Samsung South Africa, Telkom Mobile and SSS Cellular collectively ignoring honest claims

I am writing this on behalf of my friends who has been in contact with Telkom Mobile and SSS Cellular, their Western Cape phone repair technicians. She has asked me to post her story which I was around to witness, along with others, to confirm...

On the 25th of August 2018 her phone began to display a message that said "Water on charging port, do not charge". We found this strange because the phone was never submerged in water or splashed, but we thought if we gave it some time it should sort itself out because it is claimed to be IP68 Water and Dust resistant by Samsung.

After a few days, the phone started playing up and would no longer charge reliably. It was at this point that we decided to approach our Stellenbosch Telkom Mobile outlet about our problem. We were confident that they would be able to help us because the phone was still under warranty and nothing irresponsible was ever done to the phone, nor was it ever treated in a way that may void the warranty. On the contrary, when we handed in the phone there were only a few light scratches around the phone that naturally occur by taking the phone in and out of one's pocket during regular use.

Telkom took the phone and said that the technicians would assess the damage and get back to us. After about a month, we were contacted with a message saying that the phone is broken as a result of damage to the motherboard and that the few light scratches (as described before) was clear 'evidence' of the fact that the phone had fallen and the motherboard had broken. This is however not the case, on the contrary the phone was never dropped and if it was indeed the motherboard that broke on the spot, the phone would not have continued to work while slowly deteriorating after we first started experiencing problems, as it did.

Ultimately we suspect that the inspection of the phone was not done properly and that the service centre SSS Cellular as well as Telkom Mobile is trying to avoid the repair of an issue that is clearly a flaw in the phone we were sold, rather that as a result of our own doing. As stated before, the problem was never that the phone broke on the spot or just stopped working immediately. The phone said that water had gotten into the charging port (which should not be a problem due to the IP8 rating that is claimed by Samsung) and then over a few days the phone started malfunctioning.

To add fuel to the fire, Telkom Mobile won't even relieve the malfunctioning phone back to us without us having to pay R190. Firstly, this amount was never disclosed to us in the first place and we had no reason to believe that we would be charged due to the fact that we just handed in our phone and they took it with any talk of costs. Secondly, its ridiculous that we are asked to pay for the inspection and attempted repair of a phone that is still under warranty with nothing being done to void this warranty.

We would greatly appreciate it if SSS Cellular, Telkom Mobile and Samsung South Africa got into contact with us to discuss this matter as we re feeling stranded and betrayed.