My S4 keeps bringing up the most annoying error for last month or 2 saying sim not inserted and giving me 2 options 'restart' or just put it in the bin. It then works again for a while but it could be minutes, hours or a day until it repeats this. It does it while sitting idle or when in use inc cutting me off in calls. Makes the phone pretty much useless as a means of communication. 

 

I bought the phone on Amazon.co.uk directly from Amazon themselves and checked my receipt as I know it's coming up to 2 years at the end of this month (Black Friday deal 2013). Samsung give their phones 2 years manufacturer warranty, so I called them to get it returned for repair also a weird de-lamination under gorilla glass which is slowly spreading down one side, but doesn't affect functionality. When I got the phone I went through all the normal BS like registering with Samsung for my warranty etc but Samsung say they run the warranty from the date of manufacture not date of purchase or first activation (I received phone early to mid Dec). So my warranty started in May 2013 when it came off the line in Korea.... so they won't do any warranty work on it. They say this is because Amazon is not a licensed seller.

 

So I contact Amazon (my nemesis) and pass on what Samsung has said and that I was not made aware that my 2 year warranty had started over 6 months before I even bought the phone! I didn't expect much of a reply from Amazon, but they came back with a LONG email quoting EU and UK consumer law and how they think it's not their problem. Then added this to the bottom of it: 
 

You purchased your product approximately 23 months ago and, until recently, have used it successfully and reported no fault with the product until now. In particular, you have had satisfactory use of the product for a period of time which exceeds the manufacturer's warranty period. As such, you are not entitled to a replacement or refund of the replacement value. 

 

However, in this circumstance as a measure of goodwill we would like to offer you a choice of the following resolutions: 

 

1. An Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to the value of £150. 

2. A refund of £125. 

 

Now I am fairly impressed with their offer as based on todays prices, if I were to purchase the same phone again from their site (marketplace seller only as they no longer do this model themselves), I would get a new one with at least a years warranty for about £55 out of my own pocket. The highlighted bit in their proposed 'resolution' offer is one I do not agree with in answering my question as I was sold a product which comes with a 2 year manufacturers warranty and as far as I am concerned mislead in that light. If this hadn't have been the case, I would simply have let Samsung take the phone back and repair it, leaving me with it working again until the S7 specs are released in the coming months and make my decision about how to go forward. 

 

 

 

I have looked around at other smart phones on the market and I don't want an S5 (not enough of an upgrade from S4), I don't want an S6 (unibody design so no changeable battery option and micro SD option removed). The new S7 will have same battery sealed inside, but 'may' be bringing back the user expandable micro SD memory option. If this was to happen, I would likely get one. The other models from other manufacturers on the market today after exhaustive spec and review research, don't fit my needs. I could get an S6 for about £180 from Amazon on top of the offered voucher amount since prices have been brought down, but it's as useless as an iphone is to me with it's limitations mentioned above. 

 

 

I have been trying all sorts of Dr Google sourced fixes for this common sim issue, but ultimately I need a reliable phone. The New S7 is reported to be, being launched at a 10% lower price than S6 was and micro SD might be coming back, which would make me seriously consider one. Between now and then though........ WHAT WOULD YOU GUYS DO? 

Edited 20 February, 20179 yr by FUBAR

Probably accept their offer but respond to their e-mail making them know it's a compromise I'm not 100% happy with. If a 2 year warranty is specified, then that is what should be received, not something else. Maybe look for a nice 3rd party review site to direct a minor flame review at Amazon? A bit late to flame the phone/offer now as it's effectively obsolete.

Take the money and run.

 

I wouldn't bother with any clever replies, it's just a waste of your time.

Black Friday is coming up so the £150 voucher might be worth getting.

Take the money, find a phone repairer.

Yea black Friday was my first thought, but that would likely be more S6 orientated in the phone sense. Unfortunately I have to work on the day too so will miss most of the offers time bahhh.

Take the money, buy a Doogee X5 for £45. One of the best phones I've owned and cost literally pennies...

Take the money, buy a Doogee X5 for £45. One of the best phones I've owned and cost literally pennies...

 

I'd never heard of It yet your the 2nd person to mention that today.

 

http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_218483.html?currency=GBP

 

Shipping from China £36

 

The phone is £36 and ships from China

Edited 11 November, 201510 yr by Aspman

£45 gets one off eBay UK and UK stock - that's where I got mine (but read up on it via the Chinese sellers).

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Doogee-X5-5-0-Dual-Sim-3G-Mobile-Phone-Android-5-1-8GB-Quad-Core-Smart-Phone-/141815227532?hash=item2104d8a48c:g:zvAAAOSwo0JWMLB6

 

Another useful feature is that it's nearly stock Android, just a couple of keyboards installed, the sim management software (for the dual sim slots) and their own icons on top of the Google standard ones. Oh, and a random web browser that was truly terrible and quickly replaced with Chrome...

Some of the Chinese Android phones are a POS; but others are as good as the likes of Samsung/Apple etc. I have a Xiaomi "Redmi" Note, an otca-core, 5.5" supercomputer for less than £100. The problem with the really low end players like Doogee is that support is terrible and Android/OS updates few and far between - I had had 2 full stable version updates in the 5 months I have owned my Note, and am now getting weekly updates by becoming a Beta tester.

 

The Xiaomi OS - MIUI is so good, a lot of other Chi-phones now use it; you can even run it on some famous brands like Lenovo, HTC ,Sony and Samsung, although not every phone in their range.

 

Back to the original problem, I would consider talking to CAB, other people have tried this "2 years from manufacture date" stunt, and they have been forced to amend it (several HDD makers have tried it on); if you buy a car with a 2 year warranty, it starts the day you drive off of the dealers lot, not "the day they built it and stuck it in a field for 2 years before selling it"

Eu legislation is 2 years warranty on mobiles and tablets and warranty starts at the point of sale to the end user not the trade sale

Only Apple manage to circumvent this.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/money-saving-tips/10498232/Two-year-EU-warranty-five-myths-about-consumer-rights.html

Eu legislation is 2 years warranty on mobiles and tablets and warranty starts at the point of sale to the end user not the trade sale

Only Apple manage to circumvent this.

I believe Apple now proactively recommend using the SOGA if one of their items are faulty outside warranty.

I had an official Apple charging dock that was 14 months old and died. On ringingly Apple they said unfortunately its out of warranty :( However your rights under tge SOGA means we'll still replace it for free I didn't even mention the SOGA.

Take the money. I have jumped ship from Samsung to Motorola, seriously good phones. Just swapped my s4 for an X play. I've been in London the last two days, still had 30 percent battery when I got home tonight.

Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

Quite tempted by the x play. But I'd miss Marshmallow unless it's had the update?

Back to the original problem, I would consider talking to CAB, other people have tried this "2 years from manufacture date" stunt, and they have been forced to amend it (several HDD makers have tried it on); if you buy a car with a 2 year warranty, it starts the day you drive off of the dealers lot, not "the day they built it and stuck it in a field for 2 years before selling it"

The main issue with that is that it's not Amazon who would be fairly easy to get to bend over, but Samsung UK themselves who will not be as easy. If they did the next issue is that just about everyone who has had this problem (hundreds of thousands it seems) just get their phone returned still doing it having simply replaced the sim carrier. Problem seems to be a bit deeper with dry joints. Samsung accepting to repair it under warranty, would likely not fix it at all. In that light Amazon making the offer they have seems reasonable and fair based on the usage I have had for a good while and against the price of a replacement of same model. The best I could hope for from them is to up their offer to a replacement phone which I doubt they would do. I also got a VAT refund back from Amazon after buying it as I was living in the Netherlands at the time which was £68 odd. 

 

Eu legislation is 2 years warranty on mobiles and tablets and warranty starts at the point of sale to the end user not the trade sale

Only Apple manage to circumvent this.

Yea the EU legislation says at least 2 years, but the UK legislation says up to 6 years technically. Their fast ish response and offer makes me think this is not first time a person has ended up in the same situation as me and they are taking a fairly good stance towards resolving it. I just still think it's a bit crap that Samsung have been such dicks about it.  

Take the money, buy a Doogee X5 for £45. One of the best phones I've owned and cost literally pennies...

 

 

I'd never heard of It yet your the 2nd person to mention that today.

 

http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_218483.html?currency=GBP

 

Shipping from China £36

 

The phone is £36 and ships from China

 

 

£45 gets one off eBay UK and UK stock - that's where I got mine (but read up on it via the Chinese sellers).

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Doogee-X5-5-0-Dual-Sim-3G-Mobile-Phone-Android-5-1-8GB-Quad-Core-Smart-Phone-/141815227532?hash=item2104d8a48c:g:zvAAAOSwo0JWMLB6

 

Another useful feature is that it's nearly stock Android, just a couple of keyboards installed, the sim management software (for the dual sim slots) and their own icons on top of the Google standard ones. Oh, and a random web browser that was truly terrible and quickly replaced with Chrome...

 

 

It's about the same price it would cost me to replace the S4 with an S4 using the amazon voucher offered essentially (without having said voucher to spend on something else). I am tempted, but looking at the ebay link one with the copied over spec stuff, it does seem very very China to me with them even putting a diagram pointing to each part inside and getting them totally wrong with one sim slot being a sim slot, one being a TF and the TF being a sim one lol. Then the low onboard memory be listed as 8GB 'ROM' LOL, I hope it's not ROM 8gb ram would be pushing it for the day to day stuff I currently use with offline sat nav taking a big chunk out of it even with most of maps stored on micro SD. Camera is a big part of what I use my phone for and the 5mp (upscaled to 8mp) sensor sadly wouldn't get me there :( I wish I hadn't given away my S2 this time last year as it would be a novelty to roll back to it for a while and it was in mint condition and it's 8mp sensor was truly heroic! 

Edited 11 November, 201510 yr by FUBAR

Take the money. I have jumped ship from Samsung to Motorola, seriously good phones. Just swapped my s4 for an X play. I've been in London the last two days, still had 30 percent battery when I got home tonight.

Sent from my XT1562 using Tapatalk

 

 

Quite tempted by the x play. But I'd miss Marshmallow unless it's had the update?

 

 

The moto x play is my most likely next move, the x style is better but not £100 better and the value of the x play is perfectly placed. 5.5" is spot on IMO non removable battery is acceptable as its a bloody good battery and power management compliments it well. Then it has my personal must micro SD!!!!!! 

 

In fact, sod it I will be looking at £600+ to get an S7 soon after launch sim free and the odds are stacked against the micro SD slot return. Might order an X play sold by Amazon themselves it's £249,99 which isn't bad... 

Quite tempted by the x play. But I'd miss Marshmallow unless it's had the update?

Due November

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

The moto x play is my most likely next move, the x style is better but not £100 better and the value of the x play is perfectly placed. 5.5" is spot on IMO non removable battery is acceptable as its a bloody good battery and power management compliments it well. Then it has my personal must micro SD!!!!!!

In fact, sod it I will be looking at £600+ to get an S7 soon after launch sim free and the odds are stacked against the micro SD slot return. Might order an X play sold by Amazon themselves it's £249,99 which isn't bad...

I bought a moto g 4g as a stop gap while I resolved a self shattering screen issue on a Sony z1, it was so good that when I got the refund from Amazon I used it to get the x play. It's very very good.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

I bought a moto g 4g as a stop gap while I resolved a self shattering screen issue on a Sony z1, it was so good that when I got the refund from Amazon I used it to get the x play. It's very very good.

Sent from my Nexus 9 using Tapatalk

There is the X Force with it's shatterproof screen out in 4 days but Amazon launch price is £499...... It's more powerful etc too, but I don't know I'd want to pay £499 for it. 

Be different get the Lumia 950  and ditch the PC ;-)

If you bought on credit card and can't get satisfaction from Amazon then try a section 77 claim under the consumer credit act. They're jointly liable. Money saving expert has full details of how to do it. I got £400 back on a phone I bought from Amazon

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

If you bought on credit card and can't get satisfaction from Amazon then try a section 77 claim under the consumer credit act. They're jointly liable. Money saving expert has full details of how to do it. I got £400 back on a phone I bought from Amazon

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

I'm looking at doing it on my Nexus 7 2012 after Google left it almost useless with lollipop

I'm looking at doing it on my Nexus 7 2012 after Google left it almost useless with lollipop

Mine was fine but now my Nexus 7 will not charge and will not power up

Sent from my LG-H815 using Tapatalk

Just a couple of pointers.

With regards to Amazon trying to negate their responsibility and refer you to the manufacturer. They are fully responsible for the faulty goods. They must reimburse you, the customer (or fix it) and get recompense from their supplier. This is very clear in consumer law

The Sales of Goods Act has now been superseded by the Consumer Rights Act 2015. More protection is now available

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/citizens-advice-consumer-work/the-consumer-rights-act-2015/