I have the same issue as countless others – a Flip phone (Flip4) whose main screen has decided to stop working (in my case, about 16 months after I purchased it). The outer screen and the phone itself still works - the inner screen comes on once in a blue moon.
It is still under warranty, so I booked a repair at an EE shop. The guy took a look at it and acknowledged there was no visible damage to the screen or the phone in general, so sent it off to the engineer for repair.
Cue an email a few hours later quoting £340 for a new screen. The warranty was now void, apparently, because of ‘damage to the phone’.
The poor EE guy was clearly mortified and explained that this happens ALL THE TIME with Flip phones. There is clearly a design flaw with this model of phone, and the hinge is obviously the root of the problem. If you look at the photos, the screen does appear damaged in the middle where it folds - but it's not because of misuse but simply the repeated opening and closing of the phone.
It’s one thing for a phone to have a design flaw – quite another for Samsung to weasel out of its contracted obligation to repair it, which apparently is the all too familiar experience for most people unfortunate enough to have purchased Flips.
The contrast between this and my customer service experience with Apple is night and day, and frankly I will never, ever buy another product from Samsung.
Sorry that they have turned down the repair. Do you have insurance you can claim on ?
Is that visible impact damage on one of the corners of the phone ? Samsung will find any reason that 'put stress on the hinge and screen' to not warrant the repair.
Is there a larger gap in the outer screen on one side... I.e. caused from a drop ? Can't see if it is the perspective of the photo or there is actual damage. It looks like there is some dent and damage to that side.
Is that visible impact damage on one of the corners of the phone ? Samsung will find any reason that 'put stress on the hinge and screen' to not warrant the repair.
Is there a larger gap in the outer screen on one side... I.e. caused from a drop ? Can't see if it is the perspective of the photo or there is actual damage. It looks like there is some dent and damage to that side.
Similar warranty issue on my Z fold 4:
I was told that due to the cosmetic damage on the outside of the phone, the inner screen was not under warranty now.
My question to them was, how can you avoid scratches and scuffs on these phones especially after 18 months of usage?
They replied, get a phone case.
Really? I don't see it being specified anywhere in the marketing material that a phone case has to be used to avoid voiding your warranty due to cosmetic scuffs and scratches.
According to one of the people on this post "Samsung goes through destructive tests to gauge structural and integrity robustness". I think there are also people on YouTube doing fall tests on these phones which appear to show that the inner screen isn't easily affected by falls. It is also likely that they carry out these tests on new phones. Which supports my argument that this is essentially a design fault that likely comes into play on a longer term on some phones (not all).
It's quite apparent that Samsung will use all the small print it can to avoid honouring the costly repair of these phones under the warranty and by extension admitting that the inner screen is not very robust.
I would suggest that this falls under 'The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999'. I think some legal action is needed here.
Small claims court here I come...
