Before I start let me say that I'm not trashing Samsung or the Captivate. I just wanted to share my experience so far as a heads up to anyone else who may find themselves in a similar situation.
edit: wow this is long, sorry. I am a writer so... I tend to use a lot of words... here's a summary
> phone kept locking up, only way to fix is to fieldstrip the phone and remove the battery. several lockups during vacation. during one fieldstrip phone slipped out of hand and fell 1-2 feet onto sidewalk and screen broke. angry because i feel like i have a defective phone and now it's going to be all about the screen. begrudgingly conceed to samsung support and agree to pay quoted $70 to replace screen and they will fix the other problems. get a bill today for $162. not happy. probably wont buy samsung in the future <
Like many of you, I have been experiencing problems since day one. I probably use my phone for about 1-2 hours a day (besides playing with new programs/games/customizing) so I experienced these problems fairly rarely. But last weekend I went on vacation and my Captivate ended up being used for everything. It was my only camera, my only web source, my only phone, my only gps, etc.
I got a protective case for it for the trip, but ultimately that didn't matter because as I was using the phone constantly it became apparent that the problems I was experiencing were outside the norm. It was freezing up and becoming unresponsive several times a day, and the only way to fix it was to take the battery out, which involves removing the protective cover.
On the last day of my vacation the phone locked up again for upwards of the tenth time, and unfortunately while putting the phone back together it slipped out of my hand and fell 1-2 feet onto it's face, and busted the glass.
You can imagine how frustrating that was. I essentially had a defective device that I was determined to get replaced or fixed, and now it was all going to be about the glass.
When I got back home I called Samsung and the first rep I talked to understood my reasoning but was unable to help me. They pushed me to a higher customer service rep who explained that in no way would Samsung replace the whole device as being defective, and they certainly wouldn't replace the glass for free. In fact, they never replace the phone, even if there is hardware problems. They'll fix the problems. Bad chip? Replace the chip. Bad wire? Replace it. I find this odd but that's their policy. So keep that in mind too.
Anyway, I actually liked this guy and conceded to his arguments and agreed to pay the fee. The fee in question here, told to me by three separate people now, was $70. While I still feel like the phone would be in perfect shape had I not had to do unusual things to it to get it to continue working, I felt that this was a reasonable price and agreed to the repair.
I shipped the phone off on Tuesday, and they received it on Thursday. I got an email with a link to check it's status, but the link was (and is still) dead. It returns a "Page not found" error.
So I called and was told that I'd have my phone next Friday, the 12th. But the higher up tech that I talked to said 5 days including shipping; meaning that I should be getting it on Monday the 8th. This guy checked and apologized and agreed that it would be in my hands on Monday, which meant that it would be shipping out later that day.
I never received contact regarding the payment, so after work I called to see what was up and was told that it was still being worked on, that it wouldn't ship out that day, and in fact wouldn't ship out for several days to arrive in my hands by next Friday, the 12th. I wasn't too happy about that but what can you do?
Today I got an email finally, and as expected it included new charges. What wasn't expected, was that instead of $70, I was being quoted $162. So I called and spoke to two different reps over the course of an hour and twenty minutes.
That call accomplished nothing really. There is no mention of $70 in the notes, although they do admit that this is the starting initial rate for repair. And even if it was mentioned in the notes, there is nothing they can do to adjust the price. It's $162 or I get my phone back with a broken screen.
Everyone I talked to's hands are tied.
And keep in mind, this isn't just about a broken screen. That's an afterthought. I still have concerns about the hardware/software problems that I was experiencing. I still have a fear that I'll get the phone back and continue to experience problems.
At this point I have the most sour taste in my mouth over the Samsung brand. All the people I talked to were very nice, but the customer support (ie, the limits they place on their department) leaves quite a bit to be desired.
I know that many of you will agree with Samsung that it's my fault the glass broke. I'd like to think that at least some of you will agree that having to fieldstrip your phone several times a day is also a bit ridiculous and it's not all that surprising that it lead to the phone getting damaged.
Also, for anyone wondering, the fall was bout 1-2 feet onto the face onto the sidewalk. So gorilla glass or not, a small fall can destroy your screen, and this thing was shattered.
Note: I'm not happy about it but I have no problem paying for the screen to get fixed. If the hardware had been perfect and I was clumsy and dropped the phone then even $162 to fix it MIGHT be a reasonable number. And at this point I'm even willing to pay the thirty or so bucks more to cover the cost of the glass, but I think they should waive the labor costs.
And to top it all off, the only way I'm going to get any further is to write a letter. That's what they told me. The only way that I can get to a higher up at a communications company is to write a letter. Not an email. There is no email. Not call another number. There is no other number. The one and only way for me to reach the next level of management to see if they will waive any of the cost to keep me as a future customer, is to write a ****ing letter and mail it to them.
It wont make any sense for me to ask for my phone back broken so I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay, but I just don't see myself keeping the phone when I get it back. I'm afraid it's still going to have the original problems and staring at the Samsung brand every day is just going to infuriate me at that point.
I have no idea how any of you will react to my situation and I'm sorry if my rant annoys any of you. I'm just amazed at how this whole thing is playing out.
edit: wow this is long, sorry. I am a writer so... I tend to use a lot of words... here's a summary
> phone kept locking up, only way to fix is to fieldstrip the phone and remove the battery. several lockups during vacation. during one fieldstrip phone slipped out of hand and fell 1-2 feet onto sidewalk and screen broke. angry because i feel like i have a defective phone and now it's going to be all about the screen. begrudgingly conceed to samsung support and agree to pay quoted $70 to replace screen and they will fix the other problems. get a bill today for $162. not happy. probably wont buy samsung in the future <
Like many of you, I have been experiencing problems since day one. I probably use my phone for about 1-2 hours a day (besides playing with new programs/games/customizing) so I experienced these problems fairly rarely. But last weekend I went on vacation and my Captivate ended up being used for everything. It was my only camera, my only web source, my only phone, my only gps, etc.
I got a protective case for it for the trip, but ultimately that didn't matter because as I was using the phone constantly it became apparent that the problems I was experiencing were outside the norm. It was freezing up and becoming unresponsive several times a day, and the only way to fix it was to take the battery out, which involves removing the protective cover.
On the last day of my vacation the phone locked up again for upwards of the tenth time, and unfortunately while putting the phone back together it slipped out of my hand and fell 1-2 feet onto it's face, and busted the glass.
You can imagine how frustrating that was. I essentially had a defective device that I was determined to get replaced or fixed, and now it was all going to be about the glass.
When I got back home I called Samsung and the first rep I talked to understood my reasoning but was unable to help me. They pushed me to a higher customer service rep who explained that in no way would Samsung replace the whole device as being defective, and they certainly wouldn't replace the glass for free. In fact, they never replace the phone, even if there is hardware problems. They'll fix the problems. Bad chip? Replace the chip. Bad wire? Replace it. I find this odd but that's their policy. So keep that in mind too.
Anyway, I actually liked this guy and conceded to his arguments and agreed to pay the fee. The fee in question here, told to me by three separate people now, was $70. While I still feel like the phone would be in perfect shape had I not had to do unusual things to it to get it to continue working, I felt that this was a reasonable price and agreed to the repair.
I shipped the phone off on Tuesday, and they received it on Thursday. I got an email with a link to check it's status, but the link was (and is still) dead. It returns a "Page not found" error.
So I called and was told that I'd have my phone next Friday, the 12th. But the higher up tech that I talked to said 5 days including shipping; meaning that I should be getting it on Monday the 8th. This guy checked and apologized and agreed that it would be in my hands on Monday, which meant that it would be shipping out later that day.
I never received contact regarding the payment, so after work I called to see what was up and was told that it was still being worked on, that it wouldn't ship out that day, and in fact wouldn't ship out for several days to arrive in my hands by next Friday, the 12th. I wasn't too happy about that but what can you do?
Today I got an email finally, and as expected it included new charges. What wasn't expected, was that instead of $70, I was being quoted $162. So I called and spoke to two different reps over the course of an hour and twenty minutes.
That call accomplished nothing really. There is no mention of $70 in the notes, although they do admit that this is the starting initial rate for repair. And even if it was mentioned in the notes, there is nothing they can do to adjust the price. It's $162 or I get my phone back with a broken screen.
Everyone I talked to's hands are tied.
And keep in mind, this isn't just about a broken screen. That's an afterthought. I still have concerns about the hardware/software problems that I was experiencing. I still have a fear that I'll get the phone back and continue to experience problems.
At this point I have the most sour taste in my mouth over the Samsung brand. All the people I talked to were very nice, but the customer support (ie, the limits they place on their department) leaves quite a bit to be desired.
I know that many of you will agree with Samsung that it's my fault the glass broke. I'd like to think that at least some of you will agree that having to fieldstrip your phone several times a day is also a bit ridiculous and it's not all that surprising that it lead to the phone getting damaged.
Also, for anyone wondering, the fall was bout 1-2 feet onto the face onto the sidewalk. So gorilla glass or not, a small fall can destroy your screen, and this thing was shattered.
Note: I'm not happy about it but I have no problem paying for the screen to get fixed. If the hardware had been perfect and I was clumsy and dropped the phone then even $162 to fix it MIGHT be a reasonable number. And at this point I'm even willing to pay the thirty or so bucks more to cover the cost of the glass, but I think they should waive the labor costs.
And to top it all off, the only way I'm going to get any further is to write a letter. That's what they told me. The only way that I can get to a higher up at a communications company is to write a letter. Not an email. There is no email. Not call another number. There is no other number. The one and only way for me to reach the next level of management to see if they will waive any of the cost to keep me as a future customer, is to write a ****ing letter and mail it to them.
It wont make any sense for me to ask for my phone back broken so I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up and pay, but I just don't see myself keeping the phone when I get it back. I'm afraid it's still going to have the original problems and staring at the Samsung brand every day is just going to infuriate me at that point.
I have no idea how any of you will react to my situation and I'm sorry if my rant annoys any of you. I'm just amazed at how this whole thing is playing out.
