"Should I Throw Everything Away?" Sudden Breakdown Right Before Chuseok; Samsung Electronics Steps In to Resolve

[Anchor]

A software update error has caused some Samsung Electronics refrigerator models to completely malfunction. As consumers who prepared food in advance for the holiday face mounting inconveniences, the company has launched emergency recovery efforts.

Reporter Jeong Sung-jin has more.

[Reporter]

The lights are off inside a refrigerator packed with food, and the display screen only shows a message indicating that an update is in progress.

[Lim / Affected Consumer: The notification message just kept appearing, and it has been completely dead ever since.]

This happened after receiving a notification yesterday (September 22) afternoon on SmartThings, the app that controls Samsung home appliances, and proceeding with a refrigerator software update.

[Lim / Affected Consumer: I have to throw away all the ingredients inside, and since I bought the food right before the holiday... I couldn't even sleep well because I was so worried.]

When they requested after-sales service from Samsung, even more absurd answers came back.

[Kim / Affected Consumer: They told me they could come next Tuesday, after Chuseok. When the customer service representative said, 'This kind of thing happens often' and 'during the update process,' I was just speechless and dumbfounded.]

As complaints from consumers poured in starting from online communities, Samsung Electronics stepped in to contain the situation by forming an emergency response team and vowing to complete the recovery of the affected products by tomorrow.

Repair costs will be fully covered free of charge, and whether to compensate for spoiled food is currently under review.

Samsung Electronics explained that the problem occurred because an update file that was still under the testing process was mistakenly distributed.

Most of the products affected are certain models of Bespoke AI refrigerators manufactured last year, and the number of reported cases so far is reportedly in the hundreds.

[Kim / Affected Consumer: If clicking an update incorrectly once can render an electronic appliance completely unusable, isn't this a major defect...]

At a time when home appliances are becoming increasingly dependent on software due to the introduction of AI and other technologies, a comprehensive review seems necessary—ranging from the update process itself to the recovery and response following any failures.

(Video by: Kim Nam-sung, Lee Chan-soo | Video Editing: Park Ji-in | Design: Kang Yoon-jung)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.