New phones these days are constantly becoming more rugged and water resistant. But the one thing most consumers are currently unaware of is how warranty policies have failed to keep up with modern technology to protect the buyer from product defects. I want to share a short story and in turn would like to know how many of you have had this experience.
Being a person who spends a fair amount of time outdoors where situations frequently where the average consumer electronic device would fail, I needed something that would stand up to the environment. So I recently picked up Samsung's top-of-the-line rugged and water resistant phone, the Galaxy s7 Active. Using the phone for a couple of days and enjoying all the features Samsung brings to the table. Day 4 and I am going on a kayaking trip out to a local lake. Nearing the end of the trip I start to remember all the commercials and adverts that Samsung put out showing the amazing capabilities of this device and the ability to take underwater photographs. So I go to try to line up a shot of a lillypad from below. Within seconds of touching the water the phone fails. Extremely disappointed I am at this time with my brand new phone! I do a little self investigation and find that the screen has a little give in it and the device was likely not sealed properly around the bezel. However I have thoughts of relief (much like many people do before using an IP68 rated device in water) "Well the device is advertised and rated as waterproof/water resistant so my warranty will cover it, no worries!"; Though two weeks later after receiving my device back from Samsung I was in for a shock. They did not repair the device or even replace it. After speaking with US customer warranty relations they informed me that under no circumstances will any device that Samsung produces ever be repaired or replaced under warranty if the damage is water related. Even for devices advertised to be water resistant or waterproof!! Here I was with a $700 paper weight that lasted a mere 4 days. Samsung's failure to meet my products marked IP68 rating and failure to right a wrong that was clearly no fault of my own has left me flabbergasted. But it doesn't stop here. Unfortunately in this modern era I need a phone and at this point I would not being pushing more money into the pockets of Samsung. So I began a research product to see how other companies would have handled this situation. It is saddening... Nearly all smartphone manufactures would have screwed me just as hard, Apple, LG, ect... The only company I spoke with where the water damage would have be covered by the manufacturing warranty was Caterpillar (not exactly at the cutting edge of smartphone performance unfortunately) and even the Caterpillar S60, a phone rated to 5 meters in water depth has had many reported failures due to water ingress. IS THERE NO COMPANY that can hold a promise to the IP68 rating and have the decency to back that up with a manufacture warranty?? This is crazy...
How many of you have had this experience? I feel until warranty policies change, if using a waterproof or water resistant smartphone in a wet environment this might as well be the cellphone equivalent of Russian Roulette...
How can I/we show companies the dissatisfaction in these business practices?
