[Galaxy S II General] chronicle:
Hi all,

My SGS2 packed up around 3 weeks ago after freezing during use. I took the battery out and tried to reboot it, but it was dead. Long story short, I submitted the phone via the UK Samsung Service Centre procedure and within 48 hours they had rejected the warranty on the grounds of alleged water damage. They claimed that there was water damage to the USB port and that this was the problem - which I knew was spotless inside and out - no oxides, no discolouration, nothing. It was mint. Odd, I thought. Someone's telling lies.

Now, I know that this is the internet and people say things they don't mean but...this handset has never been in contact with any liquid or kept in overly humid environments in it's entire 11 months from new. Just placed in a gel case and used as a normal phone, stored in an outside jacket pocket and very well looked after. I buy all my phones SIM free, they belong to me so I take care of them.

I decided to contest the claim that it was water damage and refused to send it back to the Samsung service centre as I no longer trusted their judgement. Instead, Samsung said that I could take it to a local Samsung authorised repair centre local to me. Which I did. Their engineer dismantled my phone and stated that there was indeed absolutely no damage to the micro USM port & concluded 'We find no damage to the main board...We advise to speak to Samsung directly to execute the warranty'.

So great, I thought. I called Samsung and they apologised for getting it wrong and assured me that it would now be repaired under warranty. So I submit the phone for the third time - to be repaired or replaced. A week later I get the phone back with the same letter stating that they won't fix it because the say it has a 'Burn mark on the WLAN module' (that was news to me and the last 2 engineer's reports didn't see any such burn mark!) They made no more mention of the alleged damaged micro USB port that was their complaint last time - wow, it must have magically gone away! They also claimed that the 'liquid indicator had been activated'. See below.

View attachment 1469565

Now I'm not an engineer, but that 'Burn mark' looks suspiciously like a blob of permanent red marker pen ink that would be easy to test by rubbing some isopropyl alcohol over the top. I also think that if that WLAN chip had really 'burned out' that the previous 2 Samsung engineers would have noticed it and reported it. They did not.

As for the liquid indicator, well there is an area (less than 0.5mm) around the top of the sticker and right side of the sticker that shows slight pink colouring - but a vast majority 95% is clear. This, I would have thought is a perfect sign of just standard use over a 11 month period which must result from standard atmospheric vapour.

Either the 'engineer' is incompetent or this is a complete scam in my opinion, although Samsung UK acknowledged & accepted that this unit was NOT water damaged, they are now saying that they 'can't order their repair centre to carry out the repair - only 'request' again that they make an exception, but if their engineer insists that it's water damaged then that's that.' Bloody ridiculous!

This whole 3 week saga has been full of inconsistencies & has been a communication & PR disaster for Samsung. Either way, this is the last time i'll be buying Samsung goods. The quest getting Samsung UK to do the right thing and honour the warranty continues. Bad Samsung.