CATCH Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 - Possible Region Issue

Hi all,

So I don't post much on here anymore, but I thought I'd ask my OzB community what they thought on this. I might be jumping the gun too soon as I haven't received the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 (Bluetooth, 40mm, gold) yet, but from what I've read online there may be issues when it arrives to do with region locking that will stop major features like Samsung/Google Pay, ECG/Samsung Health, Spotify, etc, from working on the device.

So to get you up to date I've purchased a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 from Catch.com.au as it was the cheapest new Samsung Watch 6 I could find, selling for $259.98. I looked at new and secondhand options on Ebay and the Samsung Education Store who had it for around $350, but I settled on purchasing it from Catch. I have now been reading a lot about the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 being region locked and a lot of people online are having issues with not being able to use features of the watch like Samsung/Google Pay, ECG/Samsung Health, Spotify, etc, on the device due to this region locking, eg. watch arrives and upon initial setup an international country and its areas are listed only and Australia is not there to select causing issues later on with features on the device.

I ended up submitting a cancellation request to the seller yesterday with the following response:

Subject: Cancel the order
Hello, As we are an overseas seller, I want to assure you that we take great care in sourcing genuine products from reputable suppliers globally. The product you've purchased through Catch.com.au should indeed work in Australia, as we aim to provide products suitable for the local market. You can refer to our seller page for more info.
https://www.catch.com.au/seller/vchain-global-ecommerce-ltd-… Regarding your question, The watch you have purchased is brand new and a genuine product in unlocked condition. Regarding your worries about authenticity and delivery, please rest assured that we are committed to delivering high-quality, authentic products to our customers. We work diligently to verify the authenticity of our items and to ensure a secure and reliable delivery process. Upon checking with the item that you have purchased, it is one of our best-selling products for customers in Australia, so far we have not received any complaints from them. Please rest assured we are always here to assist you with any of your concerns. If there is any problem that cannot be fixed due to the international model, we shall proceed with further resolution.
Thank you.
The Vchain Global Ecommerce LTD. (Shipped from Overseas) team
REPLY
Thank you for shopping with us.
The Catch Team

I haven't replied as yet. I thought I might see if I could get further insight and opinions from my OzB community before responding to make sure I understand fully what's involved and choose my words correctly. Also if I open the watch packaging to check the region when the watch arrives will that mean I cannot get a refund under change of mind through Catch as under Catch's Change of Mind Refund policy they state that the item should be as new and unopened. So I should probably just ask for a refund immediately on its arrival without opening it to check if there is region locking? I just don't want to be stuck with a $260 watch that I can't use, as I really want to use the Samsung/Google Pay, Spotify and ECG/Samsung Health features that won't work if it is region locked being an international Samsung device. Reviews on this specific device mention the watch being from the middle east in one review and in another review it says Australia is not listed as a region and only European countries are listed. It seems Vchain Global Ecommerce that I purchased it from is based in Hong Kong. Vchain also sell on Kogan and Dick Smith websites as well as Catch and online forums mention the product being sent from Hong Kong to their Melbourne warehouse and then being sent from Melbourne to their Australian destination.

Anyway just wondering what the OzB community thoughts are? I should probably just try to get a refund and return it right? Catch's returns policy is here - https://www.catch.com.au/returns-policy

Forum posts on Vchain Global Ecommerce aren't overly great:
https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/qk1dgz/is_vchain…
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/9xkrrly3

Also TLDR = Bought a Samsung Galaxy Watch 6, may have region locking issues making major features unusable. Should I get a refund?

Let me know what you think!

Thanks

UPDATES:
CyberMurning mentions Samsung Watch 6 issue in this OzB post - "If overseas stock maybe Samsung/Google Pay will not work. Do not buy." https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/849456

Reviews on Amazon Australia for the same watch were interesting. Looks like they're selling grey imports also:
"The product was great but it looks like it was from UAE. Some stickering were in Arabic and until I connect to my phone, 'English - Australia' for language or Australian time weren't available in option."
"When setting up the Watch I noticed that it would only let me select regions from the middle east. This prevented me from using certain functions e.g ECG, bp monitoring etc. Also google pay was not supported for Australian cards. Started a return…"
"…When setting up the country/region Australia was not on the list (only west Asian countries were listed), so I selected UAE and all functions work, including blood pressure…"
"…power up the device and find out that it was the middle eastern version. This made the ECG and BP monitoring functions useless."
"The ad doesn't not state that it is an imported model, in my case it is the middle east. That means the ECG function is not available…"

SOLUTION:

Not all Samsung watch apps are offered in all countries - Not a region issue

It seems many sources online call this a region issue, but it isn't. The problem is that not all watch apps are offered in every country. Choosing a country that offers Samsung Pay and Samsung Health Monitor (ECG and blood pressure monitoring) apps on initial setup of your grey import Samsung Watch 6 is important if you want all your watch features to work.

Samsung Pay is only offered in the following countries:

United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, China, Spain, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, United Kingdom, Malaysia, the US, Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, and Australia.

Samsung Health Monitor (ECG and blood pressure monitoring) are only offered in the following countries:

Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Indonesia, Israel, Ireland, Italy, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mayotte, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Norfolk Island, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Venezuela and Vietnam. As well as, Macau, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Philippines and Thailand.

I received my watch today from Catch.com.au and it was a middle eastern version with no 'Australia' listed as a country to choose from on setup. So I chose 'English (United Kingdom)' as the language, I then chose 'United Arab Emirates' (no 'Australia' listed) from the list of middle eastern countries as both Samsung Pay and Samsung Health Monitor are offered in this country (it was the last one in the list), I then selected restart and the watch restarted. Samsung Pay did not work straight away, I had to update Samsung Pay on the watch for it to work and then it worked fine. Everything works on my grey import watch from Catch.com.au now, it's just that I won't have a local Australian warranty if my device has issues. Grey import watches are cheaper, but they have their pitfalls. If you don't want a grey import Samsung watch be careful to only choose Australian suppliers when shopping on Catch.com.au, Amazon, Kogan and Dick Smith online to ensure you receive an Australian device with an Australian warranty.

I'm hoping this post might help someone else as well. Let me know what you think in the comments below.