Dead Samsung Galaxy S3 and Samsung falsely claiming water damage

viddy

My Galaxy S3 phone died just after about 6 months of use. I have heard a lot of it, it is due to a MMC bug destroying the motherboards. When I sent the phone to Samsung they falsely claim it for water damage. They did not show any pictures etc as evidence. I did open the phone "after" the warranty claim was rejected and surprise surprise all the water damage indicators are intact with the phone being bone dry with out any presence of any liquid or any damage to the motherboard. When I sent the pictures to Samsung they have replied that now I have voided the waranty as I have opened it myself and I am not a authorised repairer :mad:
I guess they pull this trick quite a lot. I want to sue them at a small claims court. Has anyone any experience with regard to this? Do I need an independent report or the pictures of intact water damage indicators is sufficient. If I have to get a report whom should I get if from?
If anyone else is in the same boat, (I have heard a lot of S3's dying suddenly recently for this MMC bug) and denied warranty please reply. It would be easier to share the burden of suing Samsung. Surely getting the phone repaired under warranty should be easier than this.
Samsung should try mars exploration rather than building phones, surely they would have found water on mars too within minutes.

matttye

You're not going to get anywhere with this. They'll just deny warranty now because you've opened the phone. The court will agree, especially as Samsung will produce the pictures you sent to them showing them the open phone as evidence.

All water damage indicators have to be tripped for them to refuse warranty, so you should have just taken pictures of the visible ones without opening up the phone.

I hope I'm wrong and wish you luck if you decide to go ahead though!

viddy

matttye wrote: »

You're not going to get anywhere with this. They'll just deny warranty now because you've opened the phone. The court will agree, especially as Samsung will produce the pictures you sent to them showing them the open phone as evidence.

All water damage indicators have to be tripped for them to refuse warranty, so you should have just taken pictures of the visible ones without opening up the phone.

I hope I'm wrong and wish you luck if you decide to go ahead though!

I opened the phone AFTER samsung claimed i had voided warranty due to liquid damage and the phone was beyond economic repair
if the warranty was already void then opening the phone should surely make no difference,
they have given me no evidence to prove liquid damage.

matttye

viddy wrote: »

I opened the phone AFTER samsung claimed i had voided warranty due to liquid damage and the phone was beyond economic repair
if the warranty was already void then opening the phone should surely make no difference,
they have given me no evidence to prove liquid damage.

What I'm trying to say is that even if they rescind their claim of water damage, they'll just refuse warranty because you've opened the phone up now.

viddy

matttye wrote: »

What I'm trying to say is that even if they rescind their claim of water damage, they'll just refuse warranty because you've opened the phone up now.

lets see if they want to argue that in he court, I guess they will not. Since they claim water damage as long as i can prove no liquid damage they are lying.
I am not going back to them. I already made it clear in the letter to them my next step would be to go to court.

matttye

viddy wrote: »

lets see if they want to argue that in he court, I guess they will not. Since they claim water damage as long as i can prove no liquid damage they are lying.
I am not going back to them. I already made it clear in the letter to them my next step would be to go to court.

I just don't see the point in the lawsuit. You could have taken pictures of the un-tripped water damage indicators without opening up the phone and sent them to Samsung, asking them on what basis they said the phone had water damage, but instead you've deliberately voided the warranty and are now taking them to court.

Seems like a deliberately antagonistic move rather than trying to get an actual resolution to your problem.

We really do live in a sue happy culture!

Herongull

You said the phone was about 6 months old.

If it is slightly less than 6 months, claim a refund or replacement (from the seller) under Sale of Goods. If they refuse, they will have to show that the phone failed because it was mistreated.

If it is more than 6 months ago, you will have to prove that it wasn't, so will probably need an independent report on the phone which will cost you.

Jemma-T

Yes, why are you bothering with Samsung? They have nothing to do with it it unless you bought it from them direct.

I have a 2 year warranty (via Samsung as I registered it with them) on my Note 2 but I wouldn't go near them for the first year and maybe not even the 2nd year -it depends on how I feel about contacting the place I bought it from. They are responsible in law for at least 1 year (and much more of course depending on the value of the item). If I got the phone off an eBay seller then yes I'd go straight to Samsung.

If you have no warranty (or can't prove one) with the place it was bought from then you will have to challenge Samsung as you are doing. You should never have told them you opened the phone as that was stupid.

You now have no claim because you never bought the phone from them and they have no duty of care to you as you have already admitted breaking the T&Cs (by opening the phone). You could try a nicer approach and explain they were wrong originally and ask for a goodwill gesture or that they please look again at the phone again.

I'm sure you could take them to court but it would be a complicated contract case I would have thought and not a simple consumer (Sale of Goods Act) action.

I can't imagine Samsung wanting to go to court but as you have no claim they may challenge you so be careful.

viddy

Herongull wrote: »

You said the phone was about 6 months old.

If it is slightly less than 6 months, claim a refund or replacement (from the seller) under Sale of Goods. If they refuse, they will have to show that the phone failed because it was mistreated.

If it is more than 6 months ago, you will have to prove that it wasn't, so will probably need an independent report on the phone which will cost you.

I probably thought so I am not worried about cost of the report, I should be able to recover the cost.

sustainmatt

HI, I just wanted to check how you got on with this as they have just done exactly the same with me! Hopefully you had some luck and have some good news for me!
thanks

hanvyj

Vodafone tried this with me (only water it had seen was humidity during normal UK weather), coming up with a £100 charge to fix it. Found the parts I needed off ebay and did it myself for £3.99