yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S II General] NanoSurfer:
I must admit, the Moto is a very good device with good looks and an awesome finish but for me, I will never personally own one of those simply because of the whole locked bootloader fiasco. That's a deal breaker and another whole fiasco altogether :D

If you dont care about modding, than its no problem, but for a flashaholic like me, thats a very big problem. Just adding my 2 cents thats all.

But with that said, congrats on the new phone man, and despite what I said, I do have phone envy cause I love the looks of those phones!

Hopefully your troubles are over.

Cheers
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Thanks NanoSurfer,

Yes, Motorola do have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot at times, don't they? I can live with this being locked down for now. Moto have promised a JB update for this handset before 2013... But I'm not counting on it ever arriving! :rolleyes:

I'll flash the S2 though.
[Galaxy S II General] bobdoblo:
Only if you want a massive pile of steaming crap! http://www.autoomobile.com/news/lg-nexus-4-teardown/1007516/

Salesales *NeatROM 3.6* - Its a BEAST!!!
[Galaxy S II General] 666fff:
Yea, that article was absolute rubbish. Badly made because it's dangerous to take apart? Rofl, serves you right for messing with it. As for tape inside, have you opened your sgs2 ever? Yup....tape. Even the screen is stuck down with double sided tape. The mic, speaker, all held in place with lovely bits of tape. Has your gs2 fallen apart yet? Probably not. In fact, the gs2 is one of the toughest smartphones. Thanks to tape.
[Galaxy S II General] bobdoblo:
Durability will also be another issue. Samsung devices typically have impact regions on the bolts and the edge of the device and these give the device strength and are there to sustain impact. The LG Nexus 4 lacks impact zones and this will make the device more fragile and of course it will not have resistance to impact. This might explain why recently the folks over at TheVerge were surprised to see their test model cracked without knowing how it may have happened.
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Still Nothing From Samsung Customer Service!

Guess what?

As shocking as it may seem (considering Samsung's superlative handling of this mess /Sarcasm ), yet another 7 days has flown by with no replacement phone arriving and no contact from Samsung's customer service agents!

I was told i'd get the replacement unit at the end of last week, beginning of this week - Nothing. (Edit - Received the black SGS2 today. Better late than never, not sure why they can't email customers with the tracking number?)

I was also told that i'd be kept up to date with the feedback from management's inquiries into the false engineering reports and the red ink placed on the chip, which they were claiming was 'a burn'. Which it wasn't, it was red ink. - Again, nothing.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Samsung for their honest, fast, friendly, easy, open, communicative & painless approach in assisting me (the paying customer) in continuing to push for a quick & painless resolution to this ongoing PITA procedure that they have, and are, continuing to put me through call on Samsung to get in contact with me and explain to me why, as a company they are taking SO LONG to resolve this ridiculous state of affairs?

1 month after first applying for the warranty repair on this phone and all the resulting inspections and costs that I have incurred chasing your backsides into action and you still can't be bothered to communicate effectively, even when you're patently in the wrong? Please, get your act together.

Samsung UK - D minus. Bad performance. Haven't applied yourself, not paying attention, very aloof & irresponsible. Must try harder.
[Galaxy S II General] fc_Kuro:
I have just read you're problem and I'm going through the exact situation!

My phone started giving me an "out of service" message when trying to place calls and was only allowing emergency calls. I tried sims of a few different networks and had no luck so I decided to call Samsung. I explained I could see my imei number as I have read some users having problem with their's disappearing.

Anyway, the only problem with the phone was it not was not connecting to a network. I sent my phone off and it seems a company called Intercity Mobile are dealing with the repair and they inform me that my USB port has water damage! I am absolutely certain there is no water damage....it has been in a case since I got it and I look after it like its a baby.

Now they want a repair fee of over £60 because water damage is not covered in their warranty.

I was planning on making a complaint to Samsung tomorrow about the scenario and the service centre. Is there anyone I should talk to or do before I make a complaint?
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Sorry to hear of your problems with your phone and Samsung's response. I'm not sure how a 'water damaged' USB port would / could effect the phone's ability to find a signal unless there is actual damage / corrosion to the motherboard which is effecting the main aerial.

Certainly, the board containing the USB port & microphone can be purchased for as little as £4.99 including delivery in the UK. This takes 5 minutes to fit.

The humidity sensor for this handset is set into the back plastic housing in the small groove that the USB port sits in. I suspect that 'engineers' are merely opening the handset and taking one glance at this sensor and if it even shows a tiny amount of pink colour, rejecting the handset as 'Water damaged' without carrying out any further action or inspection of the unit.

You are within your rights to request that the engineers send Samsung photographic evidence of this damage. They will then forward you the images. (See my images in this thread). However, I do not trust my Samsung Service centre after my experiences.

You really need to inspect the motherboard and chips, very closely, yourself. Looking for any signs of damage, metal oxide build up or direct damage. If you are not happy doing this (opening the phone may invalidate your warranty - although there is no way for anyone to know that you have opened the phone unless you damage it doing so), then take it to a local repair shop for a second opinion.

It doesn't sound like your phone was damaged by water, but they are charging you because the sensor my have changed colour slightly in normal use. If I were you, i'd send it back under warranty again (Request another RMA envelope from Samsung) and this time ask for the photo's of the alleged damage. Eventually, if you do get a grainy photo showing a pink liquid sensor i'd be having a little look inside the phone first to see if there is any obvious damage or if this is just Samsung using this as an excuse not to honour the warranty.

Complain to this email address: uk.help@samsung.com (They are awful at responding, never in writing. Write down the name if they do call)

And you can call this number instead: 01932 454 358 (then #6 I think) to get through to CS agents.

I am convinced that Samsung are aware of this issue with some GS2 phones being rejected as 'Water Damaged' when they are not, simply because engineers reject any handset that exhibits any discolouration of the liquid sensors. In fact I was told as much directly by a Samsung CS agent. The liquid sensors should be an indicator of potential problems, but a slight discolouration of the sensor should not result in an automatically rejected warranty claim unless Samsung can show and / or prove that parts are damaged as as result of this.

Good luck with your dealing with Samsung. I hope you have a more expedient & positive result than I am having!
[Galaxy S II General] reverend_black:
Hi,

I've had a similar problem with the samsung centre repair centre (Anovo in Norwich). The phone was sent off with a faulty charging port and returned without a repair claiming water damage but with a further refinement - the housing had been damaged with parts broken off! The phone was well packed to and from the centre so I doubt it was damaged in transit. Rather it was damaged at the service centre. To put if mildly, I am livid.

The phone is 18 months old with the minor scuffs expected from normal use during that time. It certainly was not directly exposed to water, but being in the UK, it would be impossible to avoid moisture exposure. Unhelpfully, Anovo didn't provide any evidence of water damage or even offer to repair out of waranty. Instead they smashed it up a bit and sent it back.

Suggestions on how to handle this are welcome. I'm thinking of having the housing replaced and the phone checked double checked for water damage at another service centre. If there is water damage, fair enough, I'll have the fixed at my own cost. Either way I'll pursue Anovo/Samsung for costs of replacing the damaged housing

Thanks
[Galaxy S II General] lukesan:
Ok, I have had my share of dealing with these things myself.

Next time do yourself a favour and take pictures, lots of pictures. Now I have gone so far to record everything in HD from showing the device, make sure to show the sn and turn it around so you can see damage etc, during packaging yourself AND unpacking when coming back.

Some people go so far they record it all including putting the package on a scale and showing the weight to avoid having the other party telling them there was no phone in the packaging.

Evidence is important!

I have been dealing with the same bad support from HTC. My previous HD2 was in and out of repair for months. Appointments meant nothing and in the end I got a refurbished HD2 which was not fully working when it arrived.

After that they offered to give me a low budget new model which I obviously refused. After that I sent the complete logs of conversations, names and screenshots to the CEO of HTC. Not even a day later I got a call from someone at HTC giving me the choice of some nicer models.

I got the Desire HD which I used for a couple of months and then sold it because HTC still gave me a bad feeling.
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Samsung - AWFUL customer 'service'

Sorry you are being as badly mistreated by Samsung UK customer service as I have been.

Anovo are a joke. The Samsung 'high level' representative that did call me twice, from a 'private number' (who didn't offer her full name, email address or contact number when asked) in order to eventually agree to my replacement SGS2, told me that Samsung UK were very unhappy with Anovo's performance as a Samsung Service centre. She told me that Samsung has received many complaints about this particular service centre recently and that Samsung were building a case to have them dropped from their service agreement due to their poor performance.

She also admitted that my phone had not been water damaged at all - and that poor training at Anovo was responsible for this knee-jerk diagnosis. She also stated that the 'Burn mark' on the WLAN chip, that Anovo had only 'spotted' on their second internal inspection (the phone's 4th inspection in total) was indeed not a burn mark, but in fact appeared to be red marker pen deliberately applied to the chip. (As confirmed by myself and the local repair shop). Pic attached.

After about a month of back and forward, expensive phone calls, trips to repair shops, letters written & ignored, re-written.... I was then sent out another SGS2 (which I immediately sold). I was also informed that I would be kept up to date with the internal investigation into finding out why I had been lied to about the water damage and then why and who had placed the ink on the chip. Samsung blamed Anovo 100% and left me, the customer, completely in the lurch.

Guess what? I never got that follow up phone call from the 'Senior customer service woman'. I never received an official written response from Samsung despite my two written complaints on the subject. I called up the Samsung Customer Service centre in January and requested that I was contacted to fill me in on the Anovo inquiry. Completely ignored me.

No compensation was ever offered. No official apology was offered. Samsung UK Customer Service - you need to up your game. Anovo - I hope you get dropped from the service contract. I haven't dropped the bone yet - I will continue to call in now and again until I get the feedback I requested.

AdzUK - Could you please PM the email address of Mr Stanford? (Samsung Mobile CEO UK) I would like to email him the pages and pages of correspondence, videos and emails pertaining to my experience! Thanks.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
PM sent.

Like I said, I emailed him a week ago but haven't had a reply, I think Samsung are making too much money at present to even give a damn.

I am fortunate in that they haven't tried pulling a fast one with me and trying to claim water damage. They accepted the fault and repaired it, only it took them weeks to do it and when they eventually did they physically damaged the handset in the process. They know 100% that the blame lies with them, I am just waiting to get this whole sorry mess resolved once and for all.

If that lady does indeed call me back from the withheld number, I will ensure I get her name and some contact information. Samsung need a serious wake up call if they think this is the way to treat the customers who have put them where they are today.
[Galaxy S II General] gastonw:
Your phone must have been purchased in 2011, not 2010. Warranty was still good.

Warranty is still good for -almost- any 2 year warranty s2, as it was released in 2011.

Sent from the little guy
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
No call back from the mysterious lady from the withheld number, doubt I will hear anything back over the next few days with it being Easter Friday and Bank Hol Monday, no sign of my phone yet either. It will be 4 weeks tomorrow.
[Galaxy S II General] stothy862:
Oh dear glad I found this thread!

On the 24th of Feb I first contacted Samsung stating my S3 had stopped working, after a small bit of research I see that the phone has been at fault of a small bit of firmware failure that means the main board needs replacing. Promptly the next day I get an email asking for:

They email me back on the 4th of March saying:

When I clearly stated that the phone won't turn on or be recognised by any PC! They weren't reading my emails which really didn't help after over a week of trying to get my phone fixed already.

I email back and they again ask for all the information they asked for in their first email so I oblige and send it one more time.4 days later they then refer me to A NOVO, I ring them and I am put on hold for over 15 minutes, so I hang up and give up with that route.

This time I take the phone to one of their walk in centres in Doncaster, this may be my saving grace in this problem, they try and repair it and refer me back to Samsung and give me a different number to ring, Samsung send out a free post bag for me to use and 2 days later my phone is back to me. Brilliant, 1 month down the line I finally have a phone again, but how wrong could I be? When I opened the package I find a letter explaining one of their engineers has found water damage on my phone so they have not repaired it. Surprise surprise, when I look at the phone the water damage indicator is in fact still perfectly white with blue crosses!

Now I know it's not water damaged as the walk in centre I to it to said they would charge me a £10 fee if the phone is water damaged and they didn't but I'm sure they would have liked to. So if I can get a statement from them saying the phone wasn't water damage maybe I have a case for a repair or if I have to go to Citizens Advice for help with this!

I have also just noticed the screen protector that was on was removed...

EDIT: Samsung say if I get a written report stating that there is not water damage I should be able to get a repair!
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Oh good grief, Samsung and A Novo are up to their old trick of passing the buck.

Don't believe anything A Novo say, they lie. This has been proven by my experience. The problem is that even if you supply A Novo and Samsung with written proof from an independent approved Samsung engineer (as i did), proving that your handset should be repaired under warranty, A Novo will still not honour this as their authority in deciding what gets fixed and what doesn't supercedes that of Samsung!

Samsung can only 'strongly advise and recommend A Novo to carry out the repair'. In my case they declined 3 times to repair the phone even though Samsung HQ agreed with me and had asked for the repair to be carried out.

I had to waste hours and hours chasing weak PR reps to eventually corner Samsung UK in to sending me a new handset directly.

It seems that both parties didn't learn a single thing and the status quo continues. Which is a PITA for you, the customer.

No more Samsung products for me, that's for sure.
[Galaxy S II General] stothy862:
The worst part is my Samsung monitor has just started developing a lot of dead pixels... great, more to deal with!

So who did you call to get them to give you a new handset?

This sounds like a long battle! :/
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
My 2 year old Dell laptop screen just developed a few dead pixels, and was blue screening occasionally. Even though I have the 4 year extended warranty, I was expecting a rough time getting it replaced. Much to my amazement, the Dell chap turned up the next day with a brand new FHD BRG LED screen, motherboard and cooling fans and heat sink. Replaced the lot in 20 minutes and was on his way! Well done Dell!

Unfortunately, I binned all the paper work a few weeks ago as it was just unnecessary stress. I do remember that the number I call to get through to their 'customer service' team began with 01932 (sunbury upon thames). But when I called the official number (01603 269217), this seamed to connect me to the same group of people as well. I think they have a tiny number of people dealing with complaints & issues in the UK.

Good luck!
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Wow, they never fail to surprise me.

Day 32 here and still no sign of my phone. The constant banging your head against a brick wall just wears you down and you eventually give up, but something seriously needs to be done about them. I never got a call back from the 'high level representative' or whoever it was that called me from private number saying they will resolve this issue urgently and offer compensation. Their cs department is a complete joke.

If there are enough of us, and we shout loud enough, surely our voice can be heard? Even when I get my phone back, I refuse to let this go.
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Day 32 eh? Blimey, makes you wonder just how many levels of paper pushing bureaucratic nonsense they actually have to go through in order to simply replace a faulty product? I'm guessing that the product cycle probably goes from raw ore to final product in less time!

I agree with you, Samsung UK's customer service and after sales support, in the case of mobile phones is completely inadequate. Their communication is terrible and their transparency as a company, as far as procedures and taking ownership of a problem, is awful. But they don't seem to give a hoot about it either, so unfortunately the only way for us to show my dissatisfaction with the way they treated me is to not buy their products again.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
I like this guys idea:
[Galaxy S II General] luner_orbit:
On the samsung uk support page, theres a link titled " Email the CEO ". Use that and I know from personal experience that it does work.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Will certainly try this thank you. How long did it take until you got a response?
[Galaxy S II General] luner_orbit:
I received an automated response almost immediately then a human response the next day. It was all sorted within a few days so hopefully they can do the same for you.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
By any chance do you still have the name in your emails of the person who responded? I'm just wondering if it was the CS department that's all.
[Galaxy S II General] luner_orbit:
The name i have is Sean Archer (executive officer)
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Cheers mate. :good:
[Galaxy S II General] luner_orbit:
You're welcome and i hope it helps.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Email sent, let's see if I get a response.

The last time I spoke to Samsung on the phone was actually yesterday and the person I spoke to assured me, my phone would be ready to collect from my local repair centre today. Well, I rang them this afternoon and again just 15 minutes before they shut and they said there is no sign of my phone yet. Just typical really, almost everything they have told me upto now has been a lie.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Update:

I got a response from Sean Archer (Executive Office) within a few hours! He emailed me back yesterday evening and it was quite a generic email really saying we apologise for the delay, sorry you weren't kept informed, the handset should be with you within the next 24 hours.

He also said that a member of the CS team will be in touch with you, to discuss any outstanding issues you may have. I'll have to make it clear that I do have many issues and the matter is far from resolved once I get my handset back.

(1) I wasted my own time and petrol in dropping my phone off to their repair centre (on their advice) in an effort to speed things up, then again 3 weeks later to collect my handset to find it was damaged.

(2) I have wasted roughly 10 hours on the phone/on hold to Samsung in total, and been lied to several times.

(3) I have been waiting for call backs that never came, and most were never even logged in the first place.

(4) I have been paying for a monthly contract and been without the handset for over a month.

(5) After been lied too repeatedly I eventually gave up waiting and purchased another phone to use for the time being.

I've not replied to his email yet I'm just gonna wait and see if my phone is back today as he said.
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Just wow, completely lost for words.

I received a call from the repair centre saying my handset is available for collection. Guess what? The dent is still there. The guy told me not to bother sending it back to Anovo once again, he gave me a receipt and put a note on there that the dent is still there. Now what? Sell it and cut my losses? Bearing in mind I have to advertise it with a dent when I sell it, so it will affect the value slightly.

So, 35 days without my phone and here we are. Any ideas?
[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Flog it. Take the hit. But another brand & never look back.

From my point of view is just not worth all the ongoing stress and aggravation. They don't give a rat's behind about customer care and they even went so far as to mark mine to give it the appearance of being damaged. Samsung are lazy and ineffectual at dealing with complaints. I find it difficult to not accuse A Novo service centre on being corrupt, as a result they are not a company i want to buy from anymore.
[Galaxy S II General] stothy862:
Just got a response from Mr Archer so will hopefully get my phone working soon!
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
Sean Archer replied to my email within a few hours yesterday evening, I have emailed him back with an update. I'm not ready to give up just yet.
[Galaxy S II General] Tesla:
Anovo had to shut down in Sweden.:good:
[Galaxy S II General] jr866gooner:
This is exactly why i am thinking about going to blackberry :)
[Galaxy S II General] AdzUK:
UPDATE:

I rang Samsung and spoke to their CS dept on Thursday 4th April, telling them that I had received the phone back and it still had a dent in. The lady I spoke too did at least seem as though she wanted to help, she gave me a call reference number and spoke to her manager, and advised me that they need to speak to Anovo to see exactly what they had been repairing over the previous 2 weeks. She assured me I would get a call back within 48 business hours with a resolution, that means by 5pm today..

I also emailed Mr Archer again on Thur 4th April - he replied to me within a few hours on the first occasion. Surprise surprise, no response from him yet and it has been a few days now. I'm giving them until the end of today, that's it.