Samsung Phone - Warranty Void - How to Escalate

Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 12:48
Last edited 22/05/2023 - 17:02

Hi All,

I sent my A52 to Samsung Care as the screen was glitching in and out (like an internal ribbon being disconnected). After being escalated twice they said it's my fault and best they can do is discount the repair cost. I'm a tightarse and believe this is a cruddy buisiness practice. I've told them to send phone back and that I'll escalate it with the ACCC.

Now here's the thing, when the screen was glitching I was figuring out how to get it working to get my data off, putting pressure on screen while holding edges did the trick - however Samsung care is saying the phone is bent. And here I am.

Has anyone dealt with the bs that is samsung care? Should I just pony up and pay the $120 to fix it? I don't want to on principal as this tactic just seems like "blame consumer, be good guy and offer discount" rather than the company paying for the repair costs eating into their $50m annual profit.

update I am the A-hole apparently, I shouldn't have bent the phone even after it became defective which voided warranty, am persuing $128 repair. Please rub it in my face at the brisbane meet up at xmas and I'll buy you a beer.

Mobile Mobile Phone Samsung Android

Comments

  • payless69 on 22/05/2023 - 13:06
    -2

    Well send $120 worth of dog food to Gerry….

  • freefall101 on 22/05/2023 - 13:07
    +4

    If they're going to give you a discounted repair ($120 sounds pretty good, you'll probably get a refurb replacement) I'd just take that and move on.

    Are you sure the screen issues weren't caused by it being bent in the first place? If bending it more fixed the issue that's not cable disconnecting. If you bent it trying to get the data off you did at least make the problem worse.

    For future reference, this is why you do backups and there are ways to get the data off a phone without the screen - https://www.samsung.com/uk/support/mobile-devices/i-smashed-…

    • Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 16:30

      Cheers, I'll bookmark that link in case it happens again. The way I flexed it to get the screen working again I don't believe I did that during the <2 years owning it though.

  • Muzeeb on 22/05/2023 - 13:08
    +1

    Is it bent? Does it sit square on a flat surface?

    Phones are so tall these days that if you bend over with them in you back pocket you can warp them.

    • Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 16:30

      Part of the safety instructions is never put them in your back pocket and sit down, never did that.

      • John Kimble on 22/05/2023 - 18:38

        You didn't answer the question? 🤔

  • Gnostikos on 22/05/2023 - 13:09
    +3

    Now here's the thing, when the screen was glitching I was figuring out how to get it working to get my data off, putting pressure on screen while holding edges did the trick - however Samsung care is saying the phone is bent. And here I am.

    You're not making sense here.

    You said the original display connectivity issue occurred, you sent your phone back to Samsung, they sent it back saying it's user-induced damage and then you were copying your data off it but in the process you bent the display.

    So how does Samsung know about the display being bent unless you sent it back to them twice or told them over the phone that you bent it yourself?

    It sounds like they diagnosed the display being bent the first time that you returned your phone to them, in which case yes, it's likely your fault.
    Bent LCD/OLED panels from the factory are a statistical rarity.

    I'm a tightarse and believe this is a cruddy buisiness practice.

    Has anyone dealt with the bs that is samsung care?

    I don't want to on principal as this tactic just seems like "blame consumer, be good guy and offer discount" rather than the company paying for the repair costs eating into their $50m annual profit.

    Yeah, you bent the display yourself.

    But sure, businesses should fix their products for free when consumers break them because they're muppets.

    I'd say Samsung is being more than generous here. I wouldn't give you a discount.

    • Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 16:27
      -1

      I was out in a week long training, I put the phone down and the screen shows rainbow pixel colours or would just be black (basically both defective features). I go through how-to to get the data working again as I only have a work laptop (gov brand no outside installs), few youtube videos later and try tapping screen, tapping sides, then flexing screen / putting pressure in the middle holding sides. Low and behold this got the screen working again so I was able to set everything not automatically being backed up to be manually backed up then and there.

      Now they are saying it's defective because it's bent, whereas it's bent because it was defective first.

      • Gnostikos on 22/05/2023 - 17:58
        -1

        Now they are saying it's defective because it's bent, whereas it's bent because it was defective first.

        That still doesn't make sense.

        Why wouldn't you have raised this with Samsung as soon as you a purchased/received an obviously defective phone that was visibly warped/irregularly-shaped?

        Why did you wait until the display started intermittently not working to mention to Samsung that, "oh yeah by the way, the phone has been bent the entire time"?

        Sounds incredibly convenient.

        few youtube videos later and try tapping screen, tapping sides, then flexing screen / putting pressure in the middle holding sides

        Just because these online fixes that you found managed to get the display working temporarily doesn't mean that you're not responsible for bending the display in the process of following random, untested instructions online. If Samsung told you to do all of that, it'd be a different story but they didn't.

        This is a far more plausible explanation for a warped/broken display than a phone that was shipped from the factory "bent". You do know what QC is, right? I've seen plenty of DOA/faulty electronics but I've never heard nor seen of a "bent" phone from the factory and I've worked in IT for over 10 years and repaired/replaced hundreds upon hundreds of broken or defective phones.

  • mbck on 22/05/2023 - 13:11
    +12

    Sounds like you bent the phone…

  • tsunamisurfer on 22/05/2023 - 13:13
    +3

    You bent the phone and you expect Samsung to fix it for you free?

    I think Samsung is being incredibly kind.

    And also $50m profit?

  • Jimothy Wongingtons on 22/05/2023 - 13:19
    +1

    Wow

  • coffeeinmyveins on 22/05/2023 - 13:20
    +3

    You bent the phone and and trying to say that it didn't cause the screen issue?

    Lol ok nice try

    paying for the repair costs eating into their $50m annual profit.

    Samsung only makes 50m in profit? Lol

    I'm a tightarse and believe this is a cruddy buisiness practice

    One of these is most certainly true

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 22/05/2023 - 15:02
    +2

    So you bent the phone, and admit it on a public forum.
    At $120, Samsung are being generous, and you are lucky they are not reacting with a good ……

    • boomramada on 22/05/2023 - 15:12
      +1

      and wasting ACCC resources. …..

    • Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 16:55
      +1

      Timing is very important here - first the screen was unresponsive, I applied pressure to the device and it became responsive again, I backed up my data manually and placed the device back down again and the screen became unresponsive again, I send to samsung and they tell me I bent my phone, I come to ozbargain and now i'm here.

      Look if I hit it with a hammer and then said why isn't is working, sure, I get it. But my phone was looked after during the time I had it. From the responses here in future I'll just have to have automatic back ups which also reminds me I had to wipe it before sending it as well, because I'm not sending an device even if its password protected without wiping it.

      I've conceded that I should'nt have bent it regardless of trying to get data off it and that's ruined my chance at a warranty claim. Trying to get that $120 repair sorted now.

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 22/05/2023 - 17:04

        You can set it so it backsup regularly?.

      • Gnostikos on 22/05/2023 - 18:05
        -1

        I've conceded that I should'nt have bent it regardless of trying to get data off it and that's ruined my chance at a warranty claim.

        Thanks for wasting everyone's time and admitting to what we already knew.

        Don't let the door hit you on the way out.

        Look if I hit it with a hammer and then said why isn't is working, sure, I get it.

        That's exactly what you've done here. You've broken a phone and then tried to claim you didn't break it, in order to get out of having to pay for a repair.

        Whether the phone had a genuine fault with it before you broke it further is irrelevant now. Samsung are well within in their rights to deny your claim because you've clearly caused an entirely separate, more severe issue because of your impatience and incompetence and you have zero means of proving that this wasn't the real reason why you initiated a warranty claim.

        • Jazza2400 on 23/05/2023 - 10:47

          Look if I hit it with a hammer and then said why isn't is working, sure, I get it.

          That's exactly what you've done here. You've broken a phone and then tried to claim you didn't break it, in order to get out of having to pay for a repair.

          But it's not? The phone faulted at first. Did I break it? No. Did I impact my warranty bending it after it broke to get my data off and wipe the phone. Yes

          Whether the phone had a genuine fault with it before you broke it further is irrelevant now

          That's the advice I needed. You can save your keystrokes now warrior.

  • FoxJump on 22/05/2023 - 16:20

    $120 is a bargain repair.
    and isnt all your data already synchronised to some cloud provider anyway? phones are disposable items. They break, you throw them out, by a new and log in and voila all is there.

    • Jazza2400 on 22/05/2023 - 16:36

      I have photos backed up, but because I wasn't planning on the phone screen dying whilst I was out at a week long training course, messages, contacts and whatever else on it I wanted to set the manual backup to be certain.
      Looking at the comments thought everyone else would've done it different so guess IATA

  • Sweetsugar on 22/05/2023 - 18:07
    -1

    Typical Samsung.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/768311#comment-13676987

    Good luck with that.

  • JimmyF on 22/05/2023 - 19:10

    however Samsung care is saying the phone is bent. And here I am

    So was it bent? Easy to tell, place it on a flat surface. But sounds like it was as you had been bending it.

    Should I just pony up and pay the $120 to fix it?

    Physical damage is never covered under warranty, so yeah coughing up $120 for a 'repair' to bring it back into warranty is well worth it in my books.

  • cookie2 on 22/05/2023 - 20:31
    +1

    So what would everyone else have done in Ops situation to get their data off their phone when the phone was faulty? People full of judgement but no alternatives.

    • Gnostikos on 23/05/2023 - 00:35
      -1

      Backups.

      /end of discussion.

      The OP is just a complete tech-tard who wants to cry wolf about "big bad Samsung" while they broke a phone and are now demanding a free one because they were lazy and impatient.

      If they had simply done the right thing and raised this alleged fault that the phone from the factory when it was new, they'd never be in this situation in the first place.

      • Jazza2400 on 23/05/2023 - 10:48

        Your personal attacks are off the charts mate. I've said what happened. You seem to think it happened differently to fit your narrative. Goodbye.

        • Gnostikos on 23/05/2023 - 11:42
          -2

          Your incoherent, contradictory story is off the BS charts.

          "Guys I totally didn't break this phone, I was just backing up my data off it and then it somehow bent itself and now Samsung won't GiVe Me a FrEe OnEeEeE!!!1! WhYyYy???"

          If you were being remotely honest and well-intentioned you'd have just admitted that you bent the phone yourself in your original post.

          Instead you went off on a rant about "muh evil Samsung" for how many posts before finally admitting that you bent the phone yourself.
          What a pathetic attempt at smearing a company that actually went out of their way to give you the benefit of the doubt and offer a discounted repair, as a token of good will. Instead you want to paint them like some Bond villain, which is just laughable.

          Samsung doesn't have a crystal ball, they don't know the history of that phone. All they can tell conclusively is that you sent back a bent phone and claimed it was somehow like that already but you just hadn't noticed until now. No OEM is going buy a warranty claim like that and see it as anything other than user-induced damage with a very high probability that a lying customer is trying to con them for a free replacement.

          Harden up, own your mistakes and stop being a petulant little child.

          Goodbye.

          Yeah that's what Samsung said.

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