Samsung's unclaimable warranty

Ectophile

I needed a new phone in a hurry, so on Monday I went on Amazon and found a nice Samsung phone.  It's an "Amazon Exclusive", so I assume only Amazon sells that specific model in the UK.  I paid extra for express delivery, and it turned up this morning.

Having read plenty of "someone's stolen my phone" threads on this forum recently, I examined the box very carefully.  The box was sealed, with stickers saying "Do not accept if seal is broken".

So I cut the seals and looked inside.  There's a phone, a charger, and a "Warranty Card" (that looks more like a booklet to me).  Reading the warranty card, it's only valid if it's been signed and stamped by the dealer.

That doesn't make any sense at all.  Amazon aren't going to be signing and stamping warranty cards, and they certainly aren't going to be signing and stamping warranty cards that are inside a sealed box!

Carrot007

Was it actually sold by amazon. I suspect not.

Many third partys shove amazon this or that in their description of a product. It means nothing.

Probably a grey import.

Ectophile

This is definitely an Amazon exclusive, and it's "Dispatched from and sold by Amazon."  I made a point of not buying the phone from any other company.

It's a UK model  The phone is labelled as a Europe-only model, and it has has a UK charger in the box.  The seal on the box goes underneath the manufacturer's serial number sticker on the box, so it's not been added on afterwards.

Samsung have invented a warranty that's impossible to comply with if you buy the phone mail order, and then sold it to a mail order company.

Carrot007

OK, so does the amazon page mention the warranty. If not you lost nothing and just have some junk in the box.

If it does what do amazon and samsung say about it?

deanos

Samsung will honour the warranty so not sure of the issue here

Ectophile

I've messaged Samsung.  I don't think I'll bother hassling Amazon unless the thing actually goes wrong.

There's no mention of the warranty on Amazon's web page.

DiddyDavies

The warranty card will be something that's supplied with every phone irrespective of the country  that it's sold in and in many cases, it won't be needed if you have to make a claim.
Samsung themselves state:

To make a claim under this warranty, end users must produce the original proof of purchase (i.e. when the product was originally sold to an end user).

Samsung Product Warranty Information | Samsung UK
so provided you have the receipt, not having the card stamped won't be a problem.