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Galaxy S8 Trade-in Scam

G

Greg Heidel

Lurker
I had a 1-year old mint Galaxy S7 that I bought directly from Samsung the previous holiday season. The phone worked perfectly but I decided to upgrade to the S8 due to special holiday trade-in offer. My S7 never gave me any problems and I went down their checklist for a trade-in and my phone passed every item in their list. I sent it back in the original packaging with everything included. They rejected my trade-in, charged me an additional $375 and kept my S7!! I have been a Samsung customer for years and have appliances, speakers, monitors and a printer but I will never buy anything from Samsung again and I recommend you don't use their trade-in programs.
 
Really??? I'm pretty sure Samsung aren't into stealing phones and your money (your money maybe but phone and money, nah). However if they did you'd probably be better contacting their customer services or the police or something. Just tell them my phone was stolen while eating an apple.
 
mikedt said:
Samsung doing trade-ins? Never heard of that. Sure it was actually it legit, and whomever you sent it to might not have been Samsung? o_O
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I can't find the trade in page on the co.uk site but they do on the US site. If you Google Samsung trade in there's a couple of hits at the top that have nothing to do with Samsung though. They just happen to have Samsung in their name :thinking:
 
The only thing I found was "samsungtradein dot com", which is NOT SAMSUNG, despite how it looks. It's registered to a private address in the UK. A cybersquatter, and is very probably a scam.
 
But I still thinking the merchants don't keep your stuff as a punishment and in top of that they charge you a "fee"..it doesn't sounds like here, guys..
 
The trade-in was directly with Samsung and it was offered during the holiday season. I received my Galaxy S8 in exchange for my S7. Samsung, at their discretion, can refuse to accept your trade-in. In which case, they keep your phone and then charge you for the balance of their full price of the phone which is an additional $375. They had my phone for over a month before they notified me that they would not accept my phone. My trade-in was in perfect condition. I only had it one year and I bought it directly from Samsung during the previous holiday sales event. I never had any problems with it and it met every criteria in their terms and conditions. In my opinion, Samsung basically committed fraud! I will never buy anything from Samsung again.
 
There are many other complaints in the Samsung community forums of people who have also been ripped off just like myself! Samsung should be ashamed of their fraudulent offerings.
 
I have disputed the charged as well as filed a complaint with the BBB. I doubt that anything will happen but I hope that others won't fall into their trap.
 
Hmm, they have given themselves a clause that allows them to do something like that if they decide that the device doesn't meet their requirements:
What if Samsung determines that my device does not meet the minimum conditions or that my device is not an eligible device model for this promotion?

We will evaluate your device when we receive it, and if it does not meet the conditions described above, or if it is a device that is not eligible for trade in under this promotion then Samsung will value it at twenty five dollars ($25.00) and charge you the trade-In credit that was applied to the purchase of the Galaxy S8 or S8+ or Note8 minus the twenty-five dollar ($25.00) value. Please note that your old device cannot be returned to you.
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Presumably this refers to the conditions described here:
Your trade-in device must meet the following eligibility requirements:

a) Your device must power on and hold a charge;

b) Your device must have a functioning display;

c) Unless a Cracked Screen Offer applies, your device must have no breaks or cracks in the screen or case, or other visible defects that go beyond normal wear and tear;

d) Your device must not be on a black list of any kind.

e) At the time of trade-in, you must be the owner of the device, leased devices are not eligible;

f) Reactivation Lock, Google Factory Reset Protection, or any other anti-theft locking software must be disabled on your device;

g) Before sending your device to Samsung, you must perform a factory reset on it and remove all personal information; and

h) Your device must be labeled with an FCC ID to show that it is certified for use in the United States under applicable FCC regulations. The FCC ID number can usually be found printed somewhere on the mobile device. Sometimes it may be necessary to remove the battery pack to find the number. The FCC ID number can also be found in the user manual for each device.
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You are absolutely certain that your device met all of those criteria, including the Factory Reset Protection one? That one is easy to miss because it's not visible as a setting anywhere, but will become active if you factory reset without signing out and removing the Google account from the phone first - I suspect that a lot of people fall foul of that simply because they don't know about it.

Now speaking as a Brit, if I was certain that my device met all of those criteria I'd probably start by contacting Samsung to insist that they told me why they made that decision, and then decide whether to follow-up via the small claims court or try to get the national media involved (the latter often causes recalcitrant companies to take notice, whereas they'll ignore individuals, because the publicity can cost them a lot of money). I don't know what the options are in the USA, but I'd make sure I had my facts absolutely straight first, and give them a chance to justify their actions (assuming, of course, that they haven't already told you why when they rejected it).
 
Yes, I went down the list item by item. It met every condition and was in pristine condition. I was the only owner and only the phone for 1 year. It didn't have a scratch on it, never failed to charge or hold a charge. I followed their reset instructions and even sent it back in the original box with all the accessories. They leave a loophole so they can reject it at their discretion, keep the phone, and charge you full price for your new phone. I have started a dispute both directly with Samsung and with my credit card company.
 
Others have reported the same issue and all it says in the rejection email is failed to meet normal wear and tear. Others have also said that their phones were in mint condition and received the same rejection.
 
Good luck!

They have set out a set of criteria, so "their discretion" has to relate to one of those. If this is widespread then they deserve to have their reputation trashed.
 
Yea, this was the first time I used their trade-in program. I would have taken pictures of my phone before sending it in if I thought there would be any issues. Now that they have the phone, they can do anything they want to it and say that it arrived in that condition. I don't really feel like I have any recourse. They basically are stealing from me and I am probably stuck. I have been a long-time Samsung customer. I have wireless speakers, kitchen applicances, monitors, the Gear watch, etc. but I will never buy anything from them again. Buyers beware!
 
No corporation is your friend: by legal constitution their job starts and ends with making money without breaking the law. That's it. So there's no point in being loyal to any brand, because they will not reciprocate.
 
I have also filed a complaint with the BBB (Better Business Bureau) and I encourage anyone else who has shared my experience to do the same.
 
Specifically, what was the issue with your trade-in that they found unacceptable? Surely they couldn’t say it without a reason.
 
Update, after filing several disputes, Samsung has agreed to refund the additional charge that they posted to my credit card. Hopefully if others feel that they were wrongfully charged on a trade-in they too will get a fair review from Samsung. I appreciate that they accepted my dispute.
 
Greg Heidel said:
I had a 1-year old mint Galaxy S7 that I bought directly from Samsung the previous holiday season. The phone worked perfectly but I decided to upgrade to the S8 due to special holiday trade-in offer. My S7 never gave me any problems and I went down their checklist for a trade-in and my phone passed every item in their list. I sent it back in the original packaging with everything included. They rejected my trade-in, charged me an additional $375 and kept my S7!! I have been a Samsung customer for years and have appliances, speakers, monitors and a printer but I will never buy anything from Samsung again and I recommend you don't use their trade-in programs.
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Yep..just happened to me today...they rejected my S7 edge and charged me $375.00..My S7 was year and half old..mint except battery was getting weak..they said my screen was cracked...no..no..no..the screen was flawless..And I'm livid beyond words
 
Greg Heidel said:
Update, after filing several disputes, Samsung has agreed to refund the additional charge that they posted to my credit card. Hopefully if others feel that they were wrongfully charged on a trade-in they too will get a fair review from Samsung. I appreciate that they accepted my dispute.
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Surely they still have your phone though? If the dispute's been accepted shouldn't you have that back too?
 
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