Faulty Galaxy Buds Live promotional gift and Samsung (lack of) support

[DirkGently68]

Just had my Samsung Galaxy Buds Live (came from Ingram Micro Services) as the free promotional gift for purchasing the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (512GB/16GB variant) from the Samsung webshop.

The delivery note states if you have any issues contact the promotions team via the website, it may be me, but I am unable to find any link to the promotions team.

After 2 minutes of use and with both buds on maximum charge the right hand bud has died, it will not connect to the phone or PC even after 7 hours in the charging case with the red light showing.

A 2 hour plus social media conversation with support has told me to reset the buds and clean them! I've reset them, fine sensible suggestion.

Their next best option is to clean them as there may be dirt in the mesh stopping me hearing through them or dirt stopping them charging.

Really! dirt! They are brand new and have been out of the case for about 5 minutes total. The red light comes on when the faulty bud is put in the case but never goes off, and the bud went from 100% to dead in less than 2 minutes. Is this magic battery draining dirt that lives only in one of my ears?

Beyond this no one has responded, I've never been a big Samsung fan but thought I would give them a go this year, but the level of support makes me wish I'd spent my £1329 with a different company.

Rant over, just needed to get this off my chest as someone who works in customer service!

Tomorrow I will start again but on an open forum like twitter. If customer service is King then Samsung at the moment are acting more like the King's Jester.

[DirkGently68]

Strangely they have a completely different serial number too!

[GusB]

Sorry for the slightly off topic Q, how long did you have to wait to receive them? I'm still waiting for mine, claimed nearly 1 month ago (I know it says can take 45 days, but curious)

[DirkGently68]

It was about a month

[GusB]

Thanks

[gazza1234]

I am on my third pair. left bud keeps cutting out at random times, even with the phone right in front of me. getting a refund and a voucher so will try the buds Pro

[gazza1234]

Buds live hVe a problem with connectivity. I had three pairs all had same issue. Must customer support have been very helpful keep sending me new ones as swap out. Cant fault. But there must be an issue with them, 3 pairs cant have been faulty. They have refunded me the equivalent retail cost plus £30 voucher to use against the buds pro. Good customer no quibble return and replace samsung, but fix the issue

[Culbin]

Not sure if this will help but it's my experience.

I spent a year frustrated at the buds cutting out repeatedly. Turns out I just had them pushed too far into my ears, which in fairness was something Samsung said not to do.

Now I wear them further out of my ears and, although not perfect, it's much better. It takes a little getting used to having them resting out further in the ear but you get used to it.