Koreans, battling against a heat wave that is threatening a power vacuum, are in another fight of their own, this time against malfunctioning air conditioners.

The nation is widely divided between the so-called “Kim Yu-na” air conditioners from Samsung and the “Son Yeon-jae” machines manufactured by LG, with the scales tipping toward the latter.

These two companies are virtually the two largest makers of home appliances, although companies such as Mando also take up a sizeable market share in air conditioners.

Complaints for the Samsung conditioners ― particularly the Q9000 model ― is such that Samsung is now offering a full refund should the machines malfunction up to three times. The warranty also has been extended.

“I waited for a week for the air conditioning system to be installed, and then waited for another week before the system to be fixed,” said Kim Ki-hyuk, 31, a customer in Anyang who bought one of the electronics firm’s flagship Hauzen models in mid-July. The defective motor in the system was replaced.

Even though July is during rainy season when demand for an air conditioner is relatively low, repairmen from Samsung kept repeating that “orders are backlogged,” and “parts are in short supply,” he said.

The service and defect issues have long been agonizing, online and offline.

On a website made in 2011 with around 5,000 members as of Monday, complaints of faulty Samsung air conditioning systems including the Hauzen models are still flooding in.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)