k__k service from Samsung

This is a story of my wife's A32 bought last year in August 2021.

To whom it may concern.

I'm sending this regarding my wife's A32 that was taken for repairs from Telkom Clearwater.

Whiles she was using the phone, a pop up message/alert came through that said the phone is overheating. The phone automatically restarted and it was working perfectly, literally 2 min after that it send a second message saying that the phone is overheating, she then stopped using the phone and left it to cool off as she thought it would blow up or something as it was the 1st time ever seeing such. The phone was not in the charger whiles she had it, it was actually running low.

I then tried to restart the phone and left it cool off. When it switched on, the touch sensors where no longer working. We initially thought it will be back to normal the next day but it still wasn’t working.

We took the phone back to Telkom then they told us that they have to book the phone in for repairs, as it was still under warranty. A week/days thereafter we got a SMS that the phone is at the workshop.

We then got a call from a lady telling us the phone is damaged and it needs R3000 for it to be repaired for water damage. I told the lady the whole story of what had happened, I asked her what could be the cause for the water damage as the phone didn’t get in any water , she then said this may be because of charging, apparently Samsung phones can get water damage through charging. This was news to us as this was the first time ever hearing about this.

She then promised she will send us proof via email through pictures taken of this water damage, my wife gave her email till this day we haven’t received any details or feedback from her. To our surprise we then get an sms that says we need to pay about R200 bucks for assessment fee. Which fees should we actually pay for? What work has been done on the phone?

What's surprising and very disappointing us in all of this is the lack of transparency on the cause of the breakdown of the phone, what's the real truth behind this phone damage. Why can't Samsung or the repairs give proper feedback and cost implications one can incur in this process. If there is indeed water damage why is not the entire box affected. If indeed the damage is from charging why isn’t this outlined when we bought the phone, why is Telkom not made aware of such.

Till date we haven’t received the truth in what the issue is with the phone and if it's even repaired. Its been over a month now and my wife still doesn’t have her phone. Why must we be liable for payment if we are not the cause of the issue. There is clearly something wrong with the phone. We still have to pay our monthly contract fee for a phone that is not in our possession.

I FEEL WE ARE UNFAIRLY TREATED BY Samsung and we deserve better. The phone is still under warranty and the damage is not through us. We shouldn’t be liable to pay for any fees.