‘Should have bought from Costco’: Samsung tech messes up Boston man’s $2,000 TV during repair. Then he catches the company in a lie

Paying thousands for a piece of tech isn’t unusual nowadays, but you do expect it to come with a warranty. According to one Boston man, that’s not what you get if you purchase a Samsung TV set.

In a recent TikTok video that has garnered over 67,800 views, TikTok creator Lucas Brown (@lucasb780) describes a nightmare situation with a broken TV and Samsung customer support who allegedly won’t take responsibility.

What Went Wrong With The Samsung TV?

“This is why you should avoid Samsung TVs at all costs,” Brown begins.

He says he and his girlfriend bought a 77-inch OLED TV from Samsung for $2,000 around eight months ago.

At first, he says, they were happy with it. “It was absolutely an amazing deal, especially for this size OLED,” he says.

That changed about a month ago, when the screen suddenly went black and caused their breaker to trip. “After that point, anytime we plug the TV in, it would blow the breaker for the entire apartment,” Brown says.

According to Brown, the issue turned out to be a faulty power supply that would send a surge of electricity through the apartment and cause the breaker to pop. Since the TV was still under its one-year warranty, he contacted Samsung, which sent out a repair technician.

“He came to repair the power supply,” Brown says. “And part of that procedure is they have to flip this massive TV that weighs 80 pounds on its face to get into the back.”

That, Brown says, is when the situation got worse. “They sent one repair technician,” he says. “The guy must have been 5’6”, and he had to pick up this massive screen.”

Brown then points to what he says is a thumbprint and palm print on the lower right side of the screen, where the technician allegedly lifted the TV.

“I can’t say I’m surprised, but they cracked the screen,” he says. “And now there’s this nasty black blob right on the screen.”

He also says the TV now turns on and off by itself every few seconds.

“I’m not doing that,” Brown says as the TV turns on behind him. “You can’t watch anything on this TV anymore.”

Did Samsung Repair The Screen?

Brown says he and his girlfriend noticed the new damage immediately after the repair and sent photos to Samsung and Service Quick, which is Samsung’s repair company.

“I said, ‘Guys, you cracked my screen when you’re flipping it over. Can you come fix it?’” he recalls.

According to Brown, he was “completely sandbagged” until another technician was sent out two weeks later. He says he was told that the technician would replace the screen.

Instead, Brown says the technician arrived alone, without tools, and only took photos of the damage.

“He sent this in to Service Quick’s repair department, and unfortunately, they said it wasn’t them,” Brown says, pointing to a photo the second technician took. “They didn’t crack the screen.”

According to Brown, Service Quick used another photo taken by the original repair technician after the power supply repair as proof that the damage was not there.

Brown disagrees. “First of all, that is a terrible image to use as proof,” he says. “I mean, half the screen is black.”

He also argues that the early damage is visible in that same image. “You can see right here where this black splotch was starting to form,” he says, pointing it out on the photo. “At the time, it was just a little black line.”

Brown says he understands why the first technician may not have noticed it at the time, but he does not understand why the company would use the image as proof that the damage was not there.

The Damage Got Worse Over Time

To make his point, Brown shows an overlay of the original image and a later image of the TV, arguing that the original black line lines up with the larger black blob now on the screen.

“I mean, if that isn’t damning evidence, I don’t know what is,” he says.

He also says the damage got worse over time, showing photos from the day of the repair, later that night, the next day, and the day he filmed the TikTok, saying the mark appears to grow over time.

“You can see it progresses,” he says. “You can imagine that it looked even less noticeable, like, eight hours prior when the technician was here and he took this photo.”

Brown says the company is now refusing to accept responsibility for the screen damage.

“The most frustrating part about this is if there’s any physical damage to a TV, even damage that they cause and they’re refusing to accept, it completely voids the warranty,” he says.

That leaves him stuck. According to Brown, repairing the motherboard would cost around $600 plus labor, while replacing the display would cost $1,600.

“So that’s just not an option at this point,” he says. He says the only thing that could determine whether the TV is covered is whether Samsung or Service Quick accepts the footage as proof.

What Are His Options Now?

Samsung’s warranty for home appliances strictly says the company “covers manufacturing defects in materials and workmanship encountered in normal, and[…] noncommercial use of this product.”

Going by what Brown described, his issue should technically fall under the 1-year warranty, even without the damage caused to the screen later on.

According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), if a manufacturer refuses to fix an issue with the product, you should report the company to the FTC directly and to your state attorney general.

Commenters Offer Advice

In the comments section, viewers had some suggestions on what Brown should do next.

“Go to small claims court,” one user advised. “You’ve got plenty of evidence for a case.”

“Better business bureau loves things like this. Sometimes you can get an email from a company higher up if you leave a complaint and ask for a solution with your email at the end of the report,” another suggested. “That has been the only way or contact the attorney general. Either one of those methods have never failed if the other one didn’t work on its own.”

Others shared stories of their own.

“Yeah never buying samsung again. this happened a few months after purchasing,” a third wrote, attaching a photo of a damaged screen. “Was under warranty and got it fixed and now i have a white flair on the side of the screen that won’t go away.”

@lucasb780

Samsung repair tech broke my TV and then lied about it

♬ original sound – Noah

The Mary Sue has reached out to Samsung via email and Brown via TikTok messages for comment.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]