Samsung Wants Me to Pay for Something that is a Factory Defect?!

[zenshake]

So my phone's display stopped working out of the blue. I know the phone can still power on because it vibrates when I get a notification, the led indicator light still flashes, I can still connect it to my laptop and copy files, and it vibrates when I hold down the power button to reset it. The screen won't turn on no matter what I do though. I've tried every form of reset that exists, so in the end I sent it in to samsung to hopefully get it repaired. Now I find out they want to charge me for a new LCD. What it says on the ticket is "Out of warranty by condition, LCD is damaged". Keep in mind that I have never dropped this phone, gotten it wet, applied any pressure other than normal tapping with my finger (I never put it in my back pocket so I couldn't have sat on it), it has never been exposed to anything outside of room temperature and optimal conditions. Is there anything I can do in this situation? I have called customer support and they wanted to get me in touch with the repair center, but the repair center was closed for the day so they told me to call back tomorrow. I will pray that the repair center will change their mind and side with me on this. How can they do something like this?! They sent out a faulty product now they want the consumer to pay for it?

 

[Rukbat]

It depends on the country you're in. In some countries, Samsung contracts out repairs, and the repair center doesn't get enough from Samsung for warranty repairs, so they claim that all repairs are in "out of warranty condition". In other countries, you have other avenues. (In the US and the UK, for example, there are Samsung reps in one chain in each [US and UK], and sometimes they can push a repair through.)

 

[Phoneguy108]

Did you try talking to AT&T yet?

 

[Law2138]

Should have been the first step...call AT&T. IF the LCD just stopped working under normal usage, then it is 100% covered. AT&T sends out warranty replacements the same day and you can often get them to overnight it to you (ask politely for priority shipping credit to your account). You'll have 10 days to send the defective device in before they charge you $550 bucks. When they receive your device, they'll inspect it for physical and water damage. I've heard that they ultimately submit them back to Samsung for repair or to be decommissioned. If the device passes AT&T's inspection, then you'll probably never hear from them again.

So since you went the Samsung repair route, they had you send the device into the Samsung repair center. I've been down the path where they state that the device is "out of warranty" due to LCD damage. They'll throw some number at you like $237.00 to repair it or they'll send it back unrepaired. You can ask to speak with a supervisor, and explain how there is no visible damage, its supposed to be a rugged phone, you didn't do anything out of the ordinary, and whatever else to plead your case. $237.00 repair to a phone that cost you $695. Heck, you can probably buy one on Swappa for $350 now.

You'll need to contact Samsung customer service and work your way up to level 2 support and customer relations. In most cases, customer relations concern is to find a solution that is acceptable to you. Just short of demanding a brand new phone, you'll want to explain your situation in detail. Something like, you like your phone, you like Samsung products, and you would purchase them again. But just like every other device out there, sometimes something goes wrong that was not the consumer's fault. Kindly request that they waive the repair fee and stand by their product that is continually advertised as being rugged and meets IP68 standards.