I have always been a Xiaomi user. After a couple friends convinced me to finally get a Samsung I went for the S21 because of the smaller size. It was great, it had everything I needed (very good camera, screen, battery etc...).
Unfortunately after 5 months the screen started playing up. It first took on a orange tint with decreased brightness. I played with every setting imaginable (Eyeshield, brightness etc..). Nothing worked. I then factory reset the phone, that didn't help either. A couple days later half the screen went black, while the other half flickered. Within 20min the screen went full on black. Pressing and holding down the volume down button + home button causes the phone to vibrate as if it is restarting, unfortunately the screen remains black.
After contacting Samsung support in Norway they directed me to a repair shop called Conmodo. To my shock the repair shop said the warranty for the screen was void because of some "big notches in the frame". They gave me two options pay 37 euros to get the phone back unrepaired or 350 euros to repair the screen. I chose the former. On receiving the phone back, unrepaired, I carefully examined the phone and spotted tiny chip marks on the frame of the phone (only on the left half of the frame and upper part). You could easily be forgiven if you didn't see the marks, that is how small they were. I am pretty sure the chips marks were the result of me taking off my case multiple times when cleaning the phone because they are only on the upper and left part on the phone. Makes me wonder about the quality of the phone if a silicone case can do this...
I simply do not for one second believe that some small chip marks on the FRAME caused the whole screen to die over the course of a couple of days. This is simply a blatant excuse to void the warranty. There is no way the repair shop can even ascertain what caused the screen to die just by looking at these tiny marks.
I have heard that the S21 has historically had more issues with its screen when compared with other phones. Considering Samsung knows this there should have been even less reason not to repair the phone under warranty, if they care about the customer.
If my phone had fallen or I did something to cause the black screen then I would be the first to admit it. I would have taken it on the chin and paid for the repair myself, but not like this. 5 months in and the screen outright dies. I slapped on a top notch case with a screen protector and not once dropped my phone. At this point I would have been happier if my phone had fallen off a 6 story building and cracked the screen. At least this way I would know what I am being asked to pay for.
What is more frustrating is that the only advice I keep getting from Samsung support is to contact the repair shop and explain. Sorry I didn't buy the phone from the repair shop, I bought it from Samsung. Either way the repair shop says that is how it is deal with it, I even had to pay 37 euros in total to get the phone back unrepaired for their "work" and shipping.
Samsung definitely needs to look into this repair shop (Conmodo) as on google it has horrific reviews. Do you really want a company like that representing you? When I saw the reviews at first I thought that people were simply being complacent, oh boy was I wrong.
Samsung, you could have had a life long customer and I probably would have also recommended your phones to my family as well. Unfortunately having a TRUE warranty for me is very important. Furthermore, when your authorised repair shop uses inconsequential damage on the phone as an excuse to void the whole warranty then that is a deal breaker for me. How can I ever buy a Samsung again knowing that this is the practice? Next time perhaps the CPU dies. What happens when the repair shop sees a scratch on the screen and says sorry we can't repair your phone there is a scratch on it?
