Samsung support is garbage, my Note 9 arrived with a ding

[KupKrazy]

I purchase my phones outright from a Samsung Store and they have made it clear each time, that the Samsung Premier Care replacement incidents are provided by a third party. Believe it's Assurant, not Asurion. Speaking in Canada. I asked my friend in the States and they said they purchase from Samsung directly and had to use the protection care once for their S8+ and they dealt with Assurion. Sorry for any confusion.

I actually looked it up and found this on their site:

"Service Contract Provider/We/Us/Our means the entity that is contractually obligated to You under the terms of this Service Contract. The Service Contract Provider is Federal Warranty Service Corporation, P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689, 1-877-881-8578 in all states except in California where the Service Contract Provider is Sureway, Inc., P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689,1-877-881-8578; in Florida where the Service Contract Provider is United Service Protection, Inc ., 11222 Quail Roost Drive, Miami, FL 33157, 1-877-881-8578; in Oklahoma where the Service Contract Provider is Assurant Service Protection, Inc., P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689, 1-877-881-8578 and in Massachusetts and New Jersey where the Service Contract Provider is the entity from which You purchased Your Product."

It looks like it's multiple companies and for Oklahoma it is Assurant. However for Massachusetts and New Jersey it would be Samsung. Very interesting. I thought it was Samsung throughout.

 

[TurdRon_FergusonBurgundy]

I actually looked it up and found this on their site:

"Service Contract Provider/We/Us/Our means the entity that is contractually obligated to You under the terms of this Service Contract. The Service Contract Provider is Federal Warranty Service Corporation, P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689, 1-877-881-8578 in all states except in California where the Service Contract Provider is Sureway, Inc., P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689,1-877-881-8578; in Florida where the Service Contract Provider is United Service Protection, Inc ., 11222 Quail Roost Drive, Miami, FL 33157, 1-877-881-8578; in Oklahoma where the Service Contract Provider is Assurant Service Protection, Inc., P.O. Box 105689, Atlanta, GA 30348-5689, 1-877-881-8578 and in Massachusetts and New Jersey where the Service Contract Provider is the entity from which You purchased Your Product."

It looks like it's multiple companies and for Oklahoma it is Assurant. However for Massachusetts and New Jersey it would be Samsung. Very interesting. I thought it was Samsung throughout.

Indeed interesting, thank you for sharing this.

 

[Blues Fan]

Apple hate shows in some posts. Hate Apple for whatever but not many companies close to their support and taking care of customers. Probably Amazon comes close. Sure there is always exceptions where someone goes they sucked for me. But in general it's not even close and Samsung support shouldn't even be mentioned along with Apple, Amazon and other great costumer caring companies.

Samsung makes great products but they have always relied on partners like carriers and others to market/support their products. They have slowly started pushing Samsung.com but without local Samsung stores in the US like Apple has it's kind of hard to match Apple. Sure they have Samsung experience stores, can partner with ubreak and other repair center etc but not the same like waking into an Apple store and being taken care of. Hopefully they improve their support experience for Samsung.com purchases in the future and atleast match Amazon who also doesn't have local stores but provide great service online and policies making returns/exchanges simple in case of issues.

PS: I'm only talking about US, before someone says in my country...

Now that Amazon directly sells the unlocked US version at launch I think I will use them for the Note 10 or s10. Not only better pre order gifts but a lot better customer support if there is a problem when I get my new device like the OP had. I will simply just find another means to sell my Note 9 and then go through Amazon. It's not a big deal if I have to wait a few extra days to get it from Amazon if knowing I won't have to deal with Samsung ever.

I only had to use their customer support once. You might recall the Gear S2 and defective watch bands that would break. So of course mine ripped as well I contacted customer support who then directed me to tech support where I talked to someone with broken English who then asked a whole bunch of stuff and then I was told Id get contact within 72 hours in regards to getting a new wrist band. Of course they never contacted me back and I just gave up and ordered one off Amazon for $7 that worked better.

 

[bhatech]

Yeah that's why I had cancelled my Note 9 order via Samsung.com and went with Amazon. Unless you are having older phone most of the trade in value they give is not that great. For example for Pixel 2 XL they were giving $450 which isn't bad but I knew I can easily get more than that selling locally in Seattle area. Today I sold it for $540 so no regrets.

Personally no reason to buy from Samsung.com when Amazon also sells at launch, sure I would have got the phone 2 or 3 days earlier but I guess I can wait

Now that Amazon directly sells the unlocked US version at launch I think I will use them for the Note 10 or s10. Not only better pre order gifts but a lot better customer support if there is a problem when I get my new device like the OP had. I will simply just find another means to sell my Note 9 and then go through Amazon. It's not a big deal if I have to wait a few extra days to get it from Amazon if knowing I won't have to deal with Samsung ever.

I only had to use their customer support once. You might recall the Gear S2 and defective watch bands that would break. So of course mine ripped as well I contacted customer support who then directed me to tech support where I talked to someone with broken English who then asked a whole bunch of stuff and then I was told Id get contact within 72 hours in regards to getting a new wrist band. Of course they never contacted me back and I just gave up and ordered one off Amazon for $7 that worked better.

 

[Blues Fan]

Yeah that's why I had cancelled my Note 9 order via Samsung.com and went with Amazon. Unless you are having older phone most of the trade in value they give is not that great. For example for Pixel 2 XL they were giving $450 which isn't bad but I knew I can easily get more than that selling locally in Seattle area. Today I sold it for $540 so no regrets.

Personally no reason to buy from Samsung.com when Amazon also sells at launch, sure I would have got the phone 2 or 3 days earlier but I guess I can wait

Or even Best Buy too. If there is a problem I can walk into Best Buy. This time around it really didn't matter who you ordered from since most got it only 2 days before release or at worse today.

I had a bit more patience this time too. last year I was all antsy to get the s8 plus because I HATED the v20 and S7 Edge I was forced to get because of the Note 7 recall. I HATED the s7 edge and needed a big AMOLED screen phone.

Since the Note 9 is very similar to the Note 8 I wasn't as antsy as well. I could wait an extra couple days to get better customer support and deal from Amazon now.

 

[etyrnal01]

I got my Note 9 yesterday, and upon examining it I saw a small flaw/dent/ding in the bottom right where the S Pen goes. I immediately called/chatted with Samsung and they told me not only do they not do exchanges, but I'd have to do a full return/re-purchase to get another phone and send back my promotional item as well. I got in on the AKG promotion and $300 trade in, both of which are over, so I would likely have to pay full price if I re-buy the phone.

All I want to do is get another phone, why are they making me send the promotion items back and why are they being so difficult and not just letting me get another phone? Has anyone had any luck in talking to someone higher than the useless reps who barely speak English? I'm going to try the sales team today, maybe they have someone who can actually help me out. To think I just spent $1000 on a premium phone to avoid these stupid manufacturing flaws for nothing is killing me.

So you paid 1000? But said you got it at a promotion price? Confusing

 

[berfles]

So you paid 1000? But said you got it at a promotion price? Confusing

I paid 1000 for it until I send in my S7 Edge for the $300 they offered. Ad now that's part of the issue, getting then to make good for it on top of the major issue of them having a history of lying about the condition of phones the recieve.

 

[GrumpyMomofMacR]

No, they initially offered to cancel the sale, make the OP pay more by losing out on his trade in credit, and return the gifts (which is what you were relying to at the time). The entire purpose of a warranty claim is to put things back right, not put you in a worse spot than you started out with. So no, that initial offer from Samsung was not acceptable by any stretch of the imagination.

This was the bind I was in when issues, most notably pink staining of the display, became apparent in my S8+. I ended up keeping the phone and being annoyed with it for a year and almost permanently put off of Samsung. I didn’t want to face losing my trade in credits and free promotional items.

I decided to give them another chance last year and fortunately my S9+ has been great and my trade in was processed with no problem. If not for the fact Samsung gives trade in credits I find acceptable, I would go with some other vendor.

As it is, this thread contributed to my decision to cancel my preorder. It wasn’t due to ship until the end of September anyway. I grew concerned at some of the issues people have been reporting with their phones. I’ll just hold off and wait for Samsung to tighten things up a bit. With my S9+ being so great, I am in no rush.

 

[bandofbrothers2112]

This was the bind I was in when issues, most notably pink staining of the display, became apparent in my S8+. I ended up keeping the phone and being annoyed with it for a year and almost permanently put off of Samsung. I didn’t want to face losing my trade in credits and free promotional items.

I decided to give them another chance last year and fortunately my S9+ has been great and my trade in was processed with no problem. If not for the fact Samsung gives trade in credits I find acceptable, I would go with some other vendor.

As it is, this thread contributed to my decision to cancel my preorder. It wasn’t due to ship until the end of September anyway. I grew concerned at some of the issues people have been reporting with their phones. I’ll just hold off and wait for Samsung to tighten things up a bit. With my S9+ being so great, I am in no rush.

It's a shame you've decided to cancel your Pre Order

I also take info from forums and YouTube videos etc but to add balance with these forums we don't see a balanced overview.

The many people that are happy with their phones don't register to forums to shout about them.

With respect to all the other members it's us geeks that do !

I wish you well.

 

[stackberry369]

This was the bind I was in when issues, most notably pink staining of the display, became apparent in my S8+. I ended up keeping the phone and being annoyed with it for a year and almost permanently put off of Samsung. I didn’t want to face losing my trade in credits and free promotional items.

I decided to give them another chance last year and fortunately my S9+ has been great and my trade in was processed with no problem. If not for the fact Samsung gives trade in credits I find acceptable, I would go with some other vendor.

As it is, this thread contributed to my decision to cancel my preorder. It wasn’t due to ship until the end of September anyway. I grew concerned at some of the issues people have been reporting with their phones. I’ll just hold off and wait for Samsung to tighten things up a bit. With my S9+ being so great, I am in no rush.

You'll be waiting a long time then

 

[GrumpyMomofMacR]

It's a shame you've decided to cancel your Pre Order

I also take info from forums and YouTube videos etc but to add balance with these forums we don't see a balanced overview.

The many people that are happy with their phones don't register to forums to shout about them.

With respect to all the other members it's us geeks that do !

I wish you well.

Thanks.

Well I remember when I ran into the problems I had with my S8+ I could not even get a hold of anyone at all. At that time Samsung CS line was swamped with customers complaining they weren’t getting their preorder gifts processed. It was a nightmare dealing with Samsung during the initial rush of order fulfillment. I would have had to stay on hold for hours just to get an RMA, if I remember correctly. I really have come to dislike preordering.

I’m just going to wait for things to settle down with them. I ordered the Blue 512 GB AT&T model so it wasn’t going to ship until the end of next month anyway.

My cancellation will also free up the hold on my husband’s preorder which was placed a few days after mine was placed. Last year, both of us had no problems placing simultaneous preorders that involved sending in our older Samsung’s for trade in credits. This year they put a hold on my husband’s preorder and said they could only process one trade per household at a time. So it sounds like they would have to actually receive my trade in phone first and then they would process and ship his preorder only after receiving my old phone and processing my preorder.

It’s different from last year where they applied the credit and shipped immediately and we held onto the old phones until we were sure the new ones were in good working order, then shipped in the old ones. Had they not received our old phones they would just have billed us for the value of the trade in credits they advanced to us.

I guess they have their reasons for changing things and imposing a one trade per household limit this year. But the changes make things very confusing when it comes to understanding exactly when my husband’s order is supposed to be processed and shipped.
@stackberry369 oh I don’t mind waiting. Maybe there will be even more color options to choose from when I get around to purchasing.

From what I saw of the issues that plagued my old S8+, Samsung got all of those sorted in later production runs. I have a friend who bought an S8+ several months after its launch and hers is flawless. The pink stain that marred my display and those of many store floor models was gone by the time her phone was made and sold.

 

[bandofbrothers2112]

I've no idea why Samsung would apply that type of restriction on how many units can be pre ordered !

That said I'm in the UK which may be different to where you reside.

Personally I pre ordered from my local bricks and mortar Samsung Experience Store and traded in my s8 while I was there.

I prefer this because I can unbox the phone in the store to look it over and boot it up.

 

[berfles]

Well, just got off the phone for hopefully the last time after I got that generic email a day or two ago that basically renegotiated everything I agreed to.

Got a nice woman named Erica who again went to her supervisor and came back with: I send my Note 9 and headphones back. When they receive them, I call Samsung directly again and place the order through them, where they will manually override things to give me the headphones again and honor the $300 trade in. Only issue is I won't get the new one for awhile from what they told me, they seem to be backordered or something. She did say that there are some people who ordered before me and still haven't gotten it so I may be in an area where I receive it faster? I don't know.

This also resets the window on me returning my S7 Edge, and I'm now going to have to go back to that until the new Note 9 arrives.

 

[nrfitchett4]

Yeah that's why I had cancelled my Note 9 order via Samsung.com and went with Amazon. Unless you are having older phone most of the trade in value they give is not that great. For example for Pixel 2 XL they were giving $450 which isn't bad but I knew I can easily get more than that selling locally in Seattle area. Today I sold it for $540 so no regrets.

Personally no reason to buy from Samsung.com when Amazon also sells at launch, sure I would have got the phone 2 or 3 days earlier but I guess I can wait

The trade in values were good for Samsung phones. IPhone 7+ was only 350 I think.

 

[berfles]

Also, I'm kicking around the idea of getting the 512gb version for the RAM. Ugh. Wish there were some direct comparisons.

 

[TurdRon_FergusonBurgundy]

Well, just got off the phone for hopefully the last time after I got that generic email a day or two ago that basically renegotiated everything I agreed to.

Got a nice woman named Erica who again went to her supervisor and came back with: I send my Note 9 and headphones back. When they receive them, I call Samsung directly again and place the order through them, where they will manually override things to give me the headphones again and honor the $300 trade in. Only issue is I won't get the new one for awhile from what they told me, they seem to be backordered or something. She did say that there are some people who ordered before me and still haven't gotten it so I may be in an area where I receive it faster? I don't know.

This also resets the window on me returning my S7 Edge, and I'm now going to have to go back to that until the new Note 9 arrives.

I will be pleasantly surprised if this process goes smoothly

 

[Squarrow]

I got my Note 9 yesterday, and upon examining it I saw a small flaw/dent/ding in the bottom right where the S Pen goes. I immediately called/chatted with Samsung and they told me not only do they not do exchanges, but I'd have to do a full return/re-purchase to get another phone and send back my promotional item as well. I got in on the AKG promotion and $300 trade in, both of which are over, so I would likely have to pay full price if I re-buy the phone.

All I want to do is get another phone, why are they making me send the promotion items back and why are they being so difficult and not just letting me get another phone? Has anyone had any luck in talking to someone higher than the useless reps who barely speak English? I'm going to try the sales team today, maybe they have someone who can actually help me out. To think I just spent $1000 on a premium phone to avoid these stupid manufacturing flaws for nothing is killing me.

I was told the same thing on a defective Galaxy S9+ at launch. I had a $400 trade in and $200 "coupon."

I could return and repurchase at full retail and then "request" the intial promotions be honored.

I have an S9+ for work now but will never spend my money on their stuff in the near future.

 

[climb]

Apple hate shows in some posts. Hate Apple for whatever but not many companies close to their support and taking care of customers. Probably Amazon comes close. Sure there is always exceptions where someone goes they sucked for me. But in general it's not even close and Samsung support shouldn't even be mentioned along with Apple, Amazon and other great costumer caring companies.

Samsung makes great products but they have always relied on partners like carriers and others to market/support their products. They have slowly started pushing Samsung.com but without local Samsung stores in the US like Apple has it's kind of hard to match Apple. Sure they have Samsung experience stores, can partner with ubreak and other repair center etc but not the same like waking into an Apple store and being taken care of. Hopefully they improve their support experience for Samsung.com purchases in the future and atleast match Amazon who also doesn't have local stores but provide great service online and policies making returns/exchanges simple in case of issues.

PS: I'm only talking about US, before someone says in my country...

I love Sammie's products but you nailed it when it comes to Apple's customer service and Sammie's lack thereof

 

[berfles]

I will be pleasantly surprised if this process goes smoothly

That makes two of us. I think I decided to get the 512gb version this time though just for the RAM, what's another 200 bucks when I've already spent this much.

 

[Connert]

Are you sure this isn't damage to the protective plastic film covering the metal frame?

You can see the film starting to peel off on the photo you posted.