Galaxy Z Flip 5 hinge screen issue.

[SoF85]

Hi All.

I recently suffered a bad experience with Samsung customer relations. To the point were I am no longer going to purchase their products. This is from me, a life long Samsung customer. I have been since the early 00's. Teles, laptops, phones, wearable and even my washing machine. 

But my recent experience has soured my affinity for the brand.

I recently purchased a Flip 5 December(23). I haven't been completely thrilled with it. It does seem quite delicate. Even in its protected case. 

I saw the press release on the hinge causing potential issues down the line. And that Samsung would fix this issue free of charge. Low and behold. My screen from the bottom half down starts flickering on and off. After research, this is caused by the hinge issue. I arranged an appointment with my local Samsung store. I thought it would be open and shut, but this was not the case.

I attended my appointment and explained the issue. The lady I spoke to seemed uninterested as I explained the issue, and was carefully looking my phone over. She takes the phone away from me to take to an engineer to look at (For about 5 mins). The lady, manager and engineer came to visit me at the desk. Apparently, I had 1 dead pixel in the top right hand side of the phone. I've never noticed it. . There is no damage on or by it. The only damage is from the hinge. But this 1 dead pixel voids the warranty. Therefore, Samsung don't have peform the repair. And it will cost me over £400.

I raised a complaint. Which was a task in its self. I received a call back. I explained the above, lifelong Samsung customer etc But I got the same generic response from teleadvisor. They obviously didn't bother to investigate, or couldn't care less about retaining me as a customer. They said if Samsung perform the repair, it will reinstall the warranty. I said the warranty isn't worth the paper it's wrote on.

Therefore, it's looks like I will be selling this device. And never purchasing another Samsung product.

Well done Samsung👏🏻 you have just lost yourself a good few lifelong customers.

[GoanGeek]

Eh! How does 1 dead pixel void warranty?

[SoF85]

Apparently, it's Samsung policy. I was told if I paid them for the repair they would fix back to Samsung warranty standard. Paying for this repair is essentially paying for there mistake. And there 'cop-out' was this one dead pixel at the other end of the screen. I personally never even noticed it. Be careful.

[BandOfBrothers]

@SoF85 I'm disheartened at the experience you're experiencing with your phone. 

Sometimes things can go wrong which most understand, but then it's what is done to put confidence back into the brand. 

If a phone has obvious signs of an accident bump then Samsung can insist that the phone is brought back upto warranty standards,  before a Repair is initiated. 

However a dead pixel voiding warranty is a first I've heard off. 

When I traded a Samsung Fold³ in it was reported back to me that a dead pixel existed, to which I had to accept a drop of value from the initial offer, to continue with the Trade-in. 

You could try to escalate the issue with Samsung Customer Service again to try and see if a goodwill gesture is forthcoming. 

If i can be of any further help please don't hesitate to ask  😎 

[TechZilla]

Hi and welcome, sorry to hear about your bad experience, if anything usually a dead pixel is a reason in itself for a warranty repair especially if there's no dents in the screen. None of this makes sense unless there's external physical damage to the screen.

It should really be repaired under warranty, a dead pixel and the lower half of the screen flickering is reason to honour the warranty.

[Itsacoverup]

My experience and views also. I'm thinking of sharing this with the BBC as they have a show that reaches out to millions in the UK.

[SoF85]

@Itsacoverup that's fine by me 👍🏻

[Vic1985]

I had almost the exact same issue. My hinges are damaged after a bad screen pritector replacement. Samsung have voided warrenty due to physical damage. The physical damage that was caused by them. I cant get an investigation started with providing photos of the phone timestamped prior to dropping the phone immediately before the service and also getting in writing from the employee that they did the damage. 

Samsung are an absolute joke. I have escalated my issue to the local consumer ombudsman. But I too will never buy a Samsung product again. 

[Michele May]

I am having this same issue with the hinge. However, NOTHING else is wrong with the phone, only the peeling hinge! They are telling me not covered under warranty after 6 months of extremely LIGHT use. I am not understanding how Samsung can get away with this. It seems they are in violation of their warranty agreement.

[Itswhitney]

I encountered an identical problem: a peeling hinge after minimal phone use. During a screen protector replacement, the vendor claimed the peeling hinge voided the warranty, categorized my phone as damaged, and mandated an inner screen replacement at my expense due to alleged physical damage. The only damage was the peeling hinge, which constitutes normal wear and tear.