6 ms·

Don’t Buy Samsung Smartphones

34 points by zdw 5y ago

jimthom 5y ago
This is why I would rather buy iPhone or Oppo. I have been a consumer of Samsung for sometime and I am not really pleased by their services and phones.
hazza_n_dazza 5y ago
Samsung says they don't have spare parts! Oh well, best not spend that much next time. I really like the authors other blog posts, such as https://befinitiv.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/turning-a-usb-fan-into-a-phone-charger/ https://befinitiv.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/turning-a-usb-fan...
mbfg 5y ago
they could, of course, just give this dude a new phone.
tragictrash 5y ago
I think something is not being said here. I'm not sure what it is, but something sounds off. Maybe he not asking the right questions? I mean if they can't fix it they have to replace it. Samsung has pretty good customer service. Something doesn't add up
- zibzab 5y ago
  Yeah, I got the same feeling. Could also be a really bad employee :(
- beerandt 5y ago
  It's hit or miss. I placed an order on their business website for the note, along with another dozen items, paying for next day shipping. The ship date got pushed back a week at a time for over 2 months before it just timed out and auto-canceled after the FTC deadline. But calls and emails (foreign call centers) were pointless. No info other than the system ship date. Couldn't separate it into multiple shipments. Even once I canceled the phone from the order, no one seemed able to get the rest of the order to ship. Even unsolicited "follow up" US sales calls/ emails were humorously useless. "Yes, please take my money." "Hmmm- let me follow up and get back to you."
  - tragictrash 5y ago
    Okay, after reading the other comments, as well as yours, I know what's missing: escalation to small claims court.
    - beerandt 5y ago
      They were happy to cancel and refund. I don't think small claims would magically create inventory or mobolize it in my direction if it existed. It's not anything wrong other than claiming something was in stock when it wasn't. And customer service that was useless. That's bad service, but not really the cause of any equitable harm.
supermatt 5y ago
Samsung refused to repair my phone because of "water damage" - although I was 100% certain that it had never been near any water. I escalated the complaint and it got nowhere. Samsung simply refuse to deal with you after a point. I ended up going through small claims process. They eventually offered to "settle" by repairing the phone. At this point I had already bought a replacement, so I declined. They ended up refunding the purchase price + court fees. In short - register a small claim against them. From experience, its the ONLY way Samsung will take your complaint seriously.
- muttled 5y ago
  This goes for a lot of companies. The front line customer service reps are trained to deflect as much cost as possible. One quick message from the legal department, however, gets things fixed pretty quickly. Small claims court typically costs somewhere between $75-$200 and if you have a valid claim you can assume that you'll likely get those costs back.
janandonly 5y ago
I would either buy an iPhone or a cheap Android phone (like an Oppo or Huawei) and flash it with CalyxOS [1]. [1] https://calyxos.org https://calyxos.org
- vlastik 5y ago
  Yeah, Oppo and Huawei phones are great fit for CalyxOS. Have you seen the list of supported devices for Calyx? It's basically Pixel-only :).
- karteum 5y ago
  Huawei/Honor phones now have a locked bootloader so unless there is an exploit it's not possible to install anything else than the stock firmware https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-stop-providing-bootloader-unlock-codes https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-stop-providing-bootloa...
dusted 5y ago
I've owned the note series since they came out, so while I say "best phones, ever" I have nothing to compare them to, but they've been soo good, every time, that I've never even wanted to try an alternative. They've been SOLID, and when they've broken, it's been well within reason (on account of me being an idiot combined with hard tile on concrete being.. well, just that). I'm currently on the note 9, and it's just been so good that I've not had a reason to upgrade, it's still snappier than most phones I see around. They've also been very performant, the hardware and software always outliving the expected lifetime, the older ones are in service as various aux devices (even with their shattered screens and dead batteries).
- pxtail 5y ago
  Maybe company is changing approach - LG shut down their mobile department, Sony is selling some minuscule amounts, not sure about Motorola/Lenovo though (but I'm aware of their horribly slow almost non existent updates policy). So apart from Chinese xiaomi, huawei and other vivo, oppo, poco sidekicks Samsung seems to be last major non-chinese brand standing strong and even dominating market - they are aware that there is almost no alternative if someone doesn't want Chinese brand AND wants something cheaper than iPhone
schwartzworld 5y ago
The Samsung phone I had was full of bloatware. So slow, almost unusable.
rchaud 5y ago
I feel like I have been really, really fortunate. All of my Samsung devices going back years have worked without issue. Only my attachable OEM keyboard for a now-defunct Galaxy S7 phone stopped working after a couple of years, but that was a plastic addon, not an internal component of the phone itself.
mrlonglong 5y ago
I knew the writing was on the wall when Samsung couldn't make their exynos as good as the Snapdragon series after the S7. Very happy with my OnePlus 8 Pro now. Samsung likes to sell the rest of world their poorly performing exynos variants and keep the best for the north American countries, a big factor in deciding to go elsewhere for my latest mobile.

34 points by zdw 5y ago

This is why I would rather buy iPhone or Oppo. I have been a consumer of Samsung for sometime and I am not really pleased by their services and phones.

hazza_n_dazza 5y ago

Samsung says they don't have spare parts! Oh well, best not spend that much next time. I really like the authors other blog posts, such as https://befinitiv.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/turning-a-usb-fan-into-a-phone-charger/ https://befinitiv.wordpress.com/2021/07/06/turning-a-usb-fan...

mbfg 5y ago

they could, of course, just give this dude a new phone.

tragictrash 5y ago

I think something is not being said here. I'm not sure what it is, but something sounds off. Maybe he not asking the right questions? I mean if they can't fix it they have to replace it. Samsung has pretty good customer service. Something doesn't add up

zibzab 5y ago
Yeah, I got the same feeling. Could also be a really bad employee :(
beerandt 5y ago
It's hit or miss. I placed an order on their business website for the note, along with another dozen items, paying for next day shipping. The ship date got pushed back a week at a time for over 2 months before it just timed out and auto-canceled after the FTC deadline. But calls and emails (foreign call centers) were pointless. No info other than the system ship date. Couldn't separate it into multiple shipments. Even once I canceled the phone from the order, no one seemed able to get the rest of the order to ship. Even unsolicited "follow up" US sales calls/ emails were humorously useless. "Yes, please take my money." "Hmmm- let me follow up and get back to you."
- tragictrash 5y ago
  Okay, after reading the other comments, as well as yours, I know what's missing: escalation to small claims court.
  - beerandt 5y ago
    They were happy to cancel and refund. I don't think small claims would magically create inventory or mobolize it in my direction if it existed. It's not anything wrong other than claiming something was in stock when it wasn't. And customer service that was useless. That's bad service, but not really the cause of any equitable harm.

supermatt 5y ago

Samsung refused to repair my phone because of "water damage" - although I was 100% certain that it had never been near any water. I escalated the complaint and it got nowhere. Samsung simply refuse to deal with you after a point. I ended up going through small claims process. They eventually offered to "settle" by repairing the phone. At this point I had already bought a replacement, so I declined. They ended up refunding the purchase price + court fees. In short - register a small claim against them. From experience, its the ONLY way Samsung will take your complaint seriously.

muttled 5y ago
This goes for a lot of companies. The front line customer service reps are trained to deflect as much cost as possible. One quick message from the legal department, however, gets things fixed pretty quickly. Small claims court typically costs somewhere between $75-$200 and if you have a valid claim you can assume that you'll likely get those costs back.

janandonly 5y ago

I would either buy an iPhone or a cheap Android phone (like an Oppo or Huawei) and flash it with CalyxOS [1]. [1] https://calyxos.org https://calyxos.org

vlastik 5y ago
Yeah, Oppo and Huawei phones are great fit for CalyxOS. Have you seen the list of supported devices for Calyx? It's basically Pixel-only :).
karteum 5y ago
Huawei/Honor phones now have a locked bootloader so unless there is an exploit it's not possible to install anything else than the stock firmware https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-stop-providing-bootloader-unlock-codes https://www.xda-developers.com/huawei-stop-providing-bootloa...

dusted 5y ago

I've owned the note series since they came out, so while I say "best phones, ever" I have nothing to compare them to, but they've been soo good, every time, that I've never even wanted to try an alternative. They've been SOLID, and when they've broken, it's been well within reason (on account of me being an idiot combined with hard tile on concrete being.. well, just that). I'm currently on the note 9, and it's just been so good that I've not had a reason to upgrade, it's still snappier than most phones I see around. They've also been very performant, the hardware and software always outliving the expected lifetime, the older ones are in service as various aux devices (even with their shattered screens and dead batteries).

pxtail 5y ago
Maybe company is changing approach - LG shut down their mobile department, Sony is selling some minuscule amounts, not sure about Motorola/Lenovo though (but I'm aware of their horribly slow almost non existent updates policy). So apart from Chinese xiaomi, huawei and other vivo, oppo, poco sidekicks Samsung seems to be last major non-chinese brand standing strong and even dominating market - they are aware that there is almost no alternative if someone doesn't want Chinese brand AND wants something cheaper than iPhone

schwartzworld 5y ago

The Samsung phone I had was full of bloatware. So slow, almost unusable.

rchaud 5y ago

I feel like I have been really, really fortunate. All of my Samsung devices going back years have worked without issue. Only my attachable OEM keyboard for a now-defunct Galaxy S7 phone stopped working after a couple of years, but that was a plastic addon, not an internal component of the phone itself.

mrlonglong 5y ago

I knew the writing was on the wall when Samsung couldn't make their exynos as good as the Snapdragon series after the S7. Very happy with my OnePlus 8 Pro now. Samsung likes to sell the rest of world their poorly performing exynos variants and keep the best for the north American countries, a big factor in deciding to go elsewhere for my latest mobile.