Samsung refusing to repair your item? Check the law!

[Mjbk88]

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:

EU directive 1999/44/ec - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eudr/1999/44/contents

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!

[summersue]

Brilliant advice thank you

[summersue]

Just hope that works on my flip 4 only had it a month and with small fall to ground in protective leather case the hinge has broken and phone will not open fully

[davey99]

I did not even drop my phone. Or anything since i had it the nicrophone for calls has cut out. So badly that the personnon the other can only hear fragments of what i say this has hindered me for almost a year. The warranty is almost over. For the 12 months. Ibhave contacted and sent my device off to them they send it back saying there is jo fault because they purely use the developer test menu and the microphone will work for the firet few eeconds but then it becomes intermittent.having argued witu cistomer services several times. And being told to keep the software ul to date etc and still gaving same problem. I am now at my wits end. I paid £1799 for a daulty phone. That was covered in f8nger prints whenbi got it like a second hand phone. And expected a new device that worked i am sick of it.just being passed back amd forward and keep sending my phone off. Lazt time they kept it for 2 weeks. They even took of the protective films wh8chbi kept in place out the box. Which also lowers the resale value of my phone. So i am more than pissed my fold 2 also had faults nothing but issues. Stay away from the fold series becauss they are more trouble than they are worth!! Never had issues with a note. I hope this post will help i will email this address today. Thanks

[Arkadiusz33]

I can relate, exactly same problem. Service center keep lying to me and yesterday they deleted my complain on samsung forum. Looks like there is no other way that pursue legal action. Thanks for advice !

[Members_SjPmXHU]

Enough is enough, Samsung will lose all their customers, today they asked me to pay them even declining the £195 fee to fix the software that they broke it in an update, and because its passed the warranty Samsung charging 195 to fix it or £18 for declining the fix and thus still charging you to get your phone back. Enough is enough. We will all stop buying their crappy phones that haven't been good since the s6 and s7 edge.  I no longer am supporting Samsung. Good bye.

[lisa12345]

Hiw can I escalate a refusal of repair to new Samsung flip phone which cracked screen in my pocket

[IDontKnowWhy]

Hello,

Thanks a lot for this post. I am having issues with samsung too !

Do you know by any chance if this email also work for customers in Canada ? 
I guess i am going to need canadian law and arguments. But is the email the same ?

thanks !!!!

[steve8283]

had my buds2 pro 14 months right bud wont charge past 31 percent samsung want me to pay for repair will i be civered by what you have stated in the post

[steve8283]

is that a good email to send to them ?