Looking for a new Smartphone

[ex0LL]

Hello, community.

After the fiasco of my current smartphone, I am really looking for a new device.

Back in Jaunary 15th, I purchased through an eBay seller a reconditioned Samsung Note 5 (USA imported, and I live in Italy). Months have passed, and last weekend I found my device having hardware issues (screen in particular, specifically the left side). Seeing that the product and the specific seller doesn't exist anymore (together with each and every contact that was given to me), I noticed on eBay that it was a sub-seller of another bigger seller (called lowerprice24h the sub-seller and lowerprice24h-Italia the bigger one which includes[/-ed?] the previous, in case you might wanna know), which I contacted through eBay message system in order to redeem my 1 year warranty bill sent to me via e-mail.

This happened exactly yesterday, and I am still waiting for an answer from them.

In the meantime, I contacted Samsung Italia for customer service and they told me they can't repair nor actually support me for USA imported products. So I called eBay telling them about what happened and they told me that they actually cvan't grant for me, instead sending me via e-mail some procedures and actions I might want to take against the seller i ncase they won't respect their commercial pacts (such as contacting a consumer association or a lawyer).

I am quite reluctant to this whole situation, honestly I think I'm never gonna solve or have any replacement or money back at all..

So I was thinking, since Black Friday is happening this week, is there a phone you might want to recommend me? I'd love a 64GB phone capable of mainly running smoothly Hearthstone and having a decent camera. The rest of it I don't really care, I just want an overall performance to be good as I use my phone a real lot during the day.

I saw a Sony Xperia Zs on sale on amazon.it , what do you think?
Or you have any other model or brand to suggest?

Thanks!

 

[mikedt]

This happened exactly yesterday, and I am still waiting for an answer from them.

In the meantime, I contacted Samsung Italia for customer service and they told me they can't repair nor actually support me for USA imported products. So I called eBay telling them about what happened and they told me that they actually cvan't grant for me, instead sending me via e-mail some procedures and actions I might want to take against the seller i ncase they won't respect their commercial pacts (such as contacting a consumer association or a lawyer).

Yeh the Samsung warranty does NOT cover grey imported phones. And so it's basically between you and the Ebay vendor. FWIW the Note5 US version and Note5 EU version are actually very different devices, The US Note5 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that has CDMA modes, and EU version has a Samsung Exynos, and so it's quite possible Samsung Italia wouldn't have the service information and spares for a US version device anyway.

I am quite reluctant to this whole situation, honestly I think I'm never gonna solve or have any replacement or money back at all..

So I was thinking, since Black Friday is happening this week, is there a phone you might want to recommend me? I'd love a 64GB phone capable of mainly running smoothly Hearthstone and having a decent camera. The rest of it I don't really care, I just want an overall performance to be good as I use my phone a real lot during the day.

I saw a Sony Xperia Zs on sale on amazon.it , what do you think?
Or you have any other model or brand to suggest?

Thanks!

As long as it's not another grey import. If you're importing a Sony phone from the US into Italy, then it will be exactly the same as Samsung. Sony Italia will NOT deal with US version devices.

This is often something to be aware of with Amazon and Ebay, that is Samsung, Sony, LG, HTC, etc, devices being sold cheap online, and often advertised as "international version" These are frequently grey market, and so it's good luck with the warranty.

 

[dontpanicbobby]

The LG G6 is selling for dirt cheap in the US. I have no idea what their repair relationship with Italy is but this is a 2017 phone with very few reported problems.

 

[Hadron]

It's probably not expensive to just buy it in Italy. It's less than £350 new, unlocked and off-contract here in the UK.

Edit: just checked, €395 at Amazon.it. That includes taxes, since it's a European price.

 

[mikedt]

I know from experience with a Sony laptop that I bought in Hong Kong, Sony UK or Sony Ireland wouldn't touch it for warranty service when they checked the serial number. And we have had reports here on AF of "international version" Samsungs sold by Amazon, that Samsung US woudn't register the warranty. And I presume LG might be the same.

That's one thing I'll give Apple, their Applecare warranty service is truly international. I could have a Macbook or iPhone I bought in China, and Apple UK would provide warranty service for them.

 

[ex0LL]

It's probably not expensive to just buy it in Italy. It's less than £350 new, unlocked and off-contract here in the UK.

Edit: just checked, €395 at Amazon.it. That includes taxes, since it's a European price.

Thanks for taking time to check!
May I ask although what device you're referring to?


@mikedt
Yeah I'm aware of all that.
Moments ago as I came back from work I just sent another mail to the seller I managed to track down:
http://stores.ebay.it/LowPrice24h-Italia

I told them that I'm still waiting 24 hours more for them to answer my contact request before actually trying going legal as suggested by eBay customer support.
I seriously doubt the seller is going to answer me, which makes me really frustrating.

On the other hand, although, I want to point something out since you guys are so kind.
This screen issues started occurring after a T-Mobile update I was forced to apply to my device last friday.
Please take a moment to read this thread I opened prior to this one:
https://androidforums.com/threads/t-mobile-latest-update-ruined-my-phone.1217063

Do you think it's fixable?
I mean I did factory reset my Samsung Note 5, but still the OS had't really rolled back so it still might be plausible that the malfunction persisted?