Call Kurtis: Should My TV Be Covered In A Class Action Lawsuit Settlement?

You may have heard about class action settlements where the company will pay to fix your product if it breaks. A Cameron Park family called Kurtis when their TV went out and they thought it should have been covered under one of these settlements, but were then told the TV was made one day too late.

"We have another TV upstairs," said Mike Webb.

The other TV he's talking about is a little one in his and his wife's bedroom. The couple and their two kids have been bunched up on the bed lately, leaving the family room empty because their bigger, 46-inch Samsung TV went out.

"The red light will come on and blink on and off as it usually does. You can hear a clicking noise in the background but you never actually get a picture," said Webb.

Mike went online and found the CBS13 Call Kurtis story about Samsung settling a class action lawsuit alleging millions of its TVs have a defective part in them. So he contacted Samsung.

"They originally told me my model did qualify and I actually had an email which told my model was part of that," said Webb.

Under the settlement, people with qualifying TVs get a free repair or reimbursement if they already had the repair done. Mike thought he'd be covered until he gave Samsung his TV's serial number.

"When they looked at the serial number, they said my TV fell outside of the manufacture range that had the faulty capacitor," said Webb.

The settlement covers TVs made up until December 31st, 2008. Samsung told Mike his TV was made January 1st, 2009; one day too late.

"The idea that his television is not defective because it was manufactured a day after the cutoff date, it seems unlikely," said consumer attorney Stuart Talley.

Talley thinks if Mike's TV has the same exact issue as those in the settlement he might have a case for a new lawsuit.

"That has happened in the past, where there's a class action settlement and then it turns out that there's actually additional people that have been hurt and then another class action is filed," said Talley.

We contacted Samsung. The company issued the following statement to CBS13:

"When Samsung discovered that a small percentage (less than 1%) of the TVs sold in the U.S. from 2006 to 2008 were experiencing performance issues caused by a component called a capacitor, the company immediately began providing free-of-charge repairs to affected customers. The class-action settlement only covers a certain number of models manufactured within this timeframe. While Mr. Webb's TV is not one of the covered models, Samsung has offered to repair his TV as a courtesy. It is not unusual for capacitors to eventually wear out from normal use . Of the millions of Samsung TVs sold in the U.S., very few have experienced this issue. All customers who have questions or concerns regarding Samsung's TV capacitor settlement are encouraged to contact the company directly at 1-888-899-7602."

Mike is looking forward to getting his TV fixed, and getting out of the cramped bedroom and back into the family room.

"It'd be great! I love Call Kurtis!" said Webb.

Mike said the repair man came last week and the repair was done in about five minutes.