I am done with Samsung

[CrazyTom2k2]

Hey all, just thought I'd share a little update.

I brought an S23 Ultra back in February - and it's been an absolute trooper of a phone. Up until July/August time, when I noticed a pretty significant camera issue - I'd get a line on the output of photos/videos I took with the main shooter. There's a couple of examples attached.

Naturally, phone being in warranty still, I sent these off to Samsung with details, and they sorted out a repair order. This is where things get a little dicey.

I didn't hear back from Samsung after they picked up my phone, and they couldn't tell me where it was. So I panicked a little.

Turns out it was with the repair centre, and they hadn't scanned it yet. So all good again.

....until I got the news that they'd reported that there was no fault with the camera. Which, obviously, there is a fault. So the phone was sent back with the fault it had.

So I contacted Samsung once again, who advised me to either send the phone off for another 2 weeks for investigation, or to drive to my nearest Samsung store.

Not wanting to be without my phone again, I opted to drive to the Samsung store. Up until the point where I rang the store and they told me that their repair centre was closed, so they could look at the fault and nothing else.

So now I'm stuck in a Catch-22. I want the issue resolved in a manner that won't inconvenience me further (something like a doorstep repair, in-store repair (except they're closed), or a replacement device). I don't think I'm being unreasonable here - I've put up with this for a few months now.

So, speaking with Samsung's solutions department, they insist that my only 2 options are sending it away, or going to a store that's repair centre is closed.

...and that's it. No room for negotiation, no compromises, nothing.

So, this S23 Ultra is now being dealt with by Klarna. And this will probably be the last Samsung phone I buy for a while. I'm done, I'm sick and tired of jumping through hoops to get a £1,300 phone to work as I'd expect it to.

[keire1916]

Yeah samsungs are all about the customization and not about stability and long term, iphones and pixels are the way to go, this s23 will be the last samsung I buy

[CrazyTom2k2]

You know what - I showed it to one of my family members who said the exact same thing. It does have the characteristics of a hairline crack on the lens (as it moves around, whereas a crack on the sensor I'd imagine would be static). It's just annoying as the camera's meant to be the headline feature of this phone and its like "well, the headline feature is broke"

[CrazyTom2k2]

Cuz of that crack, no-one's asking "can you send me that?" 😂

[CrazyTom2k2]

It's a massive shame, I really liked the camera on this phone. Up until I started getting the line on the output. And then having the company make it so blooming difficult to get it fixed, it's ridiculous

[CrazyTom2k2]

And it is so obvious, I really don't get how they missed it

[MorningBlunt]

Does the line save on photos? Or do photos look fine when taken?

[CrazyTom2k2]

Unfortunately, the line does form part of the photos

[JAMES4578]

Sorry it seems to have been a frustrating experience Tom,, obviously a significant issue. Admittedly I do not see the line on the swans photo but clear on the others. I would have thought that a Doorstep Repair would have been an option(you can usually book that online though they ask customers to go through Troubleshooting first)
Unfortunately any third party repair would invalidate warranty.

[Obsydian]

Sorry to hear but same experience with First Direct, forget the name, are totally crooks, same experience clear issue, weeks later item was returned as fixed, but after a call no explanation as to what, but a supposed full test report, any issue was not fixed.

[PaulC59]

That's a strange one. I can see the line on the car and the camera screen but not on the swans. I think it's strange that the line disappears behind your shutter button on the camera screen. This tells me it could be a software or sensor issue as the line looks like it's pixelating rather than a clean line. If it was me I would check the obvious i.e no protectors on camera lenses give a thorough clean and clear the cache for the camera and reset it, I'm not sure if you can uninstall and reinstall the camera but worth a go? Maybe download another camera app to test it? Try making sure phone is taken out of case and test camera with no case to rule out any reflection from case or accessories etc. I suspect you've done all this already but always worth eliminating other causes which can help when you tell a tech what you have already tried? Hope this helps