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Reporting problems to samsung (No longer a silent protest)

ressu

Member
Sep 16, 2009
63
1
Finland
Since Samsung has a reputation of having a crappy customer relations. Lets all try and make an effort to change it. I'm pretty sure that they are forced to change their ways if enough customers voice the need. This is how it works:

If you are affected by any bug, minor or major, contact Samsung customer service or Helpdesk (or whatever they call it in your area) and tell them about it. It is very important that you remain calm and collected during this process, venting to the customer service doesn't help anyone.

Start by flashing the latest official firmware to your phone and do a wipe on your phone. This is important so that they cannot claim that the firmware is not supported or that it's a problem with settings. Next reproduce the bug with a clean installation or with minimal third party applications. This is done to ensure that they cannot claim that it's a third party problem. Write down the steps to reproduce, including possible software versions.

When you contact support, remember to emphasize that the problem is a known issue amongst the user community (assuming it is, don't lie ;) ) and describe the problem with as much detail as you can. Include the information about Firmware version, mention when the problem started, that have you reproduced the problem without any third party apps and, of course, details on how to reproduce the problem in the first place. It doesn't matter if you can't remember all the details, but include everything you can. Please make sure you make it clear what has been tested and proven and what is guesswork, this makes it a lot easier for them to solve the problem.

Ask them to forward the information to the developers. It might seem obvious that they should do this, but it's not. Customer service is usually overworked so reminding them to forward is a good idea. Also, ask to be kept informed on the progress of the issue. This way you make it known that it's important for you to get it solved. Also, keeping you informed means that they have to relay the information forward.

As a bonus point, ask if they have a place where you can report such problems directly, assuming you don't need any support for the issue. They don't have one, but this puts a bit of pressure in to creating such a place.

This way we at least make all the problems known to samsung and hopefully on the long run make them more responsive to bug reports. I've already done this for the current issues on my phone and even though I was slapped in the face with some bad-customer-service[tm], I'm confident that on a long run this will make a difference.

Some places to start from:
http://androidforums.com/samsung-i7500/8135-terrible-battery-life-firmware-issue-3.html#post57547
http://androidforums.com/samsung-i7500/7405-problem-i7500-randomly-shutting-itself-off.html
 
Yeah, battery life has gotten a whole lot better with the IHx releases, but the camera button power hog issue in that thread is something worth reporting.

Rebooting was reported by me to the customer service, but in light of these new instructions (i just wrote :p ) I think I'll make another call and follow my own guide.
 
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Thing is, you are talking about firmware that Samsung hasn't even released to us in the UK!
We should be complaining (I have already emailed them) that the bundled software included with the phone or downloaded from their site isn't even compatible!! That, quick frankly, is a totally ridiculous situation.
Added a note about using an official firmware. It shouldn't matter which official firmware you use as long as it's available from samsung and is unmodified.

And if you wish, you can do the same support call round for NPS too. As long as people start contacting them and voicing their concern, it should help the cause.
 
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Start by flashing the latest official firmware to your phone and do a wipe on your phone. This is important so that they cannot claim that the firmware is not supported or that it's a problem with settings.
It shouldn't matter which official firmware you use as long as it's available from samsung and is unmodified.
In light of the recent statement, we might have to flash the phones back to whatever version was on it when we first received it, rather than the latest version.
Any idea where to get hold of a G6 version? :thinking: This is especially dire, since there is no official firmware available from Samsung; at least not from their web site, and we have to rely on what we can get via NPS (which, at the time of writing, is H4).
 
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In light of the recent statement, we might have to flash the phones back to whatever version was on it when we first received it, rather than the latest version.
Any idea where to get hold of a G6 version? :thinking: This is especially dire, since there is no official firmware available from Samsung; at least not from their web site, and we have to rely on what we can get via NPS (which, at the time of writing, is H4).

Eh? Mind copy-pasting the section that gave you that idea? :)
 
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In light of the recent statement, we might have to flash the phones back to whatever version was on it when we first received it, rather than the latest version.
Any idea where to get hold of a G6 version? :thinking: This is especially dire, since there is no official firmware available from Samsung; at least not from their web site, and we have to rely on what we can get via NPS (which, at the time of writing, is H4).
I think you are safe to report any firmware which is supported by NPS. they cannot claim that you are out of warranty if you update your firmware with the tools provided by samsung.
 
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Eh? Mind copy-pasting the section that gave you that idea? :)
"Downloading unauthorised software may also result in invalidation of your warranty." That's what I read.
I think you are safe to report any firmware which is supported by NPS. they cannot claim that you are out of warranty if you update your firmware with the tools provided by samsung.
Yah I sure hope so, because, I whole-heartedly agree with Cougar and hippy here:
1) fix your software, which was broken out of the box
or
2) shut the feck up whilst we muddle through working around your incompetence.
I'm having plenty trouble just getting the point of sale and their preferred service partner to accept my phone for warranty replacement/repair without having to worry about what firmware is on it. :mad:
 
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"Downloading unauthorised software may also result in invalidation of your warranty." That's what I read.

Oh, that part. I read unauthorized as in custom roms and use of odin.
But if you take it into repair I doubt they'll check out if its loaded with a custom rom and I also doubt that they can know how the firmware was flashed to the phone.
 
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Its only O2 UK users that would have a problem, since we have CSC files and H4 firmware for the other main regions. H4 was released in every region through NPS afaik. So you could always use Odin to go back to H4 with your region CSC and how would they know!

Anyway as soon as we get a single update for O2 uk, those users will be covered too. I personally don't think samsung care if you update or not, but are letting people know if all of a sudden lots of devices become bricked because of some dodgy un-official update, they might just refuse to waranty repair them.
 
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I've just spoken to a very nice, and very helpful, girl at the Samsung UK tech support desk, who tells me that apparently you shouldn't be able to update the phone through NPS, as NPS shouldn't have been shipped with the phone in the first place.

I've tried any number of times to get NPS to either recognise or update my Galaxy, to no avail, hence i'm stuck with the H7 firmware it came with.

Apparently the only 'official' way to get it updated is to go to a repair centre. I'm going to try this at lunch as theres one over the road from my office.
 
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I've just spoken to a very nice, and very helpful, girl at the Samsung UK tech support desk, who tells me that apparently you shouldn't be able to update the phone through NPS, as NPS shouldn't have been shipped with the phone in the first place.

I've tried any number of times to get NPS to either recognise or update my Galaxy, to no avail, hence i'm stuck with the H7 firmware it came with.

Apparently the only 'official' way to get it updated is to go to a repair centre. I'm going to try this at lunch as theres one over the road from my office.

odd that, as other countries are updating via nps fine from software samsung have uploaded and encrypted for use by nps.
while she maybe very nice, shes wrong

samsung have no uk firmware past g8 available to nps, not alot of us have access to a repair centre. if this is what they are claiming then maybe we should go to watchdog about it and force o2uk to communicate with samsung to get the same treatment as o2germany as they seem to be getting things regularly
 
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Well, this is what I'm told.

I might try a newer version of NPS tonight when I get home, but the fact of the matter is every time i've tried to update it through NPS, I've failed. Whether that's the update not being available, or the software, or what, I don't know. I've even tried foriegn language versions of NPS - I've currently got 1.3.0 H4 installed, and that doesn't work.

There was a RUMOUR that some of the very very early O2UK versions MIGHT be non-English spec that came from elsewhere and reflashed into English. I know mine is on H7, and others who got theirs a few days later from O2 Online or in-store got either I3 or I4.

I know the drivers that came with the bloody thing don't work properly.

Samsung are apparently working on software to work with Android, but it might just be a case of C/S monkeys not knowing the story. I called before only to be told by some other bod that Samsung might not be releasing any new firmware for this phone at all - a blatant lie.

Get in touch by calling 0870 MSAMSUNG (0870 67267864), and just tell 'em the facts. You need to get them to put you in the call list for the Product Specialist, who will call you back, apparently.

As for the repair centres, it seems that Carphone Warehouse are a Samsung accredited repair centre. If they can't sort the update for you, then they'll send it back off to Samsung for you and they will.
 
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Well.

Having just got back from CPW, the story is:

1) The CPW computer says 'no' - their systems don't recognise the phone, hence nothing can be done to it in-store by the engineer, even though there's technically nothing wrong with it.

2) They CAN do something - send it back to Samsung - but that'll take 28 days. Presumably, they're sending it to Samsung on Mars.

3) Tried the O2 shop - much the same story. A firmware flash will take them upto 3 weeks to accomplish.

A minimum of 3 weeks to flash firmware on a working pone, a task that would take approximately 25 mins if the software that came with the phone worked with that phone in the first BLOODY place!

My current plan is to phone up O2 customer service and pester, bother and otherwise abuse them until I get any kind of result. I shall be starting with the approach of "I'm paying a lot of money for a feature phone with features that I can't use for as long as I need to use them, because using the features causes the device to power down too quickly."

Hopefully, I'll be able to convince them that the rumour I alluded to previously is correct, and get them to send out a new, fully-flashed phone to replace my current one.
 
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O2UK - it's outside the 28-day cooling off period, so they'll only repair it under warranty, despite it being not fit for purpose, and despite the fact I'm not trying to wriggle out of the contract, only get it fixed in something approaching a timely manner!

Called Samsung. Finally got a customer reference number. Told bloke on the phone in quite terse tones what I'd been through. He's given me an RMI number and an address to send the phone to a 'regional repair centre' where they'll do whatever I tell them to in an inclosed note and send it back in sub-10 days.

Not an ideal solution, but the best so far.

I'd much prefer if Samsung either:

a) made bloody NPS work with this phone

or

b) made the bloody update available through NPS in the UK like they appear to have everywhere else.
 
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My current plan is to phone up O2 customer service and pester, bother and otherwise abuse them until I get any kind of result. I shall be starting with the approach of "I'm paying a lot of money for a feature phone with features that I can't use for as long as I need to use them, because using the features causes the device to power down too quickly."

Good, this is exactly what I wanted from this thread. Unless people start pestering and Samsung and voicing their concern and demanding better support, there will never be better support.

it looks like the UK is in the worst spot at the moment with NO support from Samsung. Lets get that changed...
 
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well i sent them a message too - this is what i wrote:
Are there any plans to let users download and apply firmware updates to their Samsung Galaxy straight from the web (OTA) instead of using the NPS?
This seems to be a very widely desired feature, and not only because of the disappointing implementation of the NPS, but because it would be much more convenient and frankly somewhat expected.

Also, what kind of timeframe is there on the 1.6 'donut' update, which some of the other phone manufacturers have already supplied to their existing customers' devices?
and this is what they replied:
Unfortunellywe dont no jet policy for this phone's update's and no
information about 1,6 version.
i'm not feeling exactly reassured...
 
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I have the Samsung i7500 for the TW market, version I7500ZWIH7 as it came from Samsung. No can work with NPS, no new updates on website. Battery life good for 1 day, wifi goes does too oftenly, and I don't know if I can get a CSC file for the local market as I need the local tools (specially fonts and keyboard, otherwise trying to type anything in Chinese will be impossible).
 
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Unfortunellywe dont no jet policy for this phone's update's and no
information about 1,6 version.

Oof, looks like i'm not the only one to get unreadable replies from Samsung. I'm a bit curious to see what the reply to my latest contact attempt is. This time i provided the bug report in Finnish and in English, in hopes that they would forward the information inside the organization. :)
 
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