Samsung Appliance Background

Samsung Appliances hit the US market in 2002. They began by selling their front load washers under private label to Maytag around 2004, who in turn, sold them to consumers under the Maytag Neptune brand. Neptune had three distinct models. The Samsung washer design was Maytag’s answer to the larger capacity Whirlpool Duet. When Whirlpool bought Maytag Samsung lost the contract. The washers were not the only appliance Samsung was producing for private label. They also had a deal with another appliance company to source their refrigerators. Since Samsung had already ramped up production to supply Maytag and other companies, and they had all the import snaggles worked out they needed to find someone who would sell their appliances. They then began the search for a US retailer to sell their washing machines and refrigerators with the Samsung name on the front.

Samsung appliances found a willing partner in Sears, who was just beginning their breakup with Whirlpool. Once Sears started to offer the Samsung appliance line the other box stores quickly lined up to offer the Samsung brand. The entire Samsung brand had to adapt its offerings to the US market by creating larger capacity appliances. As a Chinese manufacturing company, Samsung had been producing much smaller appliances to accommodate the tighter living spaces found in the Far East and throughout Europe. In the US the trend was to offer bigger and bigger machines with more and more features; all the while meeting strict energy efficiency standards.

The Landers Appliance Experience with Samsung Appliances

Samsung appliances have found a comfortable niche in the US market. It seems Americans have accepted the Korean built brand as we have become more of a world market. The same is true of the Whirlpool brand finding acceptance in other counties around the world. As a service company we have had a few issues with the Samsung appliance line. Samsung’s service support process has been terrible. This includes their parts lookup and distribution system. Samsung is not the first international company to begin selling in the US only to discover as consumers we have a much high level of expectation. We expect fast turnaround on repairs, which requires readily available technical information and replacement parts. Samsung did not have a solid service network of dependable companies trained to repair their various appliances. The technical support offered from their factory was pitiful and their parts distribution system was weak at best, often times taking weeks to receive a fairly common part in order to complete a repair.

All this began to change at the beginning of the second quarter of 2012. One of their regional service managers has finally gotten the corporate hierarchy overseas to understand what the US market expects. They have made great strides at making all their technical service bulletins available through a national service association (United Servers Association). The parts look up and availability had begun to improve throughout 2011 so that if Samsung stays on this same trajectory they will be removed from my list of “Problem” companies sometime around early 2014.  Update :  The Samsung parts acquisition process has consistently improved as has the technical support from the factory. As a result we have removed the Samsung brand from our lists of “Problem” companies. As an industry however, we have found that many American service companies have not embraced the brand even with these improvements. We believe this is as a result of their past history as well as the belief that the Samsung product is not made as well structurally as other brands including Whirlpool, Bosch and Sub Zero to mention a few. Many service company owners see people buying the sizzle with all the bells and whistles and not worrying about the steak itself.    

If you have any concerns or questions about your Samsung Appliance or anything I’ve written about send me an e-mail or give me a call. I’m here to help in any way I can! Dean Landers (410) 682-3232 ext 101 or [email protected].

* If you love to read about Americana Industrial history check out Dr. Lee Maxwell’s book called “Save Womens Lives – History of Washing Machines”. Dr Maxwell actually has a museum full of old washing machines in Eaton, Co You are also welcome to come to Landers Appliance showroom (7032 Golden Ring Rd. Baltimore, MD) and look through the books as we have signed copies sitting on top of our two antique wringer washers.