The issue: I bought some samsung buds 3 pros with my s25 ultra preorder via the samsung store, received them and immediately noticed the right earbud has a very noticeable static/white noise/buzzing/hissing when ANC is turned on (left earbud is fine and doesn't experience this problem) - (turns out other people experienced this too https://www.reddit.com/r/galaxybuds/comments/1e40y65/do_buds…). I've used plenty of products with ANC (bose QC35's, NC700's, XM3's etc) so i'm no stranger to how ANC works, but there definitely was an audible static sound.
- contacted samsung immediately, they said I can't return the earbuds for repair, I have to visit a service centre, I proceed with booking in an appointment
- show up to appointment, the rep says they cannot assess it as they need to "get a certified technician to assess it" and the "certified tech" has gone home for the day, they explained it would take 5 days to assess and I would be contacted upon the outcome of it
- the store rep also said "ah yeh this is a known issue with the earlier batch of bud 3 pro's, they had static noise which a lot of them came back for repair". Even with this knowledge, he wasn't going to assess it or give me a replacement, but fine, their warranty process is what it is.
- even though the earbuds were straight out of the box and into the service centre, they said they could not provide me a replacement due to fault as "the box had been opened". how are people supposed to find out a device is faulty or DOA without opening the box is beyond me
- the next day I get an email saying my device has been sent off to mobile house (some certified repairer for samsung) and it will be assessed, the QR code on the service assessment form they gave me also returns a 404
- 5 days pass by and nobody has contacted me, I contact samsung support, they said the device was assessed after 2 days and no fault found.
- samsung support also "as a gesture of goodwill, will be so kindly waiving the $66 service fee to assess the device" - the $66 service fee, I'm told is charged when there is no fault found… surely this is in breach of the ACCC
- samsung support told me "we have to update the service case and dispute it to get the product assessed again, they can't do anything beyond that, the case is with a samsung case manager (who they could not tell me who or how to get in touch) and they were handling it. they suggested to call mobile house for an update/dispute it too
- called mobile house, they said the device as no fault found and it's awaiting collection, they weren't able to tell me why I have not been updated, they said if i wish to dispute the outcome, they have to raise a ticket with samsung, which gets assigned to a new case manager as there was no case manager assigned to my case. the ticket would also take 24-72 BUSINESS hours to get an update.
I honestly don't know what to make of all of this. I've never had to speak to THIS many people to get something fixed, nobody is taking any responsibility. I remember going into an apple store, showing them my audio jack wasn't working and they looked at it, said it was fault and gave me a replacement. I've literally had this product in my hand for a day, and it's been with samsung for much, much longer. I can't actually speak to someone to show them what the issue is, whoever I call at samsung store/samsung support/mobile house just tell me "it's out of my hands and i'm trying to help you". I've been threatened with a $66 service fee but "samsung are doing YOU a favour by waiving this fee, you should be happy about that". I feel so powerless in this situation, I don't have the product I bought, I feel like I will end up having to settle for a sub-par faulty product, or continue to chase this mysterious case manager at samsung that probably doesn't exist.
I know there's probably nothing I can do, I've raised cases with the ACCC in the past about dodgy practices and none of them have gone anywhere, so if anyone has any suggestions or advice that might help, I really do welcome it. Thanks
It wouldn't be a problem if you bought a Sony, had an issue similar to yours, posted it to them, and got the fixed one returned within days. The second time around had an NC issue and then posted to them, they couldn't find any issues and it was a user error lol no hard feelings.