So the Active is "rugged", huh?

[TimmyB]

So, my 11-month-old S6 Active and I were out Friday, and I felt the vibration of a message coming in. Not wanting it to keep annoying me, I took the phone out of my pocket and went to hit the power button. It slipped from my hands and fell, less than 30", to the pavement, landing perfectly square on its back. Wow, that was lucky. Or, so I thought. My screen is destroyed, cracked from top to bottom!

If that weren't bad enough, I've gotten quotes from two different people, that both say it will be over $240 to fix! Oh, man, I am not a happy camper. After reading through other sites, it appears the screen on our phone isn't as "gorilla" as we thought. Disappointed. :'(

 

[Aquila]

Ouch - that sucks! Yes, glass still breaks and is expensive to replace, but sorry to hear that happened. Are you going to fix it or move on to something else?

 

[TimmyB]

Ouch - that sucks! Yes, glass still breaks and is expensive to replace, but sorry to hear that happened. Are you going to fix it or move on to something else?

I got out my old M7. It's still a great phone, just didn't have the camera that I wanted, so I spent Saturday updating, reinstalling apps, etc. ATT was kind enough to slap a new sim into it and she's working just fine. This will at least buy me some time so I can make a rational decision.

 

[Law2138]

So, my 11-month-old S6 Active and I were out Friday, and I felt the vibration of a message coming in. Not wanting it to keep annoying me, I took the phone out of my pocket and went to hit the power button. It slipped from my hands and fell, less than 30", to the pavement, landing perfectly square on its back. Wow, that was lucky. Or, so I thought. My screen is destroyed, cracked from top to bottom!

If that weren't bad enough, I've gotten quotes from two different people, that both say it will be over $240 to fix! Oh, man, I am not a happy camper. After reading through other sites, it appears the screen on our phone isn't as "gorilla" as we thought. Disappointed. :'(

I feel your pain my friend. I too had an incident in which the durability of this device came into question. The damage on mine, was a bit different as my 3 year old bit the corner of the device causing a hairline crack. I didn't even see the crack but i knew it was damaged because the screen no longer turned on. I sent it in to Samsung repair that day and they too quoted me something like $317 to fix it. I flew off the handle (not over the phone) but I couldn't believe how a child could damage a "rugged" device sporting the latest gorilla glass. I made my argument to Samsung level 1 and level 2 support, then to the repair center manager, even consumer relations at a point.

Sure, LCD damage isn't covered under warranty, but its not like you took a hammer to the device. Daily drops or other accidents happen more often than not.

My advice is to try to work something out with Samsung Support and the repair center.
1. Keep your cool at all times
2. Keep notes on when you call and who you talk to, ask for a reference or ticket number
3. Ask for help on resolving the issue (+$240 isn't an acceptable solution as it is too expensive.)
4. Don't demand anything or to speak to a manager/supervisor. Level 1 and in some cases Level 2 support don't make decisions about cost or replacements but they can put you in touch with the people who do. Speak to them as you would want to be spoken to, no matter how frustrating it gets.

The bottom line is that the S6 Active is advertised as a rugged device capable of keeping up with those who have an active lifestyle. To me this means withstanding exposure to the elements, more bumps, drops, or whatever else that isn't considered abuse.

Also, make sure you know what their warranty states before you call. I would also point out the fact that Samsung Protection Plus is offered on every other S6, Note, and S7 flagship device, and inquire as to why its not available on the S6 Active. One would think its the toughest device and wouldn't need protection plus, but that's not the case. Suggest maybe you would have purchased protection plus had it been available for your device. Even if you purchase protection plus at $129 and replace the device under that, you're still paying less than the $240+.

The key is to be persistent and polite while dealing with support on the phone. Samsung and the repair center make pretty good money on protection plans and repairs. They can afford to cut people a deal. You just have to try. Good luck.

 

[TimmyB]

I feel your pain my friend. I too had an incident in which the durability of this device came into question. The damage on mine, was a bit different as my 3 year old bit the corner of the device causing a hairline crack. I didn't even see the crack but i knew it was damaged because the screen no longer turned on. I sent it in to Samsung repair that day and they too quoted me something like $317 to fix it. I flew off the handle (not over the phone) but I couldn't believe how a child could damage a "rugged" device sporting the latest gorilla glass. I made my argument to Samsung level 1 and level 2 support, then to the repair center manager, even consumer relations at a point.

Sure, LCD damage isn't covered under warranty, but its not like you took a hammer to the device. Daily drops or other accidents happen more often than not.

My advice is to try to work something out with Samsung Support and the repair center.
1. Keep your cool at all times
2. Keep notes on when you call and who you talk to, ask for a reference or ticket number
3. Ask for help on resolving the issue (+$240 isn't an acceptable solution as it is too expensive.)
4. Don't demand anything or to speak to a manager/supervisor. Level 1 and in some cases Level 2 support don't make decisions about cost or replacements but they can put you in touch with the people who do. Speak to them as you would want to be spoken to, no matter how frustrating it gets.

The bottom line is that the S6 Active is advertised as a rugged device capable of keeping up with those who have an active lifestyle. To me this means withstanding exposure to the elements, more bumps, drops, or whatever else that isn't considered abuse.

Also, make sure you know what their warranty states before you call. I would also point out the fact that Samsung Protection Plus is offered on every other S6, Note, and S7 flagship device, and inquire as to why its not available on the S6 Active. One would think its the toughest device and wouldn't need protection plus, but that's not the case. Suggest maybe you would have purchased protection plus had it been available for your device. Even if you purchase protection plus at $129 and replace the device under that, you're still paying less than the $240+.

The key is to be persistent and polite while dealing with support on the phone. Samsung and the repair center make pretty good money on protection plans and repairs. They can afford to cut people a deal. You just have to try. Good luck.

Thanks, Law. I've already contacted Samsung via email and they got back to me and told me what to do for a possible service claim. I'm probably going to send it to them, just to let them tell me what they "think" it is going to cost, and go from there.

 

[TimmyB]

So, Samsung quoted me a price of $70 last week and I sent the phone in. Today, I received an email from them that said upon inspection, it will now cost $240 or so to fix. I called immediately to discuss this, but the conversation went nowhere. They would not change the price, they would not put me in touch with anyone else, etc. This was the price, take it or leave it. In a nutshell, last Samsung device of any kind. EVER.

 

[Phoneguy108]

So, Samsung quoted me a price of $70 last week and I sent the phone in. Today, I received an email from them that said upon inspection, it will now cost $240 or so to fix. I called immediately to discuss this, but the conversation went nowhere. They would not change the price, they would not put me in touch with anyone else, etc. This was the price, take it or leave it. In a nutshell, last Samsung device of any kind. EVER.

That's BS!
Sorry to hear!

 

[T48]

I cracked the glass on a S3 years ago. Got two prices as well from Samsung if I remember correctly. The higher price included a digitizer & was just shy of $200 to fix. This was back in 2012 though & not sure what all has changed in terms of repair as well as the S6A obviously being a higher resolution screen.
Kind of curious if a granule of sand/pebble was stuck between the edge of screen & bezel or something? Bizarre for it to break like that.

 

[TimmyB]

I cracked the glass on a S3 years ago. Got two prices as well from Samsung if I remember correctly. The higher price included a digitizer & was just shy of $200 to fix. This was back in 2012 though & not sure what all has changed in terms of repair as well as the S6A obviously being a higher resolution screen.
Kind of curious if a granule of sand/pebble was stuck between the edge of screen & bezel or something? Bizarre for it to break like that.

I have no idea. I'm a 58-year-old guy who has never broken a phone. I am very active (duathlete, kayaker, etc.) but my phone is always well-protected; not even a scratch on it, I am sure. Very disheartening, to say the least. The more I research this, though, the more I realize that I am not alone. There are many, many people who have cracked their screen on the S6 Active, and they all have put up with the same BS. Thankfully, one of my HTC One M7 phones was still working well enough to put it back into service.

 

[cubetop]

I've dropped my S6 Active a few times on the concrete. Usually take it out when I stop the motorcycle to get gas and such and forget that my dexterity is less with gloves on. There are chips missing from the sides and corners of the case. Most drops happened at >36" onto concrete. No screen damage. Lucky? Probably but I've owned phones that wouldn't have survived much less.