MASTER'S TOUCH ELECTRONICS

Tom was pleasant to deal with during our initial conversation. He visited, diagnosed and ordered parts for the appliance needed to be repaired. It’s been nearly 6 months and Tom has not returned calls, voicemails or text. The appliance has not been repaired. This is not a reliable service provider. LG has provided an alternate resource.

Initially, the owner, Thomas Hoskins, who answered with a ' MASTER'S TOUCH' greeting on the telephone, seemed all too eager to help me with my TV problem. I made the mistake of using a 3rd party website to find his services in my area. Why was this a mistake? Because after all of the mess of dealing with him, Samsung told me that he wasn't authorized to service in my area, even though he claimed just that -- 'local Samsung authorized servicer'. Tom gave me a 'servicer number' which he claimed was his ( did he steal the number?), but after nearly losing my hard-earned money to him (yes, pure scam-artist), it turns out that that number pops up as a servicer in a completely different area of the USA, according to Samsung. I never found out where that area was. It was kept private when I was talking with the executive branch at Samsung after the fact. Things started out semi-positive. He was eager to do the job. In reality, he was eager to get my money, but I was naive and trusting. It took 2 days for him to come out and I just knew that something was wrong when he walked up to my door. He rushed inside, almost pushing his way in through the door and said ' Where's the Television?! You lead the way." His wife, eerily, was sitting in his ' MASTER'S TOUCH' van during the entire 'servicing' episode. He's a clumsy guy. He stepped on some wires behind my television and knocked a router off its stand when doing so. Hardly the 'Master's Touch'. He was sloppy in appearance and rushed. The main problem was a slight flicker on TV. He used his servicing remote. Clicking furiously, he eerily said, " Yeah... I'm Samsung authorized" with a creepy grin. Trusting him, I asserted that this was why I went with him. He grinned again, probably because he knew what was coming (the ripoff). Tom finished checking patterns and color grids on the television in the service menu, many of which he wasn't even familiar with. He remarked to me that one was dark on the left hand side, and that it might be the panel doing that -- clearly, it was a gradient from black (from the left to the right), but he was so untrained that it wasn't apparent to him. Being an artist, I was familiar with these patterns on monitors for fine-tuning color correction. He said he'd have to check his books. At this point, doubt started to fill my mind. Was this guy legit? He charged me 85.60. We briefly exchanged some dialogue and he got into a weird banter about his Christian views of other people. I did nothing to inspire this. He literally had an agenda. He barged into my life, asking prude questions, and denounced my Mother's divorce, saying it was 'sin'. I was glad I wasn't a Muslim, Jew or other religious person. He was offensive, quoted Bible verses with an air of self-righteousness, and, upon hurriedly leaving, shouted "GOD BLESS" and "I'LL CALL YOU". Totally bizarre, wacky and unprofessional behavior. My television was left on. It auto-turned off after 30 minutes. Upon restarting the television, I was shocked to see that it didn't work anymore! Whatever he did in the Service Menu messed up the television! He left me with a completely useless television and a charge of nearly $100. I was able to deal with the flicker initially and just wanted it to be fixed. Now I couldn't do anything with the television. He left it rendered to an expensive 'power brick'. I wrote him the next day, using the email contact on his bill. He didn't respond. He did call in two days: " I THINK IT'S THE MAIN PANEL" (trying to milk the job, most likely). Meanwhile, I did some simple research on my television through Google and found out that the power board was prone to failure on my model (a cheap fix). He then, oddly, asked ME to call Samsung and ask for a ticket and special 'Pro-rated pricing'. After finding out the panel cost $675 (about the price of the television), I called him back and told him about the email. He said he didn't check his email that often (yeah right!) and said it might be the power board. " I'LL CALL YOU" 3+ weeks pass by without a call and I'm stuck using a tiny monitor at my computer. Finally, something snaps in me and I patiently send several kind voice-messages, requesting some kind of interchange/contact. FINALLY, I realized I was getting ripped off and that he'd run with the money - that he had no intent of servicing the television. I finally found this site and other review sites and to my horror, realized what crooks he (and probably his wife) are. They've done this many, many times! I threatened to take him to small claims court in a voice message, but no response. Just SILENCE. All I could do was hear his prerecorded message again and again, claiming that my message might be recorded by Master's Touch Electronics -- a simple Comcast voice mail box. Finally, I contacted my credit card company and they immediately understood. They returned my funds, but still, no call from Thomas Hoskins. WATCH OUT! He is a crook, a hypocrite and a liar. Who knows where this guy came from and what track record he's trying to hide! BUYER BEWARE.

I spoke with several repair specialists, and this service was the most professional among them. An appointment was set and they provided a courtesy reminder call. The tecnician / owner got right to the problem, replaced the board and left after demonstrating that the tv was functional. He was a pleasure to deal with, unlike a Samsung tec who provided a courtesy call to replace capacitors, or so he said, that were flawed in several Samsung models, one of which I was unlucky enough to purchase. Because of the high price I paid for the tv, I opted to have it repaired. It began to show signs of the problem a few months before the extended warranty expired, of course, by not turning off at the touch of a button. I thought it was probably comcast's remote going again. I found out different. Unfortunately Samsung didn't deem it good business practice to get in touch with those of us who purchased one of their faulty models so I got stuck, along with many others from what I've read. I will never purchase another Samsung anything again. UPDATE: Same TV went black while watching it, so I called to set up appt for service in early May.with the same company, Masters Touch Electronics. The owner came to my home with "a power supply I had laying around the shop" to test it. The TV lit up but didn't produce image. I think he put the original power supply back into my set, but I'm not sure. I looked at it while it was out and the caps were good on it. He told me he'd get in touch with company he ordered main board from, perhaps it went bad, though the service was performed in Sept '13, he said it was out of warranty. I've called him countless times with no response. One day I called from a different number and he answered, apologizing that he was working without staff now and would be out the next day. NOT, I had a friend call from a different number and he said "the box is outside, I think the part is here. I'll call you back to let you know" NOT. I've since read several reviews, all similar to the story I've just told. I don't know if he's switching good parts for bad, or if he just doesn't need the business. I've asked in messages to him to just let me know if TV is worth fixing, if he intends to come back or if I'm bothering him to just let me know and I won't call again, Don't call this service person. I can't believe anyone does, or doesn't do, business this way.

Don't waste your money. This company is a scam. This guy is a con man.