- Samsung promises free repairs for everybody
- You're probably going to have to send your unit away for a while
- Some support techs don't seem to have been informed
As we reported last week, several Samsung soundbars including the flagship Samsung HW-Q990D have been rendered inoperable by a faulty firmware update. The firm promised to investigate, and now there's a free fix – although it's not ideal.
In a statement sent to Digital Trends, Samsung said:
“Samsung Electronics has identified a software update error as the cause of the operational issue affecting certain 2024 soundbar devices. We are taking immediate action to resolve the situation. Samsung is offering free repairs for all affected units—regardless of warranty status.”
Unfortunately that's likely to require you to send your soundbar away for a while – hardly convenient for a hefty soundbar at the best of times, and maybe doubly so if you didn't keep the box. And that's not to mention that your TV audio will suffer during that time…
It also seems that Samsung hasn't told all its support techs yet, based on reports online.
What are Samsung support techs saying?
Some Samsung owners have turned to Reddit to discuss the "debacle", with some saying that support techs have been problematic: TigerHawk7 was "offered free parts but [told to] pay shipping and labor and that was after arguing after quite some time."
Over on the Samsung community forums, UK user ApocalypseRogue7122 – whose experience with support so far has been very frustrating, with Samsung initially refusing to take the soundbar back – reports getting a call from Samsung's authorized UK repairer: "The affected soundbars require a 'new part' (motherboard) and due to the number of failures Samsung is out of stock of said part. He told me that they (Mint Group FX) have ordered the part and if they are unable to get it by next Wednesday 25th March, then I will either receive a refund or replacement unit."
Hopefully Samsung is on top of this, because it's bad enough having to send back a soundbar without then having to wait an uncertain amount of time for a repair or replacement.
We've asked Samsung what customers should do if they encounter problems getting a free repair, and we'll update you when the company responds.
We rate Samsung's options highly among the best soundbars, and while it sounds like the update danger has now passed, Samsung's response to the problem might strongly affect how well people trust the company in the future. You only need to look at Sonos' nearly year-long problems to know that trust can be broken quickly and slow to regain.
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