Very Poor Repair Service.

[RussB]

Phone developed a rattling sound after around 11 months of use. Sent to Vodafone for repair and they advised me that it is common for Samsung phones of this age to develop rattles. I have been purchasing Samsung top of the range phones for many years and never have I had one develop a rattling noise. If the phone was out of warranty then fair enough, but its under one year old with an additional year after that. I requested them to look into this further as I did not accept the verdict. Next day I received an email to say phone was on its way and in the return package would be a summary of work carried out. Yesterday I picked my phone up which wasnt a great experience as Vodafone choose to send the phone back to you with no option to have it redelivered to a new address or neighbour. Some people have to go to work to pay for their phone bills so cant be sitting around all day waiting for a phone. In any case I picked the phone up from the delivery depot and opened it. The letter inside stated that the phone had had the latest updates applied and this should have fixed my issue. Firstly the phones was upto date unless an update came out while the phone was with Vodafone. Secondly I always though these updates were software updates, seems they can update a phone to stop it rattling. So I unwrapped the phone and to my surprise the update must have also changed the colour of my phone from red to blue. I though thats ok as it was an update, I will update it back to red. I then flipped the phone over to discover the update had added a finger print scanner to the rear of my phone (mine was built into the screen). Turned on the phone to find out that my shiny red S20+ 5G had turned into a dull blue A21s vastly inferior phone. Pleasingly the phone did not rattle. By the was I was using a friends old phone because Vodafone did not provide me with a temporary phone. When i arranged the repair I told the guy that I needed to have a replacement phone as I needed to be in touch with my mother on a daily basis as she was ill. I was told that would not be a problem. So called Vodafone last night and told him the issue, after a very long silence I asked if he was still there and could he hear me, yes was his reply I can hear you fine, so what is the issue with the phone they have sent?  I was left on hold more than once for minutes at a time while the guy looked into this for me. He could tell me nothing and then advised we will look into and send your phone if we have it. I told him I would like someone to look into this and phone me to let me know they still had my phone and would sent it out. I didn't want to be just waiting without knowing. I was told someone would phone within 24/48 hours (or email). Its now approaching 24 hours and nothing. I consider this to be quite a big blunder but will there be a call or email to enlighten me to the reasons why such an error could occur......nope. I saved a couple of quid by going with Vodafone but gained a whole lot of hassle. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @RussB 

I wish you had posted here on the forum in the beginning to share your issues with the phone as I would have first advised that ....

1. Some Samsung phone's do rattle when lightly shook due to the camera lens moving which is normal. Yours would. You can test this by launching the camera as it should then stop.

2. To go to a Samsung Experience Store or Samsung Service Centre as they know their hardware and software better.

The first thing any repair centre will do is a software  / firmware flash as this tends to remedy most issues but that's usually in connection to software issues.

There has been a mix up with the wrong phone being returned and Vodafone will have to investigate to put this right.

Vodafone do sometimes have courtesy phone's to lend a person on a contract and these are usually feature phone's i.e basic models and it depends if they have one available at the time.

The Vodafone Social Media Team's via Twitter or Facebook should be able to assist. Contact-us-for-account-specific-queries. 

I wish you all the best with this. 

[RussB]

Hi BoB,    

               thanks for your interest. I also have read that some cameras do make noise if they are shaken due to a floating lens. However the camera certainly has never made this noise before. If the phone made this noise when i purchased it I would have send it back and chose another model. The noise can be heard when you quickly move the phone so its not like i am shaking it just for the fun of it. Assuming the phone does come back to me I will then contact Samsung directly as I do not accept this is normal. If Samsung confirm its normal for there phones to rattle then it will be the last Samsung phone i purchase. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Take a look here eu.community.samsung.com/t5/galaxy-s20-series/something-rattling-in-phone. 

My Samsung Note 10+ 5G as well as my current Samsung Note 20 Ultra 5G 

makes this noise as so does my partners Samsung Galaxy s20 5G.

[RussB]

Did they make the noise from new or develop overtime?

[RussB]

So eventually Vodafone repair centre have contacted me directly. Previously two vodafone staff advised me that they would return my phone and supply a returns bag for me to return the A21 incorrect phone.

In fact the supervisor told me I could use the A21 phone until my phone was returned. I had not been doing this but decided I would as the phone I was using was very poor and needed to be charged throughout the day. The repair centre now advised that I must return the A21 phone, when the repair centre received it and checked it over an "S20 would be popped in the post". I explained what I had been told previously and was told this was not possible. I explained that I need a phone to keep in touch with my poorly mother so needed my phone to be returned to me and I would then return the A21 phone as previously advised. Again I was told that was not possible. I then offered to go to a Vodafone store and exchange phones. Again I was told this is not possible. As Vodafone had sent the wrong phone out in the first place I was shocked to see how unhelpful they were being. Eventually I was told a courier could come out, give me my phone and take the A21 phone. I would be charged for this and when the phone was received and checked I would be refunded. Having had a situation in the past where I was charged three time by Vodafone for an item I was not happy with having to keep checking my account to see if the charge was refunded. Whilst advising that I was very unhappy with this I questioned the choice of words used previously when i was told " an S20 would be pooped in the post". I asked her to clarify the use of "an" in place of "my S20". She said yes thats correct we will send you an S20, I said that would imply it is not my S20. She replied yes, its replacement S20. At this point I was rather annoyed as they had not mentioned they had lost my phone. I said to her so you have actually lost my phone, the reply was no its not lost we just dont know where it is in the system. I said that seems to be the very definition of lost and I was no not lost. I was then asked if I would like to speak to a supervisor and I said yes if you are not able to help me. She replied thats all I am authourised to do. I said yes put me onto a supervisor and was then told there are none available. I then asked for a supervisor to call me back ASAP. I just though i would update my original thread as things have now took a turn for the worst. I am now preparing to raise an official complaint. 

[Mark]

I'm sorry to see you've had this kind of experience @RussB and I'm sure we can get this straightened out for you and get your phone is returned. As we'll need access to your account to do this, pop us a private message through one of our social channels and we'll be happy to help. When you message us, please include a link to this thread and your Community ID, as this will save you having to repeat yourself 😊

[RussB]

As mentioned, I have now raised an official complaint. As expected this is also a farce. I have had a call today saying that the Vodafone Rep. has been in touch with the repair centre. The repair centre advised that they sent the correct phone out, however if the customer disputes this they can black list the IMEI number and then send a replacement phone out. The replacement phone will be a returned phone (unused) to the exact same spec as my S20+ 5G red phone. So on the bright side after weeks of hassle all of Vodafones own making it seems I will get a like for like replacement phone, yeah happy times. However the fact is that Vodafone repair centre are clearly calling me a liar.

This is unbelievable as surely they can see that the phone I have been sent has a different IMEI and is clearly a completely different phone. I am fairly sure that when I tell them the IMEI number of the phone I have been sent they must be able to track it down on their system? So besides this I ask the Vodafone Rep what happens with the phone I have now, expecting the same answer of when you return this phone we will send the replacement. But no, I am told keep the phone as they have no record of it on the system. Surely Vodafone can track down an IMEI number? I then told the Rep that once they blacklisted my original IMEI number surely the person that has that phone (assume its been sent to the wrong person, it was a way better phone than theirs so they kept it?) will then report they have not received their phone back. I will then get a call asking me to return the phone they sent. Again I am told there is no request to return the phone so just keep it. At this point I had heard enough and advised when I have my replacement phone and all is working I will turn off this phone and put it away for a month until I get a request to return it. This has be believing that the Vodafone repair centre is so completely incompetent that there must be a dishonest employee taking advantage of this and swapping out phones. Either way no matter what the situation or additional costs I will never ever use Vodafone again. Oh while I am typing this Vodafone have decided that they have not done enough damage and caused enough upset, I have just received a text "We are sorry YOU have lost your phone"........UNBELIEVABLE. 

[RussB]

So last night I had a message from Vodafone/courier advising my replacement phone would be delivered to day at 11.40 -12.40pm. In the message was "please ensure the device you are returning is ready". I am not returning a device as already discussed on several occasions. I am receiving a replacement phone for the one Vodafone LOST. I will then at  a later date when I can actually confirm the phone I have received is a like for like replacement be very happy to return the A21S phone. I have had to have this phone diverted to a neighbour so there will be additional confusion when they ask for a return package. I am 99.9% sure they will not deliver the phone because of Vodafone marking this delivery as an exchange. If I was there myself I would show the delivery guy the Vodafone email saying "Sorry you've lost your device" and exclaim how can i return a lost device. Perhaps he would advise just put any only phone you can in the package and return, the same as Vodafone have done to me.  

[RussB]

Unsurprisingly the DPD courier came straight to my door and tried to deliver to an empty house. This is despite me already arranging for the parcel to go to my neighbour as per confirmed reply email. Perhaps he is an ex Vodafone employee. Arranged again to go to neighbours tomorrow. Also sent a couple of emails yesterday and this morning (direct customercare email) urging them to make sure the courier delivers the phone and does not refuse due to no exchange. As expected no reply or interest from Vodafone.