S21 Ultra Promotion "Customer Service"

I can honestly say that I have NEVER received such poor and shocking service from a so called major company in my life. This issue started on the 10/02/2021 and I have been in contact with Samsung either via email or telephonically ever since then. I received a VIOLET pair of Galaxy Buds Pros as part of Samsung's S21 Ultra Promotion even though I stated upon registration that I have a S21 Ultra Phantom BLACK device. I want to know if the pair I currently have can be exchanged for the correct matching colour.

Nobody at Samsung has the decency or common courtesy to call me or answer my emails regarding whether the pair of Samsung Phantom Black Buds Pros will be sourced from a different department to be exchanged with my current pair. Alaika from Verify said to me over the phone on Friday that she will get clarification on this matter and let me know. She also confirmed our conversation via email. Jody from Zaestore sent me an email stating that my registration had in fact been REVALIDATED and was sent to the relevant department to be dispatched. That email left me feeling hopeful that this issue had finally been resolved. However doubts did begin to creep in as there was no mention in her email of me being sent the correct colour which was the entire reason for my complaint. So to be completely sure I called her for clarification which she didn't even have despite her email assuring me that my item would be dispatched. She only then contacted the department who handles the dispatch of the promotional items to find out what colour buds they had dispatched to me. They informed her that they hadn't in fact dispatched ANYTHING to me as they didn't have any Phantom Black Buds Pros in stock. This left me feeling angry as yet again nothing had been resolved and if I hadn't called in I would still be waiting for a non existent delivery. She asked me if I would be willing to wait until she could source a black pair for me. She assured me that she will speak to her manager on Tuesday afternoon for approval to source a pair from another department and she would call me back before 19h00. She even asked me if I was OK with receiving a call up to 19h00 to which I responded in the affirmative. To date I haven't received any contact from either her or Alaika.

I was under the impression that all these escalated complaints are already handled under the direct supervision of Executive Management (as per YOUR website I.e. Voice of the Customer). So why isn't a manager already involved in this escalation?

I spoke to Siya at the Customer Service Call Centre on Wednesday morning who assured me that he sent an email to Alaika, Jody as well as to HIS manager and that I would be contacted IMMEDIATELY after our call ended either via an email or telephonically to explain the current status of this complaint. That was at 10h30. Almost 48 hours later and I have yet to receive the promised "immediate" call or email.

Please note that I have also sent numerous emails and made numerous calls to various departments without any positive response. How long will this continue? Should I not receive any positive feedback regarding this matter I will take this matter further as my rights as a consumer have been violated. Let me explain why.

Samsung runs a promotion which has terms and conditions. Their customers are only made aware of these terms and conditions they have already purchased their products. This is definitely not in compliance with the Consumer Protection Act. Samsung doesn't supply any of their retail partners with any information regarding stock availability of promotional items or what colours are available so how am I expected to.know that Samsung no longer has stock of buds that matches my device's colour? In fact one of the biggest factors in me deciding to purchase the S21 Ultra Phantom Black was because of the perfectly reasonable expectation that I would receive a matching pair of Galaxy Buds Pros as part of this particular promotion. If there was a possibility that this was not going to be the case then that should've been communicated to me BEFORE I made my purchase and I would not have purchased it. I bought my phone from Vodacom on 04/02/2021 which falls within the promotional period and I registered it on your Samsung Members App on 10/02/2021 which falls within the registration period. So I have done everything that was required of me as a Samsung customer.

Samsung shouldn't run a promotion where they promise a free pair of Galaxy Buds Pros to customers for every pair of S21 Ultras they purchase but then they don't have enough stock of the promotional items to match the colour of the devices bought. Or is that me being completely unrealistic? How can Samsung run out of stock of Phantom Black Buds Pros only one month into the promotion but with still three weeks left of that promotion? Samsung does indeed have stock of Phantom Black Buds right now as I could purchase a pair from their online store if I wanted to.

Why also does Samsung ask what colour device I have when I register on the Samsung Members App to qualify for my promotional items when they are not going to ensure I that will receive the specified colour? Again the reasonable expectation of me receiving a pair of Phantom Black Buds Pros is created by Samsung. At no stage during the entire process was I ever informed that I would not be receiving the colour I chose. I only found that out once delivery was made to me of a pair of Phantom VIOLETS! As my wife so correctly pointed out that the colour violet and black are not even close and in her opinion violet is not suited for a male. For a huge company like Samsung this is really poor communication as has been all the feedback (or rather lack thereof) I have received regarding this matter.

In fact the entire promotion process is cumbersome and time consuming. When I initially tried to register my device on the Samsung Members App it wouldn't accept any of mine or my wife's email addresses. It kept saying Invalid Email ID. After numerous calls to Samsung and after first being advised to send a screenshot to them (again cumbersome and time consuming) I was then told to uninstall and reinstall the app which I did and finally the registration succeeded.

During these difficult economic times customer loyalty is something that Samsung should value and take very seriously and do everything possible to retain especially from customers who are willing to spend R28000 on a phone. So believe me when I state that if I receive no satisfaction regarding this matter not only will I take it further but this will indeed be the last Samsung product that I, or any of my family members, purchase.

I currently own three Samsung phones, two Samsung televisions, a Samsung soundbar, a Samsung fridge, a Samsung microwave as well as a Samsung washing machine. All of these items will need replacing at some stage. LG and Huawei are starting to look like really good options to me right now. Samsung will end up losing tens of thousands of rands in sales because of their unwillingness to source a pair of Phantom Black Buds (that cost R3999) from another department for me, a loyal customer.

Social Media ia very powerful nowadays and negative publicity is not something that Samsung should be seeking or generating as a result of poor customer service (but from seeing so many negative reviews on this platform and others regarding promotions I'm not so sure).

I sincerely advise Samsung to find a satisfactory solution to this matter.

Regards, Ermeric Carolissen.