Bob Blick wrote:

> How can one(informed engineer type of person) talk to a major appliance
> manufacturer about a serious firmware flaw in one of their products?

You aren't the only one with this sort of issue.

I have a Gateway wide screen monitor that has a FW bug that causes it to
lock up totally and completely when I press the mode select buttons too quickly
(PIP source select). I have to unplug it to get it to reset.

I have a Sears H4t washer that will lock up if one opens and closes the door too
quickly a few seconds after the 'add clothes' light turns on. Again, an unplug
is required to unlock the frozen panel.
I tried very hard to get up the Sears 'customer service' chain to convince
someone that this was a 'bug' that needed to be reported and fixed,
but since it was't a 'safety' issue, no one was interested in doing ANYTHING
to help me, let alone reporting it to manufacturing.

> I'm sure a lot of you are familiar with what happens when I call the
> Samsung help line. It's very much like most big corporations. Polite
> people are on the phone, and all they can do is interpret the owner's
> manual to you or schedule a service call. Speak to level 2 support and
> they'll email you a wiring diagram, but basically they can't do much
> more than level 1 support.
> 
> The last thing I want is to get in a cycle of service calls, the result
> being my refrigerator is worked over and non-broken parts are swapped
> out, and screws get stripped and shrouds and guards get bent, torn, and
> left off. Problem never gets resolved but I get tired of the hassle and
> give up, or ask for my money back under the lemon law.

Just DEMAND your money back.  The unit fails the basic tenant of contract
law. "Unfit for it's intended purpose". You bought a fridge with temperature
controls. The controls are clearly defective since you cannot get it to
NOT go to -15, and they cannot fix it because it's a firmware issue.

Surely you have a small claims court option in your jurisdiction.
Sue them for the cost of replacing the fridge if they won't give you
your money back.

Take your story to the local TV news show. They usually have some sort of
'troubleshooter' reporter who gets results by airing embarrassing stories of
corporate screw ups.


> I want it fixed. I want to talk to someone who can actually make it
> happen, send an email to the right person and get a bug report filed and
> new firmware issued and a corrected PC board installed in my fridge.

Good luck with that.
You'd have better luck getting a personal reply from the president of the USA.

> Have you tried to eat(or scoop) ice cream at -15 F?

We just put ours at the top of the fridge, nearest the door, so that it
isn't as well cooled as the area at the bottom where the cold air blows in.
All fridges have a temperature gradient. Just figure out where your cold and
  hot spots are, and use them accordingly.

There was a company that had a defective capacitor on the compressor board (LG)
One that caught fire and cause NUMEROUS house fires in the Toronto area.
It took an investigative report, and Canada wide embarrassment by the CBC (Marketplace)
to get them to FINALLY issue a recall.
http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/home/recalls/lg.html
But they still drag their feet:
"Today: More than 4,000 of the defective fridges remain in consumer's homes."

If Samsung doesn't want to fix your fridge properly, vote with your dollar by
returning the "DEFECTIVE" product and getting a different brand. But expect the
new one to have problems too...

Robert



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