Phone returned to Samsung for repair under warranty, phone delivered to complete stranger

jcvbpickle

I sent my 1 year old S10 to Samsung to be repaired under warranty as it was overheating to an unacceptable degree. I requested a repair on 24th May, and it was collected by DPD on 25th May. I received a contact from Samsung on 29th May stating it had been repaired, and that DPD would be in contact with me for delivery. After I had not had any contact from DPD by 31st May, knowing that I should have had contact from DPD within 24 hours of them receiving the package, I contacted Samsung. I was informed that due to the current crisis it may have taken an extra day. I called back on 1st June as I had still had no contact from DPD, where I was told that I should have the phone by the next day. I was contacted on 2nd of June by a stranger, who informed me that he had just had my phone delivered, in a box with his name and address on the outside, but with my phone and all the details Samsung holdS about me, including my name, address, phone number and date of original purchase of my S10 on paperwork inside. The gentleman informed me he lived in Crewe (I am in Essex).

Upon receiving this call, I contacted Samsung on 2nd June to inform of what had happened and get a solution for getting my phone back to me, and this GDPR breach dealt with. The agent informed me that this had to handled by a specialist team, and that due to the time of day, I would receive contact on 3rd June. I received an email from one of that team on 3rd of June, nearly 22 hours after contacting yourselves, which seems very slow for a situation such as this. The email requested that I call Samsung, which I did, however, I feel that they should have called me. I called at 15:33, where I requested a call-back through the automated system, and when that was not forthcoming, I called at 16:09, 16:16 and 16:31, each time I was cut off by the system. I received a call back from Samsung at 16:45, whereupon I explained the situation and the agent informed me that they would have to contact their manager about this as it was a situation they had never come across. 

Upon receiving their response stating that I may have to wait up to 14 days for a response from the lost in transit and logistics team, I tried to contact on the number provided. I began the call at 17:41, and stayed on the line until Samsung’s system disconnected me automatically when the phone lines closed at 6pm.

I am a young single woman, living alone, who has just had her personal information and her phone delivered to a complete stranger, who, thankfully, contacted me to inform me that this had happened.

I am also classed as “vulnerable” in this pandemic, however, I am am not one of those who has to shield. I am currently having to use a phone which is over 6 years old, and is having severe difficulties as it is over heating and has insufficient memory to be able to open up most text based web pages.

i have informed Samsung of the breach of GDPR, and the loss of my phone. They are arrang8ng collection of my phone from the gentleman who received my phone, and will be arranging it to be returned to me.

Supersonos

As there's no question here, all I can say is... interesting story.  I hope Samsung get it all sorted for you.

jcvbpickle

Sorry, forgot to add the question.

i believe that Asthey have broken GDPR, and have caused me significant mental distress I am entitled to compensation under the Data Protection Act (2018) (GDPR). This is because my primary means of communication with the outside world during a global pandemic has been delivered to a complete stranger, along with personal details, including where I live and my phone number. (Mental distress being the exact wording used by the Data Protection Act (2018) (GDPR)).  What are the chances of any compensation from Samsung happening?

Supersonos

Very small.  But that's just my opinion.

SidneySmutt

Do all your phone's "overheat,"?

DoaM

@jcvbpickle you do seemingly have a GDPR claim against Samsung (albeit any claim value is probably small), but I'd suggest holding off on taking any action until you've actually got your phone back. When you do get it back (and assuming you have contact details) I'd suggest contacting the other person to thank them for their honesty.

Aylesbury_Duck

Slim to no chance of compo.  It shouldn't have happened, it's annoying, a stranger knows that someone with your name lives at your address and owns a phone. It's not the end of the world.  

Report the breach, let them correct the error and ask nicely if they'll do anything for the inconvenience. You might get a voucher or something.  

You survived perfectly well with the old phone temporarily but if having a speedy, modern phone is vital you could have bought a handset for next to nothing to tide you over.  As prompted above, you need to look at why your phones overheat if it's a pattern.  Are you using approved charging cables or cheap rubbish from ebay or poundland?  Have you got a case that doesn't allow sufficient cooling?

jcvbpickle

To address several points, no, not all my phones overheat, my old phone didn’t overheat whilst I used it everyday, but it has been in a drawer as an emergency phone for 4 years. The one in between didn’t either. If the overheating had been caused by a cable, I don’t believe that Samsung would repair my current phone under warranty, nor replace a malfunctioning chip, which was contributing to the overheating. I was prepared for a few days to a week on an old phone, but it has now been nearly 2 weeks without my usual phone. I have Asperger’s syndrome, and my phone is one of my coping mechanisms so, no, I cannot cope with a non speedy phone. I don’t see why I should have to pay for a mistake that I did not make by buying a new phone. The change in routine with this pandemic has hit hard, and then with the loss of my phone, I am struggling. 

Aylesbury_Duck

I'm afraid you'll just have to be patient.  Nothing is going to magically speed up the process, so you'll just have to cope with the spare phone for the time being.

JJ_Egan

Be aware that depending upon nature of the fault and repair data may well have been wiped .

Wrong address would have no knowledge of your data if that was the case .

Takmon

jcvbpickle said:

Sorry, forgot to add the question.

i believe that Asthey have broken GDPR, and have caused me significant mental distress I am entitled to compensation under the Data Protection Act (2018) (GDPR). This is because my primary means of communication with the outside world during a global pandemic has been delivered to a complete stranger, along with personal details, including where I live and my phone number. (Mental distress being the exact wording used by the Data Protection Act (2018) (GDPR)).  What are the chances of any compensation from Samsung happening?

You do realise that if the parcel was being delivered to you normally then it would still have your name, address and phone number on the outside of the packaging to be able to have it delivered to you. This package goes through many people you don't know so employees at Samsung, the parcel company and the delivery driver can all see this information. 
So one extra person knowing this information shouldn't really cause you significant mental distress.