Galaxy S3 - Samsung insisting a previous repair done by them is unauthorised.

alwayslearning_2

Hi

I'm in need of some helpful advice on how to proceed with this please.

3rd July 2012 I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S III Marble White 16GB online from Tmobile for £200 (capital one credit card) + 18mth contract (£26 ish).

January 2013 it became faulty and Samsung sent a courier to collect it and Regenersis in Glasgow repaired a faulty usb connector on 21st Jan. Unfortunately I have no proof of this, but Samsung are not denying that this took place (so far).

11th June 2013 I awoke to a completely dead phone and took it to an authorised repair shop who deemed it Beyond Economical Repair due to an unauthorised repair on the usb connector :eek: Basically he explained that he didn't believe that the repair was carried out by Samsung (flux residue around charging point) and the warranty was void. You can imagine my surprise and anger at being accused of such a thing.

I rang Samsung and explained and they said send it in for inspection. To cut a long story short today I have received the decision from Head Office that they will not repair my phone free of charge as they believe it has had an unauthorised repair on the usb charger and is subsequently out of warranty.

Basically Samsung believe that I got the usb repaired via themselves in January under warranty, then paid somebody else to repair it again in the meantime. And the actual customer care woman said I can't prove otherwise...........

Tmobile are not interested and I now realise that not going through them for the repairs was probably a mistake.

Consumer Direct have advised me to check my contract with Tmobile and formalise my complaint with my credit card (consumer act 1974 sec 75), samsung & tmobile (sale of goods act).

I am a little confused though, the phone cost more than the £200 I paid for it upfront, as it came as part of an ongoing contract - so can I claim anymore from my credit card?

I'm prepared to see this all the way through as I think it's an absolute outrage. I'm just feeling a little wobbly as how to go about it and how I can prove I'm telling the truth and would appreciate some guidance.

frugal_mike

alwayslearning wrote: »

Hi

I'm in need of some helpful advice on how to proceed with this please.

3rd July 2012 I purchased a Samsung Galaxy S III Marble White 16GB online from Tmobile for £200 (capital one credit card) + 18mth contract (£26 ish).

January 2013 it became faulty and Samsung sent a courier to collect it and Regenersis in Glasgow repaired a faulty usb connector on 21st Jan. Unfortunately I have no proof of this, but Samsung are not denying that this took place (so far).

11th June 2013 I awoke to a completely dead phone and took it to an authorised repair shop who deemed it Beyond Economical Repair due to an unauthorised repair on the usb connector :eek: Basically he explained that he didn't believe that the repair was carried out by Samsung (flux residue around charging point) and the warranty was void. You can imagine my surprise and anger at being accused of such a thing.

I rang Samsung and explained and they said send it in for inspection. To cut a long story short today I have received the decision from Head Office that they will not repair my phone free of charge as they believe it has had an unauthorised repair on the usb charger and is subsequently out of warranty.

Basically Samsung believe that I got the usb repaired via themselves in January under warranty, then paid somebody else to repair it again in the meantime. And the actual customer care woman said I can't prove otherwise...........

Tmobile are not interested and I now realise that not going through them for the repairs was probably a mistake.

Consumer Direct have advised me to check my contract with Tmobile and formalise my complaint with my credit card (consumer act 1974 sec 75), samsung & tmobile (sale of goods act).

I am a little confused though, the phone cost more than the £200 I paid for it upfront, as it came as part of an ongoing contract - so can I claim anymore from my credit card?

I'm prepared to see this all the way through as I think it's an absolute outrage. I'm just feeling a little wobbly as how to go about it and how I can prove I'm telling the truth and would appreciate some guidance.

Well firstly your contract for the phone purchase is with T-Mobile, so they are the one you potentially have a claim against. As the item was more than £100 the credit card company have the same legal obligations to you as T-Mobile so claiming under section 75 is an option.

Now as it is more than 6 months since the purchase of the phone it is up to you to prove the fault is inherent and not from misuse (with an independent report).

If the current fault has nothing to do with the USB ports then I believe their claim of an unauthorized repair would be irrelevant, however if the USB ports caused the problem it would be up to you to counter their claim that its been taken to an unauthorised dealer. If it goes to small claims court a judge would make a decision on the balance of probabilities.

Retrogamer

The problem with the tend of failing USB connections / charger ports on the phone from most reports i've seen appears to be incorrect removal of the micro usb cable.
Twisting or pulling the cable out at an angle will eventually cause it to fail.

I done it with my HTC desire but it still worked (usb connection was really wobbly) and my current S3 (as well as some friends) has developed a crack on the plastic at the charger port.

vaio

Retrogamer wrote: »

The problem with the tend of failing USB connections / charger ports on the phone from most reports i've seen appears to be incorrect removal of the micro usb cable.
Twisting or pulling the cable out at an angle will eventually cause it to fail.

I done it with my HTC desire but it still worked (usb connection was really wobbly) and my current S3 (as well as some friends) has developed a crack on the plastic at the charger port.

If the problem is that widespread/common then I'd be thinking it's bad design rather than incorrect removal

Retrogamer

I'm sure a bad driver could say the same about their car when they keep burning out the clutch.

The S3 with the official charger is an extremely tight fit.
Most people without thinking pull the lead out at an angle to make it easier.

Incorrect removal of the micro usb cable and corrosion from sweat seems to be the most common cause of failure.

vaio

yep, if "most people" aren't doing it correctly and something that needs to be handled in the normal course of events is being damaged by sweat then it's bad design.

alwayslearning_2

frugal_mike wrote: »

Well firstly your contract for the phone purchase is with T-Mobile, so they are the one you potentially have a claim against. As the item was more than £100 the credit card company have the same legal obligations to you as T-Mobile so claiming under section 75 is an option.

Now as it is more than 6 months since the purchase of the phone it is up to you to prove the fault is inherent and not from misuse (with an independent report).

If the current fault has nothing to do with the USB ports then I believe their claim of an unauthorized repair would be irrelevant, however if the USB ports caused the problem it would be up to you to counter their claim that its been taken to an unauthorised dealer. If it goes to small claims court a judge would make a decision on the balance of probabilities.

Thanks for your reply. Under the section 75 option can I claim for just the £200 or can I ask for a refund/cancellation of the remaining T mobile contract as well?

So you think I should get an independent report stating I haven't misued it? But I'm guessing that the shoddy usb repair will probably be blamed for the present fault, in which case how on earth can I prove that I didn't get an unauthorised repair?

DevCoder

Why dont you just ask Regenersis to confirm in writing that they performed the repair?

IIRC, the phopne contract is separate to the actual handset, they are in effect two separate sales, so I very much doubt you can cancel the contract, TMobile are still providing you with a service.

alwayslearning_2

krisdorey wrote: »

Why dont you just ask Regenersis to confirm in writing that they performed the repair?

IIRC, the phopne contract is separate to the actual handset, they are in effect two separate sales, so I very much doubt you can cancel the contract, TMobile are still providing you with a service.

Yes I'm just writing to Regeneris now, although Samsung aren't disputing that they did a repair on the usb connector in Jan, so I don't think that will change anything.

Regarding the contract - it was taken out with a phone included, so I guess I should be asking for a replacement or the equivalent cost, but suspect that can't be done via credit card sec 75.

PZH

alwayslearning wrote: »

So you think I should get an independent report stating I haven't misued it?

No, if you went down the SOGA route, you would need an independant report to show that the fault was present at manufacture and not subsequent damage caused afterwards.

Difficult, I would imagine, given that it has already been repaired once, so may be a waste of money IMO.

krisdorey wrote:

Why dont you just ask Regenersis to confirm in writing that they performed the repair?

But Samsung are not denying that Regenersis performed a repair.

What they are saying is that the OP then had another, unauthorised repair done without their knowledge.

EDIT: Sorry, OP just confirmed this above

alwayslearning_2

PZH wrote: »

No, if you went down the SOGA route, you would need an independant report to show that the fault was present at manufacture and not subsequent damage caused afterwards.

Difficult, I would imagine, given that it has already been repaired once, so may be a waste of money IMO.



But Samsung are not denying that Regenersis performed a repair.

What they are saying is that the OP then had another, unauthorised repair done without their knowledge.

EDIT: Sorry, OP just confirmed this above

Thanks, what do you think is the best course of action for me to take then?