Samsung A7: great phone, AWFUL to repair/maintain

[Phas3L0ck]

So on a whim, I bought a Samsung A7 2017 because I liked the specs (closest thing I could find to the J7 Refine-- and with a bigger screen than the J7 Pro) and because it was going out of stock like crazy, and it worked great, but then stuff goes sideways...    (gonna keep this relatively short for those of you that don't really care)

So when it came, it was perfect; it worked fine as I expected, and performed well.... then one day, I was trying one of those games where you have to tap the screen a million times to get points (I don't do games, so don't ask) then suddenly, my screen went black! It wasn't low on power, and I could tell the phone was still on. When I happened to glance at it under better light, I noticed the display was cracked-- not the digitizer glass, but the super thin LED screen underneath the glass BROKE during normal use!  This really sucks 'cause I just spent $275 on it, and the seller wouldn't let me return it, claiming; "buyer damage, too bad" and wouldn't even honor the warranty! I never had a problem like this with my J7 Refine, and at that point I figured I might as well get rid of the bloody thing and try to get something for it.

 

I decided to try and fix it myself, having experience dismantling and restoring some similar devices from older generations... A new screen cost $35, so I ordered it and started the replacement... Taking everything apart was easy, getting it all back together was kind of a pain, but nothing too bad. Then I had this weird problem; the new screen didn't come with any adhesive material on the edges, but it did have a sort of film on the back of the screen itself, under which there was enough sticky material to get the assembly mostly in place (there were tabs on the sides to remove the film-- tabs which would make it impossible to install the screen properly with, indicating the need to remove the film). And so the screen was in place, but not completely... I wasn't satisfied with how the screen was siting over the phone, despite being partially stuck to the midframe, so I tried to remove it to reposition it... and then it CRACKED! The LED display partially separated from the glass digitizer, and broke like a thin sheet of ice!  *I always thought the screen and digitizer were manufactured together as one piece-- I had no idea it was possible for screens to be so thin until then*

 

Great... another screen GONE.

I just wanted to fix the dam thing so I could resell it and make back most of what I spent...

I then got one more replacement screen a week later, and this one costed about $40, since I opted for slightly faster shipping and the inclusion of the necessary sticky material.

When that screen arrived, did the same thing to replace it again (major pain in the A$$ at this point) and it almost works, but then... IT DOESN'T FIT! This is the correct screen, just like the previous two, same model, dimension, and connector... but it couldn't be seated properly in the midframe! there was still space between the edges/sides of the screen and the phone itself!  At least I had a working screen, and got it attached... so I went ahead and started to close up the phone so I could resell it as "New Other-- partially repaired" and then things really go wrong... **First, note, I took care to do all this work on top of a double-layer of standard bubble wrap, to prevent what happened next** As I'm pressing parts back into place, sealing up what remains, I hear CRACK! No... F*C^1/\/G... WAY... I turn the phone over, only to find that the top part of the digitizer glass (the glass this time, not the screen display) had broken somehow! I wasn't even pressing anywhere near the top on the other side, so I have no idea how that happened.

 

At least the screen is functional enough that the display is able to prove that the rest of the phone is fully functional... (and I managed to clear all data and settings because of this, too)

 

So now I have a practically brand new Samsung A7 2017 A720F/DS without a screen, and I've LOST $350 on this bloody mistake! I've had it for over a month now, and listed on eBay and OfferUp for very reasonable prices with full details and an honest explanation on the condition (I want my buyers to have all the facts) I haven't had any real attention whatsoever from anyone! No offers, no bids, and no contact regarding this mistake of a device!

 

With that in mind, someone please tell me, what more can I do to get this blasted thing GONE and get something for it?

[Phas3L0ck]

30 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Wait, did you buy a 2017 mid range phone with 3GB RAM, for $275 in 2019?

Yes, so what? Year doesn't matter!

Why? Because, like the J7 Refine that I love, it has BUTTONS! (and a nice, proper full HD screen)

[Phas3L0ck]

3 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Alright

So its now a 2017 mid range phone with 3GB of RAM and missing the screen

How much do you think someone would pay for such an ebay listing?

Have you looked up other listings of similar description to check how much they go for?

Dude, I have mine on auction for like $37 at the current time, no biters. And YET, I've seen listings for the same model, completely broken, entire device scuffed/badly scratched, both back cover and screen would have to be completely replaced, and they SOLD anywhere from $100-230!

 

Do not even attempt to tell me about price point. People are awful.

 

BTW, companies seriously need to drop the "year" moniker, it's getting old!

[Phas3L0ck]

6 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

Ok, then the people who managed to sell theirs must be doing something different. Or it might have taken them a really long time to find a buyer.

All I can think of is the display of a totally broken phone, showing the screen in the first image, turned on. I could do that, but let's be honest; if it can't be attached as I described, why show it with a screen at all?  Pfft... maybe my problem is that I'm actually telling my buyers the truth... (meh, what do I know???)

6 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

I'm not a company. I doubt companies even use the "year" moniker.

Um, hello, ever heard of car companies? Don't forget M$ and their Windows Server line... "Server 2019," they say, when it's nothing but a rehash of Server 2016, both of which are built from Windows 10... M$... gets me every time...

11 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

I dont really care that its a 2017 model. I am just referring to the fact that its completely outperformed by new $200 devices.

Don't remind me. While the common cows of phone service are pumping out the S10 series at some $1,000 a pop, people are adhering like superglue to the crappy LG phones, which have the worst design possible, all because of price!

13 minutes ago, huilun02 said:

To make things worse, people have been conditioned to overvalue Android "updates and support". To many an Exynos device that is stuck on Oreo would be awfully unattractive. Personally I dont give a damn as long as it has a Snapdragon chipset so I can install updated custom roms.

Yeah so I've heard. Personally I ONLY want 8.0/8.1 Oreo-- it's better than 4, 5, 6, and 7 combined AND a H3LL of a lot better than 9 PIE!  I agree with your "conditioning" analysis of what users are taught to believe. Google is pushing new OS versions WAYYY TOO FAST! Just like Microsoft pumping the poorly designed, fisher-price Windows 10 line right after they shoved the failed attempt of an OS, Windows 8 & 8.1 down our throats. I'm in the middle of doing something on my J7 Refine one day, happily running 8.0 Oreo, then at random I get a notice for some OS update... no big deal, right? I'm used to getting patches for current versions at random times... but this was no patch... After installing the update, I look at how everything has visually and functionally changed and my first thought is "WHAT THE FLYING F**K?!?" I checked my system info and, sure enough, it became 9 Pie. BYE! That's partly why I sought the A7, as a locked-down replacement model, for which it is said the horrible 9 Pie update will never exist! I might re-aquire the J7 Refine, as I'm finding growing evidence of superior build quality in every way, including much easier screen replacement!

 

Also, Exynos isn't as bad as you might think, the J7 and A7 perform very well for basically everything.

*I don't want to hear comments about gaming, I want nothing to do with games*

However, I'm looking at the A9 2018 now as a potential replacement for the A7 2017... seems obvious enough, but after I LOST big $$$ on my first phone idea, I'd say this next one won't happen for a very long time.

Luckily, though, the J7 Refine I enjoyed is readily available for somewhere around $100 for like new/almost new, and just under $200 for completely brand new, sealed in box. (was looking at the J7 Pro for a while, but given lack of availability, I think it's a moot point after the A7 disaster, and in light of the A9 I discovered... meh.)

 

**Side note:  I know, I know, you might be thinking; "Why the A9? Why not the S9+?" because, the A9 has a better camera, longer battery life, and far more reasonable screen resolution (I like exact HD) and potentially more RAM (if I can ever find the 8GB model)...**

[Zando_]

In response to the title: yeah, welcome to repairing like 90% of mobile devices other than iPhones and a few Android models (iPads and any other iDevices are total shit to repair as well though). 

As for the body: 

 

"When I happened to glance at it under better light, I noticed the display was cracked-- not the digitizer glass, but the super thin LED screen underneath the glass BROKE during normal use!" 
 -Have you tried to see if this is a common issue or not? Seems strange they'd break like that, if it was normal you'd think there'd be some buzz around it. 

'the seller wouldn't let me return it, claiming; "buyer damage, too bad"' 
 -Pretty normal, if sellers were responsible for when you broke something, it'd be an impossible business. It's already absolutely brutal for legit sellers on eBay with how easy buyer protection is to abuse. 

"and wouldn't even honor the warranty!"
- That's defo weird, did the seller promise a warranty or did Samsung? If it was Samsung you talk to them, if it was the seller then you file a claim.

"I never had a problem like this with my J7 Refine"
- that's a different phone

"The LED display partially separated from the glass digitizer, and broke like a thin sheet of ice!"
-  that's a fault with the screen or your installation methods, from what I can tell they are fused from the factory same as iPhone screens from the 4 on up. If it's the screen then you try and get a refund/replacement, if it was your installation methods then uh, don't do whatever you did next time. 

"I just wanted to fix the dam thing so I could resell it and make back most of what I spent..."
-  That's worth it on something like an iPhone or flagship Android, those keep their value much longer and sell for more. This was a budget phone in the first place, you're appealing to a much, much smaller market so bites will be few and far between and you probably won't get much for it. 

"When that screen arrived... but it couldn't be seated properly in the midframe...  I turn the phone over, only to find that the top part of the digitizer glass (the glass this time, not the screen display) had broken somehow!."
- sounds like the screen wasn't made to spec, where did you get it from? As for it breaking again, sounds like you're doing something wrong or the screens are total shit. 

"So now I have a practically brand new Samsung A7 2017 A720F/DS without a screen, and I've LOST $350 on this bloody mistake! I've had it for over a month now, and listed on eBay and OfferUp for very reasonable prices with full details and an honest explanation on the condition (I want my buyers to have all the facts) I haven't had any real attention whatsoever from anyone! No offers, no bids, and no contact regarding this mistake of a device!"
- It.... it really do be like that sometimes. That's just how repairing hardware not designed to be easily repairable and then trying to sell budget phones with a low demand (because they've been replaced by better ones at the exact same price point) is, you're not gonna get a ton of attention or support. 

Also if it's a "mistake of a device" then I don't see why you'd expect a bunch of buyers super hyped to buy it. 

"With that in mind, someone please tell me, what more can I do to get this blasted thing GONE and get something for it?"
- slap it in a box and don't touch it so it doesn't get any more messed up, and just leave the listing up. Hope you get a bite, you may eventually. I sold a set of 5770s, ancient low-spec (and thus low demand) GPUs, took a while but I did finally get buyers for both of them. 

[Phas3L0ck]

@Zando Bob Yeah yeah yeah I figured most of that out. A couple things I should point out:

 

"Have you tried to see if this is a common issue or not? Seems strange they'd break like that, if it was normal you'd think there'd be some buzz around it."

 - When buying a phone, you don't hear about the problems, and you likely don't look for them, often because you simply wouldn't know what to look for. To be honest, seeing several broken units for sale should've been my first clue, but I thought broken stuff was normal and just a lot of people dropped theirs...

 

"That's defo weird, did the seller promise a warranty or did Samsung? If it was Samsung you talk to them, if it was the seller then you file a claim."

 - Seller. And they said it was void as soon as the device was broken.

 

"that's a fault with the screen or your installation methods, from what I can tell they are fused from the factory same as iPhone screens from the 4 on up. If it's the screen then you try and get a refund/replacement, if it was your installation methods then uh, don't do whatever you did next time."

 -  This is where it got weird. I feel that one was a combo of bad manufacturing and inexperienced handling. Chaos theory.

 

"sounds like the screen wasn't made to spec, where did you get it from? As for it breaking again, sounds like you're doing something wrong or the screens are total shit."

 - Yeah, the second one, it made me wonder. (got it from ebay. ALL sellers with this screen are actually based in China! Anything you can find that truly is domestic is way too expensive!) No, not my fault this time. Like I said I took precautions and neatly seated the device on BUBBLE-WRAP! Given the improper seating, I'm gonna agree with your theory on bad manufacturing. But at least the LED display works...

 

"Also if it's a "mistake of a device" then I don't see why you'd expect a bunch of buyers super hyped to buy it."

 - Because, clearly this issue has been happening for a while, I didn't know, and all the reviews were excellent (even the not-so-great ones) so I was excited to buy it... for a time...

 

"slap it in a box and don't touch it so it doesn't get any more messed up, and just leave the listing up."

Pretty much did that. Am waiting constantly for any scrap of attention.

 

Side note on GPU sales: yeah, been there. Sold every CPU I listed... As for GPUs... you mark it down enough times and wait, it'll sell. Not the best way to go, but if you're scrapping parts from systems like I used to, you'll make a few bucks.

[Zando_]

2 minutes ago, Phas3L0ck said:

-snip-

Devices breaking is normal though, if it's a widespread issue then you'd expect to see something about it (though how popular are these phones? If there's a niche market to begin with, doubt you'll find much about them). 

As for the screens... yeah, finding legit, properly made displays can be hell. I've mostly worked with iPhones so I get them exclusively from iFixit (they make them to proper spec and full OEM quality), but for many models they don't have any parts. 

Best of luck with the sale I guess. As for a new phone, why not look into older flagships? If you're okay with iOS, iPhone prices should be dropping due to the new ones being released, if not then flagship Android devices should be lower due to new releases on that front as well. Flagships are usually better supported with replacement parts and everything. From the quick look-sees I've had at current flagships though, iPhones remain some of the easiest to repair. They have been for years, people just equated easily removed batteries on androids with easy repair, but those tend to use 27 trillion screws, or horrifying amounts of glue. iPhones got a little more complicated with the 6S on due to an adhesive seal around the screen for better durability/dust resistance/waterproofing, but they're still not overcomplicated to fix (iPhone 5 and newer are actually easier to repair than the 4/4S due to easier access to the screen). iPads are uh, don't touch those if you wanna have a good time, they are terrible to repair due to how easy it is to crack the screens, mess up the adhesive, or crimp the cables by accident. Not to mention getting them apart in the first place is horrible.