S’pore Man Tries To Claim Warranty On Faulty Samsung Fold/Flip Phone, Allegedly Rebuffed For Scratched Hinge

S’pore Man Rebuffed On Warranty For Samsung Fold/Flip Phone, Staff Points To Scratched Hinge

Samsung’s ‘Flip’ and ‘Fold’ smartphones have become more popular recently.

However, a man in Singapore discovered an issue when he attempted to claim the warranty for his faulty phone.

He alleged that the Samsung staff at Causeway Point claimed the aesthetic damage suffered by the phone’s hinge voided his warranty.

The dissatisfied man hence encouraged others online to avoid purchasing the Fold/Flip phones.

Samsung staff refuse warranty claim

The Samsung Fold and Flip phones are foldable touch-screen devices that harken back to the more compact early 2000s mobiles.

The entire device hinges on, well, a hinge that allows for the folding.

Source: Samsung

Yesterday (14 Sep), Mr Thang made a post on the Complaint Singapore Facebook group regarding his own device.

In the post, he detailed how his Samsung Fold/Flip phone suffered a complete loss of Wi-Fi and speaker functions. The other functions of the phone, however, worked fine.

Source: Mr Thang on Facebook

With the device still within the warranty period, he headed to the Samsung store at Causeway Point to make a claim.

The staff there shocked Mr Thang by telling him that the phone’s “damaged” hinge voided the warranty.

Fold and Flip phones’ warranty depend on hinge quality

The confused OP pointed out that his hinge only had scratches. He could still open and fold the phone without issue.

Despite this, the Samsung staff insisted that the hinge was damaged and quoted S$700 to replace it. They claimed that as all components connected through the hinge, it was critical to the phone’s operations.

Mr Thang then tried to point out that the hinge only suffered cosmetic damage.

Source: Mr Thang on Facebook

Nonetheless, the staff still printed out the Samsung repair policy, stating that aesthetic damage voids the warranty for Fold/Flip models.

Perhaps “coincidentally”, Mr Thang noted that another customer brought her Flip phone in for the same reason at the time.

Urged Samsung users to avoid the Fold/Flip phones

Mr Thang, who had been a Samsung customer since the Galaxy S2, felt greatly disappointed with the company.

He compared the warranty policy to a lawyer abusing “terms and conditions on a layman”. He then warned others to avoid the Fold/Flip phones given that Samsung puts in such clauses to protect themselves.

For those who already have such phones, he urged them to purchase hinge protectors immediately.

After this encounter, Mr Thang mused that it may be time for him to move on to other phone brands.

MS News has reached out to Samsung for their comments and will update the article when they reply.

In July this year, Samsung Singapore refused to replace a man’s faulty screen due to ‘tampering’.

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Featured image adapted from Mr Thang on Facebook and Digital Trends.