Phone for Middle East/Africa region

Mouse-Mouse

Hi guys,
Just upgraded my phone to Samsung Galaxy s5 however the model I received was obviously designed for Middle East – the writing and instructions are in Arabic, the city when switched on was Dubai etc.

I called the customer service and they said this is all they have got and that these models are exactly the same as designed for Europe, can someone please confirm this?

grumbler

I think the hardware is the same, and you can just change the language.
Warranty question is far more important if it's grey import.

JJ_Egan

As above it should be the same but have different firmware .
Possible problems no UK updates also may not have best modem for UK .
Fairly certain that warranty is void in the EU / UK .
Not sure if their is a region lock on the S5 either .

Reject it asap .

ste_wilko

From Samsung, regarding the warranty "If the product is purchased in another part of the globe then Samsung may attempt a repair. Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd cannot guarantee the outcome. "

Mouse-Mouse

I just spoke to the Samsung Customer Service and they confirmed that the UK warranty would not cover this phone. Obviously, I will be cancelling my order now, but does anyone know where I can report the company? It seems like a blatant fraud to me.

macman

There's no fraud unless they told you that the purchase was covered by a UK warranty. It's up to you to ask-what does the site say where you purchased it?
The hardware is exactly the same, the phone apears to be a grey import, or purchased from a Middle East retailer.

Mouse-Mouse

I ordered it from buymobiles.net - it was an EE upgrade.
It says "Most mobile phones have a 24 month warranty - iPhones have a 12 month warranty - so if your phone stops working properly you can have it repaired by the manufacturer, or return it to us and we will get them to repair it (although this may take longer than doing it directly)."

grumbler

I'd report them to Trading Standards.
It's a UK company selling in UK. They are supposed to make it clear if the phones they sell are not of UK specifications.

macman

Ask them what the warranty is on the phone and tell them that Samsung have said it is invalid in the UK-are they prepared to cover it for 24m themselves via another route?
Their FAQ's say the 'most' phones has a 24m warranty.
Are you still within the 14 days return period?
Having looked at their site, I would now agree with grumbler, it's not a 'dubious' supplier and they should not be putting out non-UK stock if selling to the UK market.

Mouse-Mouse

macman wrote: »

Are you still within the 14 days return period?

Yes, only had it for 4 days. Will be be definitely cancelling.

Another thing - my husband ordered his phone at the same time and it came with a re-taped seal on the box.
When asked for a replacement, they said "We do perform our own quality checks when a new shipment of handsets arrive which would be why your handset has new seals placed on the box." and after some faffing about agreed to send a replacement - should arrive today.

macman

Bear in mind the exclusion clause in their returns policy:

2.1 Mobile phones must not have been used i.e. had the SIM card inserted, been activated on a cellular network, been connected to the Internet or had user accounts set-up.