Why does Samsung SUCK?

“Value for money”, a sentiment which resonates strongly with my beliefs, that when you buy some product or service, it must be worth it. The recent events and my tussle with Samsung India, has led me to believe otherwise. Whenever I set out to buy any electronics, I always read not just the specification and the data sheet, but the consumer manual, and the manufacturer’s terms & conditions as well.

So what happened?

I or more precisely, my Father bought a Samsung Primos S5610. It was barely 2 days, when the phone developed a snag, due to which the screen blacked out. Since, the Samsung consumer policy- dictates product replacement within a window of 4 days only, we went to the service centre immediately.

Point of interest: Most manufacturers offer replacement policy of 30 days, 15 days or at the very least 7 days. But Samsung beats them all with its 4 day policy.

So, I return to the service centre, and after waiting for half an hour, we get to the service engineer- the ultra smartass dude who seemed to have invented the telephone. And then he drops the bombshell, the phone can’t be serviced, as warranty is void. Why? Because, the defect was apparently due to liquid damage.

Point of interest: Samsung declares warranty void on its mobile phones if there’s any water damage, which though a little harsh, is actually fair, considering people actually flush their mobiles and then take it back to get it serviced. Urgh!

He then proceeds to show us where the damage was done, pointing to a small corner of the phone motherboard where it was blacked out. Not only this, he also points out that liquid had entered through the small crevice where the camera key was situated. See a picture of the mobile below:

Point of interest: The motherboard had blacked out at the area which was almost opposite to the camera key. Water could actually not even reach that part, as the damaged area was too constricted.

Nothing would convince the jackass that it was a manufacturing defect. And so he proceeded to his next scam, where he tells me that it would take 3000 INR to repair a mobile which cost me 5000 in first place itself. Not only that, the repair will have no warranty of any sort, and if the mobile undergoes any damage during the repair itself, the service centre will have no liability.

I quietly collected my mobile, after I had declined his offer and made up my mind to go to another service centre. And I was in for a surprise; the world is full of bozos, who really are drunk on stupidity. My little experiment had the same result again, and boy, they are consistent! I do actually give them that credit.

Returning home totally exhausted, I looked up the Samsung mobile website again, this time the “Contact Us” web page. I find  “Contact the CEO”, though it was totally pointless and I had little hope of being heard, I anyway wrote them an email detailing the events.

I got a return call from his office next day itself, but there is no end to stupidity. These guys had contacted the service centre, and tried to explain me that the warranty is void. And all this, when I had actually complained not just about the mobile, but the incompetency of the service engineer itself, but they conveniently skipped that part.

Almost 10 emails, and an equal number of telephone calls, and a dozen threats of lawsuits. The guy caved. But he would still not replace my mobile, and only agreed to full repair and warranty intact. And though this was a violation of their own terms,  I compromised and settled, as I had had enough of the phone calls.

I went to the service centre again, the same jackass greets me and repairs the mobile. Yet, this time he actually lets slip out, that Samsung’s 4 day replacement policy is a farce, and they never replace any mobile, unless it’s beyond repair.