[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Orange_furball:
Hello, There are many reports of Samsung's customer service being terrible. When buying my phone I was thinking that I would never have to use Samsung's customer service as I always baby my devices, but I was wrong. Due to a well known defect in the plastic lip on the device, small cracks form over time. They are only about a millimeter or two each, but if your phone is in otherwise pristine condition it can be a very annoying problem. Here is a small piece of knowledge you should know about me, when talking on the phone I have trouble being stern and fighting for what I want. Especially if the person has an accent (not that there is anything wrong with that, I just can't understand them very well.). Continue reading for the whole story, in every detail I can remember!

This started on September 27, 2012. I had my sister call Samsung and explain the problem. Several users have reported the same issue getting solved by either a quick fix or a simple replacement. I was expecting nothing less than a quick fix. A few minutes after hanging up I received an email from Samsung with my ticket number and a UPS shipping label. I immediately started packing when a user on XDA-Developers told me that he got a replacement without having to be without a phone for 10 days, so I called Samsung 2 more times asking for a replacement. They never transferred me to Advanced service or Executive service so I figured it was a lost cause and send my phone in the next day. Because of the small size of the defects, I printed out 3 HD full page pictures of the cracks and circled them. I put them directly by the phone in the box hoping that the technician would get it and be able to solve the problem easily. The part that needed to be replaced costs $30 on eBay and includes the metallic bezel and the white lip. I can do this repair within an hour if I had the parts. The phone was received by Samsung on October 3, 2012. I received no other communication that there were problems so I assumed it was under warranty and would be fixed. They shipped the phone back to me on October 5, 2012.

On October 9, 2012 the phone was delivered to my house. Upon unpacking the phone I noticed that it was filthy. There was a layer of dust/dirt on the screen. I didn't care as long as the phone was fixed. I glanced at the white lip and saw that there were two dents in it, upon looking around the bezel I saw all three of the cracks and one more (probably form shipping). My mom called back immediately and asked why it wasn't fixed. They responded with confusion and we were transferred to Advanced support. They said it must have been a filing error and that they were sorry, we had to schedule another repair. I'm very mad at this point. How do some users get a replacement phone free on the first try and I have to wait 12 days to get nothing done, then send it in again for even longer? I pack it up with no pictures this time. Just the device in some bubble wrap (6 layers to be exact. Enough to protect it from even the biggest hit.). The phone was shipped out for the second time on October 10, 2012.

On Friday October 12, 2012 Samsung got the phone. No repair was attempted on this day as it was Friday. This was understandable because I wouldn't want to start a repair right before a weekend either. October 15, 2012 comes and with it another email from Samsung. This time it's an update that my repair cost has changed. Just in case you forgot, the original issue was with cracks on the white lip on the side of the device. Now in this email I see "After careful inspection, the repair cost for your product has changed. Please review the following important information and instruction." I read further down and see in large orange letters "$197.01". I freak out. I read what the charge is for, an LCD repair fee for $117.00 and a Standard repair fee for $65.00. Now why on earth would the LCD have to be replaced? I first went on the Samsung Live Chat as this is supposed to be a replacement for their phone service. I get no where and was told to call for more information. So I called. After asking why I need to pay for this repair that doesn't need to be done about 5 times and saying that this is my second time sending it in I was transferred to Advanced customer service, which I think is just another employee who the problem gets passed on to. I hand the phone off to my dad and he takes it away. Asks why they want $200 for something that is their problem. The guy said that the LCD is either cracked or it's an internal problem. Duh. Anyway my dad said that they need to file their own claim with UPS as the phone was damaged in shipping. The phone's LCD was perfect when I sent it in. Some words about not supporting a product were said and we were transferred to Executive customer service.

Let me inform you that Executive customer service leaves at 8:00 PM CST (but the phone support stays open until 9:00 PM CST). It is 7:45 PC CST when we are transferred. The music stopped and it started to ring, then a busy tone came, and finally the line went dead. He called back and was transferred to Advanced after 5 minutes of explaining what the problem was. Advanced said the Executives left for the day, she scheduled a phone meeting on the next day at 5:00 PM CST. My dad left his work number for them to call as he wouldn't have been home yet.

The next day he gets home from work and he told me that he missed the call. So apparently he called back and went back up the line to Executive. Finally after about an hour of persuading they agreed to fix the LCD, which isn't even broken, and the cracks for free. I think okay everything is good again ill have my phone by early next week. The next day I got an email from Samsung saying that the repair was once again on hold. This time for parts. At this point the phone has been gone for 20 days. With the weekend coming up the phone will have to shipped tomorrow in order to get here Monday. I want to know how long the parts take to come in so I called again and asked. Put on hold for a few minutes. Guy comes back and says he doesn't know. They aren't informed about parts and can't give me an ETA. We will see what tomorrow brings and ill update the thread if something else happens.

****Cliff Notes Version****

Samsung ignores my phone and doesn't repair, I send it in again and they try to charge me $200 to fix an LCD that works perfectly. A few calls later they agree to fix everything free. Now its on hold for parts and it is day 20 of not having a phone. In short, Samsung doesn't care about customers and will try to screw them any way possible. The next phone I buy will NOT be a Samsung phone. Congrats customer service, you lost a customer.

-Matt The Angry Samsung Hater.