Samsung a Sad tale of poor service.

A sad tale of poor service and defective products and much more. I purchased a new Samsung A 35 5 G from Take a lot in November 2024, a excellent phone which I was very happy with, it came with a 2 year warranty and I also purchase a 2 year Samsung Care + to cover accidental damage, screen replacement and faulty product issues. In the interests of doing things properly I bought a Samsung charger and SD card, which was an additional R900.00.

All went well until January 2025 when the unit was 14 months old, It stopped connecting to any network / service provider, it was fine on WiFi but otherwise it could not be used. I called Samsung support who got into the phone remotely and said that it definitely had a problem and should be taken to the nearest Samsung service centre for repair under warranty. I did that (a 20 Km round trip) And they told me they would call when ready about 3 to 5 days.

Some 3 days later I was told that the unit was ready for collection, so far so good. I went and collected it another 20 Km round trip, and then came home. Upon testing it it had exactly the same problem seemed that nothing had changed. I called them and they apologised and said please return it as the workmanship has a 6 month warranty this is when the wheels came off...............

Another trip to the repair centre where the manager tells me they cant / wont repair it as it has been blacklisted!! So three trips and they let me think they had repaired they did not even try it seems. Why was it blacklisted after 14 moths of operation, reply they dont know, Why did Samsung sell me a 2 year care plus is the phone was blacklisted? Guess what? they dont know.

I wrote to the Samsung CEO office who stated that there is nothing they can do as its blacklisted, I told them I checked with IMEI.org and with my ISP MTN who both confirmed that the phone was not blocked at all and I should contact Samsung..........sigh. I went back to the CEO office who told me that I should again contact the service centre, what would be the point, they categorically told me they could not repair it under any circumstances, and that even changing the mother board would not fix it as its blacklisted :(

So there you have it, you may be thinking I have bought a great phone (and they are) I have a warranty and a care + cover so I will be fine, well apparently that is not the case at all. Just to add insult to injury I will not get the use of the second year of my Samsung care plus as the phone is now inoperable.

So here I am, no phone for 5 weeks and it would seem no prospect of anyone from Samsung willing to help its beyond frustrating.

I am now resigned to having to get a new phone somehow, please let this be a warning to you dear reader, Samsung may have some great product, but if you are expecting after sale service dont hold your breath.