**WARNING** Samsung don't honour their repair warranty!!!

This is going to be long, but I want you to have the full story so you all can avoid going through the same tedious process and end up with Samsung reneging on their 90-Day Repair Warranty. I have been a loyal Samsung client for many years now, but I don't think I ever will be in the future again. I am extremely upset and disappointed with the service I have received from Samsung these past 6 to 7 weeks.

I have a Samsung A50, a little over 2 years old, in mint condition, never been dropped, not a scratch on the screen, that was in perfect working order, until a few weeks out of the 24 month warranty. Suddenly my sound would stop working intermittently and I would have to restart the phone in order to get it back. Then the microphone would also fail during some calls, yet the voice recorder seemed to work as I was still able to send voice messages. Then people would send voice messages back and I would have to restart my phone again in order to be able to listen to it.

So, I took it the Samsung store at Fourways Crossings and the technician there spent some time doing his checks and informed me that he was not able to resolve the problem and that the phone would need to be sent in for a full assessment and diagnosis. The phone was sent in for this on 17 November.

Days passed when I eventually heard back that the phone had undergone the full assessment and it has been diagnosed as a software issue and not a hardware issue, and that a full software reload was needed to resolve it. I gave the go ahead for the repairs to be done, another few days passed when I eventually heard that my phone was back at the store and ready for me to collect. I did so the next day, only to get home and realise while I was busy setting the phone up again, that there was no sound. I reported this immediately to the store technician and returned the phone to the store the next day.

When I gave the go ahead for the repair, it was with the understanding that a full assessment of the phone had been done, and that any repair work completed would be under the 90-Day Repair Warranty, as long as not related to corrosion, physical and/or liquid damage - which was not the case here as my phone was in mint condition as already mentioned. The store technician had verbally stressed this as well when I collected the phone and paid for the repairs that had been done, so it was understood that the phone was thus being sent back to the repair center under the 'repair warranty'.

It has been like pulling nails since, trying to follow up and get feedback on what is happening with my phone as I still have not received it back - it is more than 6 WEEKS now since it was first sent in. The store technician eventually got some feedback about a week after it was sent back (3 weeks ago), stating that the motherboard was cracked and needs to be replaced. This was never mentioned at all in the initial assessment and diagnosis of the phone, and as I said, other than these newly developed issues with the speaker and microphone working intermittently, it was in mint condition. How now is the motherboard cracked? I can only assume it was poorly handled and further damaged through this whole assessment and repair process. Regardless, the phone is under the 'repair warranty' for this sound/mic issue, so if the motherboard now needs replacing to sort the problem, then that is what needs to be done under the warranty. But then I was told this would have to be done at my expense and not under the warranty, which makes absolutely no sense!

So I was instructed to lodge a formal complaint in order to have the warranty honoured. I did so via the call centre with Themba and then followed that up with an email. The next day I received a call from Samsung, Thabang, to say that my complaint was being escalated to "THE TOP" - not that that has had any significance on the situation - and that I would be contacted in the next day or two once the case had been looked into. After another WEEK of not hearing back, I inquired with the store technician, and he managed to get some feedback. He was told that the part had been ordered and they were waiting for that to complete the repair, which is what he then reported to me.

ANOTHER WEEK went by with no further feedback, so again I inquired with the store technician. He followed up again, only to be told this time that the technician who did the original assessment and repair still needed to be contacted and spoken to regarding the case. It had been 2 WEEKS already that my complaint had been received and SUPPOSEDLY escalated to the top, and the basic first step had still not even been carried out yet. Here the store technician and I were under the impression that they had simply been waiting for the part so the repair could be completed. Now another different person was handling my complaint, Lesley. Lesley was supposedly going to report back to the store technician and myself before the close of business that day with an update. I eventually received that call the next day, only for Lesley to tell me that he had subsequently now spoken to the technician who did the initial repair, but still did not have a resolution for me as to why the further repairs was not being covered under the 90-Day Repair Warranty. And he also could not give me a timeline as to when he might be able to give me feedback on that, he simply said he would work on it. So I waited some more!

A few MORE days go by with not a word, so I contact the store technician again. He tries, but doesn't get any new information for me. So this past Tuesday evening, I resorted to sending another email referencing the complaint I lodged, now 4 WEEKS ago. Again, I receive a response that the team handling my case have been notified and someone will be in contact with me. Yesterday, the store technician calls me back to say he has managed to get hold of Lesley again, and he is apparently waiting for Senior Management to give him the letter giving the repair centre the 'go ahead' for the repair. So we wait some more.

Now today I am informed by the store technician that Samsung are saying that software reloads are apparently NOT covered by the repair warranty, and that I will need to pay R4200 and something to have the motherboard replaced.

Nowhere and at not point was I informed of this. There is nothing of the sort stated in the clauses under the TERMS and CONDITIONS on the SAMSUNG Service Order Sheet that I was given. Clause 11 very clearly states:

All repairs undertaken, save for those in respect of corrosion, physical and/or liquid damage (- none of which are applicable in this case!) are GUARANTEED against faulty workmanship with a maximum period of 90 days from date of receipt by customer.

The software reload did not fix the problem as I was told it would, and NOWHERE does it say that software reloads are excluded from this warranty! So why is the warranty not being honoured???

SHAME ON YOU SAMSUNG! Exploiting your customers this way!!