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★★☆☆☆
My Samsung Knock-Off replacement water filter is leaking
Was REALLY hoping this would work for me because at $15 it's < half as expensive as the authentic Samsung water filter. Unfortunately, my one-year old Samsung model # RF28HMEDBSR side-by-side refrigerator never leaked water until I installed this replacement filter a week ago. This is my 3rd filter since we bought this fridge, the first Samsung replacement filter I bought at Home Depot, where I bought the fridge itself, and we had no leaking problems. I got an e-mail from Refresh the day after I received the filter, asking for a good review, and if I had any questions or concerns. That was a nice touch. I asked them if I should be concerned because the opening at the end of the filter was so much LARGER than on my Samsung filter that came off? Here's a visual: if you sharpened a new #2 Ticonderoga pencil, you could only insert the sharp pointed end into the Samsung probably enough to just barely cover the exposed lead. With the replacement Refresh filter, you could flip the pencil around & put the brand new eraser end of the pencil inside the round filter opening, & still wiggle it around. The Refresh guy (owner?) said this was done so that it would fit a variety of different refrigerator models (and more than one manufacturer). I didn't give this any thought at that time because the leaking hadn't started yet. But the next morning there was ~ 6 oz of water on the kitchen floor under & in front of the fridge. It only leaks after we use the in-door water dispenser. Making ice cubes does not seem to trigger it (or maybe the automated ice make hasn't been replacing any ice cubes much this past week). I got a glass of water thru the door before I went to bed last night and there was another 3-4 oz of water on the floor in front of the fridge this AM. I threw all the packaging away so probably cant return the Refresh filter now. I am going to look for another model that has approx the SAME size circular opening as the Samsung. I threw that away, but fortunately I took photos of both. UPDATE 8/21/2016: I subsequently tried another generic brand of Samsung replacement water filter found on Amazon for under $20, after writing my original review, and this one specifically promised in the spec's that it had the smaller dimension hole, like the original Samsung filter. But this was untrue, and when it came, it had the same, larger opening as the first copy brand I bought that leaked so badly. I immediately returned it for full refund. Amazon is awesome this way - they even took back the first filter a month after I bought it, w/ no packaging, for a full credit, incl free return shipping! Last weekend I bought a real Samsung filter from Home Depot. $49!! But zero leaking, it has the correct size (tiny) opening... BTW, I ran the fridge for a few months with NO filter. The design allows it to do so with no leaking. Not sure how important having a filter really even is; our city water rates very high quality (according to the city!) MMc UPDATE 3/31/2017: My red indicator light on my fridge went on a week ago, telling me it's time for a new filter again. If anyone finds a replacement filter which actually DOES have the smaller opening so a Samsung refer won't leak, please advise WHICH BRAND it is! I'm certain Samsung does not consider this unique opening size they use for this model a "bug", but rather a "feature"! In fact, to keep this revenue stream going, I can imagine Samsung engineers intentionally changing the circumference of the filter opening by 1-2 mm for subsequent year's models of their fridges, as soon as any Amazon supplier introduces a correct knock-off size for a given model of refrigerator. (This would also explain fewer suppliers bothering to copy Samsung filters, because Samsung could keep the size of their market potential per filter re-tooling small.) Samsung might have to carry more replacement filter inventories this way, which would be unfortunate from their perspective, but they'd get to keep selling a product that could be manufactured & sold profitably for < $20, for more than double that! As a finance professional, I actually admire this strategy...as a cheapskate customer though, not so much! Paying $50 every 6 months is a racket. It feels like being askwed to buy genuine HP ink cartridge replacements to go in an HP printer, even if they cost double what acceptable quality printer cartridge replacement knock-offs cost. In the tech word and on the cloud, every SAS supplier's goal is to turn every customer into a $5-$10/ month annuity revenue stream, into perpetuity. Apple, Amazon Music, Netflix, MS Office 365, Anti-Virus software, Lojak, etc...too many for me to count that I am direct billed for monthly or annually. Looks like Samsung appliances found their $8/mo revenue stream "forever" opportunity, too, but in a low-tech application! (Also like Gillette and the $2 per replacement cartridge shaving blades, that averages out to ~ $10/mo into perpetuity, too. Thanks god for knock-offs, when they work as claimed, and a place like Amazon to warn other customers, when they don't!)
February 2016 · Appliances · verified purchase
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