My inner screen protective cover started lifting and bubbling and then I had a black mark down the middle of the 2 sides of the main screen and the right hand screen was completely unresponsive to touch. I sent it to Samsung for repair (TMT) and they told me that because the front screen had a hairline crack (it didn't when I handed it over to DPD) they are not prepared to repair it under warranty. The phone is only 1 year old and I have taken great care with it.
Samsung sent me an email saying that I would need to pay an initial £25 investigation fee to get the phone looked at in more detail to ascertain the extent of the damage. After numerous phone calls and complaints to the Customer Solutions Team I was told that the investigation fee would be waived and the phone investigated further.
A few days later I received an email from Samsung to say that a parcel would be delivered to me in the next few days. I rang Samsung and no-one would tell me what was being delivered. Was it my phone? Was it repaired? They refused to tell me what was in the package.
Eventually I rang TMT directly and was told that my phone had been returned to me unrepaired because I hadn't paid the investigation fee and Samsung hadn't told them it had been waived.
I then escalated my complaint to the CEO - i found the email address myself on the internet. Samsung had refused to provide me with an email address, phone number or name of someone in authority.
The CEO representative rang me today and said my phone won't be repaired under warranty because I must have dropped it. That is not true. They want to charge me £650 to have it repaired, which I refuse to do because it is a known fault that the protective screen covers are fitted too tightly, contract at a different rate to the screen itself and then start to bubble and cause cracks on the screen. If this is a known fault then surely a repair should be covered under warranty?
The guy from the CEO office told me that the black mark on the screen can ONLY be caused by cracks to the screen and that is something that would be covered under warranty. So how come they have repaired other customers phones under warranty for the same issue but are refusing to cover mine??? He has totally contradicted himself! Having now had my phone delivered back to me i can see that the front screen protective cover is bubbling and lifting and it looks like a small hairline crack has appeared - it wasn't like that when I sent it to Samsung. But even if it had been then surely the contracting and too tight fitting protective cover could cause cracks to the front screen as well as the inner?
I am absolutely disgusted with Samsungs complete lack of ownership and responsibility for acknowledging that this is a design fault and that they are charging customers for repairs that are no fault of their own.
You only have to trawl through this forum and the internet to read that Samsung are already aware of the flaws, suspended release of the first model and have stated that each new generation is getting better! So how come they refuse to honour a 2-year warranty on a premium flagship and very expensive phone?
I refuse to be fobbed off with this and will take the matter further and report them to Trading Standards - the phone is not fit for purpose!
To anyone thinking of buying a Fold or Flip - DON'T! Or at least not without insurance because Samsung will do everything in their power to avoid honouring a warranty.
On principle I will never buy a Samsung product again.
