Customer Service

From time to time, I have reached out to the customer service line or web site of some manufacturer or purveyor of appliances and electronics – the fridge, a TV, and the like. More often, I just find a repair shop, and I call. Perhaps you have had the same experiences; it’s all part of the “joy of home ownership,” I tell my son.

A week ago, or so, when I posted an essay on the Erlang PDF, one of my LG OLED TVs had gone on the fritz. Mine, (I have two), are 65″ units, and in my opinion, they provide excellent pictures. Both are graduates of institutes of higher TV education – SMART TVs, as folks say. The older one was manufactured 8/2019, and I purchased it 12/2019. The newer one is just a month or two old, and I purchased a 4-year extended warranty for it. Both unis come with a one-year factory warranty. Needless to say, the older 2019 unit is out of warranty.

I called a local authorized LG TV service provider, and he came out today. I described the problem and then demonstrated it. The TV unit is now on the floor of my study. He looked at it and gave his diagnosis. “Your OLED panel is bad. Given the age of the unit, it is a manufacturing defect.” He suggested that I call the LG Customer Service line. I paid for the home visit, and he left.

Later in the evening, I called the service center and spoke with a very nice lady who worked up my case. She explained that my TV was out of warranty; it was. She proposed to send a repair service to my home, and after some time, she sent me an email with the name of the proposed repair service; it was the same company that had visited me this morning. I felt like I was caught in a temporal loop.

After much back-and-forth, my customer service representative said that she would submit my case number and situation for review and consideration for an “extended warranty.” I expressed my genuine appreciation. She asked me to upload some documents into their computer system in order to provide “proof of purchase.” This brings me to the first consideration, “Do you keep receipts of all your major purchases for two or more years?” If so, you are an exceptionally obsessive individual; many such receipts fade beyond readability in just a few months. Good luck with that.

I have some email records of that purchase, and I uploaded them into their portal. We will see how this ends. All I can say at this point is that the “joys of home ownership,” are sometimes quite over-rated. You probably already knew that.

Lessons I have learned or had reinforced:

• Have your vendor send you an emailed receipt for any major purchase. Save it.
• Treat you customer service representatives with patience and respect (we should treat everyone that way). You never know when they will offer you a no-cost extended warranty.
• Extended warranties for your car, expensive electronics and other such gear are sometimes worth it – just for headache avoidance.

I’ll post the resolution of this saga when it sorts itself out.