A Vista mother said her family’s dirty laundry was coming out of the washer marked with rust stains, ruining clothes and bedding. When she called the company that made the washer, they told her there was nothing they could do since they considered the problem ‘cosmetic’.
“As a busy mom can tell you, there isn’t time to do laundry once, let alone twice,” Lindsay Hester said.
Raising her two young boys, Lindsay knows clean laundry often doesn’t stay clean for long.
So when she and her husband moved to their home in Vista, buying a new washer and dryer was on the top of her to-do list.
The couple went with a Samsung model but six months after they bought it, Lindsay said she started noticing something odd.
“We started noticing rust stains on our clothes but we weren’t sure of the source,” Lindsay said.
The family’s dirty laundry went into the washer but when the laundry came out, it was spotted with rust stains.
“We got a mirror inside of the machine so we could look up at the bottom side..you can see that the true source of the rust is coming from the underside and this is what was ending up on my clothing,” Lindsay said.
The stained clothes were beginning to wear out Lindsay’s patience.
“The final straw was putting in a new set of expensive bedding before guests arrived and having it come out rust-stained,” Lindsay said.
Lindsay said she called Samsung and explained the problem but the company told her they considered the problem ‘cosmetic’ and would not issue a refund or replacement.
“It was frustrating and it became almost a matter of principle,” Lindsay said.
After several frustrating calls to Samsung with no resolution, Lindsay said she was about to give up until one afternoon when she saw an NBC 7 Responds report.
“You were able to successfully get her problem taken care of so I thought as a last ditch effort I would get in touch,” Lindsay said.
That last ditch effort turned out to be just what Lindsay needed. After she contacted NBC 7 Responds, we reached out to Samsung and explained the situation.
The next day, Samsung called Lindsay with good news.
“They finally had a solution to our problem,” Lindsay said.
Samsung called Lindsay and after some negotiating, the company committed to paying her 80% of the washer's price -- a refund of $500. Lindsay used that cash to purchase a new washer.
In an email, Lauren Restuccia with Samsung provided this statement, “We have reached out to Ms. Hester and resolved the matter to her satisfaction. We strive to deliver the best possible experience to all Samsung customers, and we encourage anyone with any product question to contact us directly at 1-800-SAMSUNG.”
