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My partner has a Samsung phone with the curved/wrap around edge screen. The screen is cracked. She's been trying to get it replaced for months, but none of the

My partner has a Samsung phone with the curved/wrap around edge screen. The screen is cracked. She's been trying to get it replaced for months, but none of the "Samsung approved" repair shops around here can get a screen. Apparently they have screens meant for the same phone in different colors, but do not have the screen for her phone color. Samsung WILL NOT allow them to use a screen from a different color of the same phone, despite being a working part. Samsung has provided no ETA when the part will be available. This is the kind of problem that shouldn't exist. Would love it if our legislators would tell manufacturers to shove it, and if they want to be the exclusive source for parts that the parts must be sold at some limited/reasonable profit percentage and if they're not available they should not be able to limit the availability or function of 3rd party parts.

will1am 2y ago
Your frustration with the situation is completely understandable
Workaccount2 2y ago
What gets me the most is that the refusal to sell a different color screen is probably the result of some insane delusions about brand representation.
- LouisSayers 2y ago
  Same with charging an apple mouse - like they can't stand the idea of having a cable sticking out of it while being used.
  - burnte 2y ago
    They're fine with that, but there's no room for the port on the top end of the mouse and they won't alter the design in order to fit a port there, and don't want the cable sticking out of the side, so they just screw the user and hurt the function.
  - tdeck 2y ago
    Apple probably knows that power users are buying non-Apple mice anyway so they can have multiple mouse buttons. Their mics have always been some degree of form over function (remember the puck mouse)?
    - bigstrat2003 2y ago
      Apple in general is form over function (with a healthy dose of NIH). It's just part of their ethos, for better or for worse.
      - zrm 2y ago
        That hasn't always been the case. Many of their products have been extremely functional -- and even repairable. Have a look at the inside of a PowerMac G4. But they get into this weirdness where they produce a well-designed functional product, people like it, they assume it's because of the design and then produce something else that sacrifices function for design, then act confounded when people don't like it.
        tdeck 2y ago
        They've skirted the line many times while also frequently releasing great products that combine both. The apple III overheated because they didn't want to put a fan in it for aesthetic reasons. So did the original Macintosh, alright to a less problematic degree. I honestly don't understand Apple's apparent disdain for more than one mouse button though. The OS and apps support extra buttons, everyone knows how to right click by this point, what's the benefit? At one company where I worked everyone had a MacBook, apple monitor, apple keyboard, and a white Microsoft mouse.
        codydh 2y ago
        Their mouse and all of their trackpads support right click without extra buttons.
        2y ago
  - LeafItAlone 2y ago
    How do we go from Samsung phone screen to Apple Magic Mouse? As an owner of multiple Magic mice, this is such a non-issue. I don’t get why people bring it up so much, but I suspect they don’t actually own one.
    - kbolino 2y ago
      I forget to charge mine and so go through the approximately monthly dance of charging it just long enough to get to the next break repeatedly until I can properly charge it to 100%. Being unable to use it while charging is an annoyance. It's not the end of the world, but it's still dumb.
    - eviks 2y ago
      Both examples follow the same principle People bring it up because it's such an obvious design flaw in a premium product that is explained by a disrespectful "form over function" principle which people also don't like
      - Someone 2y ago
        > a disrespectful "form over function" principle which people also don't like Which some people don’t like. Apple may have accepted the in their view minor inconvenience of not being able to use the mouse for half an hour or so every few days to get a cleaner look of the device, knowing full well that some people would complain about it. If they had put the charging connector on the outside, I bet some people (possible even some of the same people) would have complained about the looks. Also, even assuming it is a design flaw, I don’t see it being an obvious design flaw. Maybe Apple knows it doesn’t work well with a cable attached (modern environmentally cleaner cables tend to be stiffer. How stiff is the cable they supply it with?), or that permanently charging it wil shorten battery lifetime (yes, that’s preventable, but they may have had other constraints, e.g. time to market. Reading https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Mouse+2+Teardown/51058 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Mouse+2+Teardown/51058, it’s not all proprietary chips inside)
        eviks 2y ago
mrlongroots 2y ago
I swore to never buy Samsung after an ordeal with their warranty repair. Some of the data pins on its USB port wore out, so my Android Auto and fast charging became extremely flaky. It was still under warranty so I took it to their authorized repair centres. They did not have a fast charger and showed me that the standard charging was working, and refused to admit a problem. Finally I mailed it to Samsung, and they said that the display needed to be replaced because of some water damage (it worked perfectly fine!) as well. Finally I got some local electronics repair guy to just solder a new USB port onto the circuit board and that fixed everything. But never buying their phones again.
- Nerada 2y ago
  I stopped buying anything Samsung for essentially the same reason. I was overseas and my S7 switched off and wouldn't turn back on. I walked into the flagship store and was immediately turned away because I didn't purchase it in that country.
  - taosx 2y ago
    I had a different experience, I bought a S21U overseas. While in UK the screen wouldn't turn on while the phone was on. I went to Samsung KX in London and a day later I had my S21 with a new screen and battery for no cost.
    - cjk2 2y ago
      I think it's worth comparing to Apple here. I bought an iPhone from Amazon in UK and the screen developed a defect. Walked into an Apple Store after 19 months, without AppleCare and they gave me a new phone and migrated all the stuff over for me right there and then. Not sure if they're that good now but I sure hope they are.
      - varjag 2y ago
        The UK has strong consumer warranty laws (extending to several years), and that rather than Apple's kindness of heart could be the reason. Thank the famous European red tape!
cjk2 2y ago
Samsung love to kill their brand. Bought a Samsung washing machine. Completely died in 2 months. Their third party repairer wrote it off and said it’d be a month wait for a new one. Several frustrating phone calls and 3 months later no washing machine. Retailer bounced me back to the repairer. So fuck them all. Chargeback. I will never buy Samsung again. Edit: also three colleagues bought iPhone 15 Pro phones this time round after Samsung last time. Don’t know what happened there but you don’t make a switch like that unless you dislike what you had that bad.
- tim333 2y ago
  The iPhone 15 Pro is nice though.
  - cjk2 2y ago
    100% agree. Bought one myself!
- ishtanbul 2y ago
  If you want a high quality washing machine get a speed queen https://speedqueen.com/speed-queen-difference/ https://speedqueen.com/speed-queen-difference/
  - jes 2y ago
    Thank you for taking the time to drop this link. I had exactly the question I think you anticipated: "Where can I get a really well-made washer and dryer?"
  - antonkochubey 2y ago
    Or Miele if you're in Europe
    - MaxikCZ 2y ago
      I heard about Miele dropping the ball lately, but mine (9 y o Miele W 3371 Edition 111) never needed anything replaced/fixed so far. I can recommend.
userbinator 2y ago
Long ago I had a no-name/generic Android where the screen needed replacement. I got a replacement of a different colour from Ali and ended up with a more unique two-coloured device. That said, I wonder if in your Samsung case they actually made design changes such that the colour isn't the only thing different about them.
throwaway2037 2y ago
Did you try small claims court? That should work.
csomar 2y ago
Samsung is the perfect example (and failure?) that advertising and lobbying works. They have the worst product I've ever tried and always come with an annoying catch (ie: computer screen with special adapter). But they are huge (and growing). They advertise aggressively and they integrate themselves with local suppliers like nobody else.
- Roark66 2y ago
  Worse product? What other android phones do you mean? Sony? I used to buy Sony long time ago and I did like it, but around the time of Galaxy S8 I switched when my Xperia 3 unglued by itself in my pocket. None of my Samsung phones experienced any such failures. All were cheaper than equivalent Sony products. And I wasn't very gentle with them. All my phones have huge gauges in their metal casings after years of use and I replaced them only after I broke the screen after few years. Also, I've been using the hardware to it's limit with gaming, GearVR and own apps (running RealESRGAN directly on a Samsung s8 for example). So hardware wise I'm very happy with Samsung(except part availability). Software - wise the preloaded apps are not bad. I've never used Bixby, but I do use the gallery and the video editor all the time(including slomo and super slomo) . Whenever I use a different android phone I miss these and more feature. Also I have lots of sideloaded apps from the net and others such as a full blown Linux OS app running real python scripts etc.Once upon a time I tried apple. All the limitations made me dislike it a lot. So what else is there better than samsung in android? Google? I never tried their phones because of the prices.
  - hot_gril 2y ago
    Worse than iPhone and Pixel I guess. Yeah they cost more, but it's like a Honda vs a Hyundai, you get what you pay for.
- achow 2y ago
  Rocking Galaxy S20 for last 4 years. Once lens fogged up after a beach trip. The device was out of warranty. Service center swapped the back plate with a new one for equivalent of ~$10.
- Xeamek 2y ago
grumpyprole 2y ago
As if the colour mattered at all! The phones are so slippery and fragile, one is pretty much forced to wrap them permanently in a case.
- antifa 2y ago
  I'm going to buy a case for any phone regardless of how many gorilla's they promise are in the phone.
code_duck 2y ago
I had a Galaxy with the curved glass on the side of the screen. It did absolutely nothing useful for me at all, and then, surprise, ended up getting cracked on the curved edge.
Roark66 2y ago
I've recently repaired a similar Samsung phone (a galaxy S9+ edge if I remember correctly). It has been extremely difficult to source a replacement screen. I first procured some from China from sellers that promised exact same tech. Although their screen looked when displaying stationary images it fell apart during such simple tasks as scrolling a Web page quickly (it became blurry). Considering that the phone was being repaired to use GearVR this was unacceptable (blurry screen every time you move your head). Then I finally found a non-burned-out old screen. I fitted that and it works fine, but it puts artificial limit on the lifetime of these phones. They are really nice devices that are destined to a landfill, because they don't want to sell few screens.
nottorp 2y ago
Tbh even Apple had the idiotic idea of curved screens on some models. I'm still rocking an iphone XS with a majorly cracked screen. I haven't dropped it more than any other iphone i've had, but it's the only one I owned where the glass isn't protected by that straight metal edge. So ... crack crack crack. At least Apple seems to have given up on it.
stbenjam 2y ago
I liked my first Galaxy but within a month the phone developed purple vertical lines down the screen. Nowhere local could repair it. Samsung told me to mail it to somewhere in Texas and I’d get it back in 6-8 weeks. When I asked if they offered any faster replacement service even for a fee, they told me no and suggested should’ve bought the insurance from my carrier. Never bought a Samsung again.
simonh 2y ago
If you want to go to some shop somewhere and have some arbitrary part grafted on to your phone, you can do that now. There was an electronics engineer a while back who had a standard audio jack installed in his phone. There's nothing Apple can do o stop you, it's your phone. What you can't do is do that and expect the original manufacturer to still honour their warranty, and I think that makes perfect sense. The proper remedy for your partner's situation is to get a full refund, or a replacement of the phone.
- ToucanLoucan 2y ago
  > What you can't do is do that and expect the original manufacturer to still honour their warranty One would suggest that if it is required that you use OEM parts to maintain your warranty status, then it is likewise reasonable to say the OEM is required to provide those parts with reasonable lead times. Contracts with customers these days seem to be written entirely, completely for the benefit of the corporation, and that's bullshit. Contracts should be bidirectional agreements on how business should be conducted between entities, not simply a list of how a vendor gets to legally fuck you over. And we should be enshrining that fact in law. If a company says "you can only buy replacement parts from us" then those parts should be damn well available to buy when needed, or the clause should be nullified. If you must get your product serviced by them then service should be available, affordable, and reasonably quick turnaround, and if it isn't, then that clause should be nullified. Consumers should, as a matter of both ethics and law, not be put between a rock and a hard place simply because the company they're doing business with can't be fucked to uphold their end of the agreements.
  - simonh 2y ago
    >One would suggest that if it is required that you use OEM parts to maintain your warranty status, then it is likewise reasonable to say the OEM is required to provide those parts with reasonable lead times. I completely agree, and as I said, there should be recourse if they don't such as refund or replacement. >And we should be enshrining that fact in law. I'm a Brit and I think our protections here are better that the US, but sure. I suppose it varies by state over there too. I'm not in any way arguing there shouldn't be protections, I think there should be at least the protections I suggested, but maintaining warranty with third party parts of completely unknown quality or compatibility is a non-starter.

will1am 2y ago

Your frustration with the situation is completely understandable

Workaccount2 2y ago

What gets me the most is that the refusal to sell a different color screen is probably the result of some insane delusions about brand representation.

LouisSayers 2y ago
Same with charging an apple mouse - like they can't stand the idea of having a cable sticking out of it while being used.
- burnte 2y ago
  They're fine with that, but there's no room for the port on the top end of the mouse and they won't alter the design in order to fit a port there, and don't want the cable sticking out of the side, so they just screw the user and hurt the function.
- tdeck 2y ago
  Apple probably knows that power users are buying non-Apple mice anyway so they can have multiple mouse buttons. Their mics have always been some degree of form over function (remember the puck mouse)?
  - bigstrat2003 2y ago
    Apple in general is form over function (with a healthy dose of NIH). It's just part of their ethos, for better or for worse.
    - zrm 2y ago
      That hasn't always been the case. Many of their products have been extremely functional -- and even repairable. Have a look at the inside of a PowerMac G4. But they get into this weirdness where they produce a well-designed functional product, people like it, they assume it's because of the design and then produce something else that sacrifices function for design, then act confounded when people don't like it.
      - tdeck 2y ago
        They've skirted the line many times while also frequently releasing great products that combine both. The apple III overheated because they didn't want to put a fan in it for aesthetic reasons. So did the original Macintosh, alright to a less problematic degree. I honestly don't understand Apple's apparent disdain for more than one mouse button though. The OS and apps support extra buttons, everyone knows how to right click by this point, what's the benefit? At one company where I worked everyone had a MacBook, apple monitor, apple keyboard, and a white Microsoft mouse.
        codydh 2y ago
        Their mouse and all of their trackpads support right click without extra buttons.
        2y ago
- LeafItAlone 2y ago
  How do we go from Samsung phone screen to Apple Magic Mouse? As an owner of multiple Magic mice, this is such a non-issue. I don’t get why people bring it up so much, but I suspect they don’t actually own one.
  - kbolino 2y ago
    I forget to charge mine and so go through the approximately monthly dance of charging it just long enough to get to the next break repeatedly until I can properly charge it to 100%. Being unable to use it while charging is an annoyance. It's not the end of the world, but it's still dumb.
  - eviks 2y ago
    Both examples follow the same principle People bring it up because it's such an obvious design flaw in a premium product that is explained by a disrespectful "form over function" principle which people also don't like
    - Someone 2y ago
      > a disrespectful "form over function" principle which people also don't like Which some people don’t like. Apple may have accepted the in their view minor inconvenience of not being able to use the mouse for half an hour or so every few days to get a cleaner look of the device, knowing full well that some people would complain about it. If they had put the charging connector on the outside, I bet some people (possible even some of the same people) would have complained about the looks. Also, even assuming it is a design flaw, I don’t see it being an obvious design flaw. Maybe Apple knows it doesn’t work well with a cable attached (modern environmentally cleaner cables tend to be stiffer. How stiff is the cable they supply it with?), or that permanently charging it wil shorten battery lifetime (yes, that’s preventable, but they may have had other constraints, e.g. time to market. Reading https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Mouse+2+Teardown/51058 https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Magic+Mouse+2+Teardown/51058, it’s not all proprietary chips inside)
      - eviks 2y ago

mrlongroots 2y ago

I swore to never buy Samsung after an ordeal with their warranty repair. Some of the data pins on its USB port wore out, so my Android Auto and fast charging became extremely flaky. It was still under warranty so I took it to their authorized repair centres. They did not have a fast charger and showed me that the standard charging was working, and refused to admit a problem. Finally I mailed it to Samsung, and they said that the display needed to be replaced because of some water damage (it worked perfectly fine!) as well. Finally I got some local electronics repair guy to just solder a new USB port onto the circuit board and that fixed everything. But never buying their phones again.

Nerada 2y ago
I stopped buying anything Samsung for essentially the same reason. I was overseas and my S7 switched off and wouldn't turn back on. I walked into the flagship store and was immediately turned away because I didn't purchase it in that country.
- taosx 2y ago
  I had a different experience, I bought a S21U overseas. While in UK the screen wouldn't turn on while the phone was on. I went to Samsung KX in London and a day later I had my S21 with a new screen and battery for no cost.
  - cjk2 2y ago
    I think it's worth comparing to Apple here. I bought an iPhone from Amazon in UK and the screen developed a defect. Walked into an Apple Store after 19 months, without AppleCare and they gave me a new phone and migrated all the stuff over for me right there and then. Not sure if they're that good now but I sure hope they are.
    - varjag 2y ago
      The UK has strong consumer warranty laws (extending to several years), and that rather than Apple's kindness of heart could be the reason. Thank the famous European red tape!

cjk2 2y ago

Samsung love to kill their brand. Bought a Samsung washing machine. Completely died in 2 months. Their third party repairer wrote it off and said it’d be a month wait for a new one. Several frustrating phone calls and 3 months later no washing machine. Retailer bounced me back to the repairer. So fuck them all. Chargeback. I will never buy Samsung again. Edit: also three colleagues bought iPhone 15 Pro phones this time round after Samsung last time. Don’t know what happened there but you don’t make a switch like that unless you dislike what you had that bad.

tim333 2y ago
The iPhone 15 Pro is nice though.
- cjk2 2y ago
  100% agree. Bought one myself!
ishtanbul 2y ago
If you want a high quality washing machine get a speed queen https://speedqueen.com/speed-queen-difference/ https://speedqueen.com/speed-queen-difference/
- jes 2y ago
  Thank you for taking the time to drop this link. I had exactly the question I think you anticipated: "Where can I get a really well-made washer and dryer?"
- antonkochubey 2y ago
  Or Miele if you're in Europe
  - MaxikCZ 2y ago
    I heard about Miele dropping the ball lately, but mine (9 y o Miele W 3371 Edition 111) never needed anything replaced/fixed so far. I can recommend.

userbinator 2y ago

Long ago I had a no-name/generic Android where the screen needed replacement. I got a replacement of a different colour from Ali and ended up with a more unique two-coloured device. That said, I wonder if in your Samsung case they actually made design changes such that the colour isn't the only thing different about them.

throwaway2037 2y ago

Did you try small claims court? That should work.

csomar 2y ago

Samsung is the perfect example (and failure?) that advertising and lobbying works. They have the worst product I've ever tried and always come with an annoying catch (ie: computer screen with special adapter). But they are huge (and growing). They advertise aggressively and they integrate themselves with local suppliers like nobody else.

Roark66 2y ago
Worse product? What other android phones do you mean? Sony? I used to buy Sony long time ago and I did like it, but around the time of Galaxy S8 I switched when my Xperia 3 unglued by itself in my pocket. None of my Samsung phones experienced any such failures. All were cheaper than equivalent Sony products. And I wasn't very gentle with them. All my phones have huge gauges in their metal casings after years of use and I replaced them only after I broke the screen after few years. Also, I've been using the hardware to it's limit with gaming, GearVR and own apps (running RealESRGAN directly on a Samsung s8 for example). So hardware wise I'm very happy with Samsung(except part availability). Software - wise the preloaded apps are not bad. I've never used Bixby, but I do use the gallery and the video editor all the time(including slomo and super slomo) . Whenever I use a different android phone I miss these and more feature. Also I have lots of sideloaded apps from the net and others such as a full blown Linux OS app running real python scripts etc.Once upon a time I tried apple. All the limitations made me dislike it a lot. So what else is there better than samsung in android? Google? I never tried their phones because of the prices.
- hot_gril 2y ago
  Worse than iPhone and Pixel I guess. Yeah they cost more, but it's like a Honda vs a Hyundai, you get what you pay for.
achow 2y ago
Rocking Galaxy S20 for last 4 years. Once lens fogged up after a beach trip. The device was out of warranty. Service center swapped the back plate with a new one for equivalent of ~$10.
Xeamek 2y ago

grumpyprole 2y ago

As if the colour mattered at all! The phones are so slippery and fragile, one is pretty much forced to wrap them permanently in a case.

antifa 2y ago
I'm going to buy a case for any phone regardless of how many gorilla's they promise are in the phone.

code_duck 2y ago

I had a Galaxy with the curved glass on the side of the screen. It did absolutely nothing useful for me at all, and then, surprise, ended up getting cracked on the curved edge.

Roark66 2y ago

I've recently repaired a similar Samsung phone (a galaxy S9+ edge if I remember correctly). It has been extremely difficult to source a replacement screen. I first procured some from China from sellers that promised exact same tech. Although their screen looked when displaying stationary images it fell apart during such simple tasks as scrolling a Web page quickly (it became blurry). Considering that the phone was being repaired to use GearVR this was unacceptable (blurry screen every time you move your head). Then I finally found a non-burned-out old screen. I fitted that and it works fine, but it puts artificial limit on the lifetime of these phones. They are really nice devices that are destined to a landfill, because they don't want to sell few screens.

nottorp 2y ago

Tbh even Apple had the idiotic idea of curved screens on some models. I'm still rocking an iphone XS with a majorly cracked screen. I haven't dropped it more than any other iphone i've had, but it's the only one I owned where the glass isn't protected by that straight metal edge. So ... crack crack crack. At least Apple seems to have given up on it.

stbenjam 2y ago

I liked my first Galaxy but within a month the phone developed purple vertical lines down the screen. Nowhere local could repair it. Samsung told me to mail it to somewhere in Texas and I’d get it back in 6-8 weeks. When I asked if they offered any faster replacement service even for a fee, they told me no and suggested should’ve bought the insurance from my carrier. Never bought a Samsung again.

simonh 2y ago

If you want to go to some shop somewhere and have some arbitrary part grafted on to your phone, you can do that now. There was an electronics engineer a while back who had a standard audio jack installed in his phone. There's nothing Apple can do o stop you, it's your phone. What you can't do is do that and expect the original manufacturer to still honour their warranty, and I think that makes perfect sense. The proper remedy for your partner's situation is to get a full refund, or a replacement of the phone.

ToucanLoucan 2y ago
> What you can't do is do that and expect the original manufacturer to still honour their warranty One would suggest that if it is required that you use OEM parts to maintain your warranty status, then it is likewise reasonable to say the OEM is required to provide those parts with reasonable lead times. Contracts with customers these days seem to be written entirely, completely for the benefit of the corporation, and that's bullshit. Contracts should be bidirectional agreements on how business should be conducted between entities, not simply a list of how a vendor gets to legally fuck you over. And we should be enshrining that fact in law. If a company says "you can only buy replacement parts from us" then those parts should be damn well available to buy when needed, or the clause should be nullified. If you must get your product serviced by them then service should be available, affordable, and reasonably quick turnaround, and if it isn't, then that clause should be nullified. Consumers should, as a matter of both ethics and law, not be put between a rock and a hard place simply because the company they're doing business with can't be fucked to uphold their end of the agreements.
- simonh 2y ago
  >One would suggest that if it is required that you use OEM parts to maintain your warranty status, then it is likewise reasonable to say the OEM is required to provide those parts with reasonable lead times. I completely agree, and as I said, there should be recourse if they don't such as refund or replacement. >And we should be enshrining that fact in law. I'm a Brit and I think our protections here are better that the US, but sure. I suppose it varies by state over there too. I'm not in any way arguing there shouldn't be protections, I think there should be at least the protections I suggested, but maintaining warranty with third party parts of completely unknown quality or compatibility is a non-starter.