In January 9th I wrote to Samsung (via their web site form system) about the SGH-A501 model we’d bought for the eldest daughter two weeks before Xmas 2006 and which failed over Xmas 2007.
They responded a few days ago suggesting I ring their technical support for assistance which I did.
They politely said hard luck.
Personally I think this stinks. Samsung is a massive company but even massive companies depend on little people parting with their cash in order to keep them afloat. I doubt my complaint will make much difference but since this is a clear manufacturing flaw maybe other people will read the story and decide other companies will create more reliable technology and not buy Samsung.
In the meantime I’ve again written to them to see if they can come up with a suitable solution.
Dear Samsung Erms,
Thank you for your response.
I contacted the number as requested and was told that regardless of the phone having failed a week or two out of the warranty period there is nothing Samsung is willing to do to rectify the situation and repair/replace it unless we pay the full cost!!
Surely the ‘warranty policy’ has *some* flexibility built into it to allow a grace period for equipment that totally fails immediately after the warranty has expired??
It’s not as if the phone was heavily used or damaged in any other way. We’ve been informed that the issue is actually a motherboard failure and there is little or nothing we could have done to prevent it happening!
As I said in my initial query, I worked for IBM Customer Care and for their technology they allowed a certain period to cover ‘shelf life’ which we, as consultants, were able to use to give people support in exceptional situation such as this.
I have to say I am really disappointed that Samsung finds itself unable to assist in any way and would ask again that you reconsider. I appreciate the warranty period had ended, but telling us that there is no leeway for such situations just appalls me.
I look forward to your response.
I wonder if I’ll get any response let alone one worth reacting to?? If nothing is resolved, perhaps the next port of call should be to establish how best to contact the Managing Director, CEO and members of the Samsung board and send each a message asking for their take on the issue!
Grrr….. !!!
The Eclectic Interweb 