SINGAPORE: Two netizens took to social media on Tuesday (Apr 25) to highlight problems they’ve encountered with getting their mobile phones repaired after defects have shown up, with the fees quoted in the hundreds of dollars.
One woman, who goes by SiddiqAida Qs on Facebook, posted a video on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE page of her flip phone, which she got one year and three months ago because its audio no longer works properly. The video showed that when she folded her phone halfway, the audio began to work but did not do so when it was fully open.
Another netizen, Bento Shiro, wrote that his Samsung S20 Ultra LCD had turned white six months ago. Samsung then booked an appointment for him at their service centre at Plaza Singapura, where he was told that the phone’s back glass had already cracked and he needed to pay $139 for the repair.
To his surprise, he received a call the next day, with Samsung telling him his phone had been tempered and that he needed to pay $648 for the repair.
Ms Aida, who wrote that she had gotten the phone to unfold into a tablet to use as a teaching aid in class, also took her phone to Plaza Singapura, where she was told it would cost $660 to repair.
“DIAGNOSIS GIVEN- Spoilt LCD and due to this it affected the audio as well. Omigosh!”
Both netizens noted that they’d seen similar issues with Samsung models online.
“Many customers had raised these concerns but Samsung is still not doing anything to salvage the situation,” Ms Aida noted.
“I decided to post because i saw the constant posting of Samsung products in the page as well. And this is my 3rd experience with their product. Shame on me for trusting the brand still. Time to make a change,” she told The Independent Singapore.
In her post, she tagged the company, writing “Samsung Global and Samsung please start upgrading your technology n be prepare to give tip top after sale services for this kind of issues before u start losing consumers. I have been ur loyal customer since i was 16 years old. I am now 37yo. I am losing my confidence in your product as of many i read in the reviews. Contact me through my Fb.”
As for Mr Shiro, he noted that he “recently saw a lot complaining on the S20 series and a search in the internet found out is quite common for the S20 series after a software update.”
And when he tried to get help, M1 and Samsung appeared to point fingers at each other. “Called M1 and M1 said they only sell new phone, ask me to look for Samsung and Samsung said, it’s tempered so look for my telco. So in the end, everyone ‘taichi’ to anyone but themselves.”
Also addressing the company, he added, “Samsung Singapore M1, if I had repaired/tempered the phone before, will I still emailed and waste my time and trip down to the service centre? If the phone was repaired/tempered before, will I still need to pay $139 for the cracked back glass cos it will already be repaired since you stated FOUND UNAUTHORISED GLUE ON BACKGLASS. So which is which?
In the end, I got a Samsung HP that is tempered in the first place and whether have or don’t have warranty also no use. Consumer bad luck cos we don’t have X-ray eyes to see the new phone we get is it tempered or not.”
The Independent Singapore has reached out to Mr Shiro and Samsung for further comment. /TISG
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