Samsung forced me to accept a DEFECTIVE PHONE, because it was an UPGRADE

Good morning

I use to be a prominent owner of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and I must admit it was a fine piece of tech; it was a definition of greatness.

I purchased it on 19 May 2018; a year later, it started giving me problems and was tendered to by Unique Smart Shop; the first repairs were flawless, up until my unit was in a horrible state after their repair.

An exchange request was made on my behalf, and it was rejected at first, and the second time was approved, and it took Samsung three months and some few weeks to deliver it.

When I collected the unit from Unique Smart Shop, I was told not to hesitate to bring it back should I encounter problems.

Less than a month I did, and I returned the unit within the "imp**** warranty period," I was given the runaround; eventually, they begrudgingly took it in for repairs, and It came back with a lot of problems which I reported to Mr. Shawn Grobler:

Fingerprint scanner was not responsive, random reboot problem, the left side of the screen when using finger gestures when graphic designing there's unnecessary latency or freezes, flickering, uncontrollable bugs- documents disappear, poor battery, backward charging, and when I put on headphones it charged, Lag when playing games and network problems I'm unable to make calls and connect to WI-FI to get the reception I must be in the living room area.

The unit was booked in for three repairs through Mr. Grobler's assistance, and some issues were fixed, and most remain.

CPA clearly states that a consumer can return the defective goods to the supplier at the supplier's risk and expense if the defective goods fail to satisfy the requirements and standards contemplated in Section 55 of the CPA.

And now Samsung has adopted a "sorry for you" attitude, Relying on technicalities "OUT OF WARRANTY!" They Conveniently forgot that their subordinates and themselves sabotaged me, dragging their feet to accelerate my warranty expiry, and because I was UPGRADED, I must accept the defective unit???

According to section 56 of the consumer act, I have a right to demand quality service "imp**** warranty of quality" as a consumer. If goods are repaired, the statutory warranty on the goods as a whole is extended for a further three months. "If the repair fails, the remedy is not 'at the direction of the consumer' as with the original failure. "Taking the wording at face value, it then seems that the supplier can elect to replace where the previous repair does not hold within three months. The imp**** warranty, it's stronger than the supplier's normal warranty will therefore override the supplier's warranty.

Businesses have always assumed total power on deciding how to respond when problematic goods are returned; in short, their warranty limit recourse is to repair because it's obviously much cheaper to repair than to replace, but the act has turned that status quo on its head, giving the consumer the power to decide on the remedy – and they are backed up by a Consumer Commission and Consumer Tribunal which has the power to impose hefty penalties on companies which fail to comply with the terms of the act.

What is Samsung's policy on defective goods because the CPA's one is:

Section 56 of the Consumer Protection Act (CPA) imposes a build-in or automatic warranty that all goods sold comply with the following requirements listed in Section 55 of the CPA:

a) They are reasonably suitable for the purposes for which they are generally intended;

b) They are of good quality, in good working order, and free of any defects;

c) They will be useable and durable for a reasonable period of time;

d) They comply with the Standards Act 29 of 1993 or any other public regulations; and

e) They are reasonably suitable for the specific purpose that the consumer has informed the supplier that the consumer wants to use them for.

I was given a faulty unit. The million-dollar question is: Are all Samsung replacement devices defective, and do you usually provide your clients that their warranty is about to deplete from your inadequate stock???

Instead of remedying the faults mentioned above, they are saying I must bring it to their repair centre and sit with the technician until I'm satisfied, that's not practical. This unit has 12GB ram however it occasionally has lag! Are your technicians equipped to fix lag amongst all the pending things that they failed to fix! It's either my phone is defective or it was falsely advertised! Online the only problem with this unit is the size and not the hardware issues I’ve been experiencing.

I can not be dealt a wrong hand and just let it slide, I’m not going to except this DEFECTIVE UNIT BECAUSE IT’S AN UPGRADE!!!

Kind Regards

Andile Tshazibane

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