By
Marco
on September 1, 2004
My Flatron 915FT+ computer monitor from LG Electronics began malfunctioning last winter, so I called LG to arrange for service under the warranty. I wish I had never even bothered. After all, it was just the green gun that was periodically flickering. The occasional pink tint to the picture would have been much more tolerable than the warranty repair ordeal.
I first called on February 11. This process ended on August 30, when I received a check for $105 less than the monitor's value. During this process, LG Electronics has repeatedly lied to me, misled me, defrauded me and DHL Airborne Express, and provided the absolute worst call-center support I have ever encountered.
I wouldn't have even believed this timeline myself if I hadn't recorded every step in a forum thread. Read the long version if you own an LG Electronics product or are thinking of purchasing one. I'll simply offer the summary here:
- February 11: Requested shipping labels to send the monitor to LG. They didn't come until March 1.
- March 18: Received the "repaired" monitor with a huge crack in the casing. LG insists it's not their fault, even though they said the box had no visible damage and the monitor was packaged properly.
- March 19-27: Requested a claim from the shipper, DHL Airborne Express.
- March 27 - April 30: Constant phone-tag with LG to get required documentation for my claim.
- April 30: DHL voids my claim because I was shipping an item for warranty repair with a declared value of over $100, which is against their policies. But I was just using the labels that LG sent me. I confirmed with both DHL and LG that yes, in fact, LG is breaking DHL's policy with every warranty shipment. The manager of LG's warranty repair services, Scott Nelson, said that they do about 2,000 warranty "swaps" per year and they have no intention of changing the policy. However, admitting fault, he agreed to issue me a refund for my monitor.
- May 18: Shipping labels arrived to send the monitor to LG again, violating DHL's policy again. LG promised me a check by June.
- May 18 - August 29: The check didn't arrive. Every 2 weeks, I called and was assured that my check was in the mail. I was told that since I faxed a copy of my original receipt, I will get a full refund of $350.
- August 30: I received a check for $245. Norita Fredericks, who originally told me that I would get $350, changed her story and promised that the people who calculate the numbers would call me back. They didn't.
During this process, LG's call center has performed awfully:
- I called over 25 times. I was promised 9 return calls. Only 2 were returned.
- On 6 occasions, I called during normal business hours and was told by another employee that nobody in PC Support was present, and he did not know when anyone would return.
- I changed my address in May. The first time I told them, they did not record this information. Good thing I asked about it during the next call.
- My customer record is almost empty. They have CRM software that logs every call, but nobody stores any comments. In addition, the employees cannot tell who spoke to me, since the name is stored only as 2 initials that nobody was ever able to decode.
- The manager, Scott Nelson, was rarely available during normal business hours, despite his voicemail message telling me to call back during normal business hours. He never returned messages.
- Most employees provided incorrect information about the functions of other departments, and which department I needed to call.
- Few employees would give me any identification except for a first name, preventing me from keeping detailed records or holding any employee responsible for his actions and words.
- "John" in PC Support should be fired. Meanwhile, "John" in Electronics Support is the best employee at LG.
I will never purchase another product from LG Electronics, and I urge you to avoid them as well. No company should treat its customers this way. It's unacceptable, rude, dishonest, and illegal.
Overall
LG Electronics is the worst company I have ever seen. It has earned the highest position on the Suck List. I will do everything in my power to convince people not to buy any LG products.