LG Electronics are making hundreds of millions selling information on the private lives of consumers who have purchased one of their products, they are also pushing advertising to their WebOS platform but there is a way to get rid of the WebOS menu and those annoying advertisements.
In their recent financial filings LG revealed that their webOS content and services business is expanding beyond TVs into IT and infotainment, with projected revenues set to surpass A!.2 billion dollars but it appears that little of their newfound profits are going into warranty claims and service with online sites reporting shocking cases of poor LG service.
The big advantage that LG has over traditional research Companies is that they do not have to pay consumers to collect data or run research groups, they simply make it mandatory via their questionable terms and conditions, that is the first thing that pops up when you buy an LG product and are trying to get to a service such as their WebOS.
If you are not happy with their methods and you find LG’s webOS menu automatically appearing on your TV at startup annoying, or if you are using an external media player such as Foxtel, Hubbl, Apple TV or a Fetch TV box, here is how to disable it while also getting rid of their advertising and promotion banners.
- When you initially buy an LG TV, you will find that it’s easy to prevent the webOS menu from appearing after turning on the TV.
- The steps may differ slightly depending on the generation of your LG OLED, “NanoCell” LCD or “QNED” LCD TV.
- Here’s how:
Go to Settings -> General -> System -> Additional Settings – > Home Settings -> Power On Screen -> Select ‘Recent Input’ (or disable ‘Home Auto Launch’ on older models)
When you turn on your LG Smart TV after disabling this option, the last used input screen will now be displayed.
Because of the lucrative revenues coming from their WebOS the Company has recently acquired a home automation Company and are now looking to capture and sell data beyond the TV.
They have also announced that 22 of their products in 2025 including their washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves with be enabled to capture data on customers.
This data is then sold to third parties which is why LG is making more money selling personal information on their customers, than manufacturing a TV or washing machine.
For years, all LG Smart TVs have been powered by the company’s own operating system, webOS.
LG TV’s today is designed to persistently pull up the webOS menu when consumers first switch on their TV, sometimes even if you wake the TV with HDMI CEC via one of the HDMI inputs connected to, for example, an Apple TV 4K or PS5.
You then have to grab the LG remote to close the menu or wait for it to disappear after a while.
To disable LG TV Home auto launch you simply turn off turn off ‘Home Promotion’ to remove at least some of the sponsored content from the webOS display.
At this stage it’s not possible to remove all ads from webOS, but it will reduce some of the marketing that LG is trying to push to consumers, in an effort to get third parties to spend money with LG.
The capture and sale of data such as identifying how consumers intend to vote from the type of news, current affairs and documentaries consumers watch is suddenly turning into a major profit centre for the business who appears not to be putting any of their new wealth into customer service if the latest comments on Trust Pilot are anything to go by.
One upset customer wrote overnight, Absolute disaster with (LG) customer service with my fridge.
I own an LG side by side fridge which …was bought in 2019. I got a compressor error although they gave a 10 year warranty.
I reported it to the service centre on the very first day.
I got a service call after 13 days.
They provided no support with any other fridge.
He also said that after several calls he “followed them up and mentioned the urgency” of needing a replacement fridge.
Apparently, LG suggested making an insurance claim for food damage cost. (A process that would result in the owner having to pay an excess fee).
He described LG as being unprofessional and having a disgusting service level.
He concluded “I will never buy anything from LG, neither recommend anyone to buy”.
Earlier in the week another customer complained about LG’s Warranty service
The LG fridge we purchased is great, exactly what we were looking for (size, type, features).
One year after purchasing a brand new fridge, it stopped cooling in the fridge section according to the customer.
The claimed that after calling LG “Which isn’t always the easiest thing” due to them using automated voice services, they eventually got through only to be told that it would take three weeks before a technician could come out to look at the broken down LG product.
Another customer purchased one of their pricey 32″ Monitors and despite a 3 year warranty it failed after just 18 months.
They wrote “Provided all the required details, jumped through hoops to give them the exact details required; ran all the tests requested, sent photos of the fault (with yellow background as requested!), provided receipts, exact purchase date & time. Have gone through at least five steps to their convoluted process over 3 weeks.
LG responded claiming “The fault has been diagnosed as physical damage”.
The customer claimed that the monitor been sitting on their desk for 18 months and hasn’t moved.
“No possibility of physical damage” they claimed.
“Don’t buy LG, their Customer Services is designed to ensure that they don’t pay out for warranty repair or replacement”. they wrote.
Date of experience: 29 July 2024
