After being forced to cancel my S24 Ultra delivery, I'm giving up on Samsung

[diphen]

As others have said, Samsung's web and app stores are trash. I had massive issues even signing in on the 17th when pre-orders went live, but did manage to place my order. However, it turns out that the Samsung store site secretly caches your previous shipping addresses, regardless of the address listed in your Samsung Account, so when I pre-ordered it ended up using an incorrect (and way out of date) shipping address. Billing address was fine, though.

I didn't notice there was any issue until I received the shipping notifications, at which point I immediately called Samsung, starting what turned out to be 10+ hours on the phone with what seems to have been all of Samsung's support teams: e-commerce, sales (which is different?), technical support, phone support, and account support, not to mention chat support when I was in a call for work.

Each step of the way they said it was "out of their hands" to change a delivery address after it's been shipped, but that UPS can do it. I called UPS, they said that due to how Samsung places shipping orders, they make it impossible to change addresses without Samsung actually calling UPS to confirm that the address should be changed.

I called Samsung back to try and explain this, and was told by several different reps that they would put me on hold and call UPS -- each time I ended up being "disconnected" or transferred to a different team, which is how I ended up talking to the account, phone, and technical support teams, who all immediately transferred me back to e-commerce once I had spent the 10 minutes needed to provide all my information and explain what had happened.

Last night the person working tech support explained that I should call back the next morning so I'd be able to talk to the US e-commerce support team. I did, and they gave me the same line about putting me on hold to call UPS, where I promptly got disconnected again.

This afternoon on my last solo call with Samsung support, one of their reps finally acknowledged that they cannot change any information about an order after it has been shipped, and though UPS might be capable of doing something they won't call UPS to sort anything out. He admitted that each time I was told I had any options besides refusing delivery I was being lied to in order to placate me. The only option I ever had was to refuse delivery, wait 10 business days to wait for a refund, and then place a new order.

I don't have access to my old address so I can't personally refuse a delivery, UPS has no options for that on their app on their site. It's not like UPS or FedEx actually cares who signs for a package, so it was almost certain that my order would take a walk as soon as it was delivered.

So, I called UPS again and explained that I needed to refuse delivery on the packages, and he needed confirmation from the shipper that the information I was providing was correct, so we had to call Samsung support together to even stop the delivery. That was the only part of Samsung's support process that worked even remotely well.

The folks on Samsung's support lines seem to have been trained to deflect rather than try and solve problems, and I get the distinct impression that Samsung doesn't really care about their customers once they've gotten their money.


I've been using Samsung phones since the S7, was pretty deeply integrated into their ecosystem with SmartThings and whatnot, but I can't justify giving them any more money.


It's a bummer, and I was really looking forward to the S24U. From other posts on this thread it sounds like I might be happier sticking with my S22U for the time being.... but after that, I have no idea.


What would you all have done in this situation?

 

[MoreDef]

What I have learned is...never pre-order. It's not like this is a Supreme drop, as in, they're not going to sell out and never make any more. This is a phone that they're going to produce the hell out of, and while you may have wanted to ensure you got it day 1, that rarely ever happens, especially considering you need to be there to sign for it if it were to be delivered day 1. Unless you took the day off, you were probably going to be at work.

If you do pre-order, do it from Best Buy or even your provider, as they usually have the option to pick up on day of release, meaning you can do it after work, and not stress about missing a package attempt that needed signing for. Samsung incentives might be cool, but I preordered from TMobile, and got mine Saturday after missing the delivery attempt on Friday. They offered me $1000 trade-in for my Note 10+, and I picked up the S24+ for what essentially ended up being a straight up even trade.

Anyway, sucks you missed out. That can be stressful, especially when you consider all the horror stories about stolen packages and deliveries too.

 

[diphen]

What I have learned is...never pre-order. It's not like this is a Supreme drop, as in, they're not going to sell out and never make any more. This is a phone that they're going to produce the hell out of, and while you may have wanted to ensure you got it day 1, that rarely ever happens, especially considering you need to be there to sign for it if it were to be delivered day 1. Unless you took the day off, you were probably going to be at work.

If you do pre-order, do it from Best Buy or even your provider, as they usually have the option to pick up on day of release, meaning you can do it after work, and not stress about missing a package attempt that needed signing for. Samsung incentives might be cool, but I preordered from TMobile, and got mine Saturday after missing the delivery attempt on Friday. They offered me $1000 trade-in for my Note 10+, and I picked up the S24+ for what essentially ended up being a straight up even trade.

Anyway, sucks you missed out. That can be stressful, especially when you consider all the horror stories about stolen packages and deliveries too.

Yeah.... usually I'm an early adopter for the incentives. Historically Samsung's are pretty solid especially when you're including a watch or tablet (was planning on upgrading my watch). I prioritize unlocked phones so they're easier to resell - which tends to limit incentives from other places.

I can work from home so being around to sign for something isn't an issue -- as long as the delivery address is correct.

Just pisses me off because even though their CS reps said they could price match back down to the pre-order pricing if I placed a new order - I wouldn't receive it until sometime in March. :/

Maybe it's not a big deal, but I really don't like getting **** on by companies I spend money with. I dunno.

 

[BerryBubbles]

@diphen, I think you handled the situation quite well. You managed to keep fighting till you were able to get someone who was willing to work with you to actually get things resolved.

Very disappointing process that you had to endure, but I truly admire your tenacity.

 

[Katrina White1]

What would you all have done in this situation?

Under the circumstances, I don't believe you could have done anything differently because you spotted the error after the fact. You probably should have checked it and rechecked it AFTER it was placed BEFORE shipping.

I experienced issues ordering as most people did. I noticed more than once, shipping defaulted to billing address, or I had to sign in again. Because things were so screwed up, after I was finally able to place the order, I went over it with a fine toothed comb to make sure everything was correct. There was plenty of time between placing the order and getting shipping notifications to spot an error, cancel, and reorder or call to correct it if possible.

I agree the Samsung to UPS to Samsung circle is frustrating, and Samsung does seem to be lax in customer service once the order is placed. We have to be very diligent in controlling the parts we can because once that baby ships, the ship really has sailed.

 

[Katrina White1]

Maybe it's not a big deal, but I really don't like getting **** on by companies I spend money with. I dunno.

Yep, it's a big deal. They lied to you and wasted plenty of your time. They should have had you and UPS link up from the beginning.

 

[J Dubbs]

As others have said, Samsung's web and app stores are trash. I had massive issues even signing in on the 17th when pre-orders went live, but did manage to place my order. However, it turns out that the Samsung store site secretly caches your previous shipping addresses, regardless of the address listed in your Samsung Account, so when I pre-ordered it ended up using an incorrect (and way out of date) shipping address. Billing address was fine, though.

I didn't notice there was any issue until I received the shipping notifications, at which point I immediately called Samsung, starting what turned out to be 10+ hours on the phone with what seems to have been all of Samsung's support teams: e-commerce, sales (which is different?), technical support, phone support, and account support, not to mention chat support when I was in a call for work.

Each step of the way they said it was "out of their hands" to change a delivery address after it's been shipped, but that UPS can do it. I called UPS, they said that due to how Samsung places shipping orders, they make it impossible to change addresses without Samsung actually calling UPS to confirm that the address should be changed.

I called Samsung back to try and explain this, and was told by several different reps that they would put me on hold and call UPS -- each time I ended up being "disconnected" or transferred to a different team, which is how I ended up talking to the account, phone, and technical support teams, who all immediately transferred me back to e-commerce once I had spent the 10 minutes needed to provide all my information and explain what had happened.

Last night the person working tech support explained that I should call back the next morning so I'd be able to talk to the US e-commerce support team. I did, and they gave me the same line about putting me on hold to call UPS, where I promptly got disconnected again.

This afternoon on my last solo call with Samsung support, one of their reps finally acknowledged that they cannot change any information about an order after it has been shipped, and though UPS might be capable of doing something they won't call UPS to sort anything out. He admitted that each time I was told I had any options besides refusing delivery I was being lied to in order to placate me. The only option I ever had was to refuse delivery, wait 10 business days to wait for a refund, and then place a new order.

I don't have access to my old address so I can't personally refuse a delivery, UPS has no options for that on their app on their site. It's not like UPS or FedEx actually cares who signs for a package, so it was almost certain that my order would take a walk as soon as it was delivered.

So, I called UPS again and explained that I needed to refuse delivery on the packages, and he needed confirmation from the shipper that the information I was providing was correct, so we had to call Samsung support together to even stop the delivery. That was the only part of Samsung's support process that worked even remotely well.

The folks on Samsung's support lines seem to have been trained to deflect rather than try and solve problems, and I get the distinct impression that Samsung doesn't really care about their customers once they've gotten their money.


I've been using Samsung phones since the S7, was pretty deeply integrated into their ecosystem with SmartThings and whatnot, but I can't justify giving them any more money.


It's a bummer, and I was really looking forward to the S24U. From other posts on this thread it sounds like I might be happier sticking with my S22U for the time being.... but after that, I have no idea.


What would you all have done in this situation?

I would have done the same thing you did... then like you I'd be done with Samsung

Life's too short to spend that kind of time and stress on a company that will do it to you again in a heartbeat To live a fruitful, quality life you have to try your best to trim out stressors like that. Stress truly does kill

 

[jeetu4444]

In samsung shop app u can change delivery address even after order is placed
Maybe after it's shipped, it's difficult to change
Hope u had realized the error earlier
S24 ultra would have been in your hands

 

[Windroid 2483]

The folks on Samsung's support lines seem to have been trained to deflect rather than try and solve problems, and I get the distinct impression that Samsung doesn't really care about their customers once they've gotten their money.

Sad that adults behave that way. But that's American culture for you! Don't tell the truth, it's "not polite". Just tell the guy whatever he wants to hear, whatever will make him happy in the short run. And don't give a direct and honest answer to a question. Give an indirect anser, imply it without actually saying it, so that you can later use the "I never said that" defence. That too is the "polite" thing to do. I'm American myself, and I don't know how or when this got started, but it's past time for this to end!

But don't take my word for it. Next time you're in the US: Ask some people "How are you doing?" (a common question here). They'll probably give some stock responce such as "Fine" or "I'm good, how are you". Almost everyone you ask will be "fine", "good", or some vearation thereof. I doubt a single one will give you an honest answer (or politically refuse to anser).

 

[bhatech]

Definitely OP could have done a better job verifying everything is correct while ordering. As, someone mentioned, you'll get several chances to review the cart, delivery address, payment etc and when you are making a large purchase you want to double check everything. But unfortunately, sometimes mistakes happen from everyone and we overlook certain things.

Sure Samsung could have done better here. But once the order is processed and shipped, it's hard for them to change the address. If it's easier to change it can open a can of worms for certain fraud situations.

You would have faced similar issues with any company in this situation IMO. Hopefully, things get sorted out for you in this instance.

 

[Windroid 2483]

The OP caused the problem in the first place by not paying attention to what he was doing.

Let's be fair: Mistakes happen. The wrong information gets filled out on a forum. There's a typo in a letter. Whatever. Systems should be designed so that mastakes can be corrected. When the bureaucrats themselves are dishonest, that makes it very difficult to correct mastakes!

What would you all have done in this situation?

Perhapes what you should have done is tell Samsung that you were blocking payment. That they could either cancel the shipment, or give whoever lived at that adress a free smartphone. Once you made it thier problem, you might have gotten results!

 

[tismydroid]

Let's be clear. Mistakes don't just happen; they are made. How about we stop being passive aggressive? The OP is responsible for the mistake he made. By trying to shift the blame to Samsung is both narcissistic and irresponsible. He's trying to gaslight everyone with his post.

Whoa, pretty strong statements! I fail to see op gas-lighting anyone. And I don't believe the OP was arguing that he didn't make a mistake. I believe his complaint was that he was given the run-around by Samsung CS... repeatedly and for hours. Samsung CS is notorious for doing that. Their CS is so bad that they waste their own time as well as ours. I hear his frustration with Samsung bc I have experienced it more than once myself as have many others. Just look at all the complaints from people where Samsung tries to deny them their trade-in due to damaged or no return and it is up to the consumer to prove that the return was legit.

 

[Windroid 2483]

Sure Samsung could have done better here. But honestly once the order is processed and especially shipped, it's hard for them to change the address. If it's easier to change it can open a can of worms for certain fraud situations.

I think you're being too generous there. If Samsung did indeed lie to the OP, then it dosn't even matter if your theory about fraud is true. The presumption of good faith flew out the window when Samsung support lied.

 

[B. Diddy]

Let's everyone please lower the temperature of the discussion. I'm going to close this discussion temporarily.

 

[mustang7757]

Thread is reopened, let's be civil

 

[jlangner]

Could you have told UPS to hold package at facility and gone and signed for it? I know Fedex you used to be able to.

Also you said you had to refuse accepting delivery, how did you do that if not there?

 

[jeetu4444]

I did same mistake once
Ordered from samsung shop
Used my old address
Once order was placed, the app gave me the option if I wanted to change the shipping address
So I Instantly change it to my current address

 

[Laura Knotek]

I did same mistake once
Ordered from samsung shop
Used my old address
Once order was placed, the app gave me the option if I wanted to change the shipping address
So I Instantly change it to my current address

That's good you noticed immediately after you placed the order.

 

[Windroid 2483]

Also you said you had to refuse accepting delivery, how did you do that if not there?

I think that's OP's question: How's he supposed to refuse delivery, if he's not at the incorrect address to refuse delivery?

 

[BEaRebel]

@mustang7757 Can you please Mod Evernote Forum