Horrible Pre-Order Experience (Galaxy Flip7)

[Sfgm]

Hello, At this point I have been a Samsung user for over 15+years. I have ordered and used at least 7-8 Samsung devices and this year of pre-ordering has been my worst experience ever.

To begin with,  I had pre-registered for the 50$ reserve credit on accessories. I had thought if given a good price, I would purchase a galaxy watch along with the phone. But for some reason, the reserve credit refused to apply. I asked chat support to make my cart, and even they failed to do so. And finally the watch I wanted was no longer available. At that moment, I decided to forgo my 50$ credit and just buy the phone since I wanted to trade in and just upgrade. Then while talking to a friend, she told me her 50$ credit was applying to all accessories on the website, not just select accessories. At that point I spoke to customer service and they confidently told me I would get a 50$ refund which was then denied by the team. 

The next issue (and the BIGGER one) was that 1 day before pre-order ended, Samsung sent me an email saying that they will up my reserve credit to 100$. I had already purchased the phone, but went on the website and realized that my cart was now 101$ cheaper. Samsung offers a price-match policy within 14 days of ordering. I had seen a similar price-drop in pre-order last year, so I had made sure that I was eligible for a price match before booking the phone. On day 11 post my pre-order, I get this promotion and end up calling customer service. This time, AGAIN, I was told I would get the 101$ refund based on screenshots that I had provided as proofs. And AGAIN, 3 days later it was denied saying that the promotion was not available on their website. Mind you this promotion was sent to me by email, officially through Samsung.

I called customer service and was told that they cannot price match since my order had shipped and price match is not applied to promotions? (Seriously, can someone look up the definition of price match at this point?) I asked to speak to the manager who did apologize, all while speaking to me in a rude tone and finally raising his voice. My point was simple. If you'll were unable to price-match, your customer service should have told me this when I was still in the 14 day period and the promotion was still on. I could cancel or return the 1st order and place a new one. All my calls and chats were recorded (of course) and at the end of that call I was left extremely frustrated. Although polite, none of the agents gave me the right information and the manager was point blank rude towards me. The last call was the worst. Although all the right words were said by the manager, his tone was condescending and rude even though he admitted himself that I was not given the right information. He did say I would not have been able to return the product without a re-stocking fee (5% which would be like 25$ based on the price I paid). And was constantly told nothing could be done. At this point, I seriously wonder if Samsung is false advertising their price promotion.

Finally, tried customer service through chat once more. She asked me for the screenshots again and this time additionally asked me for the email that was sent to me through Samsung upping my reserve credit. I am not sure what will happen this time around.

Bottom Line: Samsung's price match did not work for me till now even though I met the criteria on their website; and their customer service consistently proved to be unhelpful.