8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Samsung combo broken again!
Date of Review: Nov 19, 2006
The Bottom Line: Appeared on the surface to have some good features, but broke quickly and repeatedly. A lemon or an overall bad product???
Update to Review:
I contacted Samsung's customer service, and I have to say that they were quite responsive to our negative experiences. Even though the warranty has expired on our machine, they have agreed to authorize an exchange of our broken machine for a refurbished replacement machine. I will report back on the quality and longevity of this replacement. Was our machine simply a fluke, a lemon --- or are the problems with this product more pervasive??
Original Product Review:
We have had the V5500 DVD/VCR combo for a little over a year, and it is now broken for the third time. The first two problems were under warranty - this last one was just after the warranty period expired. All of these problems have occurred even though we are only sporadic users of our machine.
1) Our first problem (less than 2 months after purchase) was with the VCR player. We took it to a local authorized service dealer (who was only open daytime hours on weekdays, necessitating that one of us take off work to drop it off and pick it up!). After several weeks, we received it back with a new assembly cylinder.
2) Four months later, the DVD broke. This time we sent it into Samsung's service division (after some arm-twisting, they did at least agree to pay the postage). Again, several weeks later, we received it back in working condition.
3) Now, the DVD player is broken again - 2 weeks after our 1 year warranty expired (hmm .. with all the time it's spent in the shop, we certainly haven't "had" it for one year).
I have to say, however, that if it had worked consistently, we would have been reasonably happy with this machine. The set-up was easy, the functions are user-friendly and sufficient for a basic user's needs, and the picture quality was good.
Given that none of these have worked longer than a couple months, however, we have been horribly disappointed in the quality of this product. We're looking for a replacement - but we would strongly advise against a Samsung.
