Samsung S7 Edge International guarantee

[BassMan_720]

I work all over the world and have owned Samsung Galaxy Duos phones since the S3 to the S7 Edge. Dual Sim, Duos, phones are not available in the UK, where I am resident. Dual Sim phones are very convenient for my work and so my previous phones have been bought overseas, all from different countries.

My S7 Edge turned itself into a brick a few weeks ago with no warning. Samsung has informed me that they will investigate a repair, only if I take it to a service centre in the region where I purchased it, Taiwan. I am not planning on returning to Taiwan in the near future and, if I do, It will be for a few day's business only. These phones are global products and all have worked very well in all of the countries that I have visited.

I am very disappointed that Samsung will not honour my guarantee in my country of residence and very disappointed that a top of the range device has had a life of only 6 months.

I think that my next phone may well be a Huawei. Huawei is very open to state that repair of a device form a country from other than the country of repair might be subject to a delay. I considder this reasonable as there might be parts that have to be sourced. I do not consider it reasonable for a global organisation like Samsung to write off products bought internationally.

Has anybody else had a similar experience and reached a reasonable resolution?

 

[SpookDroid]

Sorry that you're having these issues, and I know how frustrating this can be (the Note 7 recall caught me in the middle of a trip to China, too). BUT, for better or worse, their warranty terms DO specify that they're only valid in the region the device was intended to be sold in. They do that to avoid gray market imports, unfortunately. As for Huawei phones, I might be wrong, but I think they have the same warranty terms: only valid where purchased.

That's why you do need to read the fine print in everything

 

[BassMan_720]

Reading the terms of the guarantee might be a bit difficult for an English speaker when it is in Chinese or Arabic.

I have had occasion to have other types of equipment repaired overseas. Canon repaired my UAE purchased camera in Hong Kong under guarantee with no quibble whatsoever and on one occasion, due to damaged caused by my own fault, conducted a paid repair at very reasonable cost. Samsung is unable to offer me a paid repair or even a diagnosis in the UK. I really do find this unacceptable.

I am informed that the problem with my phone is likely to be related to a corrupt boot loader. As the likely fault is a software problem there ought be no spares to ship to the UK for the repair. Could this region specific policy just be a ploy to boost Samsung profits at the expense of certain groups of individuals. If Canon can do it, why not Samsung?

Also I don't understand why all of the principal mobile phone manufacturers do not supply dual sim phones to the UK. If I could purchase the phone that I need in the UK, where I spend most of my time, I would.