Upgrade program customers sharfted!

[Rach77]

So, after my rant regarding the upgrade programme being scrapped, here's my update

I decided to get the S 24 Ultra and pay for it outright. My husband needed a phone so he got my S 23 ultra.

So now I'll be keeping this phone for a few years which means Samsung will miss out on me owning the next 3 Uktra phones. Seems like the upgrade programme cancellation might cost Samsung future unit sales.

[Rach77]

Exactly 💯

[Rach77]

Yes. That's exactly the point. So each year you need to make a £600 payment to upgrade. That is if they don't change the trade in values by then

[keithcoyne]

So what's the best solution for existing upgrade programme customers? Sell the phone and pay off the Klarna balance?

[CosmicThomas]

Id think it go with flex 14 months then pay it off early in 12 if you want to upgrade and use it as a trade in?. Maybe saves having to give klarna 720 bucks now and give glow abit less next year.

Me personally I've gone for flex 26 just to get rid of my 23U as it got a nasty scratch last week and wasn't to bummed because I thought I'd be upgrading. I'll take the free watch and skip out next year. See what the 26U brings.

Funny how I was Samsung for life because of the upgrade program and today I'm already watching videos on what Google and apple are doing

[steve0]

so looking at the terms and conditions- here is an extract

b) you can choose for your Existing Handset to be bought back by a third party company MTR Group Limited (“MTR”) and Samsung, acting as intermediary will make the final settlement payment owed under your credit agreement. The offer to buy back your Existing Handset is only available where your Existing Handset meets the conditions detailed in clauses 9,10 and 11 below and is subject to the provisions detailed in clauses 6 and 7 below regarding the return of your Existing Handset.
3.7 We recommend that you purchase a protective cover for your handset to help ensure that it remains in good working condition.

It is not very well explained , but you could interpret  that MTR will buy back the phone at the going rate subject to condition and samsunguses this to  settle the credit,  and any balance left over, goes towards the next upgrade.

Even if this is the case - it is still a bit of con that you will miss out on any pre-order promotions

[alanni1]

Maybe I'm just being stupid  but all this is incredibly confusing.

I owe Klarna around £700. Is trading the S23 in and having that account settled only possible if paying with Flex with the 14 / 26 month terms.

Or is there a facility to have the Klarna balance settled ( by Samsung )  after sending the S23 back and either paying for an S24 in full or via Samsung / PayPal/ Klarna Finance 

[Rach77]

It's really confusing but I think that Samsung settle the balance for your s23 and then yiu take out a new finance contract with Samsung for their Flex finance. Then you pay monthly for that until you settle your loan or you sens back the phone at the end of the contract and start a fresh flex agreement. What's not clear is how much you pay over the term but it seems that you pay most of the amount and then when you send that phone back Samsung pay the remaining £370 ish final payment and you start all over again with the next phone.
In a nutshell. The upgrade programme was brilliant and fair but the flex programme costs the customer a lot more. Which is why they are changing

[GreaterGalaxyUK]

The only thing to bear in mind is if you buy via Klarna and then trade the phone in, you will still need to pay Klarna what you owe. So you could be paying for two phones for a while.

[steve0]

UPDATE

I called samsung finance-- they confirm they only pay the final installment of £343 (s24u). That's it-so if you upgrade with samsung flex  they get back  an s24U worth £600 or more for £343.  We have been short changed by at least £300

[Saxacat]

I was hoping for an option for Samsung to pay off my S23U and for me to by the S24U outright, sadly not there.  I did give serious thought to just keeping the S23U (I'm really happy with it, it is a great device), but with the demise of the Upgrade Program, this will likely be my last annual upgrade, so I've ordered an S24U on the longer Flex option and will probably keep it till 2026, and if possible buy outright from then on.