S24 Ultra Disappointment

[Jeff knight]

Everything I've experienced has been wrong. I was one of the foolish people who gave my email address in early January with the promise of a $50 credit. On Galaxy Unpacked day 1/17, I attempted to order my phone even before the event ended. The first two tries the site kicked me out of the order page when it defaulted to Samsung Finance and I wanted to pay cash for my phone and I declined. Finally on the 3rd try I was allowed to order the phone but I wasn't allowed to use the $50 pre registration credit nor the $150 toward accessories. Disappointed I moved forward thinking I would get an email with the codes to use for that. Wrong! Much to my surprise I was notified that my phone shipped 1/24. Great I thought. Wrong! The very next day it made it to Memphis and disappeared. The email reflected the phone would be delivered 1/26. When it wasn't I called Samsung 1/27 and I was told I needed to wait 8 days before I could file a missing/stolen report. She also said she could see movement of my phone even though I couldn't. I have since discovered that wasn't accurate. I agreed to wait until Monday 1/29. On Monday I was told the phone should be to me still but a claim was filed because "something was wrong". I was also told that when I was kicked out of the ordering twice I should have been signed in and that's why I wasn't "allowed" to use my credits to purchase accessories. Really? I thought I was signed in. I was not  completely kicked off the site just from the ordering page and back to the beginning when I declined Samsung Finance. Her solution was to purchase another phone upfront and she would load the accessories of my chosing. She also said that I would be reimbursed for the first phone at some future time if it showed back up to them or was found to be stolen. She also said that if it eventually came to me I was to decline it and when it made it back to them I would eventually be reimbursed. Excuse me but NO. Although I told her I had no intention she proceeded anyway. The claim was filed and it showed up on my tracking as a lost item. Miraculously the next day with no tracking in 5 days my phone showed up. That began the rest of the odyssey. It took hours for my information from the Note 20 Ultra to load to the new phone. Fine. I'm used to it. What I wasn't used to is the muted colors especially on vivid. Nothing was right about the messaging. The battery was dwindling faster than a race and everything about this phone appears wrong. I called technical support and although the gentleman was very nice he wasn't very helpful. I also asked to be connected to support for the order and was told by another nice but unhelpful person that it was all my fault that I waited to late to order the accessories. When I explained all I had been through the story changed and she defaulted to I should have been signed in instead of listed as a guest. When I again pressed about the lost phone for days and the fact I had been signed in she said I wasn't diligent enough and should  have reported it. Are you kidding me? I have them on speed dial ive called so much. You get the picture. So the phone still doesn't work properly at this point. I gave up on customer service and called tech supporr back. This time I got another nice person on the line who actually knew what he was doing. Much to my surprise, Samsung has changed this phone where it doesn't work well with Google messaging. It is downright horrible. He moved me to the Samsung messages and presto the phone worked properly. I was told that it was a choice to I suppose usher everyone to Samsung messaging etc. Many other changes were made by this technician that greatly improved the phone. But I'm left feeling as though I've been boxed into a corner and my options are far less than before. Is this a choice from Samsung to force us onto all of their products for it to work correctly? Back to the ordering. I again called Samsung about the initial order. I was told by the next nice person I spoke with they were sorry but the mistake was all mine and they would offer me a $75 credit. She couldn't answer why I couldn't get the $50 pre sign up credit and she would only say that it was all my fault I don't get the $150 because I was too late. Yesterday I received an email That reflected I could get another $25 for my trouble bring it to $100 credit. I declined. I don't even know that I'm keeping this phone. It still isn't what I hoped and now I'm sorry I didn't just stick with my Note 20 Ultra until something else came along. My whole goal with this phone was to hopefully use the AI features to clone my late partners voice who passed away last May to use for guidance and responses on the phone. I realize I've spent $1,558 on a mistake and I have to either return it or live with it. This is my 6th Galaxy device I have never been disappointed with any of the other 5 before. The only response from my friends who almost all exclusively have I Phones is we've tried to tell you for years that customer service means a lot. 

[Suz1008]

Yeah I have had Samsungs for years and never had an issue until now but it's when you do that you find out how much good CS means. Sorry for your loss of your partner.

[Jeff knight]

Thank you. It's been a difficult road. Hardest I've ever walked down and quite frankly this hasn't helped me at all. 

[Suz1008]

I understand. When you are already at the lowest, things like this seem almost overwhelming. It's certainly not up to others to downplay your issues with the phone as some have been doing on here. It can be like a splash of water in a cup already filled to the brim. I wish you well.

[Jeff knight]

I haven't seen any of those comments 

[Suz1008]

Sorry I meant people's issues with the phone not specifically yours. Apologies.

[JAMES4578]

Sorry you had a frustrating experience and  obviously been a stressful time with the loss of your partner.   Whilst not certain and some conflicting reports there is likely to be a software fix for the Vivid Mode issue some customers have experienced in due course.  others though prefer the Natural Mode  which provides the most accurate colours.

Whilst everyone is welcome on this community any specialised support is restricted to the UK/reland. If interested the US community is here https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Samsung-Community/ct-p/us?page=1&tab=recent_topics 

[HootleTootle]

Holy wall of text, Batman! Also, this isn't the US forum, so Holy waste of time, Batman!

[Obsydian]

Sorry to hear, its a humdinger when things go wrong.

[Tazim]

For $50 you had to enter voucher code, which is SAVE24. I haven't noticed accessories $150, but most of us got free watch 6. Code was S24UW6 maybe