Samsung’s promotions are overly complex

[Siju1]

Samsung’s offer and coupon system is unnecessarily complicated. I paid £50 to reserve and receive £150 worth of coupon codes. They sent the codes, but they ended up in my spam folder. I purchased my phone using a Blue Light Card offer and a discount code available in the Samsung Shop app. The initial promise was that I would be refunded my £50 since I didn’t use the reserved coupon codes. However, Samsung later claimed that because I used a £100 discount code, they considered it as having used the RAP code, even though the specific code they sent via email was never used. I’m certain I used a different code, not the one from the email. Essentially, I lost my £50 reservation fee, and even if their claim is correct, their original offer was a £150 discount, which I never fully received. In the end, they only offered me a £30 Samsung Shop voucher—what a mess.

Another issue arose with a separate promotion. When I bought the Galaxy S25 Ultra (Titanium White Silver), there was an offer for free Galaxy Buds 3 with purchase (excluding the Jet Black model). The buds were supposed to be automatically added to my order, but they weren’t. After calling Samsung, they admitted there was a system issue with this specific model. They assured me I would receive the earbuds, but it took nearly three weeks of follow-ups before they finally added them to my order—with a delivery date of March 25, 2025.

To make matters worse, there was also a review-based promotion where customers were supposed to receive a starter pack after leaving a review. Despite the 14-day period passing, I received no emails. When I contacted Samsung, they provided a link, but there was no confirmation of my eligibility or details on the validation process. Now, I’m left wondering if they’ll deny the reward because I didn’t leave a five-star review, even though that wasn’t stated as a requirement.

Overall, Samsung’s promotions are overly complex, making it unnecessarily difficult for customers to claim their offers and vouchers. They would be better off providing straightforward discounts instead of putting customers through this frustrating process.

[johnz237 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for sharing your situation. Please be sure to leave This feedback is directly for Samsung, too. Systems are automatic, so sometimes mistakes happen, either on the system or user side. But things aren't always what they seem.

I have no input on the £150 promotion as I don't know what codes you used and did not use.

Regarding the buds, I had to enter a code. I am unsure if this changed, but I did mine at launch. I assume you are getting them now? If you ordered at launch, you had to enter a code, which was clearly stated (which I assume...).you did as you got the preorder code), unless you ordered the S25 later? Regardless, I'm glad they've fixed it for you.

The email stated there would be no confirmation. You review the product (regardless of how many stars you give); this is sent 14 days after delivery. To be clear, a review, good or bad, gets you the product. You fill in the required fields, click submit (and get a confirmation on that page—a note which says thanks for reviewing). Then it's a waiting game for the promoted products (30 days wait)

I'm sorry you had to experience such difficulties. Discounts are nice, and promotions save so much, but some have found them incredibly difficult. Personally, I didn't have much issue, but I've seen some who have. Hopefully, you leave feedback, and they adjust next year.

[Siju1]

Hi John, Thanks for your reply. I used £100 offer code that was available on my Samsung shop app. I couldn’t use the £50 code or £100 discount code they sent me as part of pay and reserve offer. 

Regarding the buds offer, on the day I ordered (29/01/2025) the system said, it will automatically added if you are purchasing any S25 Ultra model expect Jet black colour. 

[johnz237]

By chance, did you use an enterprise/education Samsung? I also experienced issues that did not let me use my code until the next day. It didn't work, so I ordered anyway...but then, out of curiosity, tested the next day and it worked. I contacted Samsung and did get a £50 voucher for the inconvenience.

Ah, I see. So yes, in terms of the buds, that was a mistake on their side. I am unsure why they changed it, as to me the code was the best solution in terms of reliability. Then again, people were upset about it having to be a code because "they didn't see." Let's hope for a more consistent method next year.

[ArnoldJRimmer]

Ah yeah I missed out on the review freebies too because of that. Also had a discount code which was in-date, from Samsung, and it kept saying it wasn't valid.

[smiley]

I will start by saying that yes these promotional codes can be overly complex during preorder and busy periods.

Particularly when using the EPP employee portal or blue light. Obviously this is already a heavily discounted perk that some employment systems and companies have.

Some codes stack up together and whilst some others do not.

Personally I also ordered from my employee portal. If I remember correctly then the phone was discounted by 15% and with double storage... and hence the 512 model was priced down from 1399 to 1069... a big saving already. Sometimes due to their discounts on the EPP, some promo codes that work on the retail store do not.

I also paid the £50 in return for a £100 voucher... essentially a £50 saving. Additionally for showing a pre-registrafion code then another £50 code should have also been usable. These got emailed the night of the unpacked event, although like you, I was unable to use them both.

For the buds there was a code to use... I believe S25LIVE or likewise. Without entering this, then the buds were not added to the order.

To compound with these, a maximum of three codes were a limitation. I tried a fourth code at one point and an error 'maximum limit of 3 codes applies'.

So I experienced similar to you... was unable to use all codes, and some would not stack against one another.

Ultimately though, wirh my EPP employee purchase, with the preorder codes that I did find worked, rhe 15% employee discount, and a trade in... it was possible to get the S25u for a cost less than £600. I felt this was a fantastic deal.

Some of my stars colleagues managed to get theirs for less than £400 which was truly amazing price.

Although not all codes worked for me, I was extremely happy to receive these discounts. Many phone manufacturers would not provide this level of discount on day one preordering. Perhaps incentives are offered after a period of already being in the market for a year or two.

Our fruity competitor barely ever discounts their phones, particularly during their first couple of years.

Finally on the freebie starter pack, I have only seen one or two people that have mentioned to have received theirs on this forum. The rest of us are still awaiting this incentive.

I guess my closing message is that all these incentives, however complex... these are a very good discount. I would rather have this ability to get such discounts via codes and during preordering than to not have these incentives available. It can cause confusions and some people seem to get better success than others. But ultimately so long as your own deal fits your approval and you got yourself a cracking price then that is what matters...

Smiley

[GusB]

I got the £50 refund this week on my unused '£100' voucher as you've stated it couldn't be used (at least when I ordered)

If you haven't had a refund, provide Samsung chat the order number of the voucher and request a refund if it wasn't used - that's what the terms were.

[Siju1]

Hi, glad to hear you received your refund. I spoke with Samsung, and at first, they said I would get a refund. However, they later claimed that I had used the code they emailed to place my order. In reality, I didn’t use the emailed code but instead used a different code that was available in my Samsung Shop App.

They are now saying that the code I used was somehow linked to the one they emailed me, even though it had a different RAP code. The original promise was that if I didn’t use the emailed code, I would receive a £50 refund. However, I was never informed that another linked code would be generated in the app after 24/01/2025, when the pay-and-reserve code was supposed to expire. Confusing codes and offers ..

[Siju1]

Hi, I agree that Samsung is better than competitors no doubt about that..but they complicates offers and discounts and many of the customers like me experience issues adding those discounts and missing fabulous offers. I do not undeserstand how your friends bought the S25 Ultra for less than £400 and £500? That's amazing deals if you know how to get those prices😮

[GusB]

Mmm yeah I'm not sure about this