Absolutely Furious!!! (New Phone Will Be Locked In 72 Hours)

[gohan2092]

On 17th January I pre-ordered an S24 Ultra from Samsung directly and traded in my S10 Plus (for £190.00). I had until 20th February deadline for Samsung to receive my old phone and I posted on 14th February via Post Office using the Tracked 48 hours pre-paid return label provided in the Samsung box.

I kept the Post Office receipt for almost 2 months before throwing it last week when I was sorting through old documents. It had been 6 weeks since the deadline, I had received no indication from Samsung that there was a problem so I had not given it a second thought and assumed everything is fine (how stupid of me).

Yesterday afternoon, I received a notification on my S24 Ultra that it will be locked in 72 hours due to an incomplete trade-in issue. I immediately phoned Samsung customer support. The guy gave me a telephone number and email address for MTR (03332 079 424 and help@tradeinresponse.co.uk). I emailed the trade in team with a detailed account of events and this morning at 8:24am they replied saying only "Please provide an image of your postage receipt." I replied back immediately saying they clearly have not read my email because I explained my situation. I mentioned that I will call them at 9am. So 9am on the dot, I called 03332 079 424. I was first in the queue yet despite waiting 30 minutes, no one answered. I redialed, was first in the queue again but no one answered. I then emailed MTR 4 more times in the morning asking them for a contact number or for them to email back and help. It's now been 4 hours and no response from them! I have now contacted Samsung Support and they told me the MTR number of 03332 079 424 is incorrect and it's actually 03332 079 676. The agent tried to call but couldn't get through. I also tried to call and it says you are in a queue in position (and then it goes silent). He suggested that perhaps my phone was sent to the Samsung warehouse and not the Trade-In department so put me through to Sales team who apparently have more power to help. The sales agent there explained there is no number to contact MTR and that I have to use the email address. The thing is they are not responding to my emails! She said she will log an investigation but said I have to be patient and there is no time frame to resolve.

So is this the standard of Samsung Trade-In? I'm 6 weeks over the deadline to return my old phone. I did return it, I kept the receipt for almost 2 months. I had no indication there was a problem and now all of the sudden my new phone is going to be locked in 72 hours? My life is on my phone, I use it for work, I have my travel tickets digitally stored on there too. This is absolutely disgusting! and searching online, I see similar stories from others. How can they treat customers like this? and with no contact number to the correct department? only an email address which they appear to ignore. I am absolutely fuming! I did message @Sam_UK last night but no response so far.

[Robin999]

You say you had no indication there was a problem. Did you ever receive email confirmation for receipt of your trade in device. I know when i traded mine in i received an email to say the device was received and no further action was needed.

I actually had 3 emails in total from the Samsung Trade in team.
1st was to confirm trade in details and timescales for sending device back.
2nd was confirmation for receipt of trade in device
3rd and final email was confirmation of completed order ( I took this to mean device had been checked and passed inspection).

All in all in took just 6 days.

Have you checked your Spam folders to see if any communications went in there?

[keith30]

You should always keep receipts, especially for items like your phone for longer than 6mths to a year incase of this fact, you never know when you may need them.

[Glenntech]

Mine was the same but took about 14 days to get the third one

[gohan2092]

I am unfamilar with the trade in process but I did receive an email confirming trade-in details and time scales. I did not receive a 2nd or 3rd email. My junk mail is empty, apparently Outlook/Microsoft deletes the mail automatically every 10 days. I didn't know to expect further emails 😞 I sent my phone back well before the 20th February deadline and I emailed them to confirm I sent it. What I should have done was email a picture of the receipt at that time and I regret not doing that. Sam_uk says there is nothing they can do and I have to email the trade in team but they are not responding to me 😕

[Robin999]

Did you have any tracking numbers on your parcel? When the deadline for returning your device expired, did you not receive any further communication?

[gohan2092]

Yes, noted but the fact that it's been 6 weeks since the deadline to return the phone and I hadn't received any contact from Samsung indicating there is an issue, I really didn't think twice about throwing my receipt away. I mean I sat on it for 2 months. I won't make the same mistake again but surely Samsung would be able to track it from there end? I used their provided pre-paid Tracked 48 label , they must be able to track. I don't even know if this is the actual problem. I've not been told what the exact problem is.

[gohan2092]

I posted my phone back using the pre-paid label that Samsung provided me (it came with my new phone). It must have had a tracking number because I remember it saying "Tracked 48". No unfortunatley I didn't receive any email from Samsung except for the one about expire deadline. Of course now I know what should have happened. This is so wrong to go 2 months without letting me know there is an issue and then going to lock my phone at short notice.

[Robin999]

It would help your case if you could locate that tracking reference. What date did you receive the email warning you of expired return date?
Apologies, I take it you mean that was the 1st email you had regarding timescales and no warning email was ever received after the deadline.
Depending on which courier service you used and providing you can recall the date you sent the parcel, you could reach out to them and ask if they can investigate.
Going forward, I never use Samsungs own returns kits. I take it to Post Office and pay for my own label and service.

[gohan2092]

I received the email from the one and only email from the Trade In department on 6th February saying I should now have received my new phone and to return the old phone back using the address label I had already received with my new phone. I posted my phone on 14th via the Post Office and the deadline was 20th. I used Samsungs own pre-paid address label, My Note 10 had a trade in value of £190 so I consider that low value. If I was sending something more expensive, I would have paid the postage myself. Since this is Samsungs own label, why can't they do the tracking from their end? The label said "Tracked 48" so I assume that's Royal Mail. They say on their website they can't help with tracking if you don't have your tracking number 😞