2 day old Samsung Galaxy S3 Broken Screen Help!

kuriaken50

Before I moan let me just say that this site has been brilliant with Help on others issues for me and my family.

I have been an o2 customer for many years with 3 mobile pm contracts for my family. 02 have the best network without question but there customer service is lousy and i have made many complaints. I reluctantly decided to go with o2 for my upgrade to A Samsung Galaxy S3 and swallow my pride.

After only two days I accidentally dropped my phone from my lap as I was sitting on my patio. The phone dropped on its back which was protected by an outer rubber cover. When I picked up my phone the screen was completely shatttered. Freak accident or faulty product? This phone is supposed to have corning gorilla glass 2. (see the videoes on various sites showing ball bearings etc being dropped on these screens)
Even mobile phone shops harp on about the anti scatch proof etc screens. But as I have seen scouring the internet that there are numerous complaints disproving this claim.
Surely this is fraudulent making such claims?

Anyway I decided to speak to o2 to ask for a replacement saying that this must be a faulty product. I got the usual pass around fob off and no! this is my fault and you should claim on your house insurance or they will send it away and then charge me £150 for the repairs. I bought this phone online directly from o2 who are saying that this is not covered in the manufacturers warranty and that it is glass and glass breaks. Well thanks for the obvious o2. No loyalty from them.. I ended up threatening to return the phone and cancelling as it is within the seven days from purchase and put the phone down on them as they started to tell me what i cannot do. I am the customer!!
I also went into my o2 shop and they re iterated this.
I dont know where to turn as I am not happy with Samsung or o2 now. I have not spoken to Samsung as they are almost impossible to contact and require the patience of a saint to continue holding (same as o2) in a bid that you will just give up.
I will be contacting trading standards on Monday.

If anyone has had similar problems or know sof a more direct action route i can take please help

Thanks for reading

thegoodman

If you have dropped the phone then it would not be covered under the warranty even if the phone is 2 minutes old. This is true for all companies not just Samsung.

I can't see what the trading standard can do with this one.

However the Samsung is known for problems with the phone and customer service

http://www.pcworld.com/article/244607/smartphone_reliability_and_satisfaction_iphone_tops_the_list.html

Rusty!

Gorilla Glass is not indestructible, it's main aim is to reduce screen scratching. The phone is not faulty, you were negligent. It's on you to get it repaired, not O2 or Samsung.

Trading Standards will laugh at you.

grumbler

thegoodman wrote: »

...
However the Samsung is known for problems with the phone and customer service

http://www.pcworld.com/article/244607/smartphone_reliability_and_satisfaction_iphone_tops_the_list.html

Is it your renewed agenda? What relevance does this have to this thread?

kuriaken50

Rusty! wrote: »

Gorilla Glass is not indestructible, it's main aim is to reduce screen scratching. The phone is not faulty, you were negligent. It's on you to get it repaired, not O2 or Samsung.

Trading Standards will laugh at you.

Well thanks for the unhelpfull reply and for stating the obvious. Gorilla glass is obviously not indestructable.. but to fall from less than two feet high on its back which was incidentally protected by a rubber sheath and to shatter the screen like it had been shot is ridiculous and would suggest a fault in the manufacture.

As for trading standards laughing at me I would suggest that it is only you who finds my situation funny. Sarcasm is not helpfull or appreciated. My incident is genuine.

pandora205

Just to mention my DD (nearly 21) has a Samsung Galaxy which was just over a month old when the screen cracked. It did slip out of his hand and landed on the floor but only from a couple of feet. He took it back to Phones4U, which is the provider, who sent it back to Samsung for repair. We were told how common this is with these phones (and I must say they do look very flimsy but then I use an old Nokia). Unfortunately it wasn't considered to be due to manufacturing fault so he had to pay £75 for repair.

Annoyingly, I have cover for 2 mobiles through my bank account, so had we updated the details it would have been covered.

I think it's all a lesson learned. DD and her BF work in ski resorts and use old brick phones when out and about after losing an iPhone or so!

buscape

Gorilla glass is scratch resistant (not scratch proof) and it certainly isn't drop proof, especially not onto hard surfaces. Take it to an independant phone shop and get them to change the glass/screen for you, neither O2 nor Samsung are obliged go fix this for you under warranty, and you'll have a hard time trying to make them. If it's a design flaw as you claim, how come there aren't reports of this happening to a large proportion of the millions of S3's that have been sold so far?

grumbler

buscape wrote: »

Gorilla glass is scratch resistant (not scratch proof) and it certainly isn't drop proof, especially not onto hard surfaces.

Scratch resistance is only one of it's features along with extra strength, but of course it's not impossible to break especially because it has to be thin for a touchscreen to work normally.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gorilla_Glass

Forwandert

OP you've dropped your phone and the screens broke, you are responsible for repairing your phone. Any product with a glass front has a very good chance of breaking if you drop it. Maybe it would be an idea to purchase a better case when you've had your phone repaired the case you have obviously isn't nothing more than protection from scratches and not designed to protect from being dropped. (ironically the same as gorilla glass)

Fifer

Not sure how much an S3 screen will be, but I got a new screen fitted to my trusty old Desire at a local independent for £25 the other week after I missed my pocket and it fell on the pavement (in a rubber case too. It happens - I've dropped my phone many times in the almost 3 years I've owned it, this time it just fell the wrong way - !!!! happens).

Rusty!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_70-W9JjVjg