Samsung S6 broken charging port, please help

Nenen

I'd really appreciate some advice please.
I've had a Samsung S6 on contract with Vodafone for 8 months. One of the pins inside the charging port has broken so the phone won't charge. I took it into the Vodafone shop and they said they will not mend it under warranty as I had caused the physical damage. They want over £170 to repair it.

I explained that I'm a middle aged teacher who'd always used the phone carefully and all I'd ever done is plug my charger into the port. I have never done anything likely to damage the port but they insist it is my fault it has broken. I was told I must have pushed the charger in too hard or at the wrong angle. They insist there is no known fault on charging ports for this phone so it must be me.

However, they then went on to say that the latest models are no longer using micro charging ports and the new ports are more robust and can't be broken ... which implies to me that there was indeed a problem with the old micro charging ports or why would they need to make them more robust?

I refused to pay £170+ to mend an 8 month old phone which I have used carefully. I took it to a Samsung repair centre to be told the same thing, I have caused physical damage so it's not covered under their warranty. Samsung will charge £75 to repair it.

I don't know if it's worth fighting this or not. Has anyone else had this problem? I'm loathe to pay even £75 if the same thing is likely to happen again before my contract runs out. Once that happens, I will be leaving Vodafone and will never have another Samsung! In the meantime, I'm so angry I'm tempted to cut my losses and just buy a sim free mobile to last me until the end of my contract.
Thoughts?

jb66

You could just buy a wireless charger

https://www.uk-mobilestore.co.uk/samsung-galaxy-s6-wireless-charging-pad-white.html?gclid=CjwKEAiAu6DBBRDDr6-e_6698E0SJACvuxnytFwcmAV8dqAyFuB4ClwWEV4GyA8WLGrzxr1FgssQ-xoC4l3w_wcB

Nenen

jb66 wrote: »

You could just buy a wireless charger
]

Thank you for the suggestion. It is kind of you to try and help.

However, I have already bought a wireless charge and this is how I'm managing short term. It's not ideal as, since the port broke and I've been using this, my battery life is about a third of what it was. According to Vodafone CS, this is because the broken pin inside the charging port is causing a short circuit which discharges the battery much faster.

The other problem with using a wireless charger for me is that I keep my phone in a case and have to remove the case to charge it. I don't like doing this as it leaves my phone unprotected while it's charging.

JJ_Egan

nobody cover damage under warranty .
It would be up to you to prove its not damage via an independent engineers report .There are already two reports stating its user damage .
Every one that posts on here with failed warranty due to damage says exactly the same as you . i am a retired vicar who uses the phone very carefully and will never use zz or yy again .

The ports are being changed across the industry not just Samsung .

d123

It's quite easy for a user to damage a microUSB charging port through carelessness or clumsiness. All it takes is for the user to attempt to insert the charger upside down with a degree of force a few times and the port can be damaged.

Simple as that, but ultimately down to user damage...

Browntoa

Trod on lead ,knocked phone off side when charging

Will all forget the times we did these

pappa_golf

According to Vodafone CS, this is because the broken pin inside the charging port is causing a short circuit which discharges the battery much faster.

lots of smoke is there?



I have used a GENUINE samsung QI charger from the day I bought mine (11 mths) and it works and charges quickly

perhaps the wireless charger you bought was not genuine?

Nenen

JJ_Egan wrote: »

nobody cover damage under warranty .
It would be up to you to prove its not damage via an independent engineers report .There are already two reports stating its user damage .
Every one that posts on here with failed warranty due to damage says exactly the same as you . i am a retired vicar who uses the phone very carefully and will never use zz or yy again .

The ports are being changed across the industry not just Samsung .

Thank you for your comments. I would like to clarify a few things in response.
Firstly the two 'reports' saying it was user damage were each made after a young man (one of whom was just a salesman, not a phone repair person) looked into the port with his naked eye and said that, as the pin was broken, it must be user damage. I fail to see how anyone can state that categorically just by looking into a minute hole with his naked eye without any other investigation.

Secondly, I don't care how many retired vicars use MSE, I am not some newbie signing into MSE using a fictitious persona. Much as I might want to be a giddy teenager with a perchant for pretending to be my mother (or even my granny), I am indeed a middle aged school teacher, with a long history of using MSE on appropriate forums. The first part of my status as a middle aged school teacher could clearly be seen by the young men as I was standing in front of them at the time. Much as I would like to imagine they would find it hard to believe I'm not 21, I'm pretty sure any half conscious person could tell I'm nearer 60 than 50! If further proof is needed, in the case of the young man in the Vodafone shop, my date of birth is easily established using the details on the contract I signed. Similarly, my employment details were provided to Vodafone when I joined them.

Whatever you or anyone else may think, I will certainly be leaving Vodafone ASAP. I am so incensed that I am seriously considering paying an early exit fee just so I no longer have to deal with them ever again. Vodafone has ignored 20+ years of my customer loyalty (again easily verifiable by them) and talked to me as if I am a complete moron who doesn't know how to put a charging cable in the right way up. I was shouted at in the shop (despite the fact that I was speaking calmly and reasonably quietly myself) and spoken to more rudely than anyone has ever spoken to me before. In both cases the attitude of the men was totally inflexible; 'computer says no' could have been written just for them. If I needed any further reasons for leaving Vodafone (which I certainly don't) they also come out very badly in customer surveys and they have just received the biggest fine for a phone company ever for their shoddy service after overcharging huge numbers of customers and failing to correct their mistakes even when customers complained.

Finally, I take your point that charging ports are being changed by all phone companies, not just Samsung. My point was, and still is, that if the microports had been fit for purpose, companies would not be going back to larger, more robust ports again. The salesman told me that there is no known fault with Samsung microports. Two minutes on google make it obvious that this is untrue. It is obvious that microports in general and Samsung ones in particular, have an inherent weakness which makes them exceptionally vulnerable to breaking. Given that they are there for the sole purpose of pushing a cable into this, imho, makes them unfit for purpose and therefore, I still maintain, it is not my fault one of the pins in the port broke.

Finally (unrelated to your post) I have now received a quote of £34.99 from an independent company for replacing the port. If this company can make a profit charging me a mere £34.99 for the repair, how can Vodafone even begin to justify charging over £170?

Nenen

pappa_golf wrote: »

According to Vodafone CS, this is because the broken pin inside the charging port is causing a short circuit which discharges the battery much faster.

lots of smoke is there?



I have used a GENUINE samsung QI charger from the day I bought mine (11 mths) and it works and charges quickly

perhaps the wireless charger you bought was not genuine?

I purchased the wireless charger from the Samsung shop so I'm pretty sure it is genuine. No smoke but it certainly gets very hot. Does yours?

pappa_golf

not hot , the genuine charger is either white or some are black with "samsung" and "fast charger" written on the top , lots of imported fakes about. there is a setting in the menu , think its called fast charge , try enabling / disabling that

when I bought my s6 (last xmas eve) I got it from argos and it came with a free samsung qi charger , I was going to buy another for the bedside , however I now find that one on my computer desk suffices.

had to laugh at the argos post xmas /new year sale , as the S6 went UP £45 !

I agree about the micro USB , the odd time I,ve needed to use it , it felt "floppy"

I bought mine outright and took out a fantastic contract with life mobile (£6 mth) working on the principle that I will get 2 yrs for the cost of just over 15 mths


alan (in his 60s)

wongataa

Nenen wrote: »

Finally, I take your point that charging ports are being changed by all phone companies, not just Samsung. My point was, and still is, that if the microports had been fit for purpose, companies would not be going back to larger, more robust ports again.

A transition to larger ports is not happening. Phone USB ports are starting to transition from Micro-USB to USB-C. They are about the same size but you can put the cable in a USB-C port any way round. Micro-USB ports aren't that bad and when everyone started using them there was no other option for a small USB port. USB-C is new.