On August 17, a new Samsung software update for Samsung Smart TV’s rolled out and as usual, many users expected their TV’s to get better but this time it didn’t, it got worse. Reports have been coming in on how a £1,400 Samsung TV was rendered unusable and stuck with a blank screen. The company’s community board is currently occupied with rage-filled messages from customers who are complaining that their new TVs just got bad. The problem appears to affect the latest models from the 2017 MU6, MU7, and MU8 ranges. As of now, there are no complaints from users of older models of Samsung TVs or any of Samsung’s 2017 QLED TVs.
Although Samsung has given its affected customers a full assurance that it is right on top of the situation, it appears that users are getting impatient as almost a week has gone and there is still no change. The affected TV’s appears to get frozen on a particular channel, doesn’t respond to remote commands, get stuck on the home screen or won’t turn on at all.
An affected user, Lohith Jajee, wrote:
“We spent nearly £1,400 on this TV two weeks ago. It’s holiday period in the UK and we thought kids would enjoy watching [a] new TV. To my horror, it stopped working from day two. What’s even more frustrating is the customer service: all I get is ‘we are aware of the issue and will get back’. Six days on and counting.”
Clearing the air on this issue, the company responded by giving an official statement on the matter saying:
“Samsung is aware of a small number of TVs in the UK (fewer than 200) affected by a firmware update to 2017 MU Series TVs on 17 August. Once this issue was identified the update was switched off and we are now working with each customer to resolve the issue. Any customers affected are encouraged to get in touch with Samsung directly by calling 0330 726 7864. We would like to apologise for the inconvenience caused our customers”
Samsung is the biggest TV manufacturer in the world, and in a situation like this, it sure has the capacity to get things right. Initially, frivolous reports claimed that ‘thousands’ of owners of multiple models of Samsung TV’s are having issues but this has proven to be false considering the fact that this problem appears to be limited to a few hundred products in the UK as there’s no widespread chatter about similar issues on forums or Samsung community boards in other territories.
