Grey market smartphones on Amazon marketed as UK phones

Isolis

I needed a new smartphone, and the Samsung Galaxy A14 looked like a good match for me. Argos, Currys and the like were all selling it for £180, and "Amazon" (yes, a marketplace seller) was selling it for £104.

Of course alarm bells were ringing, but I triple-checked the model number on the Amazon listing, and it was the same as that quoted by the large UK retailers. It was also the number 1 selling phone on Amazon, so I went for it.

As you were probably expecting, I was sent a model intended for the United Arab Emirates. Before opening the box, I chatted with Samsung on X/Twitter, who were very helpful. They told me the UAE version may have compatibility issues with certain apps, has no NFC, and they would not fix it under the UK warranty. Naturally I will be returning it, which is also what Samsung advised me to do.

If these listings were clearly marked as phones intended for other markets, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But these listings make no mention they are not UK models that are not covered by the Samsung warranty, and may have compatibility issues or missing features. More should be done to protect consumers here.

flaneurs_lobster

Your point is well made. 

You say you were able to identify the phone as being a non-UK model before opening the box (were you able to keep the seals intact?). How were you able to this? Does the ident label have extra information over the model number?

Isolis

Yes, I didn't break the seal. The label on the outside of the box has the full model number. If you put this into Google, the first search result is a Samsung web page relating to the UAE.

In addition, Samsung on X ask for the IMEI number which was also listed on the outside of the box. They confirmed the phone was meant to be sold in the UAE.

Isolis

And this is the product information panel on Amazon.

flaneurs_lobster

If the listing on Amazon gives an incorrect Model Name (it's actually the Product Code) then it's mis-selling and should be reported to Amazon as such. You've done exactly as I've done in the past and checked that code, in my case it identified the phone as intended for the EU and I could avoid.

TBH, (legit) new Samsung/Apple phones are rarely sold at less than the price available at the usual big retailers (or the Apple/Samsung retail sites), unless an airtime seller is doing a SIM/phone contract deal.

An aside, last week in Saigon I could have bought a Samsung top-of range phone for £500 less than current UK retail.

I didn't.

Neil49

Isolis said:

I needed a new smartphone, and the Samsung Galaxy A14 looked like a good match for me. Argos, Currys and the like were all selling it for £180, and "Amazon" (yes, a marketplace seller) was selling it for £104.

Of course alarm bells were ringing, but I triple-checked the model number on the Amazon listing, and it was the same as that quoted by the large UK retailers. It was also the number 1 selling phone on Amazon, so I went for it.

As you were probably expecting, I was sent a model intended for the United Arab Emirates. Before opening the box, I chatted with Samsung on X/Twitter, who were very helpful. They told me the UAE version may have compatibility issues with certain apps, has no NFC, and they would not fix it under the UK warranty. Naturally I will be returning it, which is also what Samsung advised me to do.

If these listings were clearly marked as phones intended for other markets, I wouldn't have a problem with it. But these listings make no mention they are not UK models that are not covered by the Samsung warranty, and may have compatibility issues or missing features. More should be done to protect consumers here.

This is a good post.

Well done for highlighting this and the actions you can take to cover yourself. 

ballyblack

an example of Samsung overpricing in the first instance. £180 for only 4/64Gb ?

Isolis

flaneurs_lobster said:

If the listing on Amazon gives an incorrect Model Name (it's actually the Product Code) then it's mis-selling and should be reported to Amazon as such.

Indeed I did. They "understood my concerns" and sent an request to the seller to send the correct model or refund me.

I suspect Amazon are not hugely motivated to fix this, grey market imports being mis-sold as UK phones is clearly profitable for Amazon, as I say the mis-sold phone I bought was the #1 selling phone on Amazon.

Isolis

Neil49 said:

This is a good post.

Well done for highlighting this and the actions you can take to cover yourself. 

Thank you. And yes, in this instance where the full model code was in the Amazon listing I was able to prove without doubt the mis-selling. There are other listings without full model codes where things enter a more "grey" area.