Owners of Samsung smart fridges in South Korea have found themselves with non-functional devices following a faulty software update. The premium series fridges stopped cooling, leaving users with appliances that no longer performed their basic function.
The fault occurred just before the national holiday of Chuseok. Many owners of expensive fridges reported that their units stopped functioning almost immediately after an automatic update. Among the symptoms reported were the absence of internal lighting, a complete loss of functionality of the front touch screen, and the compressor ceasing to operate. The prestigious four-door model was the most severely affected by this issue.
According to local media reports, a test version of the software was distributed to the public, which was never intended to leave the development lab. The company acknowledged its mistake and immediately suspended the update. It promised to send out hundreds of service engineers during the holidays, but many users report that they have only been able to book appointments for repairs by the end of the week, long after the festival had ended.
Due to the fault, some were forced to throw away all the food they had prepared for the festival. Unfortunate owners are buying tons of dry ice and portable coolers in an attempt to preserve at least a small part of their festive spread. The exact number of affected users has not yet been confirmed, and the company has not yet mentioned any specific financial compensation for the spoiled contents.
The only solution at the moment is to patiently wait for an authorised technician. All attempts to revert to a stable previous version of the software have proved completely unsuccessful. Turning the fridge off and on again does not yield any positive results, nor does removing the device from the mobile SmartThings platform and re-adding it.
