Consumer Reports: Samsung won't support defective S7 Actives

FLTimmyB

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OK called ATT retention ..or maybe I got a cust service agent they were never really clear...ATT said they wont replace the phone unless there is water damage, she then proceeded to call Samsung who said the same..I think there needs to be a direct number to retention..I did get a extra 5 Gig of data out of my efforts so not a total loss. If anyone has better luck please pass it on and let us know what kind of Captain Kaos decoder ring we need to get past the front wall of ATT. :)
 

Kelly Kearns

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OK called ATT retention ..or maybe I got a cust service agent they were never really clear...ATT said they wont replace the phone unless there is water damage, she then proceeded to call Samsung who said the same..I think there needs to be a direct number to retention..I did get a extra 5 Gig of data out of my efforts so not a total loss. If anyone has better luck please pass it on and let us know what kind of Captain Kaos decoder ring we need to get past the front wall of ATT. :)
If you called 611 and asked for retention.. Did she transfer you?

The only number I found was from 2011. Not likely to still be a good number.

800 331 0500
 

FLTimmyB

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No she didn't transfer me..so I have a feeling I got just a normal agent..she was very nice but didn't seem to grasp the situation too well. I will give her points she did try to help, and was sympathetic to my position.
 

Kelly Kearns

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No she didn't transfer me..so I have a feeling I got just a normal agent..she was very nice but didn't seem to grasp the situation too well. I will give her points she did try to help, and was sympathetic to my position.
Yeah you did if she didn't transfer you.

Call back and say, "please transfer me to the retention department".

They should, if they don't then say, "so you can cancel all my service?"

Retention is their own department. Look at the above link with some numbers, if they don't get you there, call back and do the above.
 

FLTimmyB

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I did ask for retention and they sent me to cancellation and so maybe I was in the right spot.. I think that door needs to be knocked on by others..
 

Kelly Kearns

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I did ask for retention and they sent me to cancellation and so maybe I was in the right spot.. I think that door needs to be knocked on by others..
Maybe.. Then you needed a supervisor from there if she couldn't do it.

Also won't hurt to get Samsung Plus on chat and tell them you need to speak to a supervisor and you aren't happy about this. They will call you back from a phone.

Go ahead and push both sides of it.
 

FLTimmyB

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now so far I have no water damage but, as I told the ATT rep I am trying to be proactive vs reactive... of course she gave me the line "I talked to my manager" etc. I still think there must be a way to get a proper phone with no worries with out having to risk it getting water logged...
 

Kelly Kearns

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Oh I agree. Call back, get a different Rep, ask for the supervisor in retention. Mention media stories and the ones being replaced being replaced with ones manufacturered before the fix date.

You will probably have to make numerous calls and can't give up. Eventually you will get someone in retention that might can help.
 

ric2001

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I would love a 2-year replacement guarantee as well. I don't think that is asking for too much either.

As far as the rest of your post yeah you are dreaming LOL. Why would they replace phones that haven't proven to be defective? Just because there was a defect detected in there manufacturing doesn't mean all their phones suffer the same defect.

Uh, do car manufacturers wait for you to have a problem? I'm not necessarily just talking about life-threatening things like seat belts or air bags. But, even if a radio was found to have a faulty circuit that hasn't blown yet, they still fix it for you.
 

bkrell

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Really? Because you just admitted to getting $165 that you're really shouldn't have. Maybe that's why we're having to pay those fifteen bucks to reimburse AT&T for giving out credit where credit's not deserved.

Oh FFS, what I said was a simplification just to explain how AT&T is normally reasonable in matters like these. Could I argue that I didn't deserve the charges they stuck me with-absolutely. Would you like me to derail the thread to explain the difference between the cruise ship package and the passport package? I can do a better job than they did with me.
 

bkrell

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OK
-Called AT&T, spoke with customer care. Got nowhere. Said I could only exchange a damaged phone.
-Asked for retention. Told retention my story. They said they'd gladly do a warranty exchange. I said, "Wait, I thought I could only exchange the phone for water damage?" Response was, "Well, that's what you're calling about right? The Active has issues with a defect. You don't want water damage" "Uh, YEAH!" I replied.
-Got transferred to warranty. They asked me if my phone was turning on at all. I rehashed the issue. They said, "Oh, ok. Yeah, you don't want an Active that's not water proof!" Told me I was getting a certified LIKE new phone. I flipped out. I Wanna new phone! I wanna new phone! I wanna new phone!"
-Ok, no, I didn't say that. But the rep told me the certified like new S7 Actives are coming from Samsung and are not returns from consumers. She said they are phones that may have been taken out of the box for testing, inspection, or other reasons. But they are unblemished and not refurbs.
-So I said ok...IF I could ascertain the build date of the phone and verify it was post-defect...roughly.
-She said "Sure!" You can exchange it as much as you want within your warranty. Or, within the first ten days, just let them know I'm not keeping the phone I got and send it right back.

At this point, I agreed. Heck, I may even dunk it to verify. I'm still not thrilled with "Like new" but at least they will liberally interpret water damage...at least in retention and warranty.
 

Kelly Kearns

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OK
-Called AT&T, spoke with customer care. Got nowhere. Said I could only exchange a damaged phone.
-Asked for retention. Told retention my story. They said they'd gladly do a warranty exchange. I said, "Wait, I thought I could only exchange the phone for water damage?" Response was, "Well, that's what you're calling about right? The Active has issues with a defect. You don't want water damage" "Uh, YEAH!" I replied.
-Got transferred to warranty. They asked me if my phone was turning on at all. I rehashed the issue. They said, "Oh, ok. Yeah, you don't want an Active that's not water proof!" Told me I was getting a certified LIKE new phone. I flipped out. I Wanna new phone! I wanna new phone! I wanna new phone!"
-Ok, no, I didn't say that. But the rep told me the certified like new S7 Actives are coming from Samsung and are not returns from consumers. She said they are phones that may have been taken out of the box for testing, inspection, or other reasons. But they are unblemished and not refurbs.
-So I said ok...IF I could ascertain the build date of the phone and verify it was post-defect...roughly.
-She said "Sure!" You can exchange it as much as you want within your warranty. Or, within the first ten days, just let them know I'm not keeping the phone I got and send it right back.

At this point, I agreed. Heck, I may even dunk it to verify. I'm still not thrilled with "Like new" but at least they will liberally interpret water damage...at least in retention and warranty.
That sounds good. One good thing that may come from that.. Your warranty with AT&T will still be from the date of purchase. When you log into the phone with your Samsung account, and it registers it with Samsung, call them up and ask what the warranty date is on it. It should give you Samsung warranty from the day you log in until a year. That way, if something fails 11 months from today, even if not covered by AT&T, it should be covered by Samsung.

Also if it has gone back to Samsung, that isn't what they do with most refurbs, that is something taken care of at AT&T.
 

FLTimmyB

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So just so I understand customer care then retention then to warranty all because you asked if you could swap your phone even though it had no water damage..OMG you are a super hero on this one, to wade through all that and get the job done...good man...I might try again next week.
 

bkrell

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So just so I understand customer care then retention then to warranty all because you asked if you could swap your phone even though it had no water damage..OMG you are a super hero on this one, to wade through all that and get the job done...good man...I might try again next week.
Yep. Took me about an hour on the phone.
 

TJA3500

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When you get the latest phone from Samsung that's supposed have the water issue fixed, how will know for sure the water issue has really been resolved. You might have to take it for a swim to make sure. It would be nice to know before the one year warranty is up.
If you test it right away then you'll know for sure because if you don't and it falls in the water after the one year warranty and stops working then what?
 

bkrell

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When you get the latest phone from Samsung that's supposed have the water issue fixed, how will know for sure the water issue has really been resolved. You might have to take it for a swim to make sure. It would be nice to know before the one year warranty is up.
If you test it right away then you'll know for sure because if you don't and it falls in the water after the one year warranty and stops working then what?

Lol, that's what I was worried about with the original phone. I will test it ASAP, probably, before I return my current phone. That way, if it fails, I at least have this phone.

As an aside, they asked me multiple times if I wanted a different phone. Had me a little worried!!! Do they know something we don't!?!? Hah!
 

TylerLV76

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Lol, that's what I was worried about with the original phone. I will test it ASAP, probably, before I return my current phone. That way, if it fails, I at least have this phone.

As an aside, they asked me multiple times if I wanted a different phone. Had me a little worried!!! Do they know something we don't!?!? Hah!
They asked if you wanted to change phones? Like to an S7 or anything but an active? Thats exactly what Im going to do if mine fails the test this weekend.
 

bkrell

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They asked if you wanted to change phones? Like to an S7 or anything but an active? Thats exactly what Im going to do if mine fails the test this weekend.

Yes! It had me worried they thought I just had buyers remorse and was trying to get a different phone. Had to state at least 2-3 times "No, I love this phone! I just want to make sure it works correctly!" Lol, part of me was thinking Note 7! But having just come from an iPhone 6 Plus....I'm over the whole phablet thing... Pain in the rear to take running.
 

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