New York, united States.
Three weeks after marriage the year past and move into the home of your dreams on the Gold Coast of Australia, Emma Jordan has put a load of sheets in your washing machine of Samsung Electronics Co. and it was to go for a swim in the pool.
About 15 minutes later, he says, he heard the fire alarm while columns of black smoke and flames of an orange-intense, coming out of the laundry room. The firefighters saved the house, which became uninhabitable during five months, ” he says. "I said to my friends jokingly that maybe Samsung should concentrate only to manufacture phones," Jordan recalls. Subsequently, a civil court ruled in favor of it in a dispute over the costs that you should pay the conglomerate of South Korea.
Samsung began in April of 2013, one of the largest withdrawal and recall of products in the history of Australia, about 150,000 washing machines that had been sold in the country since 2010, after the service of rescue reported about a series of fires in dwellings which are alleged to have been caused by the washing machines of the company.
In moments it faces the impact of the discontinuation of its smart phone Galaxy Note 7 after reports of overheating and fire of the devices, and a failed withdrawal from the market, the company is going to internalize the lesson that he left Australia: a solution hasty a safety issue for the consumer can damage your reputation for years.
In the two cases, Samsung reacted quickly to reports of a fire risk with a strategy that proved inadequate and worsened the damage to its image. The Galaxy Note 7 replacement were also affected by incidents of overheating and fires. In the case of washing machines, Samsung offered to thousands of consumers as well as Jordan’s solution: a repair with a plastic bag and duct tape. The company acknowledges that the agreement caused 30 other incidents, including two in homes.
it should Be noted that the withdrawal and recall of products of mass consumption rarely go strictly according to what is contemplated. However, experts in the rights of consumers indicate that in the case of washing machines in Australia, "Samsung seems to have done everything wrong," says Eileen Webb, an expert in consumer laws School of Law, Curtin, in Perth.
A spokesman of Samsung said that the cases of Australia and the Galaxy Note 7 were "totally separate". He stated that the arrangement of the washing machines was "a complete solution", although he acknowledged that "a small number of cases," repair "was not done in the right way". Even so, he stressed that the company’s solution "is the most efficient way to provide a remedy to the customer."
The spokeswoman said that in the case of the Galaxy Note 7, Samsung "acted quickly" and worked closely with regulators to offer a solution in each stage.
Samsung introduced the first retreat of the global market, the Galaxy Note 7, announced last month, as a decisive action to alleviate the doubts of the consumers. Instead, it led to more frustration. The heir of the conglomerate Lee Jae-yong, discontinued the Tuesday, the phone of high range after reaching the conclusion that a second withdrawal, the failed device could inflict more damage to the brand, according to a source close.
In Australia, the attempt of the company to contain quickly the series of reports on washing machines defective exacerbated a problem that continues to mancillando its reputation, according to analysts.Since the beginning of the agreement, the company has attributed approximately 300 further incidents, including burning of homes, problems in the washing machines.
After almost four years, Samsung still doesn’t know exactly what happened with some 30,000 machines. The australian authorities indicate that the scrubbers that have not been repaired represent "a real problem, and current" for users australians, and claim that it is the biggest call-to-repair of white goods that has been carried out by the regulatory agency. Samsung urges users to with washing machines defective to not use them when you sleep or leave the house.
The company notes that the security of its customers is its "highest priority" and adds that it remains committed to "find each washing machine impacted" by the problem. The cluster ensures that it has "invested tens of millions of dollars" to reach out to consumers through multiple channels and from the beginning I have been offered the option of an exchange or a refund of the money. Also claimed that "thousands" of users have obtained returns and new machines in the first two years of the process.
In August of last year, the Commission Australian Competition and Consumer reported that she had received complaints that some consumers had been denied a return or an exchange and made a call to Samsung to offer users all the legal options.
Samsung agreed in September of last year to extend the money refunds and exchanges to customers who were not agreeable with the repair of the initial plastic bag, which was covering an electrical connector within the washing machines.
The principal consumer protection agency of the country, the Consumers ‘ Association Australian, put Samsung in its "Hall of Shame" for his poor handling of the withdrawal of the washing machines.
The problems of the group in south korea with washing machines also seem to have spread to the united States, where the company has acknowledged reports of some machines that they vibrate so violently during the spin cycle the lid can fly off at high speed.
The image of Samsung has declined in Australia, where its sales of washing machines fell by 14% in the past year, a contraction of the market, "significant", according to the firm analysis Euromonitor International.
televisions and home appliances accounted for 13% of the operating profits of Samsung in the most recent quarter. The australian market of home appliances, from US$ 3,500 million, is relatively small for the company.
analysts say that the confidence in the washing machines of Samsung has been eroded. "If you tell me personally were to buy a washing machine Samsung (…) I’m not sure if I would go to do it," says Hianyang Chan, of Euromonitor.
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