Samsung forum: My Samsung Plasma PN50C7000 has horizontal lines

I am starting this post to rant and put an alert to others looking to buy a Samsung TV.

I bought a PN50C7000 3D Plasma TV back in July 2010, when it was first introduced for over $2,200. It was one of the higher end models at the time and I was told that Samsung makes great products, which is why I upgraded from the 42 inch Panasonic Viera Plasma I bought in 2006 for over $3,000, which was still working perfect when I decided to upgrade to 3D.

About September 2011 I noticed one thin line at the bottom of my TV. I called Samsung customer service and they told me to try resetting to factory settings, which did nothing so they told me it's likely hardware issue that needs to be looked at by a certified Samsung Technician, but that it was no longer covered under warranty (2 months past warranty). So I figured, it's just a small thin line and not worth it to unmount it from my wall to get it fixed.

Fast forward to about November 2012, I see 2 more lines now closer to the center of the screen, which is much more distracting. Now 3 months later, there's 10 lines and some have gotten even thicker!! I contact Samsung Customer Support again and I get the whole factory reset spewl again, when I am certain they know full well what the issue is as I have since google'd many complaints about the same issue.

I then called one of the Samsung certified technicians in my area and the technician told me that it's a problem he's seen before and that I would have to replace the entire screen, which the part itself is over $1,000 because I have a higher higher model Plasma!! He then said to me that this shouldn't happen as it is generally the longest lasting and most sturdy part of the TV, so it's likely a problem with the part to begin with!!!

Samsung's customer service hasn't been very helpful at all and just kept saying "I'm sorry to hear that" and now I'm stuck with a TV full of horizontal lines and faced with the decision to pay $1300 to fix or replace with new after only 2.5 years!! To make it worse, these issues have been reported on Samsung Plasmas as far back as 2009!!!

After this experience with their customer service and their defective TV, I don't think I'll ever get a Samsung product again and I will tell anybody I know thinking of getting a Samsung product my experience.