TLDR:
In the past, Samsung offered the most innovative features and best user experience for their galaxy phones. More recently, innovation has declined and has not kept up with increasing price point. Samsung seems to be scamming customers by deceptive upselling with bait and switch tactics. They have significant internal delays to their processes placing the burden on consumers to make sure trade ins are complete. Further they are delaying warranty requests and making it impossible for local repairs due to parts availability. Even when customers have bought all the extended warranties their practices are geared toward getting more money. Warranty service centers are unable to submit claims on Samsung's manufacturer warranty when the customer has purchased Samsung Care plus. Also, Samsung has not made all parts (the loudspeaker in my case) available, and the warranty service center can only offer a replacement device. This triggers a damage deductible for a warranty issue.
What would you do in this situation? Do others agree that features innovation and customer service are lacking?
Full Details:
On our last round of phone purchases, we upgraded my wife to the 25, but since I didn't find worthwhile features, I elected for the 24FE budget model. Since that purchase i have experienced nothing but the most horrible customer service experiences.
1st Strike: VIP Advantage Upsell / bait and switch:
>!When buying my S24FE phone I saw an advertisement to add the Samsung vip advantage plan to the cart for coverage of up to 5 devices. Unfortunately after getting the phone and seeing no evidence that my new device was covered, I called support. They informed me that the vip advantage program must be purchased before the phone and wouldnt even cover the device that I purchased at the same time. After several calls, I finally reached someone who said they could cancel my plan and issue a full refund. To me this is shouldn't be an upsell and is a bait and switch scam. !<
2nd Strike - Galaxy Watch trade missing credit
>!I traded in a galaxy watch 6 for a galaxy watch 7, and though I returned the previous device, they never marked it as processed. I had to call several times before I reached someone who manually marked it as processed and resolved the credit.!<
3rd Strike - Samsung won't repair phone under warranty - in limbo between manufacturer warranty / care+
>!Just before owning my Galaxy S24FE a yaer, the microphone and bottom loudspeaker stopped working properly Samsung said that I would have to visit a service center for repairs or mail the device in and wait for 2 weeks to get my device back. 2 weeks without a phone isn't feasible for anyone. Unfortunately, both service centers required a Samsung claim # before they could repair. One service center said with a claim # they could fix the microphone, but the speaker was unavailable from Samsung. So i called Samsung back and escalated the issue to a supervisor. They created a ticket and said i would receive a callback in 24-48 hours. I waited the full 48 business hours with no return call. I called Samsung for them to inform me the ticket had been closed because my device was still under the manufacturer warranty and Samsung Care Plus (servify) could not start a claim. They suggested that i return to a service center and I reiterated the need for a claim #. At this point i created a conference call between the local UBreakIFix and the Samsung rep. The UBreakIFix rep explained that the Samsung system forces all claims for a phone with Samsung care plus to go through a Samsung care plus claim process regardless of manufacturer warranty. Otherwise, the case never gets paid to UBreakIFix by Samsung. Samsung stated that they could not file a claim with care+ because the device has no physical damage. (Donut hole limbo) Finally after a Samsung supervisor consulted with the care+ team (servify), they found out that the original 1 year warranty was now expired in the weeks they were giving me the runaround. So good news, they could now give me a claim number for a local service center to do the repair! Luckily the UBreakIFix was on the phone, and he verified that if Samsung doesn't have the parts available for repair, i would have to pay $99 to receive a replacement when this should be covered under manufacturer / extended warranty. If Samsung cared about customers, an advanced replacement should be the go to option in this case IMO.!<