Hi
I bought a Galaxy M30S on 13th Oct'19 from Amazon. The phone stopped working on 17th Aug 2020 and would not move beyond the Samsung logo screen. We charged the phone to check if it was a battery issue and it was getting charged but not starting. I called Samsung customer care and they advised a soft reset which also did not work. Then, they advised that they will arrange a pick-up and drop off my mobile from my residence for service.
1.The technician called me on 19th Aug 2020 and after taking down my address, refused to pick up my phone stating that his shop is 25 kilometers away from my house.
2.I called customer care again to assign the Service Order to "Mobile Seva' which was just 4 kilometers away from my house but they failed to do so.
3.My husband, Eshwar, drove to the ASC'Mobile Seva' on 20th Aug 2020 and submitted the phone for service. They noticed that the phone had charge, was responding to charging, but hanging up at the logo screen.
4.They stated that it might be a software issue and said they will have to re-install the OS. Once my husband gave my consent, they made him wait while they performed the update.
5.When he checked with them after some time, they said the OS installation did not work. Their technician took the phone inside to check.
6.When my husband checked back again, they handed him the phone stating that the motherboard will need to be replaced and since they didn't have any spare, they will be willing to process a request for replacing my phone.
7.They asked my husband to bring the invoice, copies of address proof, bank statement, and id proof, together with the original accessories and box for the mobile phone. They also told him it will take 15 days to process the coupon for replacing the phone and we will need to go back to the ASC to collect it.
8.When my husband quipped what we will do without a phone for 15 days, they offered to provide a temporary phone with the caveat that we were responsible for its safety. My husband refused the offer.
9.We were not anticipating this and my husband was not carrying any of the documents requested. He had to return home.
10.I escalated to the customer care the next day and asked to speak to the manager, stating that we were being put at risk by the ASC requiring us to travel multiple times during the pandemic and not providing pick up and drop for the phone/documents requested.
11.The manager, Vidya, called me the next day and stated that she will escalate to the Area Sales Manager and he will call me on Monday to pick up the documents necessary and deliver the coupon to our residence.
12.I waited all day on Monday and nobody called.
13.I drove to the ASC'Mobile Seva' on Tuesday, 25th Aug 2020 and they made me wait again while they took my phone inside for checking. I reminded them that they had already checked the phone on the previous Thursday when my husband brought the phone and they were supposed to merely collect the documents that they had requested and I was carrying.
14.They asked me to share the invoice copy, id proof, cancelled cheque leaf, PAN card, address proof, etc on their email id samsung.ms139@gmail.com to process the refund/replacement. My husband emailed them the documents on the same day.
15.After a humongous wait, they informed me that they suspect water seepage into the charging area of the phone and they will not be able to process a replacement now.
16.They told me that they will call me once the motherboard spare part is available and I can bring the phone back for a free replacement of the part since the phone was still under warranty.
17.I got frustrated and my husband gave them a piece of his mind, on why they did not detect the water damage when he brought the phone the previous week and why did they ask me to come down with documents and accessories if they did not want to process the replacement request?
18.They did not have a convincing answer and the ASC manager stated that we could either take his offer for replacing the motherboard free of charge or escalate to Samsung H.O, but if we escalated to Samsung H.O, then he threatened that we would have to pay for the service since he will claim the waterlogging and damage!
19.My husband got frustrated with the attitude of the ASC and escalated to the Service head, vide SO 4308200124, and reference number 3760727603.
20.Mr.Kaushik from the service head team called me and promised to investigate and resolve the issue.
21.Mr.Shashi from the ASC called me 27th Aug morning to tell me that they have obtained the spare motherboard and I should visit the ASC within the next couple of hours to get my phone repaired free of charge.
22.I could not visit the ASC immediately since I was working that day and could only visit them in the afternoon. In the meantime, Mr.Kaushik called me to inform me that he has spoken with the ASC manager, Mr.Sangappa, who will assist me when I visit them.
23.My husband reached the ASC and after making him wait for close to an hour again, they finally created the job sheet. My husband mentioned in the job card that the phone was NOT OPENED IN OUR PRESENCE! If you check the CCTV footage, you will know that the phone was not opened in our presence.
24.The ASC stated that either Mr.Kaushik or the ASC manager, Mr.Sangappa will revert to us with the next steps.
25.I got a call from Mr.Kaushik on 30thAug stating that since there is water damage on the phone, the ASC will charge us for the repair.
26.My husband refused to accept the charge for the repair, stating that the waterlogging was NOT RAISED BY ASC when they checked the phone on the 20th of Aug and had agreed to replace the phone, they did NOT OPEN THE PHONE IN OUR PRESENCE and had indeed offered to replace the motherboard free of charge on the 27th of Aug when Mr.Shashi from the ASC called me.
27.The ASC is trying to escape the liability for their incompetence in properly diagnosing the issue in the first visit. They DID NOT DECLARE DOA AND PROVIDE ANY JOB CARD DURING THE FIRST TWO VISITS. The water damage claim is an afterthought and they are using it to ARM TWIST CUSTOMERS WHOSE PHONES ARE UNDER WARRANTY! They put us at SERIOUS RISK, MAKING US TRAVEL THRICE TO THE ASC DURING PANDEMIC!
28.My husband requested Mr.Kaushik that if Samsung is not willing to honor the warranty, then they should return the phone in the same condition in which it was given to them(full-on charge and Logo screen being displayed). They have not yet reverted to that.
29.Subsequent calls and escalations to Samsung customer care have been met with false promises that their management will call us but we have not received any call back after the 30th of Aug and neither has Samsung returned our phone.
There is no history of the phone being anywhere near a water source or having been immersed in water. Even if the moisture in the air(due to Bengaluru rains and humidifier) made the strip inside the phone change to pink/purple, Samsung's ASC has not been able to prove how that impacted the phone. The display of the Logo is not possible when there is motherboard damage, as claimed by the ASC. The ASC is trying to escape liability for the warranty by making frivolous and unjustified claims!
If you check online, you will find that claiming liquid damage to escape warranty liability is a common modus operandi for Samsung ASCs, and a lot of customers have complained of the same. I request your kind selves to make Samsung honor the warranty.
Edit: I took the phone to a third party multi-brand service store and SURPRISE, they did not find any water damage! They said the motherboard has shorted and if I had brought the phone to them earlier, they could have fixed it. Samsung was obviously lying about water damage to escape warranty claim.
I got calls from Ms.Lizzy and Mr.Sujith from their Service Head team. They promised to investigate and revert and have failed so far. This case is now with the National Consumer Forum.
