PSA: Samsung DOES NOT offer direct RMA replacement on their SSDs in Canada.

[Oafah]

Greetings all. Hate for this to be my first post, but here it goes.

 

After my 840 PRO 256GB SSD died on me yesterday, I sought RMA service. I registered the product with the Samsung website, but oddly enough, my warranty service was listed as "null". Strange.

 

I called them for service this morning and was informed that Samsung did not issue direct RMA service for the drives, and I quote, "that I would have to contact the retailer for service." As such, thanks to the folks over at Tiger Direct being long gone from the retail game, I'm shit out of luck. They're B2B service isn't helping me either.

 

I contacted Samsung for further advice, and said there was nothing they could do. At first, the customer support agent directed me to Seagate for service, thinking the SSD division had been sold along with the HDD division, but no such luck.

 

The *only* option that might work is to go through their US-only RMA service, which apparently costs a fortune in duty fees, and might not even be honoured thanks to their rather strict policy regarding RMA replacement.

 

While I certainly have nothing but good things to say about the reliability and performance of Samsung drives, their lack of service on their otherwise "impressive warranties" is laughably bad.

 

Needless to say, I'm sounding off on any and all Canadian hardware forums that will heed my warning. I've been in the PC repair business on and off for 15 years, and in all my time dealing with the RMA process, with over 50 different manufacturers ranging all the way from XFX PSUs to Corsair gaming peripherals to Hynix ECC RAM, never have I encountered such terrible service.

 

And just for the record, even if your local retailer is still standing, you'll need a receipt for service. As many of you might know, Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, Sapphire, Powercolor, ECS, Biostar, Micron, Zotac, Corsair, Acer...none of these companies require buyers to keep physical receipts. Hell - paper receipts don't even _last_ more than 3 months in a wallet. I don't know how anyone can expect us to keep them for upward of 10 fucking years.

 

Anyhow, that's my story, and I hope word spreads so someone at Samsung can do something about it. Otherwise, they're just screwing people out of a service that we're entitled to by purchasing their product.

 

For further reading, see here: http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/storage/60608-samsung-ssd-support-canada.html

 

Apparently this has been an ongoing issue for awhile now.

[iamdarkyoshi]

Actually its your second post

But that sucks. Reminds me of @thekeemo and his issues with sapphire. Sorry m8

[RichardsD]

Wow, this is a great post.  Thank for this information.  

[Sauron]

gg samsung ssd sales in canada

 

@colonel_mortis consider pinning this

[Yoinkerman]

Computer component rmas are tax and duty free per NAFTA.

[Oafah]

Computer component rmas are tax and duty free per NAFTA.

 

Yes, they are.

 

However, since Samsung only *informally* offers its RMA service to disgruntled Canadians, they have a bad habit of not checking the "warranty service" box on the custom forms.

 

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/storage/60608-samsung-ssd-support-canada.html

 

This thread on HWC should fill in the details I'm leaving out.

[watts300]

I guess the only consolation [albeit, maybe a small one] is that 850 drives are much cheaper now.... or any other brand actually. 

 

When I bought my 250GB 840 Evo it was $190.  

 

850 Evo (comparable speed to 840 Pro) is about $80 now. 

[TetraSky]

Well, now I know which company to absolutely avoid when it comes to SSD, since I live in Canada.

[WkdPaul]

Thanks for the warning, I was actually going to buy on to give more life out of my wife laptop! I now know I have to skip on Samsung!

[MourningSouls]

Yay for Memory Express and IPR's.

 

Good to know for next time though.

[WkdPaul]

**snip**

did you check your provincial consumer protection agency?

I had issues with HP until I threatened with contacting my local agency, after that everything went smoothly, still took me 4 days of back and forth before I threatened them, should have done that right away!

http://www.sse.gov.on.ca/mcs/en/Pages/Links_Outside_Ontario.aspx

[trag1c]

Yay for Memory Express and IPR's.

Good to know for next time though.

MemX is love MemX is life.

[Tetters]

This is very interesting news and supports other comments I have read with regards the lack of customer support from Samsung.

[VinceEmond]

Recently ran into this issue with my Samsung 850 Pro 256GB drive that I bought from Amazon.ca. It failed within the first year of use and I have found a way for any Canadian Samsung SDD owner to RMA their drive:

TLDR: If you are a Samsung SSD owner in Canada and your drive has failed and is still under within Samsung's manufacture Warranty, email "support@totalts.com"; They are the 3rd party company responsible for Samsung SSD warranties in Canada.

Amazon.ca support gave me the following info to get my Samsung SSD repaired in Canada:
 

Quote

Samsung provided SSD warranties through a third party company, here is their website :"
totalts.com/contact/contact.asp?vOn=contact

Harley Hutton
Memoryhouse Customer Service
Hours of Operation
Mondays to Fridays: 9:15am to 5:15pm PST
Closed weekends and holidays
Sales Inquires:
604-800-3680 / 604-288-8043
Toll Free: 1-888-407-7870

The website totalts.com/contact/contact.asp?vOn=contact has the following contact info:

Quote

Contact
   Total Tech Solutions, Inc., 49 Commerce Road, Carlstadt, NJ 07072

   Computer:
   Email: SamsungASC@totalts.com
   Phone No: 1-201-672-9501 EXT 7
   Fax No: 1-201-935-0672
   More Support Info on: Samsung US

   Memory Product:
   Email: support@totalts.com
   Phone No: 1-800-SAMSUNG
   Fax No: 1-201-935-0672
   More Support Info on: Samsung US

I emailed support@totalts.com and received the following reply within 30 minutes:
 

Quote

 

Dear Customer,

 

Thank you for contacting Samsung Memory support.

 

If you wish to have your unit repaired, please reply and provide a copy of your Receipt or Invoice along with the following information:

 

**All the Following Must Be Answered as Best as Possible**

 

1)Company Name (If Applicable):

 

2) Name (First, Last):

 

3) Full Address (PO box is NOT accepted):

 

4) Email:

 

5) Phone Number:

 

6) Alternate Phone Number:

 

7) Product Number:

 

8) Serial Number (Located on the label on the bottom of the SSD.):

 

9) Detailed Reason for Repair:

 

10) Troubleshooting Performed:

 

11) Computer Specifications (Please provide any system information if available):

 

12) Bill of Sale (Invoice or Receipt must be in an JPEG image file format or PDF. Please do not paste but attach it to your reply email):

 

13) Photo of the Label on the SSD for verification (not the packaging. Please do not paste but attach it to your reply email)

 

14) Please write YES in this field to denote that you have accepted our warranty terms and conditions (listed below):

 

 

Please note:

 

1)      Completed form and respond directly to this E-Mail.

 

2)      Proof of purchase required for customers outside the US and Canada, though we may ask for it from US and Canadian customers in some situations.

 

3)      Email confirmation with service ticket number will be provided typically within 24 business hours of receiving your request, not including weekends or holidays.

 

4)      Customers are responsible for shipping the SSD to our Service Center and will receive an address to ship the unit to in the confirmation email.  Customers within the continental US may be offered an accommodation at time of request.

 

5)      The full warranty policy is found here.

 

6)      Please make sure to include only the unit for repair, do not include any accessories (cables, adapters, screws, manuals, etc). Any accessories or original packaging will be discarded and will not be returned.

 

7)      Please note repair procedure wipes any data on the SSD. Please make sure to have your data backed up before sending in the drive.

 

[Providing inaccurate, misleading, or unclear information will cause this procedure to be prolonged or rejected.]

 

 

I provided the info they requested above and they replied with an RMA number along with instructions on how to ship the SSD for repair. Awaiting the replacement in the mail!

Best of luck everyone!

[Palorim12]

I had a friend who moved to Canada and bought a Samsung SSD up there. He needed to warranty it because he messed up with the encryption. The US support explained to him that Canada doesn't support the product because it is a US product that retailers are importing into Canada. 

 

Here's all the info he gave me to speed up the process. To call, call 1-888-480-5655, this will get you straight to US support. For email, like Vince said, use support@totalts.com or samsungmemorysupport@sea.samsung.com.

They also have Live chat now for SSDs here's the direct link from a hyperlink in a support email I got from them: https://www.livehelpnow.net/lhn/livechatvisitor.aspx?lhnid=29783&zzwindow=0&d=34834&custom1=&custom2=&custom3=