Pre-order, Trade-in, promotions, discounts - Need help!

[TalhaAyaz1]

Hi. I ordered through Samsung shop app - Samsung s24 ultra 1TB, payment got deducted and order went through,

After an hour, got an email that order got cancelled for some reason and now I cant use my vouchers. 

No specific reasons mentioned. 

Did anyone find a fix?

[JG94]

Your better off getting a S23 ultra

[Harleyrider19]

I had a strange issue over the weekend. I had pre-ordered an S24 Ultra and created a trade-in for my Fold 4 (well, you know, after Samsung fixed the fact that Fold 4 wasn't even listed, but I digress). So, after receiving my new phone and setting it up, I wiped the old one, packed it in the shipping box, slapped the FedEx label on it, and entrusted it to FedEx to ship to Assurant HylaMobile in Texas. I tracked this shipment all the way to Texas, and nothing about the tracking seemed out of the ordinary; no unscheduled stops or anything like that. I got a delivery receipt, and several hours later, I received an email from Samsung orders stating my trade value had decreased... wait, what!? According to the email, they received an empty box! 

Naturally, I opened a ticket with Samsung, disputing this fact. I was told they would escalate this case with the trade department, and I would get contacted back. Well, I did get contacted back, and I was told the box was empty, and there was nothing they could do. But this time, I got a video of them opening the box. This was definitely my box, but the box had clearly been opened from the bottom and had been retaped. I didn't touch the tape on the bottom; that was originally taped by Samsung shipping. Yet, the tape was different and was sloppy. Clearly, someone had opened the box. But what struck me was the video. Can you see what struck me? Here is a screenshot from them opening my box in the video and exposing the fact that there were no contents.

Now, I am not a detective, but these are clearly two different people. A couple of things to consider: first, if they had a video of them opening the box, why wouldn't they send that originally instead of just a picture? Also, why would one tech open the box, then hand the empty box off to another tech and have them send a picture of the empty box? Something doesn't pass the smell test here. I believe, at a minimum, the video was staged. Now, does that mean someone at HylaMobile stole my phone... I'm not sure, but it sure seems like they are in CYA mode!

I just wanted to see how many others might be having this issue. This is a big problem for me. How do we protect, or better yet, how is Samsung going to protect its customers? This is a $600 swing in the price of my phone.

[s24ultrauser30]

That's why document everything including the moment you package the phone...

[Harleyrider19]

Absolutely, I made sure to document everything. I even took a picture of the package before sending it off. Samsung support actually reassured me that I had sufficient evidence. However, when I reached out to the trade-ins department, they seemed to disregard it entirely. As I'm sure your aware, documentation can be manipulated, and it appears that Samsung is reluctant to trust their customers wouldn't send an empty box, making it even easier for these people to steal.

Even if I had recorded the entire packaging process, I have a feeling they would still find a way to question it. It's as if they believe I could have removed the phone after I stopped filming. The only foolproof option might have been to have it packaged at a FedEx center, but unfortunately, there's none available in my town.

[GaryB82]

The only Fedex Ship Center near me is 2hrs away and that's the location you have to ship from when returning which I don't like but makes it safer.  I make sure that my video is recorded when I get to the store and place the phone in the box and hand it over that way they see it going into the box and being handed over to the Fedex employee 

[GaryB82]

Sorry to hear this hopefully they get it taken care of.  I always recommend taking a video of the phone powered on and you turn it off and place it in the box and hand it too the Fedex employee that way you have proof that it worked and in the box when you turned it over too them 

[Harleyrider19]

Thank you, seems like good advice.  Unfortunately, we don't have any FedEx stores in our town, only drop locations.  I took pics of the packing process and was told it was sufficient evidence for a "one time exception" as the Samsung support person said, however trade-ins seemed to disregard.   

[Jtwizzle]

This apparently happens all the time, and I can't believe samsung isn't doing anything about it. They are making a killing with stolen phones. Some things you can try - Speak with a manager on the phone about it. Tell them it has been weighed at each destination, so there's proof right there. Tell them they paid for shipping so insurance will cover it.

I found this info online, and it's also good to video and take pictures of the process.

[PeterPhamous]

Doesn't FedEx log the weight of the box when shipped? Samsung or whatever contractor they utilize should also be weighing the package to validate this weight upon reception and signing for it too. Really scummy behavior, and if it's happening to you, I wonder how many others it's happening or happened to

[Harleyrider19]

Yes, they definitely weighed upon receipt, but I don't see weights throughout the process.