Some Samsung Bespoke AI refrigerator owners in South Korea were racing to protect food as the Chuseok holiday began after a software update error left affected appliances unresponsive or unable to cool properly.
Samsung said the problem began during refrigerator software update testing on 22 September, when an update intended for testing was mistakenly distributed to some customers. The company halted the rollout after identifying the error and launched emergency recovery measures.
The timing was particularly disruptive.
South Korea's three-day Chuseok holiday runs from 24 to 26 September, with Chuseok Day falling on Friday, 25 September. Many households had already stocked refrigerators with groceries and ingredients for the holiday.
Holiday Food Suddenly at Risk
Complaints began appearing on Samsung Members, Samsung's customer community, from the afternoon of 22 September. Users said their refrigerators stopped operating normally after they accepted a software update through SmartThings.
Reports described dark interior lights, unresponsive touch controls and displays that remained stuck on update messages. Other owners said their refrigerators were no longer cooling properly.
SBS quoted one affected customer as saying an update message kept appearing and that the refrigerator had been 'completely dead ever since'. The owner said food bought ahead of Chuseok might have to be discarded.
Other customers reported melting ice cream and loss of cooling.
Some said unplugging the appliance and reconnecting it, or resetting the circuit breaker, failed to restore normal operation.
For affected households, the problem went beyond a frozen screen or unavailable smart-home feature. Customer reports indicated that some refrigerators had lost their ability to keep food properly chilled or frozen.
Samsung Says Test Software Was Sent by Mistake
Samsung acknowledged the problem in a notice posted to Samsung Members on 23 September.
The company said an error occurred during refrigerator software update testing on 22 September, resulting in abnormal power and screen behaviour in some customers' refrigerators.
Samsung said affected cases were being given priority through its service network.
Korean media reported that software still undergoing internal testing had mistakenly reached customers. Samsung stopped distributing the update after discovering the problem and formed an emergency response team.
The exact scale and model range remain less clear.
SBS reported that the number of reported cases had reached several hundred and said certain Bespoke AI refrigerator models accounted for most cases. Samsung, however, has not publicly announced an official incident total.
Korea JoongAng Daily reported that many complaints involved RM70F and RM80F Bespoke AI four-door refrigerators. It said Samsung was still determining exactly which models were affected.
Samsung Offers Free Repairs as Chuseok Begins
Samsung said repairs required because of the update error would be provided free of charge. The company set 24 September as its target for restoring affected refrigerators.
That date was a recovery goal rather than a guarantee that every customer would receive a completed repair by then. ZDNet Korea reported that factors including customers being unavailable for engineer visits could delay some work.
One customer quoted by SBS said they had initially been told that service would not be available until the Tuesday after Chuseok.
Samsung Electronics Service had already announced special arrangements for the holiday. Regular service centres are closed on 24 and 25 September, but contact-centre staff and field engineers are operating an emergency-duty system during the holiday.
Urgent home visits are available for serious appliance failures, including refrigerators that cannot cool or freeze.
Will Samsung Pay for Spoilt Food?
Free repairs do not necessarily resolve the cost of food lost while an affected refrigerator was not cooling properly.
Samsung said it was reviewing compensation for food damaged because of the malfunction. As of 24 September, the company had not announced detailed eligibility rules or a general reimbursement process for spoilt food.
That leaves an important question unresolved for households that had already filled their refrigerators ahead of Chuseok.
The incident also highlights a consequence of increasingly software-dependent home appliances. A software deployment error did not merely disrupt connected features for affected customers. Reports indicate it interfered with the refrigerators' basic ability to keep food cold.
For Samsung customers caught up in the failure, the immediate concern is simpler: getting their refrigerators working again before more holiday food is lost.
