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The Dryer Element Died AGAIN. "Gold Protection" Plan…or SCAM???

written by Tanya Toledano

3 STRIKES and it’s OUT.

Yes, the Samsung Dryer heating element is fried AGAIN.  This is the 3rd time, and we’ve had the machine for just over 4 years.

After multiple stints of being without a dryer for over a month at a time, this time we have been without a dryer for over 10 days so far. That’s a problem for a family of 6.  To add a little ‘fun’, we had family staying with us for the holidays last week which made us a household of 10 for 6 of those days.

I have held my tongue, and my readers know that it is rare, if ever, that I use my blog as a platform for negativity.  This situation however, is RIDICULOUS and merits me sharing on this platform.

When we purchased the unit, it was considered the TOP, if not one of the top-end models from the Samsung line – Model #DV448AEP.

While the washer we purchased at the same time has operated beautifully, we’ve had nothing but headaches from this dryer.

The element died for the 1st time after 10 months.

It broke again since then and now again.  In addition, a few months ago, the belt broke & needed replacing as well.

We have spent months without a dryer on & off again in the last 3 years.

Here’s the part that infuriates me:

We paid $349.95 for a 4-year “GOLD PROTECTION” service plan from Brault & Martineau when we purchased the machine in December 2009.

When the dryer broke less than a year post-purchase in 2010, we had to deal directly with Samsung “under warranty”- as the “Gold plan” would only kick in after the first year.

It was a nightmare.

We also discovered over the coming years that the same level of non-service that we felt from our warranty with Samsung was the type of non-service offered that comes with the GOLD PROTECTION PLAN, which I am considering referring to as the “GOLD PROTECTION SCAM”.

Here was the process:

  • Call to make a service call (we won’t even discuss ‘on hold’ wait-times).
  • Wait for up to 72 BUSINESS hours to get a return call to SCHEDULE an appointment at some point in the next 2 weeks.
  • If you don’t get called back within the 72 business hours, call back to follow up.
  • Once call is scheduled, despite the fact that we insisted the element was broken, they refused to order the part until the serviceman assessed the situation.
  • We were told that after he would determine what was wrong, relevant part(s) would be ordered and then we could wait up to 2 weeks for the part to come in.
  • When said part would come in, we would receive a call to schedule the repair within the next 2 weeks.

At the time of our initial service call (in 2010) with Samsung, we begged & pleaded to send the repairman with an element – to no avail.  We were told that since the machine was so new they didn’t even have the part in Canada – it would have to be ordered from the US.  We begged them to do so while we awaited our initial service call to no avail.  I was told that THEY DIDN’T WANT TO BE STUCK WITH AN EXTRA HEATING ELEMENT IN CANADA.

Of course it turned out to be the heating element and we ended up being over a month without a dryer…with FOUR children ages ages 9 & under.

At the time we counted how many hours were spent on the phone with Samsung as well as on hold…and dealing with the laundry issues…I believe it was over 20 hours …I think I wrote it down somewhere. If I have time I will try to look for it.

There were at least 2 more service calls over the last few years due to fried elements and another, just recently that was due to a broken belt.

The reason I question whether to relabel the program the “GOLD PROTECTION SCAM” is because I paid a premium for SERVICE.  What I actually ended up paying for was to KEEP WAITING.

On one occasion, a friend with no service plan’s dryer broke the same day as mine.  Hers was fixed the next day, mine was fixed a month later.

My $350 would have been better served making $80 service calls & paying for parts and having my machine up & running in days- not weeks (or months!)

When I called the GOLD PROTECTION people this last time, they informed me that if it was in fact deemed to be the same problem, my machine would be deemed a “lemon” and that I would get a new machine.  It was so deemed last week and confirmed to me by phone on Thursday.

I am still waiting to hear back about how much I will be permitted to spend on the new machine and where I will buy it (although I suspect it will have to be at Brault & Martineau).

The hold up is that Brault & Martineau has to provide the pricing for an equivalent machine to the GOLD PROTECTION people.  I was told, however, that under no circumstances will I be allowed to purchase a unit that is more expensive than what I had spent when I originally purchased my machine (unless I pay the difference).

I asked if that meant that if I had purchased the unit on sale (can’t remember – but possible)  would it work against me? “Not necessarily – Let’s see what Brault & Martineau comes back with” was the reply.

And so I continue to wait. But my patience has worn thin.

In the meantime, I am debating whether or not to give Samsung another chance- the washer works beautifully, but this headache is never-ending.  I have honestly wondered if there was an engineering defect in the unit.  Someone recently suggested that it might be advisable to suggest to CSA or UL to investigate further.  A quick Google search revealed that others have also complained about replacing elements over & over again on Samsung Dryers.

I can definitely  say that I do NOT believe in the GOLD PROTECTION Plan offered by Brault & Martineau, because even though they will be providing me with a whole new machine in the end, they have shown a complete & utter lack of respect for my time over these past few years. (As did Samsung for the 1st service call).

I’d like to remind Brault & Martineau, their “GOLD PROTECTION” company as well as Samsung – all of whom spend mega-bucks marketing to us Moms:

OUR TIME IS VALUABLE.  We’d appreciate if you valued our time half as much as you value the market share that we represent.

Have any of you had similar experiences?

Do you have a dryer brand that you would recommend if I end up having a choice or would you give the Samasung another chance?

I’d love to hear from you. Please let me know.

Any advice/words of wisdom would be appreciated!  Thank you!

In the meantime, I’ll try to stay dry 😉

Tanya

UPDATE – APRIL 28, 2014

We were contacted by Brault & Martineau late Wednesday afternoon, after this post was published.

We were recommended a replacement Samsung unit and went to the store Wednesday night to check it out.

Unfortunately, they did not have a unit on display, but the manager walked us through the details and answered all of our questions.

We decided to go with the Samsung unit for several reasons:

  • It was recommended by Brault & Martineau which means there shouldn’t be any additional hurdles in getting a unit ASAP.
  • We truly believe that our original unit was either a lemon or had some sort of inherent problem that made it a ‘bad’ unit.  Since our washer had posed no such problems over the year, we were willing to give Samsung another chance.
  • Our original unit was on a Samsung pedestal.  We wanted to be sure that the new unit would be compatible.  The manager wasn’t 100% certain, but felt confident it would be ok (and it is).

The “Gold Protection” people finally called on Thursday, but since we’d already been contacted directly by Brault & Martinault, we decided to just stick with that and the folks at Brault & Martineau let me know that they had informed the “Gold Protection” people that they had taken care of it.

The new dryer was delivered yesterday and we ran 2 loads last night.  It worked beautifully, thank goodness!

And now that the machines are up & running again, I must get back to my work 🙂

Have a wonderful afternoon!

Tanya

The Dryer Element Died AGAIN. "Gold Protection" Plan…or SCAM??? was last modified: February 24th, 2016 by Tanya Toledano
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5 comments

Steph Rubin April 23, 2014 at 8:05 pm

hi… i’m so sorry to hear about all of this. i just wanted to share that i was in an appliance repair shop on Monday. The owner of the shop took a call while i was standing in front of him (apparently Brault & Martineau isn’t the only outfit in need of customer service training). Anyhow, the reason that the story is relevant is that the person on the other end of the line was calling about a problem with a Samsung dryer!!! The shop owner told him that he won’t even take a repair call for Samsung appliances because it’s absolutely impossible to get parts. I made a mental note at the time for our own edification, but I wonder if B&M is being evasive because they can’t get parts either…? No matter what the excuse, i’m so sorry that you’ve been dealing with this. What a pain!!!

Reply
Neal Caminsky April 24, 2014 at 5:59 am

Samsung is not really well-known for their washer-dryer quality. Maytag and Whirlpool should be better off choices for you. Have had the Whirlpool Cabrio set for over 5 years and 0 issues with the dryer.

The kick in the pants with the B&M plan will be that once you get (or upgrade with cash) another unit, you’ll have to spend another $350 for a new extended warranty (unless you risk to go warranty-free) since the previous one expires once you take advantage of it. Sorry Tanya 🙁

Reply
H.G January 18, 2016 at 12:26 pm

SAMSUNG LAUNDRY MACHINE SET = HORRIBLE EXPERIENCE!!!
GOLD PROTECTION PLAN = BIG SCAM!!

I was very surprise that we are not the only one who got scammed with Brault et Martineau Gold Protection Plan.

Please read our story!

After a long search done by my husband and myself, on pricing and quality, we decided to purchase the most expensive and newest laundry machine set at the Brault & Martineaux (Kirkland branch).
Of course we were offered to buy the “Gold Plan Protection” which was explained in detailed by the sales man at the store, that if we have ANY problem, they will try to fix the appliances, and if not – they will gladly replace the set.
This was not the case….
Few months after using the machine, the top drum started coming apart, creating rust all over my cloths with every cycle. I have contacted the store – and of course, there was nobody to talk with. They quickly transferred me to the Gold Plan Protection Company that is called
“ Comerco” (they are known for appliances protection plans) which sublet the repairs to another company called “Atelier J-Packete”.
It is very difficult dealing with so many companies, manager names booking repeated house call (which they tell you stay home between 8 am and 5 pm!!!)
I have stayed a total of 8 different days in few months to accommodate two repairs and multiple service calls – FOR THE SAME PROBLEM!!
After all, two weeks working with the “New Part” that was replaced – the same problem started again!
We were furious! Called again, Brault & Martineaux , Comerco and Atelier J-Packete”.
– And their answer was “ We will book you again for service call to repair the new piece now. TWO TIMES SAME PROBLEM!! Few weeks apart – 8 working days at home!!
This is a BIG SCAM!! They just make you sign the contact and DO NOT HONORE IT.
Brault & Martineaux – Never again!!
Gold Protection Plan – Worth nothing!!
Sumsang machine – good machine, horrible parts!! And they cannot be accountable for a defect in that expensive line of machine!!
Comerco – Nice on the phone, do not honor their gold plan.
Atelier J-Packete” – follow what ever the big boss say, keep on repairing parts even if you were suppose to get a replaceable machine as by the guarantee – major inconvenience to the family.

A year after – we are still waiting for more parts to be replaced again.

Definitly not worthed!

Reply
Amanda January 25, 2017 at 12:41 pm

Hello, I am going through a similar issue, we have both machines not working and the parts came in for the washer and not the dryer and they refuse to fix it until they have both parts. The problem is it has been a month with out a machine and prior to the we had made a service call and they “couldn’t find” the problem even though we had clearly informed them that the washer was leaking from the bottom. That means for my washer it has been 2 months of it not working. My washer and dryer cost me almost $4000 and we can’t even use them. Comerco is a joke.

Reply
Betty November 7, 2017 at 8:01 pm

Same lack of service here for a Blomberg dishwasher bought a year ago at Brault et Martineau (St-Bruno branch). Made the mistake of paying for the protection plan. About a month ago,
Our dishwasher malfunctioned and after one week of delay, the technician shows up for 5 minutes, only to tell us that there doesn’t seem to be a problem, that we should just run our dishwasher and rearrange some
plumbing arrangement for it as it would then be compliant with better installation practice. We figured out the day after that the drain hose is leaking and ever since then, we’ve been making calls to Comerco, only to get told various story versions about ordering the spare part (one guy says the hose is in stock nearby, another says it is expected to be delivered at the end of the week, a third one says he’ll order it rush for us). Every time, the whole thing is pushed back another week.
I’m about fed up with their promise of peace of mind while I sit at home for practically
An entire month with a newborn and no functional dishwasher to simplify the house chores. What was the point of paying for the protection plan when they seem to struggle for a drain hose? I could probably try to buy the hose and fix it myself, but then what would have been the point of paying good money to Brault et Martineau and Comerco???

Reply

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