So, quick update for those who care.....Been on the phone to Samsung and Three Network for hours. Samsung: it's booked in for a repair, but it's already marked as "physical damage" and that I have to pay for repairs. They haven't even looked at it yet. I tried to get Three onside to see if they can help. Argued with a customer service rep for 30 mins, whose argument was based on "well I've never experienced that, therefore it's impossible, you must have dropped it". Sound familiar? Finally got escalated to a customer service manager who phoned Samsung while I waited, and he explained the overheating / cracking issue. Samsung said that if they found "scorching, smoke or burn marks" they may take that into consideration! They also said that if I'd returned the phone for overheating, there would have been a better chance of it being under warranty, but hypothetically, if the overheating caused cracking, it's automatically categorised as physical damage, so warranty void. Yes, I'm confused too.
So, Samsung have obviously made up their minds and have no intention of examining the phone, but I'll send it anyway to see what happens. Three gave me 50% off my monthly bill for three months which was nice.
Now let me make this clear, I could pay my 25 quid deductible and get a replacement phone, but I feel Samsung have a genuine problem here and need to address it, or at least acknowledge it. I didn't have to stick my head above the parapet and cop all this abuse but I wanted to raise awareness. If I'd have dropped it, it's my bad and I go to insurance. But I didn't drop it. From reading countless Internet posts, this phone (and the S6 Edge) seems awfully fragile and prone to glass failure for whatever reason. Some phones are reportedly getting very hot under charging, and too many have glass that shatters far too easily for such an expensive device.
So there you go, I'll probably end up going on my insurance, but at least it's out there. Maybe Samsung will do the right thing. Maybe Bristol Rovers will win the Champions League. God I miss my HTC One....