Owners mourn spoiled food after firmware update bricks Samsung smart fridges

Some Samsung forum users said support agents initially told them that there are limited technicians and executives available, and a repair person might not be available until October.

“The customers who bought Samsung refrigerators have had their holidays completely ruined, while those Samsung employees are just having a good time at home,” a Samsung forum member wrote.

Samsung stopped issuing the update as of September 23 and is aiming to have some fridges fixed by September 24, ZDNET Korea reported.

Today, a Samsung representative posted a response to user complaints on the forum, saying, per a Google translation:

Yesterday (9/22), an error occurred during the testing process for a Samsung refrigerator software update[.]
Abnormal symptoms have been observed in the refrigerator power and screen of some customers.
We are currently taking emergency measures as a top priority through Samsung Electronics Service Centers. If you have confirmed this symptom, please contact the Samsung Electronics Service Center … .
We will do our best to ensure that our customers do not suffer any losses during the Chuseok holiday period.

“Never update your Samsung refrigerator!”

Out of frustration with having a broken fridge ahead of the food-centric holiday, one member of Samsung’s forum users declared, “Never update your Samsung refrigerator!”

The obvious alternative, of course, is to avoid fridges that get updates altogether. Dumb fridges can suddenly break too, but that usually doesn’t happen if that fridge’s hardware components are all working properly and if it’s just a year or two old.

While most of the complaints this week center on rotten food, an abruptly broken fridge can cause other serious problems, like ruining medication. As other poorly issued smart home gadget updates have proven, extraneous technology can spoil a simple product.