I've had the same issue with my Galaxy Note 20 Ultra through EE... This was my complaint to them earlier today. To follow up on the complaint, EE have agreed to send a fourth handset to me promising it will be in sealed box as the original phone should have been... I'll await to see the result! I should also note that although I said the rattle is not there on this latest phone, I can confirm I have since started hearing the noise again suggesting it is either a common fault, a fault with certain batches of Note 20 Ultra's or is caused by as one of the other posters, a technical reason such as the camera. Either way, it's not good in a phone costing so much money.
I write to EE Complaints to say that I am absolutely disgusted with the service received from EE to this point.
This is in no way a reflection on the excellent customer service I have received from all of your Customer Service and Technical Line workers (apart from some mis-guided information) but on the terrible, and worsening result each time of the end result from my complaints.
You will have my notes on record which I suggest you read before the rest of this complaint. In short, the following is the situation I have experienced.
Phone 1 – I pre-ordered a brand new Samsung Note Ultra 20 phone via EE ready for the recent release date. Upon receipt the phone was packaged in its original box with two security seals, front and back screen protectors and top and bottom case protectors to protect the metal exterior. I discovered the phone rattled but assumed this was a normal thing until eventually the top speaker that you put your ear to during a call began failing. It would start and stop working depending on the angle you held the phone making it obvious that something was loose inside. I discussed this with EE Customer Services who told me to go to store where they would replace.
I subsequently went to my nearest store, where they immediately told me they wouldn’t replace because it was an online pre-order – they only deal with in store purchases.
I came home and contacted Customer Services again, who put me through to level 2. Level 2 told me I shouldn’t have been sent to store because they don’t service online customers. Level 2 agreed to send a replacement phone.
Phone 2 – Phone arrived, in the original box, with only one security seal, a front and rear protective cover but no top and bottom protector. I found this strange that my brand new phone did not come in the same packaging as the original pre-order. On opening, the phone had the same rattle suggesting again something was loose. On this occasion the speaker was working well, but I didn’t want to end up with the same issue further down the line so I decided to visit a Samsung store to speak to one of the technicians who told me the rattle was not normal. He checked with his manager for any known faults which came back negative, and who also said this was not normal. They allowed me to shake their in-store phones for comparison, none of which had any rattle. They both advised me to go back to EE to ask for a further replacement.
Spoke to EE customer services again who once again advised me to go to store for repair of phone. I told customer services that I was not willing to accept a repair for what should be a brand new £1400 phone and that I wouldn’t go to store because they will turn me away again. I ended up at level 3 support who eventually agreed to send a brand new, sealed replacement phone because I did not want my new phone to be a repair job.
Phone 3 – Phone 3 arrived today. I was told to package everything up for phone 2 as I had done so for phone 1 the previous time. This included the original box, headphones, charger, etc. When DPD arrived, they handed me a flimsy EE branded cardboard box with only the phone inside, no charger, no headphones, no manuals, not even any protective packaging! A £1400 phone delivered by courier floating around inside a single layered cardboard box, just like that you’d find on a cereal box.
The delivery driver told me I couldn’t open the replacement phone box and swap everything around while he was there because he had to take photos, so I couldn’t check the phone properly, and at the same time had to hand over the entire contents of phone 2 for him to take away, again including box, chargers, etc. I questioned the fact there was clearly no room for a charger or anything else in the box he was delivering to which he told me they would send everything else out later. In the process of packaging phone 2 up in his takeaway bag, he dropped phone 2 out of the box and on to the floor face down outside my doorstep so who knows what damage that has now done.
On opening phone 3, As mentioned there was no protective packaging inside, and the phone again had no protective stickers top and bottom like there was on phone 1, there are scuff marks on the top of phone 3 gold casing, and the phone was already turned on and on the camera screen.
This is clearly beyond doubt a repaired phone that someone else has already returned which I specifically asked not to have. To add insult to this, I now have no charger, no sim key to open the drawer, no original box, no headphones, no manuals, no nothing. I am now left with what should have been a brand new shiny £1400 phone, that I might as well have purchased as a secondhand item to compare to what I am now left with. The only one good thing to come out of this is that the phone does not rattle confirming I was right to be concerned the first two times.
In addition to the process of getting to this point, I have spent countless minutes on the phone to EE, online chats with EE, writing emails to EE, traveling to and from EE and Samsung stores, paying for parking & screen & camera protectors and taking two days off work to be available to exchange the faulty goods. I am now spending more time writing this complaint.
I am disgusted that EE find this acceptable. You would think after a second faulty replacement they would do anything in their powers to get the 3rd one right, but they have failed more miserably than they had the first two times. I have taken video evidence of the rattle from phone 2 and photos of the condition and packaging for phone 3 which I can provide on request.
At the point of pre-ordering this flagship phone, I and no one else would have accepted an item being sent to them in such a state as any of them, but in particular phone 3. I don’t see why I as the customer should be penalised for the mistakes and faults in a product you are selling. I haven’t done anything wrong, so why should I accept this poor service and product?
I am requesting that this issue be corrected immediately with a brand new, sealed in original box with all ancillaries, case and screen protectors, phone that has not been subject to repair and does not rattle, with compensation for my time, effort and costs incurred, otherwise I will be forced to take this further.
Please respond as soon as possible.
Regards,
