Samsung refuse to pay for phone!

[somesang]

So I had problems with my phone and decided to buy a new one. My phone was valued at 300 plus for a trade in and I paid the rest. 

Within 3 weeks the phone became faulty .so i sent it for a replacement, a week later I got a email saying ,I have been refunded !. 

At this point I had had enough of samsung and wanted to move on.so I asked for my old phone back.i was told it has been recycled and I would be given the market value which is '130' (s21) they gave it a value of 300plus when trading but when having to have to pay me back they have reduced that drastically! even though it was their error. 

Can someone guide me as to take this further .as the customer service is beyond terrible .my emails are being ignored (as apparently, I can only email that department ) and the people on the phone stick to their script .I feel as though I have been robbed !!

[PaulC59]

Interesting question? In principle you have returned the phone so you have returned the full value of what you paid so 8 don't see a reason why you shouldn't be refunded with the full amount. However you would need to check the agreement you signed i.e the small print to see if it's covered. If it was me I would go back to Samsung and ask them to re examine the situation and if your unable to resolve the issue you could get independent advice from citizens advice or trading standards etc as I wouldn't like to try to give legal advice but I suspect it affects people who return their phones e.g change their mind etc. I suspect there is a cooling off period where your old device is held but after that then it probably gets complicated. Hope this helps

[Glenntech]

Your old phone would have gone to a third party company for the recycling process.
Once received there, it goes into the recycling process straight away and it will no longer be able to be returned.

Unfortunately the £300 trade in will be part of a promotion. So returning the new phone will I suspect, in a certain time frame. Would cancel the promotion. Hence the standard trade in

Your case is a bit strange as instead of repairing or replacing the phone. They chose to do a refund.
Be interesting in the correspondence regarding this. But the terms and conditions of the purchase and promotion would be the ruling factor.

Can only say the escalate it with the customer support service to push for a satisfactory solution

[Pugs1957]

Have to disagree on that one, Samsung use some of the margin to subsidies the trade in price. It's no different than changing your car. If you sell the car to a dealer you won't get as much compared to trading it in for a part exchange.
Yes, certainly the contract needs to be checked, though.

[somesang]

I have been trying to push this with the customer service team. Unfortunately there is a lack of communication as the call centre is not in a country where the first language is English.
I should be compensated as this was not my error. The only correspondence with the trade in department is via email ,even though I have spoke to them on the phone prior.i have been told this is not the case anymore .I have never experienced such poor service from a "leading '' organisation

[-Robot-]

I think the argument you have is why was there no option to replace or repair it, and refunded instead, which is not normal as far as I have seen

I would argue and insist on a repair or replacement due to the trade in, as to getting trade in price for the old phone I think and I am not agreeing that promotion trade in price is not the same as real street value

[PaulC59]

To be honest I'm not 100% certain. I think it's different if it's a return due to a fault compared to just trading something in. If your just trading something in then you would only get its trade in value which is lower than its retail value. If it's a return then you would normally be entitled to it's full retail value. I.e so both sides of a trade can return to the same position they were in before the trade took place without being out of pocket i.e if the item you traded in is no longer available could you reasonably buy another of the same item on the open market with the amount awarded. There are a lot of regulations that come into effect such as the sale of goods act, whether it was bought online, how long you have had it etc etc that protect consumers and retailers in cases where faulty goods are sold so it's not straight forward and can get complicated. It would need a legal mind better than mine to give a proper answer

[Pugs1957]

Yes, it is a complicated situation and the OP should be placed back into the same position as they were before the transaction. Perhaps EBAY prices should be the starting point for financial compensation or Samsung could supply a refurbished model of the trade in?

[PaulC59]

Yes it's never easy especially if customer is unhappy. I remember buying a Digital and HD Ready TV from Argos many years ago, discounted from 1150 to 999 online in preparation for the switch from Analogue to Digital and after around 3 or 4 years the switch took place and the TV wouldn't work, I contacted Argos customer care to complain and they told me it had the wrong TV module so wasn't compatible as the government changed the frequency or something, they also told me as I bought it online I was covered by distance selling regulations for up to 6 years which I didn't even know myself. They took the TV back and gave me a voucher for the full 1150 retail price, which I could use towards any other product. So a got an upgrade to the latest plasma TV for just under 100 quid so I was well chuffed. Since then for many years, Argos has always been one of my first stops when shopping for products so they have made their money back several times over from me alone not counting recommendations and referrals I have made to them. I think it pays businesses to go the extra yard when things go wrong as nitpicking or penny pinching might save a bit in the short term but cost a whole lot more in the long term.

[japlah]

My view is that Samsung gave failed to complete a "contract" to provide a new phone that included taking back the old phone. They are in breach of the supply of goods legislation and it online or in a shop. Advise them you are proceeding with a small claims court action for breach of contract and that you will be seeking to recover all your costs involved in resolving the breach. Email directly to Samsung UK "*******"