"Water Damaged" Samsung Galaxy Note 3 after 2 months...

C_Gord

It's been a right pain for me. There was no way I was going to pay to get it repaired, when it would only likely happen again.

I ended up buying a third party wall battery charger from Amazon (Samsung don't sell battery chargers it seems), plus a couple of spare batteries.

I'm due for an upgrade later this year, and even though the new Note's are now 'waterproof', I'm sufficiently unhappy with Samsung that I'll probably be getting a different brand for this upgrade.

KxMx

I genuinely water damaged a phone six months old. Obviously warranty didn't cover, however our household contents paid out promptly and without quibble.

paulfeakins

Agree that it could have been condensation.

O2 have been replying on twitter and seem concerned but the store keep telling me I have to sort it out on the web chat and the web chat keep telling me I have to contact the store.

Pretty disappointed so far. I know it's not my fault that the phone broke and I know it's not fit for purpose.

And now I've got to pay for 2 years for a phone that broke after 5 minutes.

How can they turn round to a customer of 10 years who's never had any issues before and say "sorry your £500 phone broke after 2 months but there's nothing we can do"?

What are my options?

1. Official complaint to O2?
2. Complain to Trading Standards?
3. Complain to Offcom?
4. Complain to the FCA who regulate the finance agreement?

paulfeakins

KxMx wrote: »

household contents paid out promptly and without quibble

Very cool! What insurance company was that?

C_Gord

paulfeakins wrote: »

What are my options?

1. Official complaint to O2?
2. Complain to Trading Standards?
3. Complain to Offcom?
4. Complain to the FCA who regulate the finance agreement?

I know how you feel...

I complained to Vodafone, but got a very standard response ("it's your fault" in essence).

I thought about going to Samsung directly, but I suspected I'd get much the same response. I looked in the instruction manual and they've got themselves pretty well covered (basically don't take your phone out of the box and you might be alright).

I also considered trading standards but didn't ever get that far. It could be worth a shot.

Not so sure about the other two. Ofcom would seem to be more for the networks than hardware, and I'm not sure about FCA.

JJ_Egan

paulfeakins wrote: »

A
Pretty disappointed so far. I know it's not my fault that the phone broke and I know it's not fit for purpose.



What are my options?

1. Official complaint to O2?

YES they are the vendor but again they are saying damage .

2. Complain to Trading Standards?

No but you ask their opinion of what route to proceed .



Plus you can complain to Samsung but they will say water indicators on = voids warranty .


Not fit for purpose as its been rejected as damaged then you are going to have to prove otherwise .
Water damaged phones is an old old story with every users saying i did not and the engineers saying you must have .

paulfeakins

JJ_Egan wrote: »

As they are not sold as waterproof the onus is on you to prove the not fit for purpose.

The letter that I got back from O2 with the phone said may not have been dropped in water, it's possible it got wet by:

• being in the bathroom
• being in a pocket in the rain

Now correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the idea of a phone was that you take it outside with you when go out so that you can make calls? I mean that's why it's called a "mobile" phone right?

Are they saying that I shouldn't even take the phone out *in my pocket* if it's raining or if it might rain? That seems pretty unfit for purpose to me.

And I haven't been out in particularly heavy rain anyway. Not happy.

Further, I go running 3 times a week. It would be pretty handy to have a phone on me. But guess what, I've never even taken this phone out running since new because I've been that careful with it.

JJ_Egan

Trading standards would be best to advise you whether or not you can expect your Note 3 to be water resistant / rainproof .
I know my Note 3 is not meant to be used in the rain likewise all my other mobiles over the years . Same goes for my tablet and laptops .

Voltaire7

Unfortunately Samsung has a reputation for poor build quality and using cheap materials, which is why their profits are now taking a tanking.

boo_star

paulfeakins wrote: »

The letter that I got back from O2 with the phone said may not have been dropped in water, it's possible it got wet by:

• being in the bathroom
• being in a pocket in the rain

Now correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the idea of a phone was that you take it outside with you when go out so that you can make calls? I mean that's why it's called a "mobile" phone right?

Are they saying that I shouldn't even take the phone out *in my pocket* if it's raining or if it might rain? That seems pretty unfit for purpose to me.

And I haven't been out in particularly heavy rain anyway. Not happy.

Further, I go running 3 times a week. It would be pretty handy to have a phone on me. But guess what, I've never even taken this phone out running since new because I've been that careful with it.

It depends. I have coats that will resist light/medium showers (enough to keep anything in the inside pocket dry) and others that won't.
A waterproof jacket might be the opposite, trapping perspiration in the coat.

I know Apple changed their policy on water indicators a few years ago and the internal sensor must be tripped for them to deny a warranty claim but that won't help someone with a Samsung phone.