I'm having a nightmare with Samsung UK repair centre. Could do with some advice...
I'll try to keep this short. Basically my phone has had reboot problems since I bought it back in May. It would reboot itself while sat on a desk or in my pocket (on standby). Every now and then it would get stuck in the boot animation loop and require a factory reset. It went back to Carphone warehouse once for a repair, where they flashed it and replaced the battery, but this did nothing to fix the problem, and after a few months of perseverance with the rebooting ( I couldn't bring myself to wait another 4 weeks repair time...) I had had enough and contacted Samsung direct as their repair turnaround is shorter, and it went back to them for repair. I got the phone back today and they are claiming the fault is water damage and as such the warranty is void. This is bulls##t and the phone has not been exposed to any more moisture than any phone is exposed to in general use.
They could not give any sort of detail on the water damage, but suggested that it may be discolouration on the motherboard. I recall in the first few weeks of owning the phone the phone got very hot (too hot to touch against your shin hot). Could this display similar colouration to water damage?
I seem to be banging my head against a brick wall with the repair centre call centre and Samsung customer support are not offering any resolution options. I'm loathed to write off my warranty and a £500 phone cost. So any advice would be appreciated.
pixate said:
This is bulls##t and the phone has not been exposed to any more moisture than any phone is exposed to in general use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what moisture do you expose your phone to in general use?
Humidity in the air (not much of that in the UK...) Kettle boiling in the kitchen. That sort of thing... The point I'm making is that it's not been exposed to moisture beyond that expected in normal use, something the phone should be resistant to.
Its probably the usual condensation fault across all makes of phone its a known warranty reject .
Water damage is shown by on-board indicators .
One Samsung have refused warranty fair enough you can proceed by writing directly to Samsung UK stating your case .Or pay for a specialist phone engineers report and if they find no water damage then go back to Samsung .
jje
Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A
Do you have a telecommunications ombudsmen in your country?
If so contact them and put your case forward.
I bet after they contact your carrier, retail outlet or Samsung you get a new phone.
I know a mate who got a new phone from both the carrier and the manufacturer.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Thanks, yeah we have Ofcom in the uk, and also a trading standards organisation. I May have to get them involved if I can't work something out with Samsung. The fault I have problems with has been on the phone since I got it out of the box, and certainly isn't water damage. Trouble is if there is some sort of liquid detection inside and it's changed colour, how can I prove that the phone was only subjected to normal use, and not exposed to moisture?
pixate said:
Thanks, yeah we have Ofcom in the uk, and also a trading standards organisation. I May have to get them involved if I can't work something out with Samsung. The fault I have problems with has been on the phone since I got it out of the box, and certainly isn't water damage. Trouble is if there is some sort of liquid detection inside and it's changed colour, how can I prove that the phone was only subjected to normal use, and not exposed to moisture?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not a network problem so OFCOM is no use . The phone is not part of your network contract .
Under UK consumer law your supplier of the phone is liable for warranty .You have since been to Samsung who in law have no responsibility bar their extended warranty .
Samsung have said no its a user fault we are not responsible so its up to you to prove them wrong .
Trading standards will have experience of the water damage issue and may be of help .
jje
Related
I bought a brand new Galaxy S2 in December 2011 and have been enjoying it for a week till I found an Audio jack issue. The issue must have been there right from the moment I unboxed the phone, as I didn't find time to test all features of the phone in a week time. wherein if I remove the ear phones, loud speaker won't work. Later, when I took the phone to service centre, they concluded that the audio jack wasn't triggering the ear-phone removal signal.
Since it was a brand new phone, I demanded a replacement at the service centre. But they refused a replacement, stating some unwritten policy, that phone's life exceeded 15 days from purchase date (since I ordered the phone online, it took me 7 days to get delivered + 7 days of owning it without knowing the issue + weekends). I called up the zonal manager and he too refused for a replacement but promised me to replace the mother board of the phone.
Since I insisted that the repairing work at factory is different from service centres in terms of ESD safety, he promised me that I can be present personally while the service engineer repairs the phone. He also promised that Samsung service centres are at par with the factory standards. Without an option, I had to agree for a repair on a brand new phone for no mistake of mine. When the service engineer was repairing the phone, the front desk people were roaming inside the service area (inside ESD safe zone marked with yellow lines) without ESD safe slippers or bands. I was harassed for quoting that they are not following ESD standards. Having worked in an electronic manufacturing industry for years, I know that moving inside an ESD safe zone may spoil the electronic components in long run. For having said that I was harassed badly by the service manager. When I brought this to zonal manager's notice, he promised me that there won't be any fault in the future. I demanded his promise in a written format but he refused. As any other citizens of this country (with very weak consumer protection), I have been living with the phone happily but not for long
After 5 months, on a Tuesday morning the phone is completely dead and wouldn't boot up while the battery if fully charged. Last known usage was on Monday night when I hooked up the phone to the charger before going to sleep. I still remember that I woke up from my sleep to plug out the phone from wall charger as soon as I heard the charge-full beep. Next day morning, the display wasn't coming up.
Diagnosis from my end:
1. Removed and re-inserted the battery. Doesn't boot.
2. Press and hold the power button for a minute after removing the battery. Doesn't boot.
3. The phone doesn't get into recovery mode.
4. Swapped batteries from my friends phones and still it doesn't boot. But my phone's battery worked in their phone.
I strongly believe it's due to the board replacement undertaken outside factory without following ESD standards or due to the replacement board itself which I suspect to be a re-furbished one. This time I didn't want to give up and demanded a fresh replacement phone but the service manager disagreed again. So, I wrote to the Samsung CEO desk and they are dealing with the case for the past 10 days without much progress.
Kindly give your suggestions if I should continue to live with a faulty phone after paying 30K or get a replacement phone since it's a factory fault. Also, suggest me if I could approach consumer court for all the losses (precious data, loss of peace and all the hardships I'm undergoing).
Thanks in advance.
Deva
Well. Sounds like hardware issue. Could be a lemon, could be a refurbished phone. It should be covered under 1 year warranty anyway, so just take it back and ask them to repair it.
Btw, this should be in the Q&A section.
hmyoo1 said:
Well. Sounds like hardware issue. Could be a lemon, could be a refurbished phone. It should be covered under 1 year warranty anyway, so just take it back and ask them to repair it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have already visited the service and they are ready for a repair. Since the phone has underwent a main board replacement very soon after purchase and again the service centre says a board replacement needs to be done now for the boot issue, is it unfair to ask for a fresh phone instead of repeated repairs? and who knows, after another 5-6 months (post warranty) if the phone comes up with another board fault, I will have to pay the board cost from my pocket. All this for a lemon I've got.
pdydeva said:
I have already visited the service and they are ready for a repair. Since the phone has underwent a main board replacement very soon after purchase and again the service centre says a board replacement needs to be done now for the boot issue, is it unfair to ask for a fresh phone instead of repeated repairs? and who knows, after another 5-6 months (post warranty) if the phone comes up with another board fault, I will have to pay the board cost from my pocket. All this for a lemon I've got.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately there's nothing more you can do. It depends on the shop that you purchased from, but usually if the phone is found to be faulty within a week or two, they will replace with new one. But, obviously for you it's well past that.
After almost 15 days of struggle, I managed to get 3 months of extended warranty for the product.
i will keep it short and sweet.
my phone suffered from sudden death few weeks back. It wouldn't switch on or charge. It was working 100% fine the night before the morning where phone was dead.
anyways I called Vodafone and they said that's okay Sir we will do an exchange basis. I.e courier comes with a refurbished Samsung galaxy s3 in exchange for my phone and that should be the end of it.
However few days ago i received a letter for a charge of £100 for liquid damage.
Now the thing is phone has never been near water ever as far as I'm aware so I'm baffled
For time being i have paid charge as it was added to my phone bill.
anyways I have uploaded a picture they sent me of the so called water damage. I'm concerned that's its a scam and they have taken picture of another phone or put water on board them self.
I said i would be happy to return exchanged phone for damaged one i sent in but they refused and said Samsung wouldn't honour the warranty anyways as it has water damage.
donovan2123 said:
i will keep it short and sweet.
my phone suffered from sudden death few weeks back. It wouldn't switch on or charge. It was working 100% fine the night before the morning where phone was dead.
anyways I called Vodafone and they said that's okay Sir we will do an exchange basis. I.e courier comes with a refurbished Samsung galaxy s3 in exchange for my phone and that should be the end of it.
However few days ago i received a letter for a charge of £100 for liquid damage.
Now the thing is phone has never been near water ever as far as I'm aware so I'm baffled
For time being i have paid charge as it was added to my phone bill.
anyways I have uploaded a picture they sent me of the so called water damage. I'm concerned that's its a scam and they have taken picture of another phone or put water on board them self.
I said i would be happy to return exchanged phone for damaged one i sent in but they refused and said Samsung wouldn't honour the warranty anyways as it has water damage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One its a question in the wrong forum .
Two Samsung does not cover water damage if the indicators show .
Three water damage not an uncommon problem on any mobile phone .
Four having a repair and then getting a bill later is due to them exchanging the product and finding waranty was void after the exchange presuming it was SDS .
If it had gone back for repair and no exchange you would have been informed of the cost first .
jje
You need yo take this to the vodafone forum, this is a common occurrence wiyh them.
Rthe moisture strips can become 'activated` from many things out of your control and if this happens vodafone will NOT repair under warrenty. This is where (as you will be instructed by many established member on the vodafone forum) that you need to send to samsung approved repair centre, as there are apparently firther water damage markers inside the phone which give a better indication of water damage.
My personal instructions, but you are free to go your own way, contact vodafone, instruct your phone be returned (if they have give you another return that one) and send phone to samsung directly. You will no doubt have a different and better outcome.
Sent from my GT-I9300 using xda app-developers app
This is why you shouldn't go to your network provider... Just go to Samsung straight away and you won't get any bull****.
Liquid damage can also be triggered by sweat or rain.
So i did a bunch of searching and can't find anything so i'll ask here. The other day i got pushed into a pool with my One in my pocket, From what i can tell the processor's fried and i was wondering if i could get away with just going down to T-Mobile and asking them to switch it cuz it wont turn on and not bring up the water damage. Is there any way they'd be able to tell?
Ummm if your within your 30 days or 14 or whatever it is you could try just say it won't turn on... They have to replace in store if its within their time frame for in-store warranty .
As long as water doesnt pour out on counter you may have a chance ,since they can't do a battery pull how else will they know... Just act real let down say u paid a lot of money to be let down ...
Act but don't over act.
Normally sales people are clueless and don't care what's what , as long as your within the rules... time frame.
They aren't techs, so doubt theyll know .
If it doesn't turn on a dead cpu should pass as the issue only issue is if it's past the 30 ,then htc gets it for manufacture replacement and they on the other hand will know .
Sent from my M7 using xda premium
Throw it in a tub of uncooked rice overnight to absorb as much water as possible before bringing it in.
There is a papertrail with taking it back in your 14/30 day warranty. Eventually the device will get back to a service center and when they open the unit up and see the damage im sure the ticket with it will say warranty / no power. Any good tech will throw up the red flag and say the warranty is void with liquid damage.
So you do run the risk of having that come back to haunt you a month or two down the road.
I'm not sure if they'll find out down the road Dec possible but not guaranteed ,even if your past 14 you don't have to go thru HTC you still have tmobile warranty u dud a swap not for water but they'll ship a new one overnight then u mail yours back ,last yr I returned a rooted bricked note2 and never got charged
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
IAmSixNine said:
There is a papertrail with taking it back in your 14/30 day warranty. Eventually the device will get back to a service center and when they open the unit up and see the damage im sure the ticket with it will say warranty / no power. Any good tech will throw up the red flag and say the warranty is void with liquid damage.
So you do run the risk of having that come back to haunt you a month or two down the road.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct.
I work in the RMA department of a large phone repair/warranty center.
I doubt you will get T-Mobile rep to replace it for you in the first place (there are still ways to check for water damage without opening it up). Liquid indicators are inside the phone when you eject the SIM tray for example.
Hi,
My phone got stuck looping on the Samsung logo. Sent it away for repair and currently the status is "Device Beyond Economical Repair
".
Can you take a look at the attached picture and let me know what you think it represents? (It was uploaded by the repair company to my repair status page).
Are they suggesting that I've damaged the phone and the item won't be covered by warranty... or that the item will be covered by warranty.
If it's the latter, why bother taking a picture, just hurry up and replace the phone.
This was done through EE repairs (UK) and quite frankly the whole operation is slow and incompetent. I've rung three times to get an answer, the first two times I disconnected after being on hold for 30 mins. The third time I was disconnected mid call. Will have to ring again next week as they aren't available at the weekend.
Device Beyond Economical Repair
Means it will cost to much to repair .
No indication of warranty or not judged on the information you have posted .
Do you have an I9300 ??
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Samsung+Galaxy+S+III+Teardown/9391/1
Economic repair means its too expensive to repair. If it was covered by warranty, you'd have a replacement rather than a fix, however since they're telling you its beyond economic repair, I would assume its not covered by warranty
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
orygnedi Camaret
Hi, thanks for the replies.
Yes it's an I9300 and it's within the Samsung warranty period.
Any idea what's being illustrated in the attached image?
Looks like water exposure but best they clarify
Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
I have had a look at the tear down and the repair manual and cannot tell what it is as i don't see a water indicator in that position .Looks more like a heat sink from the pictures.
That was my guess too Frustrating because it hadn't ever got wet. Thanks for your reply!
aph5 said:
That was my guess too Frustrating because it hadn't ever got wet. Thanks for your reply!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Condensation = wet
JJEgan said:
Condensation = wet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, and if it is indeed water damaged then it must have been through condensation.
Hi everyone,
I had ZTE for 2 weeks when I went to the the rainforest in Australia. (Near Mission Beach) It was extremely hot there, they said it was a heat wave. When I last looked at the mercury thermometer it was about 42°C in the sun, It was extremely humid as well. So not really good conditions for any electronics or people I guess?
After 3 days my phone didn't do anything any more, it was completely charged in the morning 2 hours later it didn't do anything it wouldn't unlock screen's completely black.
Things I tried:
- Holding power for a minute.
- Charging it for a full day.
- Hooking it to my computer.
- Waiting a week.
It's completely unresponsive only the red dot appearers when I plug it in.
I contacted the seller and they only responded with:
hello,
sorry for the problem,may I know what is the problem on the phone more clearly? it can;t be turned on after charging?
the phone we sent you was the original one and has been tested before shipment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hello,
sorry, if the phone has been used, we will check it if it was new, then offer refund .
would you please just return us the phone for checking and replacement?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now my question is:
Are there stickers in the ZTE that indicate overheating or water damage or anything like that?
Or any other reason they could refuse me the warranty? Heat and humidity shouldn't be a reason for the phone to die right?
My Oneplus one also did from the heat here in Australia, and they only want to replace it not refund it. So I need to pay to send it back to them, then they send me a new one to Belgium so my family can sell there. Hopefully I will just get my money back for the ZTE because now I'm here with 2 unresponsive smartphones and loads of trouble with the warranty.
Thanks in advance!
Interesting question. I have a Nubia z7 mini, and recently I was in vegas for 1 week, and temperatures there were between 42 and 48 degrees everyday. Never had an issue with my phone. there is no sticker for heat damage. But there is for water damage, its under the cover.
To be honest I would not have mentioned heat to the seller, I would of said it just didnt turn on one day for no reason. unless you got it wet, there should be no issue getting a replacement or repair I doubt they will refund your money.
That is the one big down side of buying imported Chinese phones. The way I see it is once you own the phone your on your own. Dont expect great customer service or warranty cover once your money is handed over. If they offer to repair or replace I would just get the phone back to them asap even if it costs you shipping as you are lucky you have a seller that even replies to your emails!