Has one of your earbuds died and you live/purchased your earbuds within the EU? Samsung telling you that they only have a 12 month warranty and you'll have to pay for a fix? Fear not! This is just Samsung willfully trying to break the law. Having just gone through this process, let me help fast-track anyone with this issue in getting it resolved. Note: this must be a hardware defect. If your headphones have died because you stood on them/took them for a swim etc, you won't be covered by the below.
Background
A few weeks ago, my right bud died, and after sending it to Samsung to be repaired, they said a) it was a hardware defect and b) I would have to cough up £49.99 for it to be repaired. Well, knowing consumer law, I knew this wasn't right.
The Solution
The piece of legislation that will save you the cost of repair for your buds is:
To summarise, it states that from the date of delivery, every item must be functioning for the first 24 months if treated correctly:"The seller shall be liable to the consumer for any lack of conformity which exists at the time the goods were delivered."And no terms and conditions is allowed to override this as set out in Article 7. So if your buds have broken and you've owned them for less than 24 months, you are legally entitled to a free-of-charge repair, replacement or refund.
Who to Contact
Don't bother with customer services. They will lie to you saying that the law doesn't apply and the Samsung warranty is only 12 months. Unsurprisingly, corporate policy doesn't override the law. You'll have to escalate it to the following email:
uk.president@samsung.com - the President Office Esculations.
This department is the only one that can authorise repairs free of charge based on the above law. The regular Customer Resolutions team cannot, and won't, issue a free repair, if it's out of the Samsung warranty period.
When contacting the above email, quote the EU Directive directly and state it is their legal obligation to "bring the item back into conformity by either repair, replacement or refund". Through this, I was able to secure my legally entitled repair and now my buds are back to working fine.
Samsung are deliberately and willingly ignoring this law. Please use it; it exists to ensure high quality items and seeing £130 headphones die in under 24 months and the company being unwilling to repair it for free isn't acceptable.
Hope this saves someone some money!