Complaint Review: Samsung Electronics America - Ridgefield Park New Jersey

On 11/25/17, I sent my boyfriend's Samsung Galaxy S7 Active to Samsung for repairs to be made to the charging port. (A water resistant phone was falsely reporting water damage to the charging port. These phones are now becoming known for this issue.) At the time, he had another phone to use while it was being repaired. Neither RSI/Samsung nor our carrier (AT&T) would provide a loaner. Upon receiving the "repaired" phone on 12/6/17, everything seemed to be in good working order. The first thing we noticed was that they had replaced the screen. The first thing we checked was that it would charge properly & it did. Over the days to come though, I began to notice that I could hear my own voice echoing when I called him. I thought there was something wrong with my phone because he didn't hear the echo on his end. He only heard static and my broken sounding voice. Then, more of his callers started to tell him they heard their own voices echoing. And he noticed increasingly poor call quality on his end. Today, 12/12/17, we called Samsung to ask about a solution for this new problem. They suggested that we call AT&T for a new SIM card. We had a spare card at home so we called AT&T and the representative did a test call to hear the issue. The issue was very noticeable to him. So, he set up the new SIM card over the phone immediately. The representative did a second test call & found that the problem remained. We then placed another call to Samsung & explained that the issue had not improved with a new SIM card installed. They offered to, again, accept the phone at their repair center to fix the issue. But, without a phone to use in the meantime, he would be unable to conduct his daily business. (He is a business owner. And the cell phone is on a business account. He has no office & no landline.) Unable to get any additional solution from Samsung, we called AT&T back again and began an insurance claim. The replacement of this phone THAT WAS JUST REPAIRED will cost us $112. I don't believe that Samsung & RSI should be allowed to get away with doing inferior repairs to inferior products at the customer's expense.

12/13/17- I was contacted this morning by a representative of Samsung Electronics America, Inc., office of the President. During the call, the representative informed me that they would not be issuing $112 to compensate me for the expense of the phone replacement. He also went so far as to tell me that I should have a "backup" phone. And that it might be in my interest to purchase one. I felt that this suggestion was in poor taste & I explained that I couldn't afford the luxury of an extra phone. The phones I already own are roughly $700-800 a piece! He went on to talk about various slightly off-topic items & seemed to be either totally inept at handling complaints of this sort, or conversely, very good at getting the customer to lose their train of thought & derail the problem solving attempt completely. In either case, the call was pointless. I am still quite dissatisfied with this Samsung & wish to pursue my claim. The representative told me that if I did so, the issue would go no further and that he was the last stop on this path. I assured him that I would continue to complain & review wherever possible.

I am not a seeker of something for nothing. I'm only asking for the cost of the insurance deductible. Not the entire cost of a phone. Not wages lost, unable to use the phone for its intended purpose which is business.  I honestly do believe that the company is treating this issue unfairly and that they should be held accountable.