuit will do. ;)

      • [Deactivated] on 07/04/2022 - 00:24

        true, though they had no obligation to fix the laptop since it was outside the extended keyboard warranty period after said lawsuit threats. Whereas samsung still pretty much fought tooth and nail for the spen despite facing pressure from governments (in the Phillipines for example) for the same issue.

        At the end of the day I still use products form both brands, but personally wouldn't trust samsung for something expensive.

        • eug on 07/04/2022 - 17:48

          true, though they had no obligation to fix the laptop since it was outside the extended keyboard warranty period after said lawsuit threats.

          The class action lawsuit actually goes all the way back to the 2015 model. If there wasn't such an uproar I don't think much would have happened.

          That said, even after taking into account Apple's arrogance, I too think Apple has better customer service than Samsung, at least in Australia.

  • caitsith01 on 05/04/2022 - 21:59

    I have a Sony TV and a Samsung TV in another room. The picture on the Samsung is fine, but the amount of spyware/advertising on it compared to the Sony is absolutely ****ing outrageous. I have pihole set up and the Samsung generates several times more blocked traffic by itself than every other device in our house (at last 20-30 others). I also really hate that they have their own crappy front-end instead of using Google TV like everyone else. The Sony in comparison barely tries to shovel any ads and uses a fairly stock Google TV interface. It also has a better picture.

    So… yes, Samsung is overrated.

  • hopper on 06/04/2022 - 09:40

    Samsung has a good inventory and marketing department, so when there is no competition then ur market leader.

  • richmond12 on 06/04/2022 - 10:14

    Google Samsung fridges - one of the worst reputations out there

    • eug on 06/04/2022 - 11:20

      You'll only hear the negative reports especially with boring things like fridges. If 100,000 fridges are sold and 1% have issues, you will hear from the 1% and not the 99,000 satisfied customers.

      I have a Samsung fridge at home and at work. There have been no issues at all, so I've never bothered writing a post simply saying "My Samsung fridges are working great".

      • richmond12 on 06/04/2022 - 11:49

        Fair enough - I dont have the fridge but I recall seeing heaps of facebook group complaints in the thousands when I was looking to buy one…

        just googled:

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmVRTo9rIGo&ab_channel=Denve…
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_FbhYzmNHQ&ab_channel=ABCAc…

        • eug on 06/04/2022 - 12:19

          Ahh, the USA, land of the class action lawsuit driven by lawyers who make the most money from them. :)

          I think cases like that have to be looked at carefully. There could very well be a range of models that were badly designed resulting in those issues, or it could be that in a country of 330 million, they sold so many fridges that there will definitely be thousands of defective fridges out there. All manufacturers have an accepted failure rate, and we all know about the bathtub curve.

          Once again Apple is known for making good products and good customer service, but they've had multiple class action lawsuits.

  • pandadude on 06/04/2022 - 11:08

    To be honest I think most manufacturers now have terrible after service when it comes to warranty. Note warranty and Australia Consumer Law (ACL) are two seperate things.

  • charkwayteo on 06/04/2022 - 11:14
    +1

    I won't use a samsung phone again, I feel the battery goes quickly and they slow down after a year or 2. I replaced it with a pocophone f1 and was an amazing phone for 4 year, until I cracked the screen finally after many drops the I've replaced it now with another xiaomi x3 which is great.

    I do have a samsung TV and fridge which are both around 7 years old, no issues with them.Samsung appliances have been great.

  • PurchaseAnxiety on 06/04/2022 - 13:25
    +1

    From my experience, I think they're subpar considering their pricing. Here's a list of problems we've had with Samsung products:
    - Had an expensive TV completely die 13 months in (i.e. one month out of warranty). I was young, poor and not ACL savvy at the time, so I just followed Samsungs direction. They sent me to a local repair place that charged $60 just for an assessment, and they wanted to charge another $300 for the repair. I instead took the $300 and bought a cheaper brand TV that was just as good in every way, and I'm still using that TV 11 years later.
    - I bought the first Galaxy S phone and it was a truly awful, laggy piece of junk.
    - My wife had several Galaxy phones that just became unusable after a couple of years, including one that had massive battery swelling.
    - We had a Samsung dishwasher that just didn't do a good job of cleaning dishes, like it had never been tested. We guessed that it was probably a cheap unit that Samsung just slapped their name on.
    - We had the Samsung washer that was famous for burning houses down.

    All these things happened far enough apart that we didn't really connect the dots until later down the track, but it's been enough to swear off them entirely as a brand.

  • rb1103 on 06/04/2022 - 15:57
    +1

    I purchased samsung care +(galaxy z fold2)
    They mentioned replace refurbished mobile phone in 10days
    However after 2months, they didn't send me new one.(because of Covid?- samsung say)
    So I called them to ask how long it will take then they gave me new mobile phone(galaxy z fold3)
    So I'm happy to use it no complain for free upgrade :D

    • jace88 on 08/04/2022 - 07:51

      Stories like this give me hope for my Z Fold2 on Care+ which expires end of year. (edit: sent you a PM)

  • Look Up on 06/04/2022 - 18:24

    Highly overrated but will continue to be highly successful for a long time yet.

    They value speed to market over everything else which usually works OK until you have catastrophes like the Note 7 battery fires.

    The CE and appliances everyone has posted about are just side businesses. Samsung is South Korea's only "too big to fail" company because of their global importance in semiconductors and NAND.

  • ameyas7 on 06/04/2022 - 19:34
    +1

    The main advantage with Samsung products i feel is their product portfolio and price range. They have multiple products that suits everyone's budget be it on very low, average or high end of the spectrum. Additionally, it's easier to get customers buy in with their eco system if you want to leverage AnyNet+ etc. but the good thing is it's not too big a deal if you want to make samsung device interact with non Samsung ones. I remember to have hard time trying to pair my Sony Bluetooth earphones with my Apple ipad in late 2000s. I really hated Apple due to their lack of interoperability with non Apple products. Also I don't think Samsung products are as heavily priced as Apple. There may be cheaper brands available in the market but I'm not sure if they are comparable to either Samsung or Apple for that matter when it comes to overall offering.
    For instance I can simply plug in my s10 (~3yrs old now) in my usb c dock and it can be used as desktop form with their Dex feature. So personally I find Samsung offers lot more features compared to Apple for cheaper price. Didn't have to use their support a lot. Maybe few times in past decade. Agreed it wasn't great but didn't mind it with overall cost vs features offering.
    I have used Sony phones as well and loved my cybershot back in 2006/7 but haven't found any impressive offering from Sony since then. Have been with Samsung since Galaxy S3.

  • pogichinoy on 06/04/2022 - 22:00
    +1

    Haven’t had much experience with Samsung service but my friend is bothered at how long it takes for them to repair their phones. 2-4 weeks is. Along time and no loan phone provided.

    With regards to tech, I love their TVs.

    • eug on 06/04/2022 - 22:06

      I haven't had to deal with their phone service in a long time, but ages ago when my friend had a problem with his Galaxy Note 2 he brought it back to Telstra who confirmed the issue and swapped it on the spot* for him.

      *they didn't have stock in-store at the time so he went back a day or two later and did the swap on the spot

      • pogichinoy on 07/04/2022 - 00:29
        +1

        That appears to be a Telstra service more than a Samsung service.

        • eug on 07/04/2022 - 17:56

          Yes, but it's still a Samsung phone. Under ACL you're meant to go back to the retailer (supplier) first before going to the manufacturer.

          In any case, also years ago I sent a friend's S4 in for service. It came back a few days later but still had the same fault. I went back to the service centre and they swapped it on the spot. They should have just swapped it in the first place but at least the second time was painless.

          There was another time when I dropped my Note 2 and cracked the screen. From memory Samsung quoted about $270 to replace the screen. I sent it in and didn't hear from them for 2 weeks. I called them and they said they still haven't received stock of the replacement screens, so they sent me a whole brand new retail-packaged phone instead. I was pretty happy with that.

          I've bought quite a few Samsung phones since then but haven't had any experience with their service since, as everything has just worked fine.

          • pogichinoy on 08/04/2022 - 09:36

            @eug:

            Yes, but it's still a Samsung phone. Under ACL you're meant to go back to the retailer (supplier) first before going to the manufacturer.

            Yep that's fair about going back to the supplier but that has nothing to do with Samsung and their service from the Samsung store. Gotta compare oranges to oranges.

            There was another time when I dropped my Note 2 and cracked the screen. From memory Samsung quoted about $270 to replace the screen. I sent it in and didn't hear from them for 2 weeks. I called them and they said they still haven't received stock of the replacement screens, so they sent me a whole brand new retail-packaged phone instead. I was pretty happy with that.

            Yup that's great. Friend had to wait 2 weeks for a screen replacement from a cracked Samsung phone.

            Apple replaced it on the spot with a new handset, or you come back in the afternoon and its repaired.

            • eug on 08/04/2022 - 11:17

              @pogichinoy:

              Yep that's fair about going back to the supplier but that has nothing to do with Samsung and their service from the Samsung store. Gotta compare oranges to oranges.

              OP never said their friend bought the phone from a Samsung store. Some people buy phones from a store then go to Samsung for service. That's fine, but I was highlighting that going to the supplier can be better.

              Apple replaced it on the spot with a new handset, or you come back in the afternoon and its repaired.

              In my case the phone was two weeks old. If it was Apple they would have given me a refurbished unit for my 2-week old handset. Not ideal.

              I'm not denying that Apple's service is known to be good. I'm saying others aren't always bad - you only hear the negative reports as people who had a good experience don't usually bother posting on forums to report nothing.

              I think Apple's massive profit margins contribute to it. Apple makes so much money off its buyers that they can easily spend some of their massive profits on faster or goodwill repairs for the small percentage of devices that develop faults. Apple users just pay upfront for access to this quicker service with high device costs.

              The problem with Samsung is they contract out repairs to third party companies so there's an added layer of costs and service quality variability, and perhaps less freedom for goodwill repairs. Sometimes you get a good experience, sometimes you don't .

              • pogichinoy on 08/04/2022 - 14:23

                @eug:

                OP never said their friend bought the phone from a Samsung store. Some people buy phones from a store then go to Samsung for service. That's fine, but I was highlighting that going to the supplier can be better.

                OP of this post? Samsung products, not just phones. It was clarified in a later post.

                In my case the phone was two weeks old. If it was Apple they would have given me a refurbished unit for my 2-week old handset. Not ideal.

                Nah you'd get a new device as per ACL.

                The problem with Samsung is they contract out repairs to third party companies so there's an added layer of costs and service quality variability, and perhaps less freedom for goodwill repairs. Sometimes you get a good experience, sometimes you don't .

                Hopefully Samsung improves this because it really hurts their image if there's different standards in their post purchase supply chain.

                • eug on 08/04/2022 - 14:56

                  @pogichinoy:

                  OP of this post? Samsung products, not just phones. It was clarified in a later post.

                  OP of the post I replied to. I just realised it was you, haha.

                  Nah you'd get a new device as per ACL.

                  I was talking about my scenario - cracking the screen. I won't get a new device from Apple as I broke the screen. Anything under AppleCare gets you a refurbished phone anyway, so if your phone was 31 days old you'd get a refurb.

  • Wasabi Ninja on 06/04/2022 - 23:04
    -1

    I love hearing someone trash Apple to find out they’re a Samsung fan boy. When you ask them they proudly state “I’ve got Samsung aircon, phone, tv, microwave etc etc”. When you point out that they’re the same as apple fanboys they go nuts 😂
    I’ve had Samsung phones and tablets. I don’t like them, I just don’t find them intuitive.

  • JR63 on 06/04/2022 - 23:22

    I've owned a lot of Samsung stuff over the years, and touch wood the only time I've needed their service department was for my parents TV a few years ago. It ended up having a faulty motherboard about 2.5 years out of warranty, and one mention of statutory warranty got us a full refund direct from Samsung.

    • eug on 06/04/2022 - 23:24
      +1

      Wow, so they got to use a TV for free for 3.5 years?

  • jaimex2 on 07/04/2022 - 11:36

    Did you mean Apple?

  • bargainy on 07/04/2022 - 13:30

    The only Samsung product that doesn't suck is their vacuum cleaners. Poor quality control, beta designs.

  • zyj494949 on 07/04/2022 - 17:21

    Samsung is good only when you buy with heavily discounted price! Extremely overpriced on their rrp and lose value quickly.

  • Cul8r on 07/04/2022 - 20:42

    I’ve always loved Samsung even while real deep in the Apple ecosystem. I feel like you get good tech for the money, although yes I agree they are on the higher side of cost.

    However I have been burnt with a terrible (and expensive) washing machine which felt like I couldn’t go 3 months without needing a service or fault to be fixed. Having said that, every time the interaction with their service teams was effortless and simple. A technician would follow a couple days later and all would be good again.

    Recently our ice maker in the fridge gave out, again, effortless with service. Again simple technician visit.

    So my experience, decent bang for buck, poor quality whitegoods. Very good post sales service.

  • test123123 on 07/04/2022 - 20:44
    -1

    Samsung is a junk. Got S2 tab died and not power on any more. My Apple ipad last for ever. My Macbook 2013 is running strong. iPhone 8 still working well with batter last for 2 days. Apple is the best!

  • takemymoney on 07/04/2022 - 21:15

    Even with Huawei out of the game Samsung didn't learn.

    They got the worst support, the worst website, and the worst late satisfaction. They keep adding bloatware. They are still (profanity) up the devices, even after the battery fiasco.

    PS: don't buy Samsung fridges. They are noisy.

  • ar7ist on 07/04/2022 - 22:39

    Seems like there's been mixed experiences with Samsung products. Mine was not too good. I have a Samsung fridge which doesn't cool anymore and the freezer section is not working. Bought it in 2017/2018. I reached out to Samsung - told them that I have been a loyal customer for over 10 years, always buying new phone. Just last year I bought 3 S21s for my family. But, they weren't keen on providing a solution and just kept pointing to get it fixed myself by a third party. I will definitely not buy a Samsung product again, be it smart devices or appliances.

  • Sunproof on 08/04/2022 - 00:00

    I think the phone S series has dropped off in quality, likely due to lack of android competition pushing them? Their higher end phones have some exciting tech though and I'll consider the fold when it's more ironed out. The S8 blew me away but my S21 was really disappointing, battery life was a joke. Customer service on TVs and phones is poor from my personal experience too. I wouldn't consider them overrated though.

  • chris666 on 08/04/2022 - 15:35

    After dealing with their support to get my watch sent back from repair agent I'll be moving companies pretty much only buy Samsung products

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