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upgrade program - a rip off

(Topic created on: 24-01-2020 04:30 AM)
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mspmet
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So I bought a Samsun S9+ with upgrade program in 2018, hoping to upgrade every year. Right after 1 year, I initiated an upgrade process, upgrading to S10+. Received S10+, sent back S9+ and everything went well till here. However, Samsung started ripping me off right after they received my S9+. They told me that I have 'trade-in' my phone and not 'upgraded' hence, i will only receive 200 bucks instead of 335. Really Samsung?

I went on a call with their customer care, but after talking to 3 different people and a supervisor, I got only 1 answer -'we are sorry' and nothing can be done. In other words, we have your phone now and you can't do anything. 

Long story short, I paid 700 dollars for S9+ and Samsung kept it for 200. I  would have sold it on eBay rather 😞

 

I strongly recommend not to go with upgrade program or rather, switch elsewhere as Samsung doesn't care about its customer

 

And they don't even reply the tweets as if they don't care...

9 REPLIES 9
IreibeX
Hotshot
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Well, did Samsung tell you they would credit EXACTLY 50 % ? In the TAC they say MAXIMUM 50 %.

 

https://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/phones/upgrade/frequently-asked-questions/

"The Samsung Upgrade Program allows customers to buy a new eligible Samsung smartphone device using Samsung Financing. After 12 months, you'll have the option to upgrade to the latest smartphone with a maximum credit up to 50% of the initial purchase price. You must return your old smartphone device in good condition."

 

Is it a rip off ? They sell you more phones than you need for a higher price than you'd have to pay otherwise and a loan that you proably also don't need. But you could have known that before. And I suspect part of the deal is that they also sell the feeling that you participate in the very avant-garde of technological gadgetism. If that's a bad deal for you, cancel it.

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IreibeX
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Have a look at : samsung-upgrade-program

"The risk here is that you have no say in how the upgrade credit for your device is assessed. If the company feels that the condition requirements haven’t been met, it will simply value the device at $25 and apply that as a credit. There’s no way for you to get them to assess it again or get it back. The terms of this program mention that once the old device has been sent to Samsung, its ownership is transferred to Samsung and it cannot be returned to you for any reason."

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mspmet
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Either you dint understand my post or you dont want to. 

What Samsung did with me is - 

1. They send me an email 'Your phone is ready for upgrade'

2. I went to their website, checked for my upgrade eligiblity and followed instructions. I bought a new S10+. However, I selected a trade-in as I thought Im turning in my device (**** It is nowhere written in the whole upgrade policy that 'please dont select trade-in option' also since i was using their upgrade link, they should have turned trade-in off***).

3. I send my phone back to samsung in  a near mint condition with no scratched at all and everything working perfectly. They even send confirmation that everything looks good. 

4. They dint waived off my remaining balace on my old phone as they are saying that 'I trded that phone in and not upgraded - in other words, I clicked a wrong button"). hence, due to a technical glitch, I fallen into a samsung trap and they gave me 200$ trade in instead of 332$ upgrade credit.

5. Now the reply im getting from samsung is 'we cant do anything' as if the trade in goes to Syria and upgrades go to Japan

 

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mspmet
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A company with good customer care would have understand the customer's problem and would have given those extra $135 credit. I did something similar with apple MAcbook I had - went to the store 1 month after the apple care was over on my notebook, but suprisingly they not only fixed it for a small price, they gave me $200 store credit right away for inconvinience. 

Im sure samsung would have ripped me off and kicked me out of the store, had I visited samsung store post waraty period.

 

This is called 'customer service' which samsung surely lacks. 

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IreibeX
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How do you know that they would have given you exactly 50 % if they had treated this as an upgrade?

 

Have a look at : samsung-upgrade-program

"The risk here is that you have no say in how the upgrade credit for your device is assessed. If the company feels that the condition requirements haven’t been met, it will simply value the device at $25 and apply that as a credit."

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Jesstafari
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Yikes. Reading all of these comments got me thinking if I made a mistake choosing to sign up for the Samsung Upgrade program. I currently have a Note 10 Plus and I am thinking of upgrading to the new Galaxy Ultra 20 5G. I see that I am supposed to get a $650.00 credit for trading in my Note 10 Plus. However, I don't want to make the mistake of choosing the wrong option. Trading in my phone would still require me to pay whatever I still owe for it because I will be getting a $650.00 credit on the new Galaxy Ultra 20 5G. Will doing it as an "Upgrade" be any different? Would they pay the remaining balance of my phone or will they only give me a credit of only %50 of what I have paid in 12 months which would probably be less than the $650 considering the Note 10 Plus was only $1,100.00 so I'll end up getting like $275.00 and I would still have to pay full price for the new phone? I am so confused. 

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LostAchilles
First Poster
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I've just done exactly that. Upgraded from Note 10+ to Note 20 Ultra. They ship out a returns bag for you to return your Note 10+ within 3-5 working days after you receive your Note 20 Ultra. As long as you choose "upgrade programme" via the upgrade lounge on the Samsung website, you're perfectly fine. It's not a trade-in, it's an upgrade. As long as your phone is in great condition (they give you a checklist when applying to upgrade) then you'll likely get the full remaining balance of your Note 10+ wiped off. Plus, if you do the whole thing now, you also get £100 additional cashback on the Note 20 Ultra.

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Artyiy
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Hi there 

I'm just reading your post about the Samsung upgrade programme (uk), quick query please so once you've taken this option out eg the new S22 ultra, after 12 months do they fully credit back the remaining balance owed for the phone after you've upgraded to the new one and returned the old phone back? Many thanks 

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LostAchilles
First Poster
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That's what happened with me, yeah. You use the upgrade option; they send out the new phone and a few days later you receive a returns bag for your old phone so that you can send that back to them. Once they receive it, your old balance gets wiped off, and any applicable discount towards your new balance also gets added for you.
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