Warranty Claim on Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge Water Damage with Shopping Square

Looking for some advice from my worldly ozbargainer friends about how I should seek a replacement or repair for my bricked phone.

Purchased a Samsung Galaxy s7 edge grey imported from Shopping Square on eBay a few months ago, which came with a year's AU warranty.

Recently the phone tumbled out of my hand into some shallow sink water and immediately started to show signs of dying. Put it in some rice for 2 weeks but now it doesn't boot up at all.

On the eBay page I purchased from it's got Samsung's marketing material including "With the Galaxy S7 edge you can carry on using it even after dropping it in water" and "Can be immersed in 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes".

The thing was under about an inch of water for a couple of seconds before dying.

Contacted Shopping Square to put in the warranty claim, but they said water exposure constituted "improper use" and told me to go away. They also said if it happened earlier they might have been able to chalk it up to manufacturing fault (this was after a few months of ownership during which time I've been very precious with the phone and used a heavy case etc).

From what I gather there's a lot of precedent for this phone's water resistance being iffy at best, but I feel like I should have been able to expect more durability than this given the marketing claims.

Does anyone have any insight into how I should proceed with this? Being a student I saved for a while for this and it was really disheartening being told my $800 phone isn't getting fixed

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Shopping Square
Shopping Square

Comments

  • I'm not liking your chances with this one. Samsung has in the past, denied warranty claims for waterlogged "water resistant" phones according to many reports on the net and the ZDnet article also says that water damage is not covered, and you're on your own should any of the anti-leak protections fail.

  • +1

    Had a read through https://forums.androidcentral.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-edge/729… seems like false advertisement on Samsung's part.

  • You can try to go to one of the dedicated Samsung Customer Service Store/Shop directly and try to claim.
    A friend of mine purchased the Note 5 in Dubai and it started to bleed after several months as he dropped it (no water damage & no physical damage).
    He walked into the Samsung Shop without a receipt and they replaced his phone with no issues.
    It's worth a try.
    Good luck

  • Not as described and advertised by store - lodge a claim with ebay for full refund - you'll need a report on extent of damage.

  • +1

    If it is still within 6 months of purchase, and you paid via paypal, lodge a paypal dispute.

    Alternatively do a credit card chargeback.

    See if your credit card has insurance that covers the phone.

    Also see if your home insurance has accidental damage protection coverage that covers your phone.

    Good luck!

  • If the water indicators have been triggered, you're probably SOL. Their phones are tested under specific conditions — if your phone drops into water (or you run a tap over it), it can exceed the conditions that it has been tested for, even if the depth of the water is below what it is advertised at. You can test this by squirting a garden hose at your phone's speaker, charging port, etc. Nil water depth realistically but a broken phone nonetheless.

    FWIW, if it was just one inch of water, it likely also hit the very metal bottom of your sink… resulting in another condition that can cause a seal to break (i.e. physical force). Pushing shit up hill with this one, unfortunately.

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