Tldr: Bought a phone and tried to return it, but Samsung claimed they never receive it. Months of back-and-forth and a very frustrating process. A cautionary tale and an unlikely hero.
UPDATE: Samsung finally issued the refund! SADLY, I have another matter related to a Samsung fridge which they'd promised in writing to refund and then reneged on. I called them yesterday to give them an opportunity to make it right, they said they'd call back in 10min and of course never did. So I've raised a case with Fair Trading. Let me know if you're interested in hearing about this saga and I'll write another post
Reaches for popcornšæ. Last year, I bought the Samsung Galaxy s24 Ultra. A couple of days later, I found a deal where I could save about $400 on the same phone by applying an eVoucher. I contacted Samsung and asked if I they could apply the voucher to the phone that I'd bought. They said no, understandably.
Given that I haven't received the phone yet, I asked if I could request a refund under their 14 day change of mind policy and buy another phone using the eVoucher and they said that's fine, but that I couldn't commence the refund process until I receive the phone from them which again is understandable.
I contacted them as soon as I received the phone and initiated the returns process. To be eligible for the 14 day change of mind policy, the phone must be unopened. They asked me to take photos of the boxes showing them unopened after which they sent me an Australia post return shipping label.
I took the phone to the post office and took a photo of the tracking receipt as well as the package on their weighscale (showing the weight).
Two weeks later, I got an email saying partial return initiated, and it was for the case to which I thought was odd but figured they'd fix it. Then they refunded me the $4.57 for the case, but there was no mention of the phone.
I inquired and they said what about the phone, they said no worries we'll fix it. Over the coming weeks and months I'd follow up with them and they said that they're looking into it and that some would get back to me. At no point, did they say they hadn't received the phone?
After 6 months of back and forth, I went on holidays and forgot about it. 6 months later, I remembered and decided to follow up yet again. I was told they'll look into it. I told them but I've been told this story before and it hasn't happened. They assured me that it would be escalated.
Enter the escalation manager. I told him what happened and that I've been chasing this for months and I haven't been getting any responses. He asked why'd it take so long and I said that Ive already communicated the issue so as far as I'm concerned, the ball is in your court and you should refund me
He asked for proof that I actually sent the phone, because they'd only received a case. I sent him a photo of the tracking receipt and the package on the Aust Post weighscale.
He came back and said that proof is insufficient . I asked what constitutes proof as he refused to answer. I told him that I'd followedthe process outlined by their returns policy so what more do you want. In fact, I've gone above and beyond by sending the tracking receipt and weighscale photo.
I offered to try to get the CCTV footage but he just responded that I'm welcome to do so but that it won't change his decision. What a $#!7@r$! I said there's no point me continuing the conversation if you're decision is final, regardless of any evidence that I present.
He was essentially calling me a liar, refusing me the refund even after I followed their process to a tea.
I said that at this point, I will consider the phone as stolen because I returned it to you, and you claim you never received it.
I further said that the moment it leaves my possession, it becomes Samsung's responsibility. They paid for the return shipping, not me. They dictated the return method and process by providing a prepaid return shipping label, so the moment I handed over to Australia post, as far as I'm concerned that becomes your responsibility. He wouldn't hear it or budge in his stance.
I asked him to assist in confirming the IMEI #, the insurance details (if any) of the return and also to provide any proof where I deviated from their returns process. He replied with the IMEI, said there's no insurance and ignored my third point.
I told him I'd report the phone as stolen and complete a police report.
I completed a police report and then contacted my telco to report the phone as stolen. They advised they can't do anything with a new phone because the phone has to have been used on their network to report it. I contacted the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Authority (AMTA) and this is where things started to move.
AMTA said there business rules don't allow them to take stolen reports from the public but that they could take a report from Samsung. If Samsung verify that I own the phone and that they havenāt received it back, AMTA could take action.
Not even 24hrs later, AMTA said that Samsung advised them not to action because THEY FOUND THE PHONE and will be in contact with me shortly.
I was happy and annoyed. Why is it they only found it when I involved AMTA?
I received a call from the Escalations manager who said we've located the phone and "Sorry for any inconvenience caused". Such a clinical and uncaring response. I wish he just said sorry we stuffed you around, my bad!
Throughout this ordeal, he was very unhelpful and seemingly very uncaring. He would selectivity answer my questions but avoiding anything that would indicate a failure in their process and offered no solutions to help.
He couldn't answer my question about what proof would be sufficient for me to get a refund. He couldn't even show where Id deviated from their returns policy.
This raises questions about what proof is required beyond a tracking # and liability; who's actually responsible.
I would have loved some sort of explanation, some sort of humanity would have been really appreciated, but there was no empathy shown or any attempt to see it from my perspective.
He offered me $100 eftpos card for the inconvenience. I said more impotence that that, I hope you learn from this so that it doesn't happen again.
Bottom line, you said you didn't have the phone when you actually did; by which you were effectively calling me a liar.
I theorised that the phone, was either stolen by Aust Post the receiving person at Samsung or the most likely scenario, they received it but due to the partial return being raised against the case instead of the phone and case, it wasnt received correctly.
By reporting the phone as stolen, some poor sod would have found their brand new phone they bought from Samsung would have stopped working, thus inconveniencing yet another party. I'm so glad it didn't come to that.
Special mention to the hero of the story…AMTA. They responded quickly and it only took a couple of emails for them to resolve my issue with Samsung.
I wanted to share this story as a cautionary tale of returning something to Samsung so that you don't go through what I did. Perhaps return it in person or record the whole boxing process whilst at the post office with witness statements
Otherwise you could be out of pocket $2000 because of Samsung's error.
Should I have taken a different approach? Who do you think should be responsible for the phone once returned at Post Office? Welcome your thoughts and comments :)
